With the second travel ban issued by President Donald J. Trump being held in abeyance, colleges and universities are urging a federal court that will hear the case to consider how the ban will undermine diversity in higher education.
“We are concerned that the executive order could limit our ability to attract quality students and faculty from around the world who enhance our educational experience, enrich our culture, and contribute to the economy,” said Mary Jeka, senior vice president of university relations and general counsel for Tufts University.
The recently filed amicus brief — known as a “friend of the court” brief and filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit — lays out the manifold ways in which the travel ban contravenes the global mission of America’s higher education enterprise. It was filed by 31 top-tier universities that range from Georgetown to Stanford
“It would be absurd for us to believe that we could solve problems for the world without being of the world, open to the world, and learning from and with colleagues from around the world, in a substantial way,” said L. Rafael Reif, president of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, one of the universities that joined the brief. Reif noted that more than 40 percent of MIT’s faculty and graduate students, respectively, were born outside the U.S.
“When we bump into each other, intellectually — with our different life experiences, educational backgrounds, cultures and perspectives — we push each other to think in new ways and see more clearly,” Reif said in a statement provided to Diverse.
The travel ban sought to suspend entry into the United States of nationals of six Muslim-majority countries — Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen — for a period of 90 days.
Two federal judges have blocked the ban — as did a federal judge with the first iteration of the travel ban, which included Iraq.
