Last Thursday, Yale’s Office of International Students and Scholars told the News that the federal government had terminated the visas of four international students at Yale. On the same day, the Department of Homeland Security announced a new social media screening policy that would deny international students “immigration benefit requests” if it finds social media content “linked to antisemitic activity.”

The News talked to three international students, all of whom requested anonymity due to fears of retaliation, about these developments and the University’s subdued response.

“In general, as a student of this university, I would be happy to see [Yale President Maurie] McInnis take a stance against the illegal actions taken by the administration,” one student said. “But if we don’t anger Trump and not force him to take more actions on international students, that may very well be a good strategy.”

Two students told the News that the most surprising development over the past several weeks was the DHS’s new social media screening policy.

One student said she followed both sides of the protests on social media following the outbreak of the war in Gaza to stay informed and broaden her perspective. Now, she is considering “staying more underground,” even deleting social media. 

These threats are also casting doubt on her long-term plan to stay in the U.S. after graduation.

“I don’t feel safe in this country anymore, which is one of the reasons why I initially came here, because I felt like I could be learning things and exploring different stuff without the persecution of my intellectual curiosity,” she said. “However, that’s not the case anymore, and I am considering leaving America after graduating.”

She still applauded the support from Yale’s Office of International Students and Scholars, especially the legal guidance it promised to international students dealing with immigration issues, regardless of context.

“OISS’s legal assistance is not tied to any specific action or policy but is available regarding visa, travel, and other immigration issues,” OISS director Ozan Say told the News last week.

Say also told the News this Monday that the OISS checks the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, which the Department of Homeland Security uses to maintain information about international students, on an hourly basis.

Another student said that the federal government’s monitoring of social media is “particularly worrying” in the United States, which has championed the values of democracy and free speech throughout history.

“Look at the entire fight against Communist and totalitarian regimes in the world,” she said. “The U.S. was leading that fight in both Democratic and Republican administrations. It’s shocking and worrying to see the country so quickly change its position.”

According to her, the government’s reasoning that it is fighting antisemitism on college campuses is also inadequate because “we’re seeing more and more cases where students are not saying things that are antisemitic.”

“The [International Criminal Court] and [the International Court of Justice] are saying similar things,” she said, “and so in a lot of cases, the question is, where is the process? Is what they’re saying really that horrible that they have to be deported?”

One student said that while she respects everyone’s privacy, she wishes the University would be more transparent about why some Yalies have lost their visas recently so that she can say “careful.” 

Students also said that there is more fear among international students on campus to speak out on political issues, and one student said she was “quite unproductive for a few days” when there were intense talks about visa revocations across the nation.

“I was unfocused, and I couldn’t really concentrate aside from digesting what was happening and being scared,” she said. 

She added that she now keeps her immigration documents with her at all times, even when she is going on a “leisurely” walk.

Amid this shared fear, there’s no consensus among the international community about how the University should respond to the federal government and President Donald Trump.

One student said that after Trump’s evident vengeance against the universities he has vilified, it would be “counterproductive” for Yale to stand up against the federal government.

“Other universities are doing the fight, and they’re getting in a lot of trouble for it,” she said. “So perhaps putting Yale on the war map is not necessarily a good idea. I’m not sure how much it would change things. In principle, I think it would be nice, but pragmatically, I see the decision not to.”

A second student said what’s important right now is “to not make it a bigger issue than it is,” especially considering Trump’s impressionable character. She said she hopes the University is talking with Republicans in Congress to ensure that Trump doesn’t take any further steps against universities. 

Another student, however, said she hopes Yale will stand up to Trump “the same way as Harvard and not follow Columbia into submitting to the demands of the federal government.”

According to her, the University’s policy to broadly refrain from issuing public statements feels inappropriate amid the federal government’s direct assault against members of the Yale community.

“I would feel much more supported in this institution if the administration had come out with a statement of institutional support for international students,” she said. “If the institution doesn’t stand up right now, more demands will come, and bullying will follow along.”

Yale is the second wealthiest private university in the U.S.

The post “Shocking and worrying”: Visa revocations spark fear among international students appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The USCIS said it plans to deny noncitizen students “immigration benefit requests” if it finds that students are “linked to antisemitic activity.” Such activity would include supporting violent antisemitic ideologies and terrorist organizations on social media.

“[DHS Secretary Kristi Noem] has made it clear that anyone who thinks they can come to America and hide behind the First Amendment to advocate for anti-Semitic violence and terrorism – think again. You are not welcome here,” DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said, according to the announcement. 

