Wesleyan University says its international students should aim to return to the United States from any overseas travel before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
“If you are planning to travel internationally over winter break, we strongly recommend that you re-enter the U.S. and return to campus by Sunday, January 19, 2025,” reads a letter to students from leadership of the university’s Office of International Student Affairs.
“With the presidential inauguration happening on Monday, January 20, 2025, and uncertainties around President-elect Donald Trump’s plans for immigration-related policy, the safest way to avoid difficulty re-entering the country is to be physically present in the U.S. on January 19th and the days thereafter of the spring semester,” the letter continues.
The advisory from the Middletown university comes days after a similar message was sent out to international students at the University of Massachusetts.
NPR reported in 2017 that Trump’s “Muslim ban” resulted in students at U.S. institutions being prevented from returning to their schools.
In an essay for Slate in October, Wesleyan President Michael Roth railed against Trump’s “overt racism” and “nasty nativism.”
“So many of our schools have made a place for Dreamers, those students who were brought to the United States as children, and whose status in a second Trump administration is uncertain,” Roth wrote. “Now Trump has promised to deport legal immigrants as well. His nasty nativism is antithetical to the recruitment of international students, a practice that has been a boon to higher education and to the world. We must not be neutral about this.”
Other Connecticut colleges and universities are taking varied approaches to messaging about the new administration. In an email to Connecticut Public, Ozan Say, director of the Yale Office of International Students and Scholars, suggested the situation regarding travel guidance is fluid.
“We have no reason to anticipate that the current administration will make any changes to travel rules in the next two months and we do not know what exact immigration policies the new administration will enact after January 20th,” Say said. “OISS will continue to monitor and timely communicate any immigration updates and their potential impact to our international students and scholars when those changes materialize.”
Quinnipiac University said it plans to flag Trump’s inauguration date in a letter scheduled for distribution after students return from Thanksgiving break.
“New Executive Orders that may impact travel and visa processing could be implemented on or after that date,” the Quinnipiac letter reads. “In addition, election transitions typically impact staffing levels at U.S. Embassies/Consulates abroad, which could impact visa processing times. We encourage you to be mindful of your travel planning to avoid any potential disruptions.”
Meanwhile, the University of Connecticut says it is recommending students return to campus by Jan. 19 – but that the timing is a coincidence.
“The University has advised its students and scholars who are traveling internationally to be back on campus no later than Jan. 19, which gives them time to resettle and adjust before spring semester classes begin on Jan. 21,” university spokesperson Stephanie Reitz said. “As always, UConn plans to monitor any policy changes to determine how it may affect our population. However, the advice to return to campus by Jan. 19 was not precipitated specifically by that possibility.”
Other colleges and universities in Connecticut either did not return requests for comment or had no information to share as of Friday.
