Important Follow-Up Message Concerning Our International Students

On Tuesday, July 14, the U.S. government rescinded a policy that could have had detrimental impact on international students around the United States by forcing them to return home if their institutions of higher learning were fully online. The University of Portland responded to the original policy by communicating our support to our international students through direct communication with them. We also engaged in outreach to advocacy groups and to our Oregon congressional delegation. As part of these efforts, UP joined the American Council on Education’s petition to revoke the unwelcoming policy.

The rejection of this policy is an important and humane action. International students will now have the option to remain in the United States if universities need to shift to online instruction due to the pandemic. As we underscored in our message on July 9^th, we are committed to welcoming and supporting our international students. We appreciate the wide range of contributions they make to our University of Portland community, and to the United States.