The federal government uses the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, which includes “targeting of the state of Israel,” with the caveat that it is not antisemitic to lodge criticisms of Israel “similar to that leveled against any other country.” Yale’s policies on discrimination and harassment were recently updated to include that the IHRA definition would be “considered among other resources.”

The OISS’s immigration FAQ page notes that immigration attorneys partnered with the University can provide short-term legal assistance to international students regarding visa, travel and other immigration issues.

To the News’ questions about whether this legal assistance will be provided for students scrutinized under the new policy, Ozan Say, the director the OISS, told the News that the University will provide legal assistance to international students regardless of the specific context.

“OISS’s legal assistance is not tied to any specific action or policy but is available regarding visa, travel, and other immigration issues,” Say wrote.

On Thursday, the OISS’s immigration updates website added an update summarizing the new policy. Say told the News that his office will provide additional guidance as it learns “more about the impact of this announcement.”

A spokesperson for the pro-Palestinian Sumud Coalition wrote to the News that Yale should do more to protect student protesters, including ending “the YPD’s surveillance of student activists” and deleting disciplinary records of students “who’ve been punished for protest.”

The Yale Police Department has used social media surveillance to monitor students involved in Yalies4Palestine, Yale’s pro-Palestine activist group, during its encampment last spring. YPD analysts actively tracked social media accounts belonging to pro-Palestinian student groups, creating a spreadsheet listing student followers of the Yalies4Palestine and OccupyYale Instagram accounts. 

“If Yale were serious about fighting antisemitism and defending students, it would stand up to Trump – who dines with Holocaust deniers – instead of staying silent,” the Sumud Coalition spokesperson said.

The new DHS policy follows a string of federal measures against alleged antisemitism on university campuses.

On Jan. 29, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that gave agencies 60 days to find ways to deport “Hamas sympathizers” on college campuses.

On March 10, the Department of Education sent letters to 60 universities, including Yale, warning them of potential enforcement actions if they did not take action to address antisemitism on campus. The Education Department opened a second investigation into antisemitism at Yale on March 26.

The OISS is located at 421 Temple St.

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According to AFAY Secretary Siyuan Wang, the association is “exactly doing what we initially envisioned.” Now, AFAY is ready to work with other academic groups to fight for academic freedom.

“It totally aligns with the University’s core values to promote diversity, and it engages our members to contribute to the mission of our University,” Wang said.

While 194 faculty members were registered in 2023, the number has now risen to over 250, according to AFAY President Qin Yan.

To build community among Asian faculty, AFAY has organized functions like a New Year celebration, a Diwali celebration and a “break bread together” event.

It has also provided opportunities for academic enrichment through planning events like the U.S.-China forum in March 2025 and a seminar with the Science editor-in-chief Holden Thorp in April 2024.

“We hope to promote a sense of belonging now for members at Yale,” Wang said. “I think that’s very crucial.”

According to board members, one instance when AFAY stood up to protect the Asian community from governmental trouble was when five Chinese graduate students were unable to enter the U.S. due to visa issues and had to buy “expensive” tickets to return to China.

They said AFAY organized Zoom meetings with the students to understand why their visas were denied and communicated with the provost’s office, Yale Medical School Dean Nancy Brown, the general counsel’s office and the Office of Research Development.

“We helped them apply for the new visa to the U.S.,” AFAY president-elect Yongli Zhang said. For students further in their studies, AFAY “supported them to defend their thesis and complete their studies.”

As a result, Yan said, students were able to get their flights reimbursed, and while only one student was successful in returning, those close to graduation were able to receive their degrees.

When the Office of Science and Technology Policy, a governmental agency under the Executive Office of the President, released guidelines regarding foreign talent recruitment programs in February 2024 as a part of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, AFAY advised the University in publishing an FAQ page for affected individuals.

“I think the [University] policy was written without consulting with the faculty, so we worked closely with the Office of Research Integrity and the general counsel’s office to put some FAQs for that policy,” Yan said, referring to Yale’s Research Integrity and Security Office.

Yuan added that AFAY has collaborated with similar affinity groups in other institutions as well, an important role in the face of increasing threats to academic freedom.

“It’s not only for the Asian community, it’s also for the whole academic community,” Zhang said. “In order to fight for academic freedom, we have to unite with many other organizations.

Wang said that there haven’t been requests from members about being negatively affected by the new administration yet.

