Dear President DeGioia, Provost Groves, Deans Hellman, Celenza, Almeida, Gresenz, and Sens and Vice Deans Byman, Giordano, Lorenson, and Quinn,

We, the international students of Georgetown University, want to express our concerns and unique perspectives on how University policies and responses to COVID-19 impact us. As students who reside internationally, including those on F-1 visas or green cards and U.S. citizens living abroad, COVID-19 particularly impacts us. Those of us on visas are especially vulnerable in the current climate, and those of us residing in farther time zones are particularly disadvantaged by policies privileging synchronous instruction. Above all, we are all specifically affected by University policies due to our displaced relationship to the United States, and our lack of a permanent residence or extensive support networks in-country.

We acknowledge and appreciate the efforts of faculty and the administration thus far in responding to these unprecedented events and are confident they were pursued in good faith. However, current circumstances have disproportionately confronted us with unforeseen adversities and we are concerned that the University is still not acknowledging the unique challenges we face as it determines its policies for the fall semester.

University policies privilege domestic students, often requiring international students to take it upon ourselves to apply them to us. University policies from March largely ignored international students and the specific challenges we faced in packing up our lives and returning to our permanent addresses at a moment’s notice, which for us meant packing alone and crossing volatile borders or risking being locked out. We do not have permanent residences nearby or family that can come to campus to help us move. Yet, we received the same instructions and timeline as domestic students. Classes resumed on the Monday after break, when some of us were on flights from 3 to more than 24 hours long, facing jet lag to keep up with synchronous learning, and experiencing the physical and emotional stresses that accompany long-distance travel coupled with the fear of contracting COVID-19. Our support networks on campus consist largely of the University and other students, except other students were understandably occupied and it felt like the University forgot us.

Additionally, the transition to virtual learning was especially challenging because the University lacked uniform policy towards international students, expecting us to negotiate individually with professors on class attendance and assignments. Many of us live in substantially different time zones than domestic students. The 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST schedule simply does not work for time zones outside of the continental United States; for example, 3 p.m. EST is midnight in India and Sri Lanka and 2 a.m. in Thailand, making attendance and participation nearly impossible. International students often have to resort to recorded lectures, foregoing other elements of the Georgetown educational experience. We missed out on avenues for help given office hour times and were more likely to face internet connection issues, among myriad other equity and access challenges notably prevalent among us. The lack of universal policies also led to fear from students that, even if a professor excuses us from attending lectures, our absence could affect our grades, such as with participation, forcing many to stay awake for lectures despite the local time and deal with the mental and physical health consequences. Some professors enacted considerate policies and accommodated international students, serving as exceptional allies and bastions of support. Some did not. It should not fall upon international students to initiate these discussions and hope our professors belong to the former category.

Lastly, international students face substantial financial challenges due to COVID-19. Besides plummeting exchange rates and crashing economies that leave our present and future finances unstable, we also incur much higher expenses in returning home on short notice. The majority of us pay full tuition costs due to limited financial aid for international students. A virtual Georgetown education is simply not worth the full tuition price we currently pay. For international students, who chose Georgetown instead of other local options, to stay home and attend virtual classes in an environment inconducive to learning would be fiscally irresponsible. For us particularly, the value of our education lies in Georgetown University as a microcosm of the United States and D.C., and the immersion and broader opportunities presented to us by resources, networks, and communities that extend beyond a syllabus and instructional continuity.

Many of us may not return next semester if we feel that the University has not properly addressed our academic concerns and that the steep tuition prices we pay do not reflect the worth of a devalued online education. We are troubled about reports that the University expects all of us to return regardless of the policies it enacts. We assure you that will not be the case and urge you not to take us for granted.

