Around 40 students were unable to get an assigned room for the fall 2025 semester after slots were quickly filled during housing selection today.

In response, the Office of Residential Life (ORL) will “continue working on housing assignments throughout June and July as spaces become available,” but affected students may not receive a housing assignment until July 26, according to an email from the ORL to students who did not get housing. 

Students who did not receive housing were asked to provide the Office with their building preferences, name of a preferred roommate and any additional living preferences.

In a statement to the News from the Associate Dean of Housing and Community Life Brittany McDaniel, this year’s housing timeline “created some unique circumstances.” Some students selected rooms they ultimately may not need due to unfinalized fall study abroad plans. Nearly every student also submitted the housing application on time, which is not typical, according to McDaniel.

Room selection this year was split into two days, with the earliest time slot starting at 9 a.m. and the last ending at 4 p.m. Current juniors selected housing on Tuesday, while current sophomores and first-years selected housing today. 

Sophomores could start selection at 9 a.m. this morning and most first-years selected this afternoon. Each person was randomly assigned a 15-minute time slot. 

By 2:45 p.m. today, April 30, Starrez, the housing portal the College used to assign rooms, showed that no more dorms were available for selection. The latest time slot for selection was 4 p.m. 

This is not the first time students have experienced delayed housing selection. Back in 2021, students also experienced a similar situation when 50 students could not find rooms during initial room selection and were placed on an “open assignment” list, meaning they would be assigned rooms as they were made available in the summer.

In 2019, dozens of students were displaced due to a Starrez glitch and were housed in temporary housing with no guarantee of a permanent room. 

Rooms available to students each year are often subjected to changes due to the incoming class yield rate, the number of students going abroad and renovation progress.

90% of students live on campus and the College guarantees housing for all students, according to its website.

UPS, which unionized under the Teamsters Union, has the contractual right to refuse to cross a picket line, according to the UPS National Master Agreement Article 9. 

Students received notices from the UPS shipping email last week saying that “unfortunately, a labor strike (unrelated to UPS) has prevented delivery of your package. Your delivery has been rescheduled for the next business day.” 

While UPS declines to cross the picket line, College staff are transporting packages from a UPS distribution center to campus, according to the College. With this new transporting system, it is uncertain whether packages will continue to be delayed and whether UPS will halt services to the College for the entire duration of the strike. 

The News could not reach the mailroom for a comment.

Deliveries to the College

On March 29, WOAW posted an X statement that “the College moved their deliveries to avoid our picket line and have worked with management companies driven by Teamsters to ensure managers drive their trucks and cross our picket lines.” They criticized the College for “rather coordinat[ing] with companies like Sysco than bargain[ing] with us.”

In a statement, WOAW member and Lecturer in Political Science, Paul Martorelli recalled how delivery trucks were able to cross the picket line. While outside his apartment by the College early in the morning last Saturday, he witnessed a delivery driver, belonging to the Teamsters union leave his truck and switch vehicles with a driver in a van. When Martorelli questioned the van driver, he said the delivery driver could not make the delivery because of “union stuff.”

Many truck drivers are part of unions that have a clause in their contract preventing members from crossing picket lines. However, managers do not have this limitation.

“When they’re aware of an active picket line, managers will often demand to drive the union member’s truck; so, the truck can cross the picket line,” Martorelli wrote.

According to Martorelli, he deduced that the College notified its vendors that a strike was taking place and that they coordinated with management to cross the picket line.

“Once again, the College showed that it’s less concerned about ending the strike with a fair contact than it is with breaking the strike through any means possible,” Martorelli wrote.

In a statement from Piper Orton, vice president for finance and administration and treasurer, she wrote how while they respect the union’s right to picket, they “have a responsibility to ensure that the picketing does not hinder our ability to provide food and essential other products and services to our students.”

“Some delivery companies may choose not to cross the union’s picket line, which is their right. The College will continue to take steps to ensure that Wellesley can maintain critical functions, like feeding our students and maintaining faculty and student research,” Orton wrote. 

Contact the editors responsible for this article: Sazma Sarwar and Valida Pau.

Brightspace, an LMS from Desire2Learn, is increasingly becoming popular with large universities like Purdue University, New York University, and others using it as their primary online learning platform.

In the school-wide email from Ravishankar, an attached report detailed the process, decision, and rollout plan of switching to Brightspace. 

“Brightspace offers several advantages, including an up-to-date integrated design, improved accessibility features, automated tasks, and valuable faculty insights into student performance,” the report said.

