What is the endgame for current attack on elite unis + international students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Between the learning loss during Covid and the clear attempts to de-emphasize education, both at the K-12 level and universities, we are seeing the dumbing down of America. It is scary. We are increasingly having rule of the idiot class.

Praying that we can survive as a nation until future elections and that we will have fair elections.

Were things perfect before? Heck no. But this is an extreme pivot in the opposite direction and an extreme over-reaction. But MAGA nation does not believe in incrementalism. They exist only to "stick it to the libs." And to "win."

Well, they are winning. And they will pay the price.

And no, I'm not over-reacting. I actually care about the total well-being of other people. They don't.

Awaiting an attack in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

The dumbing down of America is being led by the left. Abolishing gifted and talented programs, “test optional” , replacing phonics with Lucy Calkins, “equity math,” so-called de-tracking, inclusion of unstable and violent kids in regular classes, Obama’s “dear colleagues” letter (google it).

The left is destroying education in the USA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Between the learning loss during Covid and the clear attempts to de-emphasize education, both at the K-12 level and universities, we are seeing the dumbing down of America. It is scary. We are increasingly having rule of the idiot class.

Praying that we can survive as a nation until future elections and that we will have fair elections.

Were things perfect before? Heck no. But this is an extreme pivot in the opposite direction and an extreme over-reaction. But MAGA nation does not believe in incrementalism. They exist only to "stick it to the libs." And to "win."

Well, they are winning. And they will pay the price.

And no, I'm not over-reacting. I actually care about the total well-being of other people. They don't.

Awaiting an attack in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

The dumbing down of America is being led by the left. Abolishing gifted and talented programs, “test optional” , replacing phonics with Lucy Calkins, “equity math,” so-called de-tracking, inclusion of unstable and violent kids in regular classes, Obama’s “dear colleagues” letter (google it).

The left is destroying education in the USA.

We score practically dead last in PISA out of all developed countries while spending the most amount per student.

Much of the federal funds are wasted through fraud and corruption.

[Anonymous]

We love the distinctively American institution of the liberal arts college, and our kid was accepted to several of the best LACs last month (including Williams and HMC — probably the two best to pursue his interest in physics toward his goal of an eventual PhD). It’s agonizing for his parents, but it’s becoming clearer with each passing day that he should attend none of these but instead go abroad, where he also has options (though not as good, academically). I know it’s part of the plan to force kids like ours out of the country. His younger brother is next; I doubt either will ever return to the US. They’ve got ‘liberal’ sensibilities — so I suppose good riddance to them (as if that were a crime). And they’re happy, even eager to leave at this point. It’s heartbreaking, but they’ve completely given up on the country and see their futures elsewhere. And so the parents too have to adjust. It’s no longer the world it was before January 20th.

[Anonymous]

I was a foreign student advisor in a large East Coast university for many years and am appalled by the open and unapologetic attack on foreign students. I have thought long and hard about this issue and have some ideas on what it's really about. Sorry for the long post, but I hope some of you will take a moment to read it.

At first I thought it was just a part of an overall effort to bring a handful of "elite" institutions to heel in the guise of addressing anti-semitism and DEI. But as I dug further, I learned that:
--it's not just the usual suspects such as Columbia, Harvard, and other Ivy League universities that are being targeted nor are students being targeted just for anti-semitism. In fact, over 80 U.S. colleges and universities have had international students or recent alumni subjected to visa revocations, detentions, or deportations under the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.In our own backyard, foreign students have been asked to leave GMU, UVA, and UMD, just to name a few.
--increasingly, there is 1) ZERO reason given for these actions or 2) the reason given by ICE is "Other" with no explanation given.
--increasingly, the students are not just Muslims, but also from a range of other countries.