He added that he thinks the University should take a stand first about issues that generally affect the scientific community at Yale.

“In a sense, it’s not our association’s place to take a lead on this effort that actually goes way beyond Asian faculty,” he said.

The annual AFAY meeting will be held on May 4.

The post Asian Faculty Association protects members amid government turbulence appeared first on Yale Daily News.

In a Thursday email to the News, OISS director Ozan Say wrote that “we now have four Yale community members impacted by SEVIS terminations,” referring to the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, which the Department of Homeland Security uses to maintain information about international students. Previously, on Monday, Say told the News that the OISS had discovered two SEVIS terminations in the Yale community.

The News could not verify the students’ identities. University declined to comment on whether these students are undergraduate or graduate students, citing privacy concerns.

In an interview with the News, Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis clarified that the international students stripped of their visas by the federal government will be able to complete the academic year.

Lewis explained that if the students have to “travel” outside the country due to immigration restrictions, the University will communicate with professors to help them complete the semester. 

“I understand why it’s scary, and we’re very eager to support our students and to support every member of our community,” he said. “We recognize that it’s a scary time for international students.”

Say told the News that the office has supported the students who lost their visas in the past week by “immediately connecting them with legal resources,” including immigration attorneys and the option to engage habeas corpus attorneys. Lewis reaffirmed that the students will continue to receive pro-bono legal assistance until at least the end of the spring semester.

The immigration FAQ page published by the OISS notes that immigration attorneys partnered with the University will provide “short-term legal guidance” to international students regarding immigration issues, including visas.

If a student requires ongoing legal assistance, the website reads, the office will help them identify additional assistance.

“I think the current situation will be resolved by the end of the semester, one way or the other: either the students will be able to stay, or they’ll have to go,” he said. “And then we’ll work on what happens, when they can come back to the country and so on. That would vary a lot depending on their individual circumstances.”

Lewis added that “the issue for the fall” will be whether the students are able to return to campus, noting that students unable to acquire a visa in the past have transferred to overseas universities or taken gap semesters until they received a visa.

Visa issues affect a handful of students every year, according to Lewis. 

However, if an incoming student fails to attain a visa, they will be unable to enroll in the University, Lewis said.

He urged incoming international students to submit their paperwork as soon as possible to ensure their visa status while encouraging current international students to attend a “Know Your Rights” webinar hosted by the OISS.

On April 1, the OISS hosted a “Know Your Rights” webinar that discussed how to interact with ICE agents, risks of participating in protests and First Amendment protections. More than 500 Yale affiliates attended the event.

A second “Know Your Rights” webinar is planned for the near future, Say said.

The OISS is located at 421 Temple St.

The post Two more Yale international students lose visas, raising total to four appeared first on Yale Daily News.

Students accepted to the major starting next academic year will be required to complete 13 courses, a non-English language course designated L4 and either a one-semester senior thesis or a one-semester senior capstone project. 

Within the 13 courses, students will now be required to take two classes each in both history and political science. The new curriculum will replace two core courses on international security and development — which have received some of the lowest student reviews on Yale Course Evaluations in the past several years — with a single core course. Required economics courses have been expanded to include game theory and qualitative methods and the number of required electives has decreased from four to three. 

Previously, the major required 12 courses, a non-English language at L5 and a one-semester senior capstone.

“The reformed curriculum will better reflect the multidisciplinary nature of the major and give students some added flexibility around advanced courses and the senior project to better support the range of their interests and goals,” Bonnie Weir, assistant dean for undergraduate education at the Jackson School of Global Affairs, wrote to the News.

Weir also highlighted that the Jackson School has added new course offerings and programming, such as new certificates in human rights and a series of research workshops, to serve “areas of intense student interest.”

The changes are the result of a review process spanning the current academic year that involved input from students and faculty. 

As part of the process, Weir conducted a formal survey of student perspectives of the major and analyzed course-taking trends in global affairs from recent years. She also convened a committee of senior faculty members in economics, history and political science to evaluate course offerings in global affairs.

According to Weir, the review found that beyond security and development, students were also interested in areas such as human rights, peacebuilding, climate, technology and regime dynamics.

The changes come three years after the Jackson School was formally dedicated as Yale’s newest professional school in fall 2022.

Ethan Chiu ’26, a junior majoring in global affairs, wrote to the News that the new course requirements in history and political science increase flexibility for students, though he also expressed hesitance at the newly decreased language level requirement.

