About 15 incoming international students are “unable to reach” Brown’s campus for the start of the fall semester, President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 wrote in a Thursday morning Today@Brown announcement.
Most of these affected students were graduate students, Paxson wrote, adding that “many others” have decided to defer their studies. About a third of graduate students and 14 percent of undergraduate students at Brown come from outside of the United States.
The challenges come amid a variety of new obstacles that the Trump administration has put in place for international students seeking to study in the U.S.
These students were impacted by delays in visa appointments and approvals, according to Amanda McGregor, a spokesperson for the University.
In May, the State Department ordered a halt to routine student visa interviews, and later announced that applicants’ social media accounts would be subject to review and scrutiny.
“In some cases, students who are from countries impacted by a travel restriction announced by the federal government on June 4 have not received visas,” McGregor wrote in an email, referring to an executive order limiting the entry of travelers from 19 countries.
“We are deeply concerned about the difficulty international students have had in obtaining visas to study in the United States,” Paxson wrote. According to McGregor, fewer than 100 international students who were expected to start at Brown this fall are deferring their studies “for a variety of reasons.”
In her message, Paxson also acknowledged that international students currently in the United States face “the threat of losing their ability to remain in the U.S.”
For now, McGregor wrote that “Brown is not aware of any visa revocations for existing members of our international community, including current students and scholars,” but the University continues to monitor the Student and Exchange Visitor Program system, which houses visa records.
As of mid-August, the State Department has revoked over 6,000 international student visas. In April, at least one Brown student and several recent graduates saw their visas revoked. The visas were reinstated weeks later.
Ethan Schenker is a university news editor covering staff and student labor. He is from Bethesda, MD, and plans to study International and Public Affairs and Economics. In his free time, he enjoys playing piano and clicking on New York Times notifications.
