[ATTW-L] the ICE memo on international students

[Keisha E. McKenzie]

Dear Jerry: as a former international student, I can't confirm whether
obfuscation is prized at DHS but can confirm that DHS departments are
exceptional at obfuscation! Options for non-citizens have also narrowed
considerably in the last half-decade.

Sam: thank you for sharing this memo. It's worth analysis as an instance of
executive branch communication and I appreciate the invitation to read it
as such.

I also read it as a prompt for academics and program administrators to
speak and act against the temporary final rule itself. Could this be a time
for ATTW to coordinate with other professional organizations like NCTE/CCCC
<https://cccc.ncte.org/cccc/cccc-and-cwpa-joint-statement-in-response-to-the-covid-19-pandemic>
about
possible responses?

All: The procedures in the memo force international students to choose
between COVID-19 exposure and the risk of deportation. Encouraging school
transfers or travel out of the country mid-pandemic means endangering
students, instructors, professors, and their families and communities here
and abroad.

This move is also the latest in an inhumane policy trajectory, and if left
unanswered it won't be the last instance.

I urge those of you who are citizens and who teach, advise, or work
alongside non-citizen students or colleagues to engage your campus
administrators and international student offices with as much energy as you
can and as quickly as you can.

Please engage, not merely to protect departmental budgets or labor forces,
but because it is unethical to sacrifice people as this policy requires and
there's at least a 30-year tradition in technical communication scholarship
that points us to that conclusion.

Thank you to each of you who has spent the last four months pivoting,
adapting, and trying to preserve educational options for your students.
They need your continued advocacy now.

Regards to all despite the relentless nonsense of this era,
Keisha

Keisha E. McKenzie, PhD

On Tue, Jul 7, 2020, 3:26 PM Savage, Gerald <gjsavag at ilstu.edu> wrote:

> Thanks, Sam. Obfuscation must be a highly prized talent at Homeland
> Security.
>
> Jerry
> ------------------------------
> *From:* ATTW-L <attw-l-bounces at attw.org> on behalf of Dragga, Sam <
> Sam.Dragga at ttu.edu>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, July 7, 2020 2:52 PM
> *To:* attw-l at attw.org <attw-l at attw.org>
> *Subject:* [ATTW-L] the ICE memo on international students
>
> [This message came from an external source. If suspicious, report to
> abuse at ilstu.edu]
>
> If you are looking for a striking example of technical writing with a
> direct impact on your classrooms, consider the memo released yesterday by
> the US Department of Homeland Security (
> https://www.ice.gov/doclib/sevis/pdf/bcm2007-01.pdf).
>
> The memo explains to college administrators that their international
> (nonimmigrant) students must take either onsite courses or a mix of
> onsite and online courses in the Fall 2020 semester to remain in the United
> States.
>
> In addition to raising awareness of the extraordinary conditions for
> international students, the memo offers the opportunity to discuss clarity
> in writing (e.g., note the 33-word opening sentence in the 116-word opening
> paragraph but also the headings and numbered or bulleted lists).
>
> And given the experience of the Spring 2020 semester and the ongoing
> COVID-19 crisis, the memo raises ethical questions about putting the
> following key piece of information in a 63-word sentence in the middle of a
> 151-word paragraph on page 2 of a 3-page memo [italics mine]:
>
> *If a school changes its operational stance mid-semester, and as a result
> a nonimmigrant student switches to only online classes,* or a
> nonimmigrant student changes their course selections, and as a result, ends
> up taking an entirely online course load, schools are reminded that
> nonimmigrant students within the United States are not permitted to take a
> full course of study through online classes.
>
> Sam
>
> Sam Dragga
>
> Professor Emeritus, Texas Tech University
>
> Editor, *Technical Communication*
>
> sam.dragga at ttu.edu
>
> 1-806-543-6099
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> ATTW-L mailing list
> ATTW-L at attw.org
> http://attw.org/mailman/listinfo/attw-l_attw.org
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://attw.org/pipermail/attw-l_attw.org/attachments/20200707/9c4a2462/attachment-0002.htm>