[ATTW-L] the ICE memo on international students

Wed Jul 8 17:10:14 UTC 2020

Our provost's message (excerpted) today:

"Our Global Affairs team and The Graduate School are working swiftly with other University partners to study these new restrictions and develop guidance and strategies to do all we can to allow our international students to continue their studies as smoothly as possible. We are also seeking congressional and legal assistance to have this directive reversed and be consistent with previous directives for online learning for international students during the pandemic. We will be in touch as we know more but please know now that we are distressed by these developments and we are exploring additional avenues that we may be able to use to assist affected students."

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From: ATTW-L <attw-l-bounces at attw.org> on behalf of Dragga, Sam <Sam.Dragga at ttu.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, July 8, 2020 12:21:36 PM
To: attw-l at attw.org <attw-l at attw.org>
Subject: Re: [ATTW-L] the ICE memo on international students

*Message sent from a system outside of UConn.*

Instructors might also review how their institutions are addressing the new ICE policy.  For example, mine is voicing only patient compliance (https://www.depts.ttu.edu/international/news/2020/temporary-exemptions-for-nonimmigrant-students.php<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.depts.ttu.edu%2Finternational%2Fnews%2F2020%2Ftemporary-exemptions-for-nonimmigrant-students.php&data=02%7C01%7Cthomas.l.long%40uconn.edu%7C71eb6a0a9f304849795908d8235b3d0d%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C1%7C637298222063749137&sdata=iNIOyF6%2Frfg0HlRooxkcCpbY4zn70M15trfRNNpI2FI%3D&reserved=0>) while Harvard is offering vigorous resistance (https://www.harvard.edu/president/news/2020/supporting-international-students<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.harvard.edu%2Fpresident%2Fnews%2F2020%2Fsupporting-international-students&data=02%7C01%7Cthomas.l.long%40uconn.edu%7C71eb6a0a9f304849795908d8235b3d0d%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C1%7C637298222063759134&sdata=TaAOlF12J2tfrUhu2r4vdRtBK0b0Ch1gGFZ3wNZKIAc%3D&reserved=0>).

Sam

Sam Dragga

Professor Emeritus, Texas Tech University

Editor, Technical Communication

sam.dragga at ttu.edu

1-806-543-6099

From: Huiling Ding <hding at ncsu.edu>
Date: Wednesday, July 8, 2020 at 6:34 AM
Cc: "Savage, Gerald" <gjsavag at ilstu.edu>, Sam Dragga <Sam.Dragga at ttu.edu>, "attw-l at attw.org" <attw-l at attw.org>
Subject: Re: [ATTW-L] the ICE memo on international students

Dear colleagues,

Thank you for keeping this important discussion going and for supporting our international students at a worst time who are forced to choose between possible risky exposure or deportation. As we all know, public health crises are often political. COVID-19 clearly shows the socio-economic and geo-political dimensions of pandemics.

One of my colleagues at NC State shared a national petition from faculty at four-year colleges titled "Open Letter Against the Student Ban," which has gathered over ten thousand signatures. If you want to take a look, here is the url:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScnWNY7Qk-zW4mZKupEyCgswrNdtU8FX6QDWc_ZCmBI5OjqTA/viewform?fbclid=IwAR1MjaFEfTEpCXiZM6NkxjQHl9WmInsQcffyLKxeUu7rXOCD4r49b11l8Hk&edit_requested=true&usp=embed_facebook<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2Fforms%2Fd%2Fe%2F1FAIpQLScnWNY7Qk-zW4mZKupEyCgswrNdtU8FX6QDWc_ZCmBI5OjqTA%2Fviewform%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR1MjaFEfTEpCXiZM6NkxjQHl9WmInsQcffyLKxeUu7rXOCD4r49b11l8Hk%26edit_requested%3Dtrue%26usp%3Dembed_facebook&data=02%7C01%7Cthomas.l.long%40uconn.edu%7C71eb6a0a9f304849795908d8235b3d0d%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C1%7C637298222063759134&sdata=5JBT5Pp9v%2FaaI7omsrqk%2BrqWKWxksWI1GFiWhKokLsg%3D&reserved=0>

Thank you all for your support for our international students and best wishes.

Huiling

On Tue, Jul 7, 2020 at 10:15 PM Long, Thomas <thomas.l.long at uconn.edu<mailto:thomas.l.long at uconn.edu>> wrote:

Well said, Dr. McKenzie, and I hope we take  your admonition to heart.

Cruelty in the current regime is a design feature, not a design flaw.

Tom

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Thomas Lawrence Long, PhD

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From: Keisha E. McKenzie<mailto:k.e.mckenzie at gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 7, 2020 8:57 PM
To: Savage, Gerald<mailto:gjsavag at ilstu.edu>; Sam Dragga<mailto:sam.dragga at ttu.edu>
Cc: attw-l at attw.org<mailto:attw-l at attw.org>
Subject: Re: [ATTW-L] the ICE memo on international students

*Message sent from a system outside of UConn.*

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://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcccc.ncte.org%2Fcccc%2Fcccc-and-cwpa-joint-statement-in-response-to-the-covid-19-pandemic&data=02%7C01%7Cthomas.l.long%40uconn.edu%7C71eb6a0a9f304849795908d8235b3d0d%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C1%7C637298222063779120&sdata=JIhZRDsYCTv%2BF1g6a7gJhZ1vWeQCZawI7TtXg4Tkdto%3D&reserved=0> 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<mailto: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<mailto:attw-l-bounces at attw.org>> on behalf of Dragga, Sam <Sam.Dragga at ttu.edu<mailto:Sam.Dragga at ttu.edu>>
Sent: Tuesday, July 7, 2020 2:52 PM
To: attw-l at attw.org<mailto:attw-l at attw.org> <attw-l at attw.org<mailto: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<mailto: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<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ice.gov%2Fdoclib%2Fsevis%2Fpdf%2Fbcm2007-01.pdf&data=02%7C01%7Cthomas.l.long%40uconn.edu%7C71eb6a0a9f304849795908d8235b3d0d%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C1%7C637298222063779120&sdata=eMbqJXAOM0l4PmGoAAVSHtId49ySAthxqS2F%2F%2BiH%2BYU%3D&reserved=0>).

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<mailto:sam.dragga at ttu.edu>

1-806-543-6099

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--

Huiling Ding

Associate Professor of Technical Communication and Rhetoric

Director, MS in Technical Communication

Department of English

NC State University
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