VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: Syracuse University community speaks out against student visa halt
Cedric Derecho: Across the country, protests against ice student deportations are ongoing as Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently instructed US embassies to halt student visa appointments. This comes in the aftermath of President Trump and his administration’s ongoing feud with Harvard University. At Syracuse University, the student visa stoppages may impact the large international student community. At Schine Student Center, with most of the student body home for the summer, professors and students still on campus worry about what will happen this upcoming fall.
Kelly Gallagher, an associate professor here, denounced the Trump administration’s plan.
Kelly Gallagher: I think it’s racist and xenophobic. And I think that it’s gonna have extreme detrimental
impacts on our learning environments here in the United States.
Derecho: The numbers indicate that. At Syracuse University, there are over 4,000 international students from 83 countries. That’s nearly 20 percent of the student body. Nationally, there are over 1 million international students and their impact on the economy is significant with $44 billion dollars contributed in the 2023-24 school year. Another Syracuse professor, Crystal Bartolovich, had this to say. “The president is sadly using international students as pawns in his attempt to destroy the university as we know it… but a robust international student body is one of the strengths of any university.” Gallagher says standing up to Trump is a must going forward.
Gallagher: I hope that we can come together as professors and as academic institutions, and really
boldly and concisely say loudly and collectively that we’re not gonna stand for this behavior
from this president.
Derecho: Students on campus like Samantha Ann Nowrang says the university would not be the same without international students.
Samantha Ann Nowrang: They bring the culture. They bring a lot of things that people haven’t tried or seen for the
first time. For example, I know when I first came here, I didn’t think that my Hindu culture
would be represented until I saw other international students come here and represent our
culture.
Derecho: The Trump administration says the reason for the student visa halts is so better social media screenings of applicants can be put into place. From Syracuse, Cedric Derecho, NCC News.
Syracuse, N.Y. (NCC News) — Some Syracuse University students and professors are speaking out against the Trump administration’s plan to temporarily halt student visas.
Across the United States, protests against U.S, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement student deportations are ongoing as Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently instructed U.S. embassies to halt student visa appointments. This comes in the aftermath of President Donald Trump and his administration’s ongoing feud with Harvard University.
At Syracuse University, the student visa stoppages may impact the large international student community. Professors and students on campus worry about what will happen this upcoming fall. The university is home to over 4,000 international students, nearly 20% of the student body.
The Trump administration says the reason for the student visa halts is so better social media screenings of applicants can be put into place. The administration has prioritized lowering the number of international students entering the United States as part of a broader effort to curb immigration.
Kelly Gallagher, an associate professor at Syracuse, denounced the Trump administration’s plan.
“I think it’s racist and xenophobic. And I think that it’s gonna have extreme detrimental impacts on our learning environments here in the United States,” Gallagher said.
The numbers indicate that. There are over 1.1 million international students nationwide, and their contributions to the economy are no small sum. According to the Association of American Universities, international students contributed over $44 billion in the 2023-24 academic school year alone.
Another Syracuse professor, Crystal Bartolovich, was also critical of Trump.
“The president is sadly using international students as pawns in his attempt to destroy the university as we know it… but a robust international student body is one of the strengths of any university,” Bartolovich said.
Students on campus like Samantha Ann Nowrang said the university would not be the same without international students.
“They bring the culture. They bring a lot of things that people haven’t tried or seen for the first time. For example, I know when I first came here, I didn’t think that my Hindu culture would be represented until I saw other international students come here and represent our culture,” Nowrang said.