Latitudes

Disappearing guidance

The Trump administration’s changes to the U.S. Department of State travel and security guidance, including the deletion of information on safety concerns based on race, gender, and sexual identity, have alarmed colleges that rely on the reports for study-abroad programs.

The Overseas Security Advisory Council, or OSAC, a public-private partnership within the State Department that provides risk assessment and best practices to business, academic, and other American organizations abroad, took down country-specific security reports soon after President Trump’s inauguration, according to global health and safety directors for colleges and education-abroad program providers. (They asked that The Chronicle not publish their names or institutions because of worries about the repercussions of speaking out.)

When the reports were reposted, advice for women and LGBT travelers had been removed, along with guidance for travelers with disabilities and those from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. Websites across the federal government have eliminated references to diversity, equity, and inclusion in response to presidential orders.

For example, an earlier version of a country report for Jordan included seven paragraphs of information for female travelers, advising that visitors to the Middle Eastern country “should be mindful of cultural differences; some Jordanians may see seemingly innocuous behavior such as riding in the front seat of a taxi or even polite conversation with the opposite sex as forward and/or inviting.”

“To avoid any misunderstandings,” the report cautioned, “women should ride in the back seat of taxis, dress modestly, carry a charged cell phone, and avoid solo travel to unfamiliar areas, especially at night.”

The updated version of the Jordan report contains only a hyperlink to general State Department advice for women traveling overseas. More-detailed counsel was also replaced by links to generic guidance for student, faith-based, disabled, and “LGB” travelers. All references to race and transgender people had been deleted from the Jordan report, which shrank from 10 pages to four.

Some of the changes may be more expected because they reflect the administration’s broader stance on DEI. But the study-abroad administrators said they found removal of information about health and safety concerns more surprising. In the Jordan report, a section on public transportation was gone, including a note that the U.S. embassy does not allow its employees to ride public buses because of safety and security concerns.

A State Department spokesperson said the OSAC reports had been updated to make them “more concise and not duplicative” of guidance posted elsewhere on the department’s website. “There is no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens and our diplomatic staff overseas,” the spokesperson said.

OSAC reports are often the foundation for study-abroad advising, especially at smaller colleges with less resources. The health and safety directors who spoke with The Chronicle said positions like theirs are uncommon, and subscribing to private threat assessments is expensive.

The OSAC revisions could leave students and advisers to make choices about overseas study without a full understanding of risk. For example, countries may have nuanced cultural and social views on gender and sexual identity that are separate from laws on homosexuality. “It’s making people less safe abroad,” a college-based administrator said.

The administrator said he was concerned not just about the changes themselves but about the implications of political ideology shaping government travel advice and security support. “Now that politics is injected into it, I don’t know that if resources come back that we can trust the data.”

And a safety director at a study-abroad provider said she worries about the impact of broader federal and state restrictions on DEI on the ability to prepare students to go abroad. “How can we advise them,” she said, “if we can’t talk about their identity?”

Want to stay up to date on the latest policy actions affecting higher education? Check out The Chronicle’s tracker that focuses on Trump’s higher-ed agenda.

Latest on student-visa revocations

A spate of lawsuits across the country are contesting the Trump administration’s efforts to revoke the visas of international students and scholars, and colleges and state officials have signaled their support of such challenges.

Eighty-six colleges and higher-education associations have signed onto an amicus brief organized by the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration. It seeks to block large-scale arrests, detentions, and deportations, saying that the government’s actions have “created a climate of fear” on campuses and could strike a blow to American higher education and innovation.

The attorneys general of 19 states submitted their own brief. They argued that the policy inflicts irreparable harm to the states, is contrary to the public interest, and violates the First Amendment’s protection of free speech.

NAFSA: Association of International Educators has collected more than 1,300 reports of foreign students having their visas revoked, their legal status terminated, and/or being arrested or detained.

Some of those students are taking the Trump administration to court, saying that they have received little or no justification for the terminations or any opportunity to challenge them. Court cases have been filed in states including Arizona, California, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Washington. In New Hampshire, a federal judge ordered the government to reinstate the visa status of a Dartmouth College graduate student.