To answer the OP's question about "what is the endgame," I would say these are some of the main motivations/objectives:

1) Nationalism/populist messaging to the base—“We’re protecting Americans from foreigners who want to take over our country, take our kids’ spots in universities, take our jobs, etc.”
2) Ideological control – threatening to deport foreign students or limit universities’ ability to enroll foreign students is a way to control universities and the educated class in general (the “elites”) and to limit dissent, a key tactic in authoritarianism (see Orban’s efforts to exert government control over public universities in Hungary, https://apnews.com/article/hungary-business-government-and-politics-europe-education-9b76dce30164e77be1c3a2fe47db8bfa)
3) Voter distraction and political theater. Whip up the base and their anti-foreigner impulses and hope they don’t notice the tanking economy, the Trump administration’s inability to meet its economic promises (lower grocery prices, lower housing costs, etc) and scandals like Signalgate.
4) Furthering the anti-globalization and anti-multiculturalism stance of the government. Attacking foreign students is a part of a larger project to disconnect the US from the rest of the world. This includes withdrawing the US from multinational organizations, imposing punishing tariffs on every country in the world, promoting anti-globalization rhetoric, and rejecting multiculturalism. Foreign students on US campuses are a tangible and potent symbol of multiculturalism and interconnectedness to the rest of the world.

[Anonymous]

Former foreign student advisor above hits the nail on the head. Thank you for taking the time to share.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a foreign student advisor in a large East Coast university for many years and am appalled by the open and unapologetic attack on foreign students. I have thought long and hard about this issue and have some ideas on what it's really about. Sorry for the long post, but I hope some of you will take a moment to read it.

At first I thought it was just a part of an overall effort to bring a handful of "elite" institutions to heel in the guise of addressing anti-semitism and DEI. But as I dug further, I learned that:
--it's not just the usual suspects such as Columbia, Harvard, and other Ivy League universities that are being targeted nor are students being targeted just for anti-semitism. In fact, over 80 U.S. colleges and universities have had international students or recent alumni subjected to visa revocations, detentions, or deportations under the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.In our own backyard, foreign students have been asked to leave GMU, UVA, and UMD, just to name a few.
--increasingly, there is 1) ZERO reason given for these actions or 2) the reason given by ICE is "Other" with no explanation given.
--increasingly, the students are not just Muslims, but also from a range of other countries.

To answer the OP's question about "what is the endgame," I would say these are some of the main motivations/objectives:

1) Nationalism/populist messaging to the base—“We’re protecting Americans from foreigners who want to take over our country, take our kids’ spots in universities, take our jobs, etc.”
2) Ideological control – threatening to deport foreign students or limit universities’ ability to enroll foreign students is a way to control universities and the educated class in general (the “elites”) and to limit dissent, a key tactic in authoritarianism (see Orban’s efforts to exert government control over public universities in Hungary, https://apnews.com/article/hungary-business-government-and-politics-europe-education-9b76dce30164e77be1c3a2fe47db8bfa)
3) Voter distraction and political theater. Whip up the base and their anti-foreigner impulses and hope they don’t notice the tanking economy, the Trump administration’s inability to meet its economic promises (lower grocery prices, lower housing costs, etc) and scandals like Signalgate.
4) Furthering the anti-globalization and anti-multiculturalism stance of the government. Attacking foreign students is a part of a larger project to disconnect the US from the rest of the world. This includes withdrawing the US from multinational organizations, imposing punishing tariffs on every country in the world, promoting anti-globalization rhetoric, and rejecting multiculturalism. Foreign students on US campuses are a tangible and potent symbol of multiculturalism and interconnectedness to the rest of the world.

Defund racist Harvard.

[Anonymous]

They would rather spread hatred towards Jewish and Asian students than comply with federal laws and receive funds.

Their participation in federal student aid programs should be revoked in addition to elimination of all federal funds and revocation of tax exempt status.

[Anonymous]

Former consular officer here. Most of the visa fraud isn’t involving students at elite universities. If you wanted to come to the us for the purposes of doing something illegal, overstaying your visa, etc you would more likely enroll in some sort of open admissions diploma mill or a very large state university. The visa fraud students use it as an entrance ticket to get into the is where they then stop going to class and disappear. They don’t stick around to attend graduate seminars. Trump is going after the wrong people and the wrong institutions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former consular officer here. Most of the visa fraud isn’t involving students at elite universities. If you wanted to come to the us for the purposes of doing something illegal, overstaying your visa, etc you would more likely enroll in some sort of open admissions diploma mill or a very large state university. The visa fraud students use it as an entrance ticket to get into the is where they then stop going to class and disappear. They don’t stick around to attend graduate seminars. Trump is going after the wrong people and the wrong institutions.