“I think not having students required to take L5 may decrease readiness for international affairs careers, especially because L5 seems to be more intermediate level anyways,” Chiu wrote.

Owen Setiawan ’27, who majors in global affairs, said that he also regrets to see the L5 language requirement go.

Setiawan said that the expansion of the intermediate economics requirement to include game theory and any approved qualitative methods course may diminish the understanding of global affairs.

“Having taken intermediate macroeconomics,” he said, “I feel like it’s very relevant to understanding things related to global affairs and having a strong understanding of the macro economy.”

In contrast, David Yun ’28, a prospective global affairs major, welcomed the changes, which he says will allow him to choose a wider variety of courses within international affairs.

The Jackson School of Global Affairs was founded in 2010.

The post Global affairs to change major requirements starting fall 2025 appeared first on Yale Daily News.

In a Monday email to the News, Ozan Say, the director of the OISS, wrote that the office discovered “there have been two SEVIS terminations in the Yale community,” referring to the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, which the Department of Homeland Security uses to maintain information about international students. The News could not verify the students’ identities as of Monday night. 

“As soon as we became aware of this information, we notified the individuals of the terminations and immediately provided access to legal assistance,” Say added. He did not immediately clarify what the legal assistance looked like.

The two terminations follow Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Saturday announcement revoking all visas of South Sudanese passport holders, effective immediately, accusing the African nation of failing to comply with U.S. immigration enforcement. The News was able to confirm that at least one South Sudanese student attends Yale College.

In the past week, multiple universities have announced that the federal government has revoked visas from some of their international students. On March 27, Rubio claimed that his office has revoked at least 300 visas since January.

“There is no right to a student visa,” Rubio stated in a press release on March 28. “We can cancel a student visa under the law just the same way that we can deny a student visa under the law. And we will do so in cases we find appropriate.”

The University’s Office of International Students and Scholars’ list of immigration FAQs notes that Yale partners with immigration attorneys who can provide short-term legal guidance and assistance to students and scholars about immigration issues, including visas.

The website also notes that OISS advisers can help students identify longer-term legal assistance if they require ongoing help.

“Given the recent government actions and updates, OISS staff and advisers have been in close contact with members of Yale’s community of international students and scholars, answering questions and providing guidance and support,” Say said.

Aside from revoking student visas, the federal government has also detained multiple international students and scholars, including individuals who have publicly expressed pro-Palestinian views. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University alum and green card holder, on March 9 and Rumeysa Ozturk, a graduate student at Tufts University on a student visa, on March 25.

On April 1, the OISS hosted a “Know Your Rights” webinar that discussed how to interact with ICE agents, risks of participating in protests and First Amendment protections. More than 500 Yale affiliates attended the event.

A second “Know Your Rights” webinar is planned for the near future, Say added, and another webinar for international faculty and staff will be held on Wednesday.

The OISS is located at 421 Temple St.

The post Two Yale international students stripped of their visas appeared first on Yale Daily News.

Amid President Donald Trump’s accusations that peer institutions are tolerating antisemitism, faculty are calling on Yale to stand by its Middle East programs and scholars. They also expressed hope that University administrators may take a different approach to political threats that protects the independence of Middle East studies at Yale.

“We are currently witnessing concerted efforts to force universities to retreat from the world and abandon core humanistic values of free inquiry and open exchange,” CMES Chair Travis Zadeh wrote to the News. “These developments are alarming and unprecedented.”

After the federal government canceled $400 million in grants and contracts with Columbia University on March 7, citing its alleged failure to combat antisemitism on campus, the school announced on March 21 that it will place its Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies department and its Center for Palestine Studies under the purview of a senior vice provost. 

On March 25, Harvard University dismissed two faculty leaders of its Center for Middle Eastern Studies following pressure from the federal government to address alleged instances of antisemitism on campus. The Trump administration announced on Monday that it would review over $8 billion in federal grants to Harvard as part of an ongoing investigation by the Federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism.

Yale faculty have started to weigh in on developments at other schools. Aslı Bâli LAW ’99, a professor at Yale Law School and the president of the Middle East Studies Association, recently co-wrote a letter on behalf of MESA calling on Harvard administrators to reinstate faculty leaders of its Center for Middle Eastern Studies.

“We regard Harvard’s action in this matter as an egregious violation of longstanding and widely accepted norms of faculty governance as well as the principles of academic freedom,” the letter reads. “Rather than facilitating or acting in the interests of government repression, we must all take a collective stance to defend higher education in the United States.”

