A Message from President Casey in support of our international students

Dear McDaniel Community,

Earlier this week, the Department of Homeland Security issued a new rule prohibiting international students from returning to or remaining in the United States if they are enrolled in online-only instruction for the fall semester. I want to assure our campus community that immediately after this announcement, we began working with our international students who could be impacted by this decision.

Unlike other institutions, we are fortunate that our current plan for the fall includes a combination of course modality for our undergraduate students. This has allowed us to work directly with our international students, prior to today’s deadline for academic schedule changes, to make sure that they are enrolled in in-person instruction for the fall semester. In terms of our graduate students, we are also working to ensure that they can continue with their plans for instruction in the fall. Although there are still unanswered questions, we continue to work individually with all of our currently enrolled international students to determine what works best for each of their situations.

McDaniel also stands in support of statements issued by our national higher education associations, including NAICU and ACE. This new policy serves no real purpose other than to cause confusion among international students and puts their health and safety at risk.

Please know that we are continuing to closely monitor this issue, including the lawsuit filed by Harvard and MIT. We are also beginning to explore options to allow international students to stay on campus if alternative arrangements need to be made this semester due to COVID-19.

McDaniel is proud of its commitment to global engagement and we will continue to support and advocate on behalf of our international students.  

Sincerely,

President Roger Casey