Although the report writes that the process began last summer, Library Technology Services (LTS) had already begun looking at new options in 2020, after surveying a small group of faculty and staff at the time.

“This was four or five years ago, just prior to COVID. There were just too many other priorities that came in the way that we were unable to do it,” Ravishankar said.

The process of finding a new LMS restarted this summer, after Ravishankar and Director of Research and Institutional Support, David O’Steen, did a market evaluation of the current LMS market. They found that the share of higher education institutions using Sakai has decreased dramatically, while other LMS options like Canvas and Brightspace have increased.

When searching for a new system, LTS used a process very similar to peer institutions, according to O’Steen. However, they were not specifically looking for a system that replicates Sakai or what peer institutions have done, rather based on the backend data collected from Sakai. 

“We collect all of this information to find a product that overall will satisfy a set of criteria, which should provide a better system than what we currently use for both faculty and students. Secondly, it should help us support the software easily,” Ravishankar said.  

Ravishankar emphasized that the LMS market is not like “AI or mobile app tools,” and that there were only “four viable solutions,” which were all very similar.

During the process, Ravishankar and O’Steen tried to include the community, especially students, through postering in academic buildings. However, zero students came to the live demonstration of the systems, and of the five students that requested a recording of the session, none of them filled out the provided post-survey.

 “Unfortunately, participation was very low, if not, non-existent,” Ravishankar said.

Through faculty participation, LTS survey data showed that participants rated Canvas and Brightspace very similarly. LTS chose Brightspace over Canvas mainly as a result of their five themes outlined in the report: accessibility, grading, assessments, communication, ease of use and useful complexity.

According to O’Steen and Ravishankar, Brightspace had specific design features that are better for the Wellesley community including giving students extra time on exams with one click. Overall, they noted the easier to navigate interface.

“Brightspace has an integrated design where everything happens on the same page. It’s much cleaner, it feels more modern, and it’s much simpler to navigate,” said O’Steen.  “So both faculty and students elsewhere, since we didn’t hear from ours, say it really is simpler and better designed.”

The Future of Sakai

LTS is reserving nearly a two year period for this transition with anticipation of faculty retiring who may not want to switch or those going on sabbatical who will transition later. Some classes will switch to Brightspace next semester and most will be encouraged to switch next spring, according to the report.

In anticipation of the switch, LTS will help faculty transition their existing Sakai courses onto Brightspace, which Ravishankar and O’Steen believe will be the most difficult change. LTS will also provide group and one-on-one training with faculty to familiarize them with the new system and are also considering training students as an additional resource to help others navigate the platform. 

According to Ravishankar and O’Steen, LTS data collected shows that only 50-60% of classes are currently using Sakai. While they do not have data on what the other 40% uses, they said it’s a mixture of Google Suite and class websites.

Out of classes that use Sakai, the most popular feature is the file storage feature, used to store syllabi, readings, and other potential resources. A large percentage of faculty solely use Sakai for the file storage feature, even though it is not necessary to use Sakai solely for file storing purposes, according to Ravishankar. Other popular features include online assessments, the assignments tab, and the gradebook.

While LTS does not force faculty to use an LMS system, they hope that more classes will switch to Brightspace, creating more consistency amongst navigating class resources.

“We [hope to] have more adoption of Brightspace than Sakai because having a uniform tool helps the students. They don’t have to learn this tool for that course, that tool for another course,” said Ravishankar. “The day a single tool is used is way off, but that’s a dream.”

Contact the editors responsible for this story: Sazma Sarwar, Ruby Barenberg, and Valida Pau.

The official strike with faculty and students is scheduled for 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day until WOAW and the College reach an agreement.

The College set an additional bargaining date on April 1, on top of their originally scheduled April 3 date.

When The Wellesley News visited picket lines at 2 p.m, there were about 50 people at picketing lines at the Central Street and College Road intersection and about 15 people at the Wellesley front entrance. 

NTT faculty and students, many wearing red to support the strike, held signs that said “UAW On Strike. Unfair Labor Practice” and “I’d Rather Be Teaching.” The picketers cheered and waved their signs at cars honking in solidarity and led chants on the megaphone. 

Sophia Bodor ’28, who led one of the chants on the megaphone, said that the uncertainty of her life at Wellesley inspired her to speak on the picket lines.