The U.S. for Success Coalition is calling on Congress to press the administration to avoid immigration actions and travel restrictions that could deter international students and scholars from coming to this country.

In other news:

• The Trump administration has frozen more than $2 billion in funding to Harvard University after it refused to comply with a list of demands from the federal government, including reporting foreign students who commit conduct violations immediately to federal authorities and reforming international admissions “to prevent admitting students” who appear hostile “to American values.”
  
• The Chinese Ministry of Education warned students to be aware of the risks of studying in the United States after Ohio and other states passed legislation restricting academic ties with China.
  
• The number of foreign visitors tumbled 20 percent in March, compared to the same time the previous year, according to customs arrival data. Some overseas scholars have said they were hesitant to travel to the United States because of trade wars, a volatile political climate, and fears of harassment or detention. The Canadian Association of University Teachers warned Tuesday that academics should go to the U.S. “only if essential and necessary.”

Cuts would eliminate funding for Fulbright and other international educational exchanges

The Trump administration is considering eliminating all funding for State Department educational and cultural programs, including the Fulbright scholarship, the flagship American exchange program.

An internal memo proposes cutting the State Department budget in half, including reductions to foreign assistance and global health. It would zero out support for the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. In addition to Fulbright, the bureau administers the Gilman program, which expands study-abroad opportunities for low-income and first-generation American students; EducationUSA, a global network of centers that advise international students about studying at American colleges; and programs that bring young leaders from around the world to the United States.

The document was first reported on by The Washington Post and is part of planning efforts for downsizing the federal government.

The administration earlier this year suspended payments to State Department grantees, leaving exchange students struggling to pay rent, colleges searching for stopgap funding, and groups that administer the programs facing layoffs. Most grants were later restarted.

During his first term, Trump proposed deep cuts to international exchange and education programming, but the funds were restored by Congress.

Judge blocks Florida foreign-influence law

A federal judge has temporarily blocked a Florida law that prevents public colleges from hiring graduate students and scholars from foreign “countries of concern.” The state’s attorney general is appealing the ruling.

The foreign-influence law, approved in 2023, restricts Florida institutions from hiring people from seven countries of concern, including China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria, and Venezuela. A pair of graduate students and a professor filed a legal challenge, saying that the law is discriminatory, unconstitutional, and overrides federal authority for immigration, national security, and foreign affairs. The judge agreed, saying the law requires the state to conduct an independent national-security threat assessment that could be in conflict with federal-government judgments.

In a motion appealing the decision and seeking to put the injunction on hold, state officials said the Florida measure is “fully consistent” with federal rules.

New College of Florida, the state’s public liberal-arts college, recently invoked the law in firing a Chinese-language professor.

Around the globe

A sign-on letter from Asian American Scholar Forum expresses concern about the abrupt firing of a professor at Indiana University at Bloomington whose home was searched by the FBI. The letter questions whether such action could be a return of the China Initiative, the federal investigation of academic and economic ties with China during the first Trump administration.

The National Institutes of Health has barred scientists working in China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela from accessing certain biomedical databases.

U.S. senators have introduced legislation that mirrors a measure that passed the U.S. House of Representatives to increase requirements for colleges to report funds from overseas.

A bipartisan bill would make it easier for international graduates from American colleges in advanced STEM fields to gain permanent residence.

A key House committee gave approval for a bill that would block colleges that host Confucius Institutes, Chinese-supported language and cultural centers, or have relationships with any “Chinese entities of concern” from receiving any funding from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

A Nigerian man has pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining a student visa and admission to a doctoral program at the University of Missouri as part of a romance-fraud scheme.

Legislation introduced in New Zealand could mandate institutional neutrality at all colleges.

Fudan University, one of the most prestigious institutions in China, plans deep cuts to enrollments in liberal arts and humanities.

An American academic was arrested in Thailand on charges of insulting the country’s monarchy, which could result in a sentence of up to 15 years.

A Lithuanian college has apologized and removed promotional materials for its Russian-studies program after students raised objections.

Dutch universities plan a lawsuit challenging deep cuts to higher-education spending.

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