Old International Restrictions Apply to New Students
Inside Higher Ed reports that new international students must have part of their academic program in person, lest they not gain entry into the United States.
The new guidance emphasizes that the State Department has the final determination on who gets a visa. However, the guidance reads that “new or initial nonimmigrant students who intend to pursue a full course of study that will be conducted completely online will likely not be able to obtain an F-1 or M-1 visa to study in the United States.”
Previous guidance from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement stated that all international students needed to attend in-person classes, putting pressure on universities to adopt riskier opening models in the midst of a pandemic. A lawsuit filed by Harvard and MIT — and supported by the rest of the Ivy League, dozens of other higher education institutions, and dozens of states — forced ICE to go back to the drawing board. A Wall Street Journal reporter suggested this was a potential outcome two weeks ago.
Dartmouth Conditions Reinvestigation
Dartmouth promises to bring in an external investigator to review a sexual harassment case if the student — Maha Hasan Alshawi — ends their hunger strike, The Dartmouth reports.
Alshawi alleges that they were the victim of sexual harassment by two professors in the college’s computer science department, including academic retaliation by one professor. Alshawi told The Dartmouth that after pushing publicly for Dartmouth to take more action, the hunger strike was “the only way that people will listen.”
While Dartmouth told the press that neither party would comment under what was described as mutual consent, Alshawi is still on hunger strike. They told local public radio that “I have the right to ask for unconditional, public, fair and transparent investigation."
Princetonian Follows Spectator into Digital First Life
As the pandemic worsens, The Daily Princetonian announced their decision to adopt a digital-first model, similar to that of the Columbia Daily Spectator.
Next semester, the editors suggest there will be as little as three print issues published, while most of their reporting will be spread across online media. The letter also announced the hiring of new web and social media teams. The letter concludes with a note that the publication plans to be better about transparency and diversity.
Spectator’s decision to go digital-first came six years ago to significant uproar around viability and transparency that, in many ways, go unresolved to this day. Readers may also note that in 2014, there was no pandemic potentially affecting supply lines or print readership.