Colleges across the US are calling back students from foreign courses in Russia, terminate research relationships and cut financial ties as part of a wave of global condemnation of the Ukrainian invasion.
At the same time, the colleges have promised to support Russian students in their campuses, opposing calls from a few in Congress to remove them from the country as punishment against their own country.
The measures are often symbolic – US colleges have little power to move Russia or squeeze its finances, and academic exchanges between nations have been limited. But the suggestion that some or all Russian students should miss out on the opportunity to study here has drawn new attention to the role of universities in global disputes.
Last year of study, U.S. colleges host nearly 5,000 students from Russia, less than 1% of all international students. Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online.
“Leaders must make a difference between Putin and the Russian people who want a better life,” said Jill Welch, senior adviser to the President’s Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, a coalition of university presidents. “Sending anyone back will not shorten any war in a day.”
Many universities have asked for sympathy from Russian students, who may, like those from Ukraine, fear for the safety of family members or face sudden financial difficulties.
In a message to the students, the president of the University of Columbia said that the students of both countries face a “confusing and uncertain road.”
At the University of Washington, President Ana Mari Cauce said the campus stood with Ukraine but “should also ensure that the actions of the Russian dictatorship do not affect the way we treat Russian students, academics and members of the public who have no role in their process. ”
Some in Congress are pushing for visa restrictions on Russian students. Speaking to CNN last month, Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., Said the US should consider “expelling every Russian student from the United States” as a way to remove Vladimir Putin from Russia.
The idea received little support in Washington, but the White House later suggested that various sanctions against Russian oligarchs were partly aimed at blocking access to US universities.
“What we are talking about here is taking their belongings, seizing their boats, and making it difficult for them to send their children to Western colleges and universities,” journalist Jen Psaki said last week while discussing sanctions.
College leaders are not fighting the idea that the oligarchs and their children should lose access to American education. But the broader action against Russian students will be accompanied by American discrimination against Japanese and German immigrants during World War II, lawyers said.
“In our country, we do not punish children for their parents’ crimes,” said Barbara Snyder, president of the Association of American Universities and former president of Case Western Reserve University. “You have to think hard about the consequences of identifying people because of their country of origin.”
In many colleges, the main thing has been to expel American students studying in Russia or Ukraine, although a few are believed to have been present. A total of 1,400 XNUMX Americans study in those countries by 2018, and the number of foreign students has dropped during the violence.
Middlebury College in Vermont suspended a study program abroad in Russia at the end of February citing security concerns, urging 12 students to return home. Among them was Zavier Ridgley, a student in Moscow who was told to book a quick flight home.
The 22-year-old said he respected the decision but was disappointed. An official at Tulane University, had been trying to enter the Middlebury program since 2019, but was delayed due to the epidemic.
“The month I’ve been here has been an opportunity of my whole life, and suddenly breaking it down is very painful,” said Ridgley, who has returned home.
Some schools have participated in a ban on student access to Russia, while others, including Dartmouth College, have canceled future study programs abroad. The growing number also cut off financial and academic ties as Putin blamed, but the US response was more widespread compared to Europe, with countries including Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark instructing colleges to suspend academic exchanges with Russia.
Shortly after the start of the attack, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said it was ending its partnership with the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, a research university that helped find it near Moscow in 2011. in Ukraine. ”
After the Colorado Government Jared Polis urged universities to reduce their investment with Russia last week, the University of Colorado said it was releasing all available assets in the country, including $ 3.5 million in total revenue.
Several other states have also told colleges to attract investment, including Virginia, Ohio and Arizona.
The presidents of Arizona’s public universities announced to the country on Monday that they were ending financial and educational ties with Russia in accordance with a directive from the provincial board. Arizona State University has announced it will part with a corporate training center in Moscow affiliated with its business school.
Some colleges reviewed contracts or financial contributions from Russian sources, but others had no plans to reimburse or terminate deals.
Stanford University received $1.6 million through a contract with an undisclosed Russian source in December 2020, according to U.S. Education Department records. A university spokesperson said it’s an agreement for online business courses and that Stanford is in “full compliance” with U.S. sanctions.
Last year, Rutgers University reported a new contract with Russia. The school said it’s a deal with the Russian State University for the Humanities in Moscow for research and information exchange through November 2023. Officials said the agreement is currently inactive.