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Four Student Association members are calling on Syracuse University to offer a free in-person course to international students and to sue President Donald Trump’s administration in response to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s new visa guidance.

ICE’s guidance, issued Monday, states that international students must be enrolled in college courses that are held in-person to return to or remain in the United States. International students attending universities with a hybrid model of both online and in-person courses can stay in the U.S. if their schools submit a form stating that the courses are not held entirely online.

SA President Justine Hastings, Vice President Ryan Golden and Assembly members Yuyin Liu and Amanda Byrne released a statement Thursday urging SU to offer a free in-person class to international students in the fall semester. The course would protect international students facing deportation under the ICE’s guidance, they said.

The representatives also called on SU to join other universities, including Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in suing the Trump administration over ICE’s visa guidance. SU joining the suit would show the university’s international students “that they are truly valued and that these policies are cruel and unacceptable,” they said.

SU officials released a statement Wednesday saying university officials will work with all international students — who make up about 20% of SU’s student body — to ensure they can register for in-person courses to avoid facing deportation. The officials said they were “frustrated and disappointed” by ICE’s decision.

Hastings and Golden also sent a university-wide email Tuesday listing resources available to international students, including a Facebook support group, the SU Center for International Services and several petitions against the new visa ruling.

The SA members are currently in contact with several university administrators about the proposed course, which they said international students should help design.

“This request has reached the Provost and the Chancellor,” the representatives said. “No confirmed actions have been taken by the upper administration as of yet but all four representatives will continue to follow up on the progress of these requests.”

Published on July 9, 2020 at 2:29 pm

Contact Abby: akweiss@syr.edu | @abbyweiss_21