Editorial
Newsday
IT USED to be the case that this country had a tradition of sending some of its best and brightest to study in the US. Not any more.
Without even setting foot in America, prospective university students have become caught up in the quagmire of the Trump administration.
One of the biggest casualties of that administration’s crackdown on immigration has been international students.
Revoked have been the visas of thousands. Some have been detained by masked ICE agents on the sidewalk. Many are being targeted as part of an ostensible effort against a range of ills, from anti-Semitism to campus “destabilisation.”
But a May 27 US State Department freeze on student visa interviews hints at an even wider vista of policing.
All such interviews are paused pending “an expansion of required social media screening and vetting.” A Trump administration official has said students studying “critical fields” are being axed. No one is certain what that means.
Donald Trump’s war on pupils cannot be separated from his war on universities. Initially about protests, his effort has mushroomed into one that stymies dissent and has a chill effect; he seeks to starve Harvard University of funding because of a refusal to carry out directives.
Universities are free-speech bastions. Acting as potential obstacles to radical right-wing dogma are such institutions, where pesky subjects like critical race theory and history are taught. The ending of affirmative action and Mr Trump’s abolition of the Department of Education are part of a wider push.
For nationals desirous of studying in America, this is disturbing enough. For those who planned to enrol this year, the visa pause is devastating. It guarantees processing may not be completed in time.
But out of the ashes of this situation is a window of opportunity locally, if officials can get their house in order.
Tertiary Education Minister Prakash Persad correctly believes the fallout can benefit TT universities.
“They can expand their offerings to encourage more students,” he recently told this newspaper.
Others have called for an end to the kangkatang between government officials and campus administrators over the fate of the UWI Debe campus, once earmarked for law, now for medicine.
“Instead of us quarrelling about Debe,” said politician David Abdulah on June 1, “why don’t we think about seizing the opportunity?”
As former UWI principal Prof Emeritus Brian Copeland observed on May 24, “A faculty of law could co-exist with a global school of medicine.”
These are practical recommendations that should be taken seriously. Two birds could be killed with one stone: UWI gains revenue and the brain drain is stemmed.
Mr Trump’s chaotic war with educators should not be emulated here. On the contrary, it should inspire co-operation.