Faculty have also expressed that they expect the University to stand up to external pressures to reshape Middle East studies.

Hussein Fancy ’97, a history professor affiliated with CMES, told the News that submitting to these pressures will do nothing to curb them.

“Of course, I am concerned about academic freedom,” Fancy wrote. “I suspect Yale’s administrators recognize that capitulating in advance to external pressures to curtail that freedom will only embolden those who are using the cover of antisemitism to attack higher education.”

Fancy added that “curtailing inquiry, shuffling administrators, or imposing crude definitions” will not solve campus antisemitism or any form of racism.

One lecturer affiliated with CMES, who asked to remain anonymous due to their lack of tenure, suggested that the size of Yale’s endowment could enable the University to stand up to potential funding freezes.

“Yale must stay the course in fulfilling its mission to provide outstanding research and education through ‘free exchange of ideas’ in the face of external pressure, even if that means it must draw on its endowment to preserve programs and scholars under attack,” the faculty member wrote.

In the 2024 fiscal year, Yale’s endowment grew to $41.4 billion. In the same year, Columbia’s endowment reached $14.8 billion, while Harvard’s increased to $53.2 billion.

Jonathan Wyrtzen, a professor of sociology and history affiliated with CMES, wrote to the News that, to his knowledge, the Council has not yet faced explicit pressure from donors, alumni or the administration to alter academic programming. Wyrtzen also wrote that CMES faculty and Yale administrators have not met to discuss concerns about academic freedom.

“Every faculty member working on the Middle East in any institution in the United States, including Yale, has concerns right now about the exceptional threats to our academic freedom in researching and teaching about the MENA region,” Wyrtzen wrote. “Middle East-related studies are at the front line of a deeper, defining struggle about freedom of speech, academic freedom, and institutional autonomy.”

Defending this front line is all the more important at Yale, Wyrtzen continued, because of the University’s background as one of the first American colleges to offer academic programs related to the Middle East. In 1841, Yale became the first American university to establish a professorship in Arabic and a Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, per the CMES website. 

According to Wyrtzen, the University has continuously expanded research and academic offerings related to the modern Middle East and North Africa across its schools during his 16 years of teaching here.

“Now is a time where a line in the sand is being drawn and decisions are being made that define what we stand for and are committed to doing as a whole university,” Wyrtzen wrote.

Yale appointed the first professor of Arabic in 1841.

Correction, April 2: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Yale awarded its first doctoral degree in Middle East studies in 1861. The correct year is 1888.

The post Faculty concerned for Yale’s Middle East studies amid unrest at peer institutions appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The 2025 cohort of the World Fellows Program includes a Nigerian singer-songwriter, an Israeli politician and a Russian journalist. The program, which hosts fellows for four months for networking and leadership training, received a record 4,200 applications this year. 

“I can’t wait to meet fellows from all over the world because solving the challenges facing the world increasingly requires the collective wisdom and action of multiple parties,” said Wei Xing, a 2025 World Fellow and the founder of China Fact Check, the first independent fact-checking program in China. “This is especially important in 2025, when the world seems to have never been so divided and chaotic.”

The fellows are chosen through a nomination process from people inside and outside of Yale.

Emma Sky, the director of Yale’s International Leadership Center that houses the World Fellows program, said that the record number of applicants this year is a testament to the global reputation of the program. 

“The World Fellows program feels more necessary than ever,” she said. “In a world that is increasingly fragmented and polarized, the World Fellows program is a truly global platform for open dialogue and hard conversations.”

According to Xing, the interdisciplinary nature of the program inspired him to apply to the program. Media professionals cannot address misinformation issues alone, he said, but they need an ecosystem of diverse experts.

“The backgrounds of the fellows are so diverse and not limited to journalism,” he said. “It is exciting to see that the problems you are working on may happen to be what other fellows are best at.”

As fact-checking is under great worldwide pressure, Xing added, it’s all the more important to draw inspiration and energy from other fields.

Akim Daouda, an investment and climate finance expert from Gabon, told the News that after developing his business, he saw the World Fellows Program “as a chance to step back and sharpen both the vision and the strategy.”

“It’s an opportunity to engage with people tackling major global challenges and to bring that learning back into the next phase of our work,” he added.

Vivian López Nuñez, another 2025 World Fellow and trailblazer in digital technology and women’s rights in the Paraguayan judiciary system, said that the ability to bring her family to New Haven encouraged her to apply to the program.

