Why does someone need to physically be here to take an 100% online course load? Can’t that be done from anywhere?
I’m not trying to justify deportation proceedings, merely asking a question?
Well let's see... Let's say a student is from Australia or India. They would be taking these online courses in the middle of the night. For an entire semester, at the very least. As an actual expert in the field, I can tell you that's a lousy idea, for their health as well as their ability to learn.
Second, universities are playing this by ear. Some planned entirely online courses. Others are adopting a hybrid model that they'd move to fully online if the situation demands it. Now they'll have to reconsider, and keep courses hybrid if they don't want their international students deported mid-semester. And they should absolutely not have to factor in this kind of lunacy in their decision making. The only factor should be local rates of infection.
Third, students have, by this point, entered into lease agreements, potentially purchased cars, and so on. They have about a month to extricate themselves from the country. In the middle of a pandemic which, thanks to this administration's bang up job, has resulted in travelers from America being banned from several European and Asian countries. And similarly, it is too late now to transfer to a different college that has a hybrid model.
It is similarly too late for a lot of colleges to <I>shift</I> to a hybrid model, since this ruling dropped without warning.
This is capricious, stupid, thoughtless, and insane.