Update, November 6, 2020

See public comments of the University of California, UCLA, and the UCLA Academic Senate (Committee on International Education and Graduate Coucil) and numerous higher education associations in response to the proposed rulemaking change announced by the Department of Homeland Security on September 25, 2020, "Establishing a Fixed Time Period of Admission and Extension of Stay Procedure for Nonimmigrant Academic Students, Exchange Visitors, and Representatives of Foreign Information Media."

See a compendium of resources for international students prepared by the UCLA Dashew Center here.

11248 Bunche Hall, Box 951487 ǀ Los Angeles, California 90095-1487 ǀ Telephone: +1 (310) 825-4811

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July 14, 2020

Recent visa decisions by the U.S. administration have temporarily halted the immigration of skilled workers to our country and threaten to deport foreign students enrolled solely in online courses that universities have put in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. In response to these decisions, we affirm the essential and invaluable contributions of international scholars, students and researchers to U.S. higher education, and of immigrant workers to U.S. society.

U.S. institutions of higher education are the envy of the world because they attract the best and the brightest minds from across the globe. Talented individuals are drawn to study and work here by the academic freedoms of our campuses and the opportunities to work with equally gifted peers to conduct research, push the boundaries of innovation and train future generations.

International scholars, researchers and students are essential to a 21st-century education. They bring unique perspectives and experience to our classrooms, widen our students’ worldview and prepare them for careers in an interconnected world where success requires the ability to work well with people from a wide range of cultural backgrounds. The challenges that threaten the world today — pandemics, climate change, structural inequities, systemic racism, xenophobia, human rights violations, global economic shocks — can only be overcome through international collaboration, and a sincere and humble desire to learn from others.

Universities must be central participants and facilitators in this collaboration if it is to be successful. Whether our students study history, art, biology, law, business, medicine or other subjects, they benefit from being taught and doing research alongside top experts in their field, many of whom come from countries around the world. This reality is not detrimental to the United States and its citizens, it is the United States, it is a driving force of our entrepreneurship and it gives U.S. universities a competitive edge in a global economy. There is no “us” and “them,” there is only us — all of us, made stronger, wiser and more informed by working together.

C. Cindy Fan
Vice Provost for International Studies and Global Engagement
Professor, Department of Geography
Professor, Department of Asian American Studies

Christopher L. Erickson
Senior Associate Vice Provost and Director of International Institute
Professor, Anderson School of Management

Robin Lauren Derby
Equity Advisor, International Institute
Faculty Director, International Education Office (IEO)
Associate Professor, Department of History

Hitoshi Abe
Director of Paul I. and Hisako Terasaki Center for Japanese studies
Professor, Department of Architecture and Urban Design
Terasaki Chair for Contemporary Japanese Study

Victor Agadjanian
Professor, International Institute
Professor, Department of Sociology

Andrew Apter
Professor, Departments of History and Anthropology
Interim Director, James S. Coleman African Studies Center

Ali Behdad
Director of the Center for Near Eastern Studies
Professor and John Charles Hillis Chair in Literature, Department of English

Michael Berry
Director of the Center for Chinese Studies
Professor, Department of Asian Languages & Cultures
Professor, Department of Film, Television & Digital Media

Robert Buswell
Director of the Center for Buddhist Studies
Distinguished Professor, Department of Asian Languages and Cultures

Jennifer Jihye Chun
Faculty Advisory Committee Member, International Institute
Associate Professor, International Institute
Associate Professor, Asian American Studies

Jason Cong
Distinguished Chancellor’s Professor, Computer Science Department
Co-Director, Peking University-UCLA Joint Research Institute in Science and Engineering

Verónica Cortínez
Director of the Center for Southern Cone Studies
Professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese

George Dutton
Director, UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies
Professor, UCLA Department of Asian Languages and Cultures

Akhil Gupta
Director, Center for India and South Asia (CISA)
Professor, Department of Anthropology

Kevan Harris
Assistant Professor, International Institute
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology

Laurie Kain Hart
Director, Center for European and Russian Studies
Professor, Global Studies, International Institute
Professor, Department of Anthropology

Rubén Hernández-León
Director of the Center for Mexican Studies
Professor, Dept. of Sociology

Patrick Heuveline
Professor, Dept. of Sociology and International Institute,
Associate Director, California Center for Population Research (CCPR)
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

Ann R. Karagozian, Ph.D.
Director, UCLA Promise Armenian Institute
Distinguished Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Namhee Lee
Director, Center for Korean Studies
Associate Professor, Asian Languages & Cultures

Seiji Lippit
Associate Director, Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies
Professor and Chair, Department of Asian Languages and Cultures

Michael Lofchie
Professor, Department of Political Science
Chair, International Development Studies

Glen MacDonald, FRSC
Director of the Canadian Studies Program
Distinguished Professor and John Muir Memorial Chair, Department of Geography

William Marotti
Chair, East Asian Studies MA IDP
Associate Professor, Department of History

Jorge Marturano
Director, Program on Caribbean Studies
Associate Professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Adam Moore
Associate Professor, International Institute
Associate Professor, Department of Geography

Marjorie Faulstich Orellana
Professor of Education
Associate Director, Center for the Study of International Migration

José Luiz Passos
Director of the Center for Brazilian Studies
Professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Margaret Peters
Associate Professor, International Institute
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science

Daniel N. Posner
James S. Coleman Professor of International Development
Department of Political Science

Shaina Potts
Assistant Professor, International Institute
Assistant Professor, Department of Geography

Kal Raustiala
Director, Ronald W. Burkle Center for International Relations
Promise Institute Professor of Comparative and International Law, UCLA School of Law
Professor, UCLA International Institute

Michael A. Rodriguez, MD, MPH
Chair, UCLA Global Health Minor
Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Family Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Professor, Department of Community Health Sciences, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health
Faculty-in-Residence, UCLA Residential Life

Michael L. Ross
Professor, International Institute
Professor, Department of Political Science
Professor, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability

Steven L. Spiegel
Director, Center for Middle East Development
Research Professor, Political Science

Bonnie Taub
Associate Director, Latin American Institute
Co-Chair, Latin American Studies MA Program

Kevin Terraciano
Director of Latin American Institute
Co-Chair of Latin American Studies MA IDP
Professor of History

Michael F. Thies
Chair, Global Studies Interdepartmental Program
Chair, International & Area Studies Interdepartmental Program
Associate Professor, Dep’t of Political Science

Maarten van Delden
Professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Roger Waldinger
Director, Center for the Study of International Migration
Distinguished Professor of Sociology

Dov Waxman
Director of the UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies
The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Chair in Israel Studies
Professor, International Institute and Social Sciences

Alden Young
Assistant Professor of African American Studies and member of the International Institute
Teaching faculty in the International Development Studies program

Min Zhou
Director of the Asia Pacific Center
Walter and Shirley Wang Chair in U.S.-China Relations & Communications
Professor, Department of Sociology, Department of Asian American Studies

This statement was originally published on July 14, 2020; the page was updated witih new information on October 30 and November 6, 2020.

Download file: Statement-on-Immigrants_Intl_Students_Scholars_071420a-lc-vqp.pdf

Published: Friday, October 30, 2020