Given the unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, the unique challenges the international student body faces, and our right to have our concerns considered and factored into future University policies and responses, we ask the following:

1. The University needs to directly include international students into discussions and working groups about the fall and other University responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

1. We are a distinct group of students facing different challenges in addition to the challenges faced by the rest of the student body. Including international students on any relevant working groups ensures that the University hears our concerns. An international student representative would raise early concerns on issues relating to syllabi, synchronous learning policies, group assignments, move-in and move-out policies, and other policies.

2. The University must enact a dual system to allow students to opt into synchronous or asynchronous learning.

1. Many international students cannot adopt the conventional 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST class schedule due to time zones. A dual system provides students with the flexibility we need to pursue the best option and forecloses the need for case-by-case negotiation with professors.
2. University policies must be unequivocal about the expectation that faculty must accommodate international students and must ensure that all forms of learning—in-person, virtual, synchronous, or asynchronous—are equivalent in educational value. Otherwise, the University betrays its commitment to Academic Excellence for All.
3. The University should provide international students with textbooks and other mandatory course material via Canvas much like some professors provide all necessary documents through their course pages so that we do not have to face added difficulty and expense in buying textbooks. It should also reconsider office hours and other course-adjacent elements by adopting alternative venues of student-professor and student-student interaction.
4. Future considerations could also include limiting core, non-seminar classes and classes with high proportions of international students to times ranging from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. which are more easily accessible to all time zones.

3. The University must recognise the additional logistical burdens, immigration challenges, and other difficulties international students face and enact policies to better support us.

1. Most international students don’t have “permanent” addresses in the U.S. and existing support networks are complicated by the necessity to practice social distancing and health risks. It is also difficult to quickly return home given volatile borders and flight costs. University policies must recognise this logistical and financial burden.
2. International students must have an equal opportunity to return to campus as domestic students and the University should enact policies to ensure we can return safely and healthily, following medical necessity and any relevant laws and regulations.
3. The University should advocate for federal policies that allow students on F-1 visas, green cards, and other relevant immigration statuses to return and continue our education.
4. The University should institute clear policies outlining what would happen to international students should we need to return to our permanent addresses at any point, should we contract COVID-19, and what resources exist to minimise the impact on our education.
5. These policies must address if the University will allow students to quarantine on campus or require a return to our permanent addresses if we fall ill or contract COVID-19. This is a crucial consideration as students are concerned about how we will be treated if we were to fall ill oceans away from our homes and families, despite our academic continuity.
6. Given that students may have to remain in their home countries, the University should consider giving international students more flexibility to transfer credits from foreign universities so we can continue our education in a safer space if Georgetown is fully virtual in the fall.

4. The University must consider the new financial circumstances of international students.

1. Given that most international students pay full tuition, asking students to pay the same amount for a virtual education would be unjust; the University needs to consider lowering tuition prices.
2. Similarly, given the new circumstances, the University needs to consider international students in its expansions of aid and scholarship opportunities for prospective and existing students.

In reflecting on the spirit of Georgetown and considering the value of community in diversity, it is crucial to not just celebrate such diversity but to nurture it. In becoming people for others and embodying cura personalis, it is vital to acknowledge the unique experiences of the members of our campus, thus paying individualized attention to the needs and circumstances that may bolster or hinder the growth of each of us. Therefore, we hope you will seriously consider our positions and requests in planning for the future.

Respectfully,

Ashanee Kottage (SFS ‘22) and Felipe Lobo Koerich (SFS ‘21)

On Behalf of the International Students of Georgetown University

Update: We met with representatives of the Council of Deans on June 9 to discuss the petition. They were very receptive of our concerns and said that the University was closely considering the points raised and would be able to accommodate many of them. Specifics on policies will be released in the coming weeks as the University continues to assess public health necessities and the best plans for the fall semester. We look forward to continuing these discussions with the administration as we advocate for international students.

Please write your name, school, and year as a suggestion under ‘International and Foreign Students’ if you live abroad (including those on F-1 and green cards, or U.S. citizens living abroad). Please write your name, school, and year under ‘Domestic Students’ if you live in the United States. We will accept your suggestion promptly; thanks for your support!