“Professional development sponsorships at my age generally view families as a burden, but the fact that the Yale World Fellow program takes into consideration our roles as parents and does not force us to choose between career or family, encouraged me to apply,” she said. “As a woman judge from a developing country in the middle of my career, I believed that my professional development was over when I was young.”

López added that her background will contribute to the program as she will bring the stories of Parguayan women and their innovative abilities in securing justice in their communities.

Sky said that the network- and dialogue-based nature of the World Fellows program is especially important “in a world where the old institutions are eroding and traditional power centers are diffusing and flattening.”

“The scale and complexity of today’s global challenges is daunting,” she said. “It can feel paralyzing. Many people are driven to cynicism or apathy. The 2025 World Fellows are individuals who buck this trend, who dare to dream about optimistic futures — and take big risks in making them a reality.”

Sky added that what made the 2025 cohort stand out to her was the interdisciplinary nature of each fellow’s work. 

As everyone is so adaptive, entrepreneurial, interdisciplinary and constantly evolving, she said, it’s hard to label each individual as one particular thing: “only” a politician or “only” a journalist.

“They’re scrappy; they have grit,” she said. “In a world that so often feels hopeless, the World Fellows inspire and uplift.”

The World Fellows Program started in 2002.

The post Jackson School announces 2025 World Fellows appeared first on Yale Daily News.

On Friday evening, rumors circulated among Yalies that ICE agents in civilian clothes had been spotted near campus, according to multiple students who spoke to the News on the condition of anonymity. A Yale administrator said that rumors suspecting ICE agents were near campus on Friday night are “false.”

A University spokesperson did not confirm nor deny whether Yale Public Safety’s swipe access policy update is related to the University’s recent communications and guidelines about potential ICE encounters on campus.

Instead, the University spokesperson wrote, “We are heading into a busy time at the end of the semester and prioritize the safety of our community members.”

Yale Public Safety’s announcement does not mention outside law enforcement and instead references University President Maurie McInnis’s upcoming inauguration and the University commencement in May as reasons for the policy update and reminder.

Yale, local police say no ICE presence reported

On Friday evening, some residential college leadership called international students living off campus to offer them the option of staying on campus overnight, according to two students who received these calls. Other students with an empty bed in their suites were asked over email late Friday night by at least one Head of College to “make sure that this bed is clear” and “note that a student may be placed in that bed at any time,” according to communications obtained by the News.

On Saturday, one international student who spoke under the condition of anonymity told the News that some of their friends in the international community began panicking after hearing the rumors of an ICE sighting, and that most believed them to be true. The News could not independently verify the source of the rumor or when it began.

“I was not too worried but it felt like something that was hanging over us since January was now here,” the student said, referring to the Jan. 20 inauguration of President Donald Trump, who promised stricter immigration policies throughout his campaign. 

While Ozan Say, the director of the Office of International Students and Scholars, declined to comment on the communications with off-campus international students, he clarified that “ICE presence near campus yesterday is a false rumor” in an email to the News on Saturday morning.

A University spokesperson reaffirmed on Saturday evening that the University had not received any notice of immigration agents on campus.

New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson told the News on Saturday morning that he was “not aware of any incidents” of ICE activity or presence from Friday night. Though New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker has told the News that ICE has historically notified the NHPD when it intends to operate within the city, an NHPD spokesperson clarified that the federal agency does not always do so. 

Public Safety, international students office post guidelines for ICE encounters 

A list of frequently asked questions about immigration on the Office of International Students and Scholars website, posted on Friday, states that Yale will “not allow” ICE agents to enter “non-public” areas on campus without a subpoena or judicial warrant. 

The OISS webpage clarifies that such “non-public” areas include “all classrooms, research and teaching labs, offices, dormitories or housing.” The page does not provide more details on how University officials might prevent or restrict law enforcement agents from accessing such spaces.

The webpage instructs students who witness or encounter an ICE representative “while on campus” to immediately call the YPD’s non-emergency number. 

New guidance on the Yale Public Safety website homepage instructs Yale community members who encounter “any non-YPD personnel on campus, including those from immigration enforcement” to ask for the agent’s credentials and request that they wait in a public area for the YPD to arrive. The guidance also notes that “YPD does not enforce U.S. immigration law.”

A one-page document with more detailed guidance published on the Public Safety website also instructs community members to contact Yale’s Office of General Counsel if they are approached by law enforcement.

