By Steve Clark, OSU release – CORVALLIS – Oregon State University – along with 19 other western United States universities – filed a lawsuit today that seeks to keep the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from enacting proposed restrictions on international students taking online college courses while in the United States.
The lawsuit seeking a temporary restraining order was filed in U.S. District Court in Eugene, Oregon, and seeks to protect the educational status of nearly 3,500 students attending OSU. “The federal government’s proposed restrictions are reckless and arbitrary, and without notice put at risk the education and wellness of thousands of international students,” said F. King Alexander, Oregon State University’s president. The coalition of public research universities and liberal arts colleges seeks to keep the federal government from imperiling visas or deporting international students whose studies end up being entirely online in the fall due to the COVID-19 pandemic. OSU and the other universities are seeking an injunction against new guidance issued July 6 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Other universities in the coalition include: the University of Oregon, the University of Southern California, Arizona State University, California Institute of Technology, Chapman University, Claremont McKenna College, Northern Arizona University, Pitzer College, Pomona College, Santa Clara University, Scripps College, Seattle University, Stanford University, St. Mary’s College of California, the University of Arizona, University of the Pacific, University of San Diego, University of San Francisco and the University of Utah.