There are plenty of immigration fraud cases at top universities as well.

There is more theft of IP at top universities by foreign students and more anti American activities at top universities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former consular officer here. Most of the visa fraud isn’t involving students at elite universities. If you wanted to come to the us for the purposes of doing something illegal, overstaying your visa, etc you would more likely enroll in some sort of open admissions diploma mill or a very large state university. The visa fraud students use it as an entrance ticket to get into the is where they then stop going to class and disappear. They don’t stick around to attend graduate seminars. Trump is going after the wrong people and the wrong institutions.

Excellent points. Ironically, the most prominent individual who committed student visa fraud is Elon Musk, who entered the country in 1995 on a student visa to attend Stanford University but did not enroll or attend classes and instead began working on his startup, Zip2.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a foreign student advisor in a large East Coast university for many years and am appalled by the open and unapologetic attack on foreign students. I have thought long and hard about this issue and have some ideas on what it's really about. Sorry for the long post, but I hope some of you will take a moment to read it.

At first I thought it was just a part of an overall effort to bring a handful of "elite" institutions to heel in the guise of addressing anti-semitism and DEI. But as I dug further, I learned that:
--it's not just the usual suspects such as Columbia, Harvard, and other Ivy League universities that are being targeted nor are students being targeted just for anti-semitism. In fact, over 80 U.S. colleges and universities have had international students or recent alumni subjected to visa revocations, detentions, or deportations under the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.In our own backyard, foreign students have been asked to leave GMU, UVA, and UMD, just to name a few.
--increasingly, there is 1) ZERO reason given for these actions or 2) the reason given by ICE is "Other" with no explanation given.
--increasingly, the students are not just Muslims, but also from a range of other countries.

To answer the OP's question about "what is the endgame," I would say these are some of the main motivations/objectives:

1) Nationalism/populist messaging to the base—“We’re protecting Americans from foreigners who want to take over our country, take our kids’ spots in universities, take our jobs, etc.”
2) Ideological control – threatening to deport foreign students or limit universities’ ability to enroll foreign students is a way to control universities and the educated class in general (the “elites”) and to limit dissent, a key tactic in authoritarianism (see Orban’s efforts to exert government control over public universities in Hungary, https://apnews.com/article/hungary-business-government-and-politics-europe-education-9b76dce30164e77be1c3a2fe47db8bfa)
3) Voter distraction and political theater. Whip up the base and their anti-foreigner impulses and hope they don’t notice the tanking economy, the Trump administration’s inability to meet its economic promises (lower grocery prices, lower housing costs, etc) and scandals like Signalgate.
4) Furthering the anti-globalization and anti-multiculturalism stance of the government. Attacking foreign students is a part of a larger project to disconnect the US from the rest of the world. This includes withdrawing the US from multinational organizations, imposing punishing tariffs on every country in the world, promoting anti-globalization rhetoric, and rejecting multiculturalism. Foreign students on US campuses are a tangible and potent symbol of multiculturalism and interconnectedness to the rest of the world.

Defund racist Harvard.

Block MAGA bots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a foreign student advisor in a large East Coast university for many years and am appalled by the open and unapologetic attack on foreign students. I have thought long and hard about this issue and have some ideas on what it's really about. Sorry for the long post, but I hope some of you will take a moment to read it.

At first I thought it was just a part of an overall effort to bring a handful of "elite" institutions to heel in the guise of addressing anti-semitism and DEI. But as I dug further, I learned that:
--it's not just the usual suspects such as Columbia, Harvard, and other Ivy League universities that are being targeted nor are students being targeted just for anti-semitism. In fact, over 80 U.S. colleges and universities have had international students or recent alumni subjected to visa revocations, detentions, or deportations under the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.In our own backyard, foreign students have been asked to leave GMU, UVA, and UMD, just to name a few.
--increasingly, there is 1) ZERO reason given for these actions or 2) the reason given by ICE is "Other" with no explanation given.
--increasingly, the students are not just Muslims, but also from a range of other countries.