The OISS webpage affirms that Yale will not voluntarily allow federal immigration enforcement agencies to obtain or review student and employee records, personal information or non-public research without a subpoena or judicial warrant. If a warrant is procured, the University will notify the student or employee in question, unless prohibited from doing so.

The University has stated that it can connect students with short-term legal representation and that it will help international students denied reentry into the U.S. “by advising on resources for immigration assistance and academic options.”

Yale’s new guidance on encountering federal law enforcement follows the federal government’s detainment of multiple international students and scholars, including individuals who publicly expressed pro-Palestinian views during the past year’s nationwide protests relating to the war in Gaza. ICE detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University alum and green card holder, on March 9 and Rumeysa Ozturk, a graduate student at Tufts University on a student visa, on March 25.

Public Safety updates campus building access policies

In an email to the Yale community on Saturday night, Duane Lovello, head of Public Safety, announced new policies on restricted access to University buildings. 

Starting at noon on Monday, “access to academic buildings and classrooms will require an active university ID,” the email reads.According to the email, buildings open to the public, such as libraries and museums, will remain “greenlit.”

The message also reiterated safety reminders for the Yale community, which included reporting suspicious activity to the Yale Police Department, locking doors and windows and downloading the Livesafe app. 

This is a developing story.

Yurii Stasiuk contributed reporting.

The post Yale refutes ICE presence rumors but releases law enforcement guide, restricts building access appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The draft list, which was first reported by the New York Times on March 14, categorizes 43 countries into three tiers: red, which means all travel is banned; orange, which means visas are “sharply restricted” and yellow, which means the nation is given 60 days to address perceived issues, with the threat of being moved to another list.

Although the bans may be officially announced as early as Friday, they have not gone into effect yet, and the draft, developed by the State Department, is likely to go through changes upon reviews by foreign embassies, intelligence agencies and the White House. It is also unclear whether people with existing visas or green cards would be included in the ban.

However, students from the listed countries told the News that the fear of potential bans rattled their spring break travel plans and long-term career opportunities.

“The uncertainty surrounding this ban already makes me nervous, impacting how confidently I can plan my future,” said Bintou Leigh ’27 from Gambia, a country on the “yellow” list. “While I sincerely hope it doesn’t go into effect, given past travel bans and the unpredictability of these decisions, I’m preparing for the possibility that it might.”

While the State Department, following President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order to develop the list, said it was “committed to protecting our nation and its citizens by upholding the highest standards of national security and public safety through our visa process,” some students expressed skepticism about this reasoning.

Leigh said that Gambia, like most other African countries on the list, has no history of posing security threats to the United States, and the ban “feels arbitrary and somewhat unjustified, as if we’re being labeled guilty without a clear explanation.”

“Many people from these nations, including myself, come to the U.S. genuinely aiming to learn, grow and give back,” she said. “To see our ambitions reduced to a perceived security risk undermines both our intentions and our humanity.”

Kirill Putin ’25, who is from Russia, said his friends back in Russia found their home country’s inclusion on the list “strange” coming from the Trump administration, given its friendlier stance towards the nation. 

Russia is on the orange list, which means citizens would be restricted but not cut off from traveling to the United States, and would be required to show up for in-person visa interviews.

“However, it is not my first time living through the consequences of a major political decision made by a government which nobody quite understands,” he said.

Andrei Kureichyk, a Belarusian dissident in exile and an associate research scholar at Yale, wrote to the News that he has heard of students and scholars who cancelled international travel plans and some who were forced to return to the United States early in anticipation of the travel bans.

Some countries on the draft list, such as Bhutan, did not have significant prior friction with the United States or the Trump administration. Others, like Belarus and Russia, have long been under American economic sanctions.

Kureichyk said that proposed travel bans go against the goal of the economic sanctions, which were aimed at punishing regimes but not citizens, some of whom oppose their leaders. By banning people based on citizenship, he said, the Trump administration would limit American access to culture, language and history unique to those countries.

“There are people in Russia who disagree with Putin, protesting against his aggressive war,” Kureichyk said. “There is a huge number of people in Belarus who protested against Lukashenko’s dictatorship. I am sure that there are those in other countries who share the values of freedom and democracy. Why should they be banned from entering the United States? What is their fault?”

A student from Pakistan, listed on the “orange” list, told the News that preliminary news of the ban has already affected him. The student requested anonymity for security concerns. While he planned to travel to Turkey over spring break, upon learning about the draft list on the Thursday before break, he chose to stay in the United States, afraid that the ban would take place while he was abroad. 

