Agust 3, 2020
Dear DBBS
Community,
On July 16th,
2020, DBBS held a listening session for international students to allow space
to acknowledge and dialogue about the many and layered ways in which (the
rescinded) SEVP directives & xenophobia, racial climate, and COVID-19 have
affected their student experience and wellness. The session was
facilitated using a Restorative Justice approach to encourage acknowledgment of
harm and support healing.
For the
purposes of this listening session, we focused on hearing the experiences of
our international student community to better understand, advocate, and center
student needs. We utilized feedback from this listening session to create this
executive summary report to share with faculty, partner offices, and leadership. We will also use what we learned to inform an
action plan that best supports our students.
Goals of the session were to:
o
Acknowledge the harm and stress created by this directive
o
Give space to express the harm and stress caused by this directive and
current event
o
Better understand what international students want to see the
University do
o
Better understand the international graduate student experience at
this time
o
Publicize the OISS townhall, taking place the following day
Our
conversation was guided by the following questions. Please find a summary of
the feedback for each question below.
1.
Who was harmed (by xenophobia, this directive, and the universities
response)?
o International
students, folks who are not native to the U.S. (any immigrants), and anyone who
doesn’t “look American” (e.g. racial/ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ people, etc.).
2.
What was the harm?
o Students expressed
feeling: Lack of
belonging, loss of safety, sense of isolation and unwantedness, questioning
future plans due to uncertainty, hopes and dreams potentially put on hold or
changed, awakened to privileges and oppressions they experience, distracted
from “primary duties” in lab or as a student, anti-Asian sentiments
experienced, inability to visit family or go home (further isolation), fear of
speaking out against directives/xenophobia, fear of deportation, among other
things.
3.
How can the university repair the
harm?
o
Communications:
- Institutional messages must come sooner and must be more
supportive.
- The Institution and Division should provide more guidance
and support for international students by sending out messages sooner to
domestic community members to let them know how to utilize their
privilege/speak to these issues.
o
Education of Faculty and Staff:
- Better education for PIs, Program Directors, and DBBS
staff about supporting international students and student visa issues in
matriculation, various stages of training, and departure from the program.
- Students desire to be supported not only at the DBBS or
program-level, but at the lab level as well.
o
Education for Students:
- Non-International and International Students alike wanted
education to raise awareness for students about how to support international
colleagues and trainees. This would be an effort to socialize the next
generation of PIs to be aware of immigration policies to be able to speak to
and better support the international student experience.
o
Grants and Fellowships:
- It is very challenging to find grants and fellowships for
significant awards; much time is spent finding and applying to appropriate
awards. It would be helpful for there to be a grants/fellowships (and
potentially postdoc positions as well) person to assist international student
in applying and submitting for these kinds of awards.
- Similarly, the DBBS “bonus” award policy, in turn, may be
perceived as inequitable as international students do not have equal access to
grants of that dollar amount.
- Receiving grants at this stage of career development is
pivotal and may close doors for opportunities in the (near or distant) future.
- Similarly, career development resources are needed that
meet the needs of international students (e.g., postdoctoral positions that are
friendly to international applicants, visa support and considerations, etc.).
o
International Student Support
Programming
- International students need a space to congregate and
connect about shared experiences. A Petri Dish-like meeting on a regular basis
could be beneficial.
4.
What are other things that you want other folks in the university to
know?
o Citizenship and a
path to citizenship is NOT easy.
- Students wanted to
raise awareness that immigration and getting permanent resident status is not
an easy process. In fact, it is very difficult. Being a non-citizen at this
time (with this administration) is extremely anxiety producing. No matter how
long someone has been in the country, getting a green card is not easy.
o There is a constant
fear of deportation and feeling of isolation, particularly from family that is
out of country.
- There are tensions with supporting all students’ “right
to civic engagement” when international students do not have rights of
citizens. Again, OISS language for being deported is very harsh and creates
fears for international students (e.g., jaywalking could lead to deportation
because International students do not have right to due process).
- Isolation from family in other countries is a large strain on
international students. Not only is it very costly, the climate around
immigration causes uncertainty around re-entry to the United States. Students,
similarly, feel a backlash socially in lab with micro/macroaggressions about
taking an extended period of time off.
The
Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences wishes to thank the participants of
the Listening Session for their authentic dialogue. We encourage all students
to reach-out to DBBS faculty, staff, and administrators to discuss their
insights and recommendations for developing more equitable policies and
programs. We ask that you continue to engage with DBBS as we evaluate policies
and implement new programming to better meet students’ needs.
All the
best,
The DBBS Team