IU provost Rahul Shrivastav said Tuesday a "small number" of student visas have been revoked by the Trump administration.
Speaking to the Bloomington Faculty Council, Shrivastav said the students' academic units and faculty have been supporting the students. But he added that there are limits to what the university can do.
"No institution actually controls visa issues," Shrivastav said. "Those are federal regulations and federal jurisdiction. With what is within our ability, we are trying to help as best as we can. We've had a small number (of revocations) relative to some other institutions. It is an ongoing process. It'll probably change by the end of the day or tomorrow."
Shrivastav said he couldn't share more details because of student privacy laws.
Hannah Buxbaum, IU vice president of international affairs, said last week the administration and immigration authorities don’t notify schools when they revoke the visas. That’s why it’s hard to follow and why the university can’t be more proactive.
Council member and anthropology professor Beth Buggenhagen wants the university to do more.
“ When the provost said that there were students who had their visas revoked, there was an immediate flurry of conversation across private cell phones and emails about, ‘Does anybody know who these students are?'” Buggenhagen said. “That is how we are running the university in this moment.”
Buggenhagen said the university administration needs to show leadership.
“ As faculty, we actually need support,” she said. “Our undergraduates and our graduate students are coming to us and asking us, ‘What can they do? What can we do?’ Our associate instructors are asking, ‘What should we do in the classroom?’”
Purdue University recently complied with a congressional demand for information about its more than 2,000 Chinese students.
The New York Times reported Tuesday that almost 300 student visas had been revoked nationally.
Inside Higher Ed quoted an anonymous college president on the issue. That person said the revocations were not because of criminal activity or a "foreign policy threat." The president said, "We have no idea why their visas have been revoked."
Aubrey is our higher education reporter and a Report For America corps member. Contact her at aubmwrig@iu.edu or follow her on X @aubreymwright.