Fear of the impending ban is also preventing him from attending his sister’s wedding in April and from visiting his ailing grandmother.

“Her health has deteriorated in the last couple of months, and she is almost on her deathbed,” he said. “If at some point I need to travel, … I cannot even be there for her and she obviously wants to see me.”

While the ban wouldn’t impact Kirill Putin’s long-term plans, as he planned to leave the United States after graduation anyway, it could prevent his parents from attending his graduation. 

He expects the ban to go into effect, given that a similar ban took place in 2017 after a green light from the Supreme Court.

Ghai Tit Tit ’27, who is from South Sudan, included on the “orange” list, said the bans would further complicate his visa applications. 

Student visas for South Sudanese citizens are typically limited to three months or two entries and require reapplication when either of the limitations is reached. Additionally, South Sudanese students need to travel to neighboring countries for each application.

Kureichyk is also worried about meeting his family members, adding that the sentiment is common among international students and scholars.

The preliminary ban also has long-term effects for students from affected countries.

According to Leigh, Gambia’s inclusion on the final travel ban list would complicate her attendance of medical school in the United States.

“My ultimate goal has always been to acquire a world-class medical education, then return home and directly address healthcare gaps in Gambia,” she said. “With limited medical resources back home, studying in America isn’t just about personal ambition, it’s about bringing essential medical skills back to my community.”

The student from Pakistan said the ban might prevent companies from hiring him and sponsoring his visa, especially considering the international nature of the finance industry.

“A company might not want to undertake the rigmarole of putting me through the sponsorship process when they know for sure that I cannot stay in the country and I cannot participate in cross-border deals that require me to travel,” he said.

Students said the likelihood of a travel ban has caused “harrowing” and “distressing” effects to their day-to-day life, as well as frustration about how they perceived the global role of the United States.

Leigh said the news of the draft list shocked her not because travel bans are unprecedented but because “it felt personal, targeting the community that raised me.” It caused a “mixture of frustration, fear and resignation” among her international friends on campus, she said.

The Pakistani student further expressed his disappointment about his idea of America, a country which he expected to treat everyone equally and assume everyone is innocent until proven guilty.

“One of the biggest reasons that inspired me to come all the way here for college is the American Dream, which basically means inclusivity,” he said. “To be treated like a second-class citizen on a day-to-day basis is very disheartening.” 

“Obviously, it breeds a very xenophobic narrative in the student body, and I’m lucky that I’m at a place like here where people have the resources and education to be empathetic,” he added about the bans.

Yale admin bides its time

Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis told the News that he expects students, not permanent staff members, to be more affected by the bans if they are enacted, and encourages concerned students to contact the OISS — the Office of International Students and Scholars — for advice.

“We’re working closely with the Office of International Students and Scholars, and they have reached out to everybody who’s from one of those countries,” Lewis told the News. “And if anybody hasn’t heard from them, they should go ahead and reach out to them to help strategize about what to do, if this actually takes place.”

Yale said it would offer short-term legal assistance to students at risk of deportation as a result of pro-Palestinian protests, and a University spokesperson reiterated that Yale would not voluntarily share student information with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

Still, students remain skeptical that the University can provide practical help. According to the Pakistani student, the OISS did not provide much advice apart from urging him not to travel.

The OISS did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

A letter written by Yale law professors Muneer Ahmad and Michael Wishnie on March 16 and circulated by the Yale chapter of the American Association of University Professors urged those affected to return to the United States “as soon as possible.”

Kureichyk told the News that universities like Yale should unite to warn politicians against the dangers of isolationism.

“It is difficult to say about the legal steps that American universities can take to protect their academic freedom, including the freedom to accept international students and scientists,” Kureichyk wrote. “But I am sure that by uniting, American higher education can become a great force.”

Yale has been less vocal about the administration’s immigration policies compared to this point in Trump’s first term, instead choosing to wait to react to impactful policies.

Many universities, including Harvard, Cornell and Brown, asked students prior to or during winter break to return prior to Trump’s inauguration. Yale did not issue such statements. Ozan Say, director of the OISS, told the News in a Feb. 14 interview that the office was waiting to respond to concrete policy changes instead of speculation.

“I’m sure there will be things that we didn’t foresee and will surprise us entirely when it comes out,” Say said in February. “Definitely, those things will happen, but it’s been only three weeks. This is a marathon, so I think we need to pace ourselves.”

Yale’s first international student arrived between 1805 and 1810.

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