Gallery | 2 Photos

Margot Buehler

“There’s no real plan in place for when the strike’s going to end, what classes are going to look like during and after the strike,” said Bodor. “I just wanted to channel those emotions, so that’s what motivated me.”

This uncertain sentiment shared among students comes after Provost Courtney Coile, Dean of College Lia Gelin Poorvu ’56, and Registrar Carol Shanmugaratnam announced in an email this morning that students were only receiving 0.5 credits for WOAW-taught classes, and encouraged students to register for new courses to receive full credit. 

“It was actually very scary to read at first, I haven’t been able to check which classes of mine are affected so far,” said Avery Miller-Fabregas ’27, a student picketer who has three classes taught by NTT faculty. “I empathize with seniors and people who are doing their theses [with NTT].”

WOAW members were also not aware that the College was planning to cut class credit. However, WOAW members Jacqueline Woodford and Anne Brubaker underscore that only faculty are responsible for giving out grades and deciding what qualifies as credit. 

It is uncertain whether the College may be going against the Department of Education’s policy, which says that an institution cannot lower credits without justification. 

Coile’s most recent email says that the strike has potential to impact eligibility for financial aid and impact on student immigration status as “federal regulations govern both the number of contact hours required to earn college credit and the number of credits a student must be enrolled in to maintain full-time status for financial aid and visa eligibility purposes.” 

In a separate email to the News, the College wrote that Wellesley College, as an accredited higher education institution, must be able to demonstrate to outside agencies that students are earning credits in a timely way to make progress toward their degree. Since they do not know how long the strike would last, they created a plan “that will be effective no matter what the duration of the strike may be.”

Under the Higher Education Act, the Department of Education defines a credit hour based on instructional time and student workload. Institutions receiving federal funding must comply with this standard, and any changes to credit allocations must reflect legitimate academic criteria.

Rejecting Mediation

One day prior to the beginning of the strikes, President Paula Johnson, Provost Courtney Coile, Dean of the College Lia Gelin Poorvu ’56, and Chief Human Resources Officer Carolyn Sladoben sent a joint email titled “WOAW-UAW REJECTS MEDIATION—CHOOSES TO STRIKE.” 

The email detailed how WOAW “outright rejected” the College’s new proposals on Monday, including offering professorial titles for NTT faculty and agreeing to fewer years for promotion eligibility, in exchange for “certain provisions in the Appointments and Reappointments that favored the College’s operational needs.” 

The College further wrote that they offered “unprecedented increases in compensation” in exchange for an agreement on a five-course workload, representing a “30% increase in compensation” for bargaining unit employees (BUEs). 

Lastly, the email wrote that the College “added stand-alone protections from bullying even when not linked to a protected category.”

The College wrote that the union rejected all other packages, except a modified proposal for the article 

The News previously reported that the College proposed to move to federal mediation, a method used by Harvard and Tufts to reach agreements.  The mediation firm no longer offers such services after a presidential action effectively minimized FMCA’s operations. 

While Brubaker and Woodford acknowledged that WOAW rejected a mediation, they stressed that a mediator is typically called at the end of a bargaining process, and that WOAW was not yet at that point. 

They believed that the College made this move because they “needed to have some way to blame it on us.” 

“So their last plan to make it our fault that we’re striking is to request for mediation, which I think they knew was premature, because we aren’t at an impasse,” Woodford said. “They knew we would decline mediation, and therefore could use that against us.”

A Typical Picketing Day

While the official picketing begins at 8 a.m. every day, some WOAW members are at the picketing lines as early as 5 a.m. to help delivery workers, many who are union workers, to not cross picket lines. It’s uncertain if Wellesley deliveries will be changing. 

Students can expect a more structured schedule at the picketing lines in the next few days, according to Brubaker and Woodford. In addition to union members speaking, WOAW also plans to invite state senators, such as Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, and 2023 commencement speaker Jocelyn Benson to the picket lines, though plans are not yet finalized.

The office of Elizabeth Warren, Ed Markey and Jocelyn Benson did not respond to a request for comments. 

With the first day of striking over, WOAW members are energized about picketing, but have mixed feelings about the situation. 

“We are so organized and ready and committed to fighting for a fair contract, and moved by the support from the community,” Brubaker said. “But [it’s] also sad and disappointing [that] the college is taking this route and what it will mean for our community after this is all over […] a lot of trust is broken.”

Contact the editors responsible for this article: Valida Pau, Sazma Sarwar

Updated to correct Jocelyn Benson as the 2023 commencement speaker, not 2024.

