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

[Anonymous]

Endgame: convince most non white internationals to go elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Things are indeed messed up but why would you export your kids to another smaller, less influential country? Political mayhem isn't going to touch undergrad core courses at a SLAC.

This kind of talk reminds me of Americans who say they're going to move to another country because of Trump. I think that only makes sense in very rare circumstances.

Other American kids will just get the opportunities your kids were too afraid to pursue.

[Anonymous]

PP. I also want to point out that my dad has a PhD in physics and worked on alternative energy and weapons research.

Unless your kids are headed to China, what better country is there? Unless you're counting on EU/UK defense budget spending to pick up. Physics is often funded by nation states for defense reasons.

You can't be part of the resistance if you've fled.

[Anonymous]

If you want to see how arbitrary the deportations of foreign students in this country can be, read this story of a PhD student from Japan who goes to BYU. His student visa was revoked due to a fishing license violation, which was dismissed by a judge. The student is a Mormon to boot, not a group exactly known for political rabble rousing or poor behavior.

“[His lawyer] told the Deseret News that his client went on a 2019 fishing activity with his Latter-day Saint ward. “He didn’t catch a fish — but because he was the organizer or the face of the activity, (Onda) was cited for harvesting more than their license permitted.”
Onda went to court, the attorney added, “but the prosecutor was like, ‘Yeah, we’re dismissing this’ — and it was dismissed.

https://www.deseret.com/utah/2025/04/16/byu-grad-student-has-student-visa-revoked/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Less educated population. Less critical thinking. Fewer places for people to pursue intellectual and liberal ideas. All leads to better control of the population and easier for authoritarians. Taking international students away takes their $$ away and makes universities more susceptible to having to comply with things for $

Elite universities have so diminished themselves, they are little more than ridiculous indoctrination centers for the left.

Start here:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudine_Gay

The funny thing about those who sling “indoctrination” mud is that they almost invariably seek only to replace the indoctrination content with their own racist, intolerant, outdated belief system.

[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.

You are either a troll or a pawn in the scheme to divide the country.

[Anonymous]

Endgame: make them stop enabling anti-semites and hosting foreigners that break our laws.

[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.

You are either a troll or a pawn in the scheme to divide the country.

No - you just live in a bubble. Plenty have been looking at Harvard and other elite unis with utter disgust and wondering why we are subsidizing this crap.

[Anonymous]

The endgame is two fold - to open more spaces at these universities for AMERICAN students. Isn't that what this forum is constantly complaining about? Also, to remove students who are antisemitic or advocating against American values. The kids that are having their visas revoked for "speeding tickets" were probably flagged for anti-American social media content or speech.

[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.

You are either a troll or a pawn in the scheme to divide the country.

Defund habitual racist Harvard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You are either a troll or a pawn in the scheme to divide the country.

No - you just live in a bubble. Plenty have been looking at Harvard and other elite unis with utter disgust and wondering why we are subsidizing this crap.

Taxpayers are primarily subsidizing medical and scientific research at private colleges.This is work the government would take on but it’s more efficient and effective to contract it out to institutions with the expertise and infrastructure, rather than trying to scale up to do it in-house. You all seem to think taxpayers are funding the colleges themselves, and that’s just not the case. They are being paid to do certain work that benefits the government and, by extension, the American people and country as a whole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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. And yet our declining quality of public education was cheered on for 4 years under Biden, while the “department of education” did nothing beyond pushing DEI and funding ridiculous research on more initiatives in the same vein of Lucy Calkins, whole language, “equity math,” de tracking, common core, etc.

The left is leading our declining PISA standing.

And yet Republican states have the worst education performance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Less educated population. Less critical thinking. Fewer places for people to pursue intellectual and liberal ideas. All leads to better control of the population and easier for authoritarians. Taking international students away takes their $$ away and makes universities more susceptible to having to comply with things for $

Elite universities have so diminished themselves, they are little more than ridiculous indoctrination centers for the left.

Start here:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudine_Gay

Spoken like a true stated education underachiever

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You are either a troll or a pawn in the scheme to divide the country.

No - you just live in a bubble. Plenty have been looking at Harvard and other elite unis with utter disgust and wondering why we are subsidizing this crap.

Specially the ones like you whose kid has zero chance of being admitted….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The endgame is two fold - to open more spaces at these universities for AMERICAN students. Isn't that what this forum is constantly complaining about? Also, to remove students who are antisemitic or advocating against American values. The kids that are having their visas revoked for "speeding tickets" were probably flagged for anti-American social media content or speech.

Does project 2025 actually say that they want to sub all the international spots for homegrown American citizens? I have never heard that was the plan.