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Amherst October 26, 2020 Assumption University Acting Regulatory Unit Chief Sharon Hageman Bard College at Simon’s Rock Office of Policy and Planning Immigration and Customs Enforcement Ben Franklin Institute of Technology Department of Homeland Security 500 12th Street, SW Washington, DC 20536 Boston Architectural College Re: DHS Docket No. ICEB-2019-0006 Establishing a Fixed Time Period of Admission and an Extension of Stay Procedure for Nonimmigrant Academic Students, Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis Exchange Visitors, and Representatives of Foreign Information Media Dear Acting Chief Hageman: On behalf of the Association of Independent and Universities in College of the Holy Cross Massachusetts (AICUM), I write to share our profound concerns and to provide written comments on the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) proposal to eliminate the duration of status of international students and scholars, and to instead restrict their period of authorized stay to two or four years. AICUM strongly opposes the proposed rule because of the serious and lasting damage it will inflict on the Emmanuel College ability of colleges and universities in Massachusetts to recruit and retain international students and scholars, the impacts from which will be felt across all sectors of the Commonwealth’s innovation economy. Gordon College AICUM is an association made up of 61 private, non-profit colleges and universities throughout the Commonwealth – institutions which educate more than Labouré College 279,000 students each year and employ nearly 97,000 people. Our members include large nationally renowned research universities, smaller, highly regarded liberal arts Massachusetts Institute of Technology colleges, religiously affiliated institutions, and colleges with special missions focused MCPHS University on entrepreneurship or music or allied health services. In 2019, more than 59,000 international students came to Massachusetts to enroll at an AICUM member college MGH Institute of Health Professions or university, bringing with them an incredible diversity of life experiences and Montserrat College of Art that enriches the educational experience for all students and faculty on College of Optometry our campuses. New England Conservatory of Music As a preliminary matter, AICUM has also signed on to separate written comments on the NPRM that were submitted to DHS by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NACUA) and the American Council on (ACE). We incorporate by reference the concerns and comments included Regis College in those submissions. The proposed rule seeks to replace the longstanding duration of status policy with fixed terms not to exceed four years, unless the student is subject to the more restrictive 2-year admission term that relies on flawed data to inappropriately target individuals from more than 50 countries, mostly in Africa and the Middle East. The 2- Thomas Aquinas College or 4-year limits would prove to be unfeasible for a significant number of students, and likely would jeopardize special degree or training programs that take longer than four years to complete, including joint B.A/Masters degrees, joint JD/MBA, and joint Wentworth Institute of Technology MD/PhD programs. Additionally, the 2-year limit introduces new administrative Western New England University burdens and much greater uncertainty for those students who were planning to Wheaton College transition from a 2-year program into a 4-year program to complete their B.A. degree. Indeed, rather than encouraging such a transition, which would benefit both Worcester Polytechnic Institute the student and the institution(s) involved, the proposed rule would require the student to apply to DHS for an extension. More significantly, the four-year term proposed by DHS’s rule appears to be grounded on the misunderstanding that undergraduate students complete their bachelor’s degrees in four years. The US Department of Education uses a 6-year graduation rate (150% of time) as a data point to assess how successful students are in progressing toward a degree. In fact, one of our member institutions utilizes a highly acclaimed experiential co-op learning program that, by design, takes five years to earn an undergraduate degree. AICUM’s member institutions typically lead the nation in 6-year graduation rates, with 68.3% earning a degree in 4 years and 75% doing so in 6 years. Put simply, those figures illustrate that a significant number of students would run afoul of the arbitrariness of the proposed rule’s four-year limit. A student should not be penalized, nor incentivized to pursue a degree in another country, simply because she enrolled in a program that takes longer than four years, or because she simply decided to change majors. Incredibly, the proposed rule acknowledges – indeed appears to concede – that eliminating duration of status likely may reduce non-immigrant student enrollment and visitor participation, and thus incentivizing non-immigrant students and exchange visitors to consider pursuing their studies in other English-speaking countries, including Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. This is the definition of economic lunacy. The economic, research, and cultural benefits that accrue to our colleges and universities, to our students, to our democratic society, and to our innovation economy from the presence of our international students are beyond dispute. We, as a country, should be pursuing policies that encourage international students and scholars to bring their talents, interests, and life experiences to our campuses and research institutions. We are also deeply concerned that the proposed rule would inappropriately insert DHS into the academic decisions of colleges and universities. The proposed rule would require international students to apply for permission to extend their stay beyond the 2- or 4-year limits, and DHS essentially would have sole, and seemingly unlimited, discretion for determining whether the student was able to provide evidence demonstrating a compelling academic reason or other exceptional circumstances. Moreover, the absence of any discernible decision-making standards or an appeals process means that a DHS official will be determining whether a student is making sufficient academic progress in her program. It is the institution that is in the best, and most appropriate, position to determine if a student will need more time to complete the training or academic program. The proposed rule is, at best, a solution in search of a problem. The existing SEVIS database system would seem to provide DHS with tools and infrastructure that are more than sufficient “to identify potential risks of fraud and abuse to the United States’ immigration programs”. SEVIS allows DHS to continuously monitor the activities and enrollment status of international students and scholars for the duration of their stay in the United States and, where appropriate, to share that information with other governmental agencies. Finally, we also believe giving stakeholders only a 30-day period to prepare and submit comments on the proposed rule is wholly inadequate given the complexity and the far-reaching impact on our colleges and universities. Institutions should have a minimum of 60 days to provide meaningful public comment on the proposed rule. This is especially true given that every college and university in the United States is devoting all available efforts and resources to ensuring that it can continue to provide high quality academic programs while also responding to the unprecedented disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The colleges and universities in Massachusetts serve as anchors for our regional economy, attracting talented students, scholars, researchers and a growing list of companies from all corners of the world. International students and scholars contribute significantly to the Commonwealth’s vibrant, knowledge-based economy, making Massachusetts the hub of academic excellence. In 2019, over 59,000 international students enrolled in Massachusetts colleges and universities, contributing over $3 billion to our economy. They are an essential part of the educational experience on our campuses and critical to our research success. A proposed rule that does little more than thwart the opportunities for and contributions from these individuals is detrimental to the state’s and our national economy, undermines the educational experiences of all Massachusetts college students, and stifles future innovation and business growth. Accordingly, we urge you in the strongest possible terms to withdraw the proposed rule, which represents yet another misguided effort to restrict talented nonimmigrant students and scholars from coming to the United States to pursue a degree.

Sincerely,

Richard Doherty President Association of Independent Colleges & Universities in Massachusetts