ICE Raids and Mass Deportation

Walsh asserted that while Trump has said that he wants to remove all undocumented immigrants in the next four years, this is unrealistic due to long processing time in courts. However, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids have still risen significantly, since Trump removed schools, hospitals, and churches as protected areas. 

If anyone encounters ICE, Walsh emphasized that everyone has the right to remain silent and the right to a lawyer. As Wellesley’s campus is privately owned, ICE would need to have a search warrant signed by a judge to conduct a search on campus. 

Know your rights

Walsh then described that there are nuances to the First Amendment that everyone should know, especially international students. This comes amidst an executive order to cancel visas of pro-Palestinian student protesters and in anticipation of increased protests in the next four years, according to Walsh. While the First Amendment protects the right to assemble and protest, police and other government officials are allowed to place certain narrow restrictions on free speech.

Walsh said that the rights are the strongest in “traditional public” places, such as streets, sidewalks, and other public property, as long as you are not interfering with the purposes of the building. Rights become less strong on private property, such as Wellesley’s campus, where property owners set their own rules for speech.

The best way to know your rights is to carry a Red Card, which helps people assert their rights if they encounter ICE. Red Cards have been placed around Wellesley’s campus, including in the Data Lounge of the Science Center. 

Walsh specifically applied the First Amendment rights for international students who may attend the College. Even though peaceful protests are technically safe, Walsh discouraged all international students from attending them, as there is always a risk it could become violent. She instead recommended behind-the-scenes action, like volunteering or working for an organization that promotes the desired cause.

“They’re looking for every excuse to remove people from the U.S.,” said Walsh. “I hate to say this, but let the US citizens go to the protests.”

However, if an international student decides to attend a protest, Walsh recommended that they carry documents with them, such as a copy of their visa. If the police arrive, students should leave immediately. 

If students are under arrest, they have the right to:

• Ask if you are free to leave. If the officer says yes, calmly walk away.
• Ask why you are under arrest.
• Remain silent and ask for a lawyer immediately. Never say or sign anything without a lawyer.
• Refuse a search of yourself or your belongings.

Travel & Visas

While there is not yet an explicit travel ban, Walsh suggested students take precaution in the likely chance that there is, per a previous court ruling recognizing that a president has broad authority to enact bans. Walsh suggested that travel may be risky throughout the next four years, and only recommended essential travel, especially this spring and summer break. 

A ban may be enacted after Trump’s requested report on Antisemitism in college campuses is completed, on March 20. Wellesley international students have already been taking precautions against the potential ban. 

While there is not yet a travel ban, there are already signs of embassy delays in visa issuance and processing times. Due to workforce shortages, there will likely be fewer interview waivers and longer appointment waitlists. There also may be additional screening measures, or “extreme vetting,” in countries like India and China. As such, Walsh warned against trying to get a visa in another country.

Future of Work for International Students

Although there are not yet changes to Optional Practical Training Extension (OPT), which gives international students visa extensions in the US after getting jobs, Walsh anticipated increased requests for evidence challenging this program. 

Per Project 2025, Trump Administration members wrote that “the Department of State [should] eliminate … the number of visas issued to foreign students from enemy nations.” While this is not set in stone, Walsh recommended that students keep a detailed record of what they are doing at their jobs, in case their status is called into question. 

Going forward

Throughout the event, Walsh emphasized that this was the information she knew at the time of the event, on Feb 20. 

“Things may change tomorrow,” Walsh said. “There are new changes every day.”

At the end of the webinar, a student asked Walsh how US citizens can help immigrants and international students. 

“Share information from trusted sources, volunteer, and attend protests,” said Walsh. “Citizens are the ones who should and are able to exercise that right.” 

American colleges, including Wellesley, continue to educate students and promote conversations in the context of the Israel-Hamas war. The latest installment of the Pluralism Initiative brought Dara Horn, an award-winning Jewish author to speak on her essay collection, “People Love Dead Jews,” and antisemitism on campuses on Tuesday, Feb. 11. 

Horn has written five novels and nonfiction essay collections and has taught at Sarah Lawrence College, Yeshiva University and Harvard University on Yiddish and Hebrew literature. 

About 30 audience members, including College President Paula Johnson, professors, and students, listened to Horn in a conversation moderated by the College Jewish Chaplain, Rabbi Dena Bodian at Alumnae Hall. 

