An Open Letter to SRU International Students

July 13, 2020

Dear SRU International Community:

As many of you are aware, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has decided to enforce the visa regulation that prohibits international students from remaining at a college or university if classes are offered exclusively in an online format.

This policy is a reversal of a temporary exemption that allowed international students to take a fully online course load during spring and summer 2020 semesters - a measure that was taken to protect our entire community from health and safety risks brought about by the global pandemic.

   BEHRE

Slippery Rock University is an international education destination with students hailing from dozens of countries from around the world. We cherish each of you and all that you bring to our campus. You are integral parts of our community and we value your voices and contributions. As such, I want you to know that you are welcome and we will continue to help you achieve your educational goals. We encourage you to enroll in multimodal courses in the fall. These courses are SRU's version of hybrid education, which is allowable under current regulations.

SRU will continue to stand by you and oppose any measures that would limit your ability to pursue your education. As such, we are doing everything in our power to ensure your ability to continue your studies safely.

The Office for Global Engagement will regularly reach out to our international community regarding this issue. Should you want to communicate directly with the OGE, Sam Heikinen, associate vice president for global engagement (samuel.heikinen@sru.edu) and Noora Alie, assistant director for international student services (noora.alie@sru.edu) are available to address your concerns.

We ask that international students pay special attention to emails received from the OGE as those will provide guidance during this time as they continue to monitor this on-going situation.

Best,

William J. Behre, Ph.D.
President