Two universities. Both private, lavishly endowed institutions, located in upstate New York. They both proudly boast of their international student population. And yet, only of them found it necessary to publicize a strongly-worded statement in support of their students affected by President Trump’s immigration ban. That university is Cornell, and their interim president, Hunter Rawlings, released an emotional, supportive statement to his students condemning the ban just three days after the ban was instituted.
And yet here we are, almost two weeks after the ban was put into effect, and our own president, Joel Seligman, has yet to say anything as impactful in support of UR students.
For a university that seems to make so many decisions based on the policies of its peer institutions, you’d think it’d have taken the hint on this one. Take this, from Cornell:
“President Donald Trump’s executive order […] is deeply troubling and has serious and chilling implications for a number of our students and scholars. It is fundamentally antithetical to Cornell University’s principles.”
And then this, from UR:
“Some of the provisions of these orders have the potential to adversely affect our students, staff, faculty, graduates, and patients.”
Come on.
We understand that the University may have taken some flak for supporting the Not My America rally following the election, and perhaps that has contributed to the lackluster response thus far. To that we say this:
You’re a private institution, and you’re allowed be political. Take a stance.