The event was organized by the Pluralism Initiative, which seeks to encourage conversation about contentious topics across diverse perspectives at Wellesley. The initiative previously held other events discussing UFOs, class, status and luxury beliefs, and how to define Zionism.

Beginning the talk, Bodian first asked Horn’s motivations for writing “People Love Dead Jews.” Horn spoke about how she was only receiving requests to write about the violence or tragedy of the Jewish community, but not their living culture.

“People love dead Jews, living Jews not so much,” Horn said. “Jewish people are only acceptable in a society if they have no power, whether that means they are socially impotent or dead.”

After Oct. 7, Horn has been vocal in commenting on antisemitism at American universities and colleges. She served on former Harvard President Claudine Gay’s Antisemitism Advisory Committee and testified at Congress. During her short tenure, she realized that “the way people are educated about [antisemitism] is designed to obscure it.”

“There is zero understanding in the American public about who Jews really are,” said Horn. “Jews were a type of social group… originally a joinable tribal group with a shared history, homeland and culture.”

Continuing the conversation about antisemitism on college campuses, a student, identifying as Jewish, asked Horn if she had any advice for students “who feel isolated from their Jewish identity while students continue to protest against the only Jewish state.”

Horn said she often heard from Jewish students that they were afraid to speak out of fear of their dorm rooms being vandalized, professors throwing them out of class for being Israeli, and being chased across campus.

“There’s no ambiguity here…It’s just harassment of Jewish students,” said Horn. “This is an organized campaign to push Jews out of public life.”

 Horn urged Jewish students to stand against the harassment, calling situations on campuses a “hate movement” and irrelevant to the war in Gaza. 

Elizabeth Hollman ’28 questioned Horn’s conflation of Jewish identity with support of the state of Israel and asked how Horn felt about “Palestinians resistance to apartheid in Israel.”

Horn responded by arguing that the anti-Zionist position among Jewish Americans is an “extremely unpopular one” and comes from “a place of extreme privilege.” 

According to a Pew Research Survey, 82% of Jewish adults in the United States said caring about Israel is an essential or important part of what being Jewish means to them. However, only 48% of those ages 18-29 said they felt emotionally connected to Israel, compared to two-thirds of Jewish Americans 65 and older. 

She concluded by stressing the importance of dialogue between both sides, particularly Palestinians and Zionists, citing Palestinian politician Samer Sinijlawi as an example.

“Samer Sinijlawi is not a Zionist, but he talks to Zionists because he’s not a bigot,” said Horn. “Students who are interested in this topic should be interested in building the future.”

Same Day, Different Perspective

On the same day, the Middle Eastern Studies Department organized a screening of “Bye Bye Tiberias” by Palestinian filmmaker Lina Soualem, and a Q&A with her, beginning immediately after the film screened. 

Professor Liza Oliver made it clear at the beginning of Horn’s event that it was meant to be a space for constructive dialogue, and would end five minutes earlier for students who might also wish to attend the film screening. 

She also sent an email explaining that both events were not deliberately scheduled as “antagonistic, counter-programs,” but carefully coordinated for students to attend both. 

The Pluralism Initiative, Middle Eastern Studies Department, and Jewish Studies Department “have been and continue to be close collaborators in programming,” according to Oliver.

However, there seemed to be little overlap between those who attended the Pluralism Initiative event and the movie screening. Those who were at the talk commented that they had other commitments preventing them from attending the screening, and those at the screening commented that they were not aware of the talk.

Mixed Reactions

Wellesley students had mixed reactions to Horn’s event on campus. The News spoke to two students after the event. Both students requested anonymity out of fear of retribution, harassment or doxxing.

Days before Feb. 11, there were posts circulating on social media platforms protesting against Horn. The first and original post read, “‘Inspiring’ quotes from Dara Horn include if the Israelis wanted to commit genocide, there would be no one there. Shame on her.” 

The post was in reference to Horn’s statement in a podcast clip from an episode of Jen Rubin’s Green Room. Wendy*, the student who first posted, said she was motivated to make sure this information was known to Wellesley students. 

While Wendy believed there are times when you should listen to those with different views, she noted that people should not say it is important to hear people from different perspectives “as a blanket statement.”

“If you’re inviting people who are saying ethnic cleansing isn’t bad, [the Israel-Palestine conflict] isn’t even a genocide in the first place, it’s very moral warfare — those kinds of things are very hurtful, especially for the Palestinian students on campus,” Wendy said.

