In early July, more than 70 international students from Carleton and St. Olaf college gathered for a potluck dinner in the barn at a farm out on the edge of Northfield. Students walked through cornfields and played games on the lawn, according to President Alison Byerly who was at the event.
This past summer, approximately 50 international students stayed on the Carleton campus throughout the entire break; many others utilized campus housing for varying lengths of time.
“Everyone who had travel issues and demonstrated financial need [were] able to stay without paying,” said Liz Cody, director of International Student Life (ISL).
According to Byerly, before the late spring announcement that Carleton would be offering free housing, “we had discussions in cabinet,” the senior leadership team of vice presidents who meet weekly. Byerly said that “as it became clear that there would be a lot of immigration concerns for many international students, we talked about the likelihood that more of them would want to stay on campus.”
“And so at that point we announced our willingness to make sure there was going to be space for anybody who wanted to stay,” said Byerly.
A sophomore international student who asked to remain anonymous says the application process for summer housing was accessible. “I know that the Pakistan international students and Indian international students got an email from the Dean saying that in light of the recent events, which was war, traveling might not be possible, so all of us got free housing over the summer.”
“I had to fill out the registration website form but I didn’t have to do anything apart from that,” said the student.
Byerly said the school also provided financial support in the form of student jobs. After the decision to provide summer housing, “a number of offices then got busy trying to create some student jobs.”
The Northfield community was also involved in supporting students. Upon learning about the large number of international students staying on the two campuses due to concerns about travel, a local Northfield family“wanted to be helpful and welcoming.” Together, “they organized a bunch of community members to do a potluck dinner.”
“We had a nice evening at their house,” Byerly said, “And I know, having spoken to a number of town folks who were involved in putting the meal together, they all said how much they really enjoyed having a chance to feel like they were offering a bit of extra support.”
International students themselves express anxiety regarding the situation. “People were scared,” said an ISL peer leader who works with international students. “A lot of people stayed on campus because they’re scared they couldn’t come back.”
“It is a lot of mental pressure knowing that my degree is at risk and my future potentially is also at risk because we […] want to put our U.S. education to good use which might not necessarily be possible for our home countries” a sophomore international student said.
According to the student, “the time I could have spent doing homework, I was looking up on websites across the internet about some resources that could assure me that I won’t be thrown out of this country or that I will be able to complete my degree in peace and that I will be able to get a job afterwards, especially with the H1B headlines coming out yesterday.”
“There seems to be a soft yet widespread resignation in America broadly, and a capitulation by both institutions and companies, to the current state of affairs where there is no real corrective action for the scale of devastation being enacted, which then filters into the day-to-day,” a senior international student said.
The sophomore student said she chose not to travel because of visa concerns.
“By the end of spring term, especially with the India-Pakistan war that happened during spring term, I was really worried, she said. “And I was just not sure if I was going to be let back into the country or not.”
However, the decision to travel or not is personal to the student. According to Byerly, “Students from different countries have different levels of concern. Even generalizing about international students probably doesn’t fully capture the fact that it’s going to be experienced very differently from students from different areas.”
According to the sophomore international student, a Pakistani national, she “has friends who have traveled, who are Pakistani citizens and other universities in the U.S and they’ve traveled and come back safely.”
“But I didn’t want to risk it for myself because my situation is a little different. I’m on a scholarship and I don’t have a backup plan, essentially, if I can’t continue this degree.” she said. According to Cody, “there could be two students with the exact same situation.” While one student may decide not to travel, the other may decide to go on with their plans and “if policy changes suddenly they have the ability to make an informed decision at the time with more information,” said Cody.
“I think in the current environment, there’s a lot of anxiety on many fronts. Some of them, it’s really hard to think of what our specific role can be in addressing them. The one thing we can do is support our students and so whether it’s undocumented students, international students, LGBTQIA+ students, students who are feeling particularly vulnerable at this moment,” said Byerly.
Recent events have brought a higher level of focus on specific kinds of institutional support for marginalized students. “Liz Cody does an amazing job in the ISL office, that hasn’t changed, but I think it’s given a higher level of focus,” “because it reminds us of the importance of visibly demonstrating that support,” said Byerly.
“Liz Cody is the GOAT,” said the ISL peer leader, “she genuinely deserves so much credit.” An international student whose country of citizenship was on a potential travel ban list said she received an email from Cody when the list was published, and “Liz was always there, if we needed to talk to her.”
A sophomore international student expressed her appreciation for the college’s support: “I do appreciate it, and my parents also are grateful because over the winter and spring weeks, we could use the cupboard and then the cooking kits and some of us get free housing.”
“There are very few institutions doing as much as Carleton. Our International Student Office provides us with consistent, up-to-date and useful information regarding the constant changes regarding immigration so that we can make the best decisions possible,” said the first senior international student.
“I will say I’ve been very pleased by seeing how supportive the community is. I think students do feel supported by their peers and by the local community,” said Byerly. “Everyone is very anxious, but I think people are really doing a great job of trying to just focus on what they can control, which is their lives here.”
