MIIS weighs in on Travel Ban
The Supreme Court delivered good news to President Trump Monday, allowing parts of his so called “Travel Ban” to take effect immediately. The justices said they’ll take up the full case in the fall.
The court’s ruling means people from six countries in the Middle East and Africa will be banned from entry for 90 days unless they can prove bona fide links to the U.S. such as family, a college admission, or a job offer.
The White House said the ban was for national security reasons, not religious ones.
Here on the Central Coast, The Middlebury Institute of International Studies is reacting to the court’s decision.
The institute currently has students from three of the countries listed on the ban.
The Dean says MIIS is hopeful this version of the “travel ban” will be an improvement for students.
The “travel ban” is something officials at the institution have kept track of all year long.
“Our academic leadership and our lawyers have been looking at this very carefully since January,” said Jeff Dayton-Johnson, Dean at Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.
The dean says that in a typical school-year there’s close to 750 students, one-third of them foreign born. Students KION spoke with say the climate changed considerably since the travel ban was first introduced earlier this year.
“It’s just a different feel around here we love the international community, we thrive on it we grow and we’re better from it,” said MIIS student Jeanine Kosinski. “I think that this is the worst possible reaction that the U.S. can have to a conflict like the one in Syria is to block everybody.”
Dean Jeff Dayton-Johnson says he’s heard concerns from current and prospective students.
“One of the things that we’ve seen over the last several months, is that students from countries that were not specified in the travel ban have told us that they don’t feel comfortable coming to the United States to study at present,” said Dayton – Johnson.
Still he says he’s hopeful this version of the bill will be an improvement and allow students to continue to come here and study without fear.
“There’s a clear specification that people with a legitimate link to an institution here in the United States need not worry about their right to get a visa and come here and study or work or whatever they want to do,” said Dayton – Johnson.
The dean says that though he worries what affect the “Travel ban” will have on prospective student’s desire to come to the U.S., MIIS will continue recruiting students from around the world.