On the other hand, Willa*, a student who asked Horn the first question, said she felt supported by Horn as a Jewish student.

“I felt really honored to be in the presence of someone who is so educated and so eloquent,” said Willa, “I felt that it was a perspective that hadn’t really been shared on campus, and it’s always great to have a new perspective.”

On the other hand, she was disappointed that the turnout was low for the event.

“Maybe Wellesley students aren’t ready for this conversation yet,” said Willa. “I want to understand why that is, and I want to understand why or how we can open up the floor for more diverse conversations on campus.”

Hollman, who questioned Horn’s perspectives during the Q&A session, attended the talk to embrace the space that the Pluralism Initiative provides.

“I knew that people had a reluctance to go because of what they felt was going to be kind of a one-sided discussion,” said Hollman. “I wanted to go and make sure that if the topic did come up, that there were other views represented. You know, it’s the Pluralism Initiative.”

Hollman was motivated to ask her question after she thought that “there was some nuance that wasn’t being represented” in Horn’s answer to the first student’s question. 

When it comes to any conflict, Hollman feels that the best way to solve it is for both sides to talk and learn from one another.

“Dara Horn said during the talk that people refuse to speak to each other. I don’t know if I’m being naive, but I feel like that’s never a good way to solve a problem,” said Hollman. “If all sides are coming into it thinking that they can learn something, then we’re going to be able to solve problems better.”

*Student names have been anonymized with a pseudonym.

Contact the editors responsible for this story: Sazma Sarwar and Valida Pau

“I realized any new policies that would be implemented might affect me. Since I have no alternative other than studying here in the US for the next four years, it [was] a bit risky to go during very short breaks,” Ahmed said.

While there have not been executive orders signed into law that directly target international students, institutions and students alike are anxious about what is to come. 

In his previous administration, Trump implemented a ban on travel to the US from seven Muslim-majority countries (also known as the “Muslim ban”), suspended the issuance of H-1Bs (post-study work visas), and cancelled thousands of Chinese students’ study visas, among other orders impacting international students. 

Most recently, Trump promised to sign an executive order to cancel visas of international students who broke laws during pro-Palestine protests, suggesting the start of his target of immigrant students.

After the election results, Tana Ruegamer, Slater International Center Director and Advisor, sent an email to all international students, urging them to come back to Wellesley College before Jan. 20. While the email did not explicitly state that this was Trump’s inauguration date, Ruegamer mentioned that the Slater staff “will do our best to offer support and guidance as we move through this period of time together.” 

With a large degree of uncertainty in the air, some international students expressed how Trump’s presidency has already affected their future travel plans.

“It would also affect my summer plans. I know that if I left, there might be something that will happen during the summer, and then they’ll say ‘people from this specific country cannot come back’ or ‘they should not get a visa.’ It’s actually my main struggle right now,” Ahmed said. Sudan was one of the countries included in the previous Muslim ban. 

Ahmed’s F-1, or student visa, has expired, complicating her situation. While the typical duration of F-1 visas is four years, some countries only have an F-1 duration of less than two years, meaning that those students will need to reapply for a visa to come back to the US.

However, other international students have not expressed concern about travel at the moment. 

“I think Trump is not affecting me at all because I’ve been doing a STEM degree, so I get a three-year extension in America for my visa. Also, going back home is non-negotiable for me. Most of my friends are the same, so I don’t think it’s really affecting us that much,” said Sanaa Sharma ’25, an Economics and English major from India. 

However, Sharma echoes the uncertainty of Trump’s first couple of months in office.

“I think it’s so uncertain right now. I think if I am concerned, I will be in six months when I see what’s happening. But not now,” Sharma said.

In a statement from Ruegamer on behalf of the Slater International Center, she echoes this sentiment of uncertainty. 

“Because of the ever-changing nature of Trump’s agenda, we will also be flexible with the support we offer depending on the circumstances,” Ruegamer wrote.

The Slater International Center will be offering many resources for international students in the coming months. This includes having a CommuniTea series to speak informally about their concerns, organizing 1:1 consultations with Slater representatives, providing Red Cards for students to understand their rights, and working with an immigration attorney.

Still, some are concerned about how much the Slater resources would really help all international students. 

“For people whose countries are on the blacklist, [the resources] are not that helpful,” said Ahmed, “I believe, as international students, we should just accept the realities of our countries, and the relationship between our countries and the US.”

Contact the editors responsible for this story: Ruby Barenberg, Sazma Sarwar, and Valida Pau