To answer the OP's question about "what is the endgame," I would say these are some of the main motivations/objectives:

1) Nationalism/populist messaging to the base—“We’re protecting Americans from foreigners who want to take over our country, take our kids’ spots in universities, take our jobs, etc.”
2) Ideological control – threatening to deport foreign students or limit universities’ ability to enroll foreign students is a way to control universities and the educated class in general (the “elites”) and to limit dissent, a key tactic in authoritarianism (see Orban’s efforts to exert government control over public universities in Hungary, https://apnews.com/article/hungary-business-government-and-politics-europe-education-9b76dce30164e77be1c3a2fe47db8bfa)
3) Voter distraction and political theater. Whip up the base and their anti-foreigner impulses and hope they don’t notice the tanking economy, the Trump administration’s inability to meet its economic promises (lower grocery prices, lower housing costs, etc) and scandals like Signalgate.
4) Furthering the anti-globalization and anti-multiculturalism stance of the government. Attacking foreign students is a part of a larger project to disconnect the US from the rest of the world. This includes withdrawing the US from multinational organizations, imposing punishing tariffs on every country in the world, promoting anti-globalization rhetoric, and rejecting multiculturalism. Foreign students on US campuses are a tangible and potent symbol of multiculturalism and interconnectedness to the rest of the world.

Defund racist Harvard.

Block MAGA bots.

Block racist bots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former consular officer here. Most of the visa fraud isn’t involving students at elite universities. If you wanted to come to the us for the purposes of doing something illegal, overstaying your visa, etc you would more likely enroll in some sort of open admissions diploma mill or a very large state university. The visa fraud students use it as an entrance ticket to get into the is where they then stop going to class and disappear. They don’t stick around to attend graduate seminars. Trump is going after the wrong people and the wrong institutions.

Like Musk’s approach to being in the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Between the learning loss during Covid and the clear attempts to de-emphasize education, both at the K-12 level and universities, we are seeing the dumbing down of America. It is scary. We are increasingly having rule of the idiot class.

Praying that we can survive as a nation until future elections and that we will have fair elections.

Were things perfect before? Heck no. But this is an extreme pivot in the opposite direction and an extreme over-reaction. But MAGA nation does not believe in incrementalism. They exist only to "stick it to the libs." And to "win."

Well, they are winning. And they will pay the price.

And no, I'm not over-reacting. I actually care about the total well-being of other people. They don't.

Awaiting an attack in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

The dumbing down of America is being led by the left. Abolishing gifted and talented programs, “test optional” , replacing phonics with Lucy Calkins, “equity math,” so-called de-tracking, inclusion of unstable and violent kids in regular classes, Obama’s “dear colleagues” letter (google it).

The left is destroying education in the USA.

We score practically dead last in PISA out of all developed countries while spending the most amount per student.

Much of the federal funds are wasted through fraud and corruption.

True.

There has been massive bloat of “administrative officials” in school districts across the USA, and much of the federal dollars are funneled into the salaries for these do-nothing school employees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Between the learning loss during Covid and the clear attempts to de-emphasize education, both at the K-12 level and universities, we are seeing the dumbing down of America. It is scary. We are increasingly having rule of the idiot class.

Praying that we can survive as a nation until future elections and that we will have fair elections.

Were things perfect before? Heck no. But this is an extreme pivot in the opposite direction and an extreme over-reaction. But MAGA nation does not believe in incrementalism. They exist only to "stick it to the libs." And to "win."

Well, they are winning. And they will pay the price.

And no, I'm not over-reacting. I actually care about the total well-being of other people. They don't.

Awaiting an attack in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

The dumbing down of America is being led by the left. Abolishing gifted and talented programs, “test optional” , replacing phonics with Lucy Calkins, “equity math,” so-called de-tracking, inclusion of unstable and violent kids in regular classes, Obama’s “dear colleagues” letter (google it).

The left is destroying education in the USA.

We score practically dead last in PISA out of all developed countries while spending the most amount per student.

Much of the federal funds are wasted through fraud and corruption.

I agree with you, PP. Well-said!

There is ample evidence to support your assertion. Check out this thread, from right here on DCUM:

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1245093.page