<div dir="ltr"><div dir="auto">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.<div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">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.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">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 <a href="https://cccc.ncte.org/cccc/cccc-and-cwpa-joint-statement-in-response-to-the-covid-19-pandemic">NCTE/CCCC</a> about possible responses? </div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">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. <br></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">This move is also the latest in an inhumane policy trajectory, and if left unanswered it won't be the last instance. </div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">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.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">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. </div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div>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. </div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Regards to all despite the relentless nonsense of this era,</div><div dir="auto">Keisha</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Keisha E. McKenzie, PhD</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div class="gmail_quote" dir="auto"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Tue, Jul 7, 2020, 3:26 PM Savage, Gerald <<a href="mailto:gjsavag@ilstu.edu" target="_blank">gjsavag@ilstu.edu</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
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Thanks, Sam. Obfuscation must be a highly prized talent at Homeland Security. <br>
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Jerry<br>
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<div id="m_5220664170962853371m_-8190259307101723811divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size:11pt" color="#000000"><b>From:</b> ATTW-L <<a href="mailto:attw-l-bounces@attw.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">attw-l-bounces@attw.org</a>> on behalf of Dragga, Sam <<a href="mailto:Sam.Dragga@ttu.edu" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Sam.Dragga@ttu.edu</a>><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, July 7, 2020 2:52 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:attw-l@attw.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">attw-l@attw.org</a> <<a href="mailto:attw-l@attw.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">attw-l@attw.org</a>><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [ATTW-L] the ICE memo on international students</font>
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<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt">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 (<a href="https://www.ice.gov/doclib/sevis/pdf/bcm2007-01.pdf" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.ice.gov/doclib/sevis/pdf/bcm2007-01.pdf</a>).
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<p>The memo explains to college administrators that their international (nonimmigrant) students must<b><i>
</i></b>take either onsite courses or a mix of onsite and online courses in the Fall 2020 semester to remain in the United States.</p>
<p>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). </p>
<p>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]: </p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><i>If a school changes its operational stance mid-semester, and as a result a nonimmigrant student switches to only online classes,</i> 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.</p>
<p>Sam<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"TimesNewRomanPSMT",serif"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Sam Dragga</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Professor Emeritus, Texas Tech University</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Editor,
<i>Technical Communication</i> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><a href="mailto:sam.dragga@ttu.edu" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">sam.dragga@ttu.edu</a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">1-806-543-6099</span></p>
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