The University of Massachusetts, comprising 100,000 students, faculty and staff, is an international research university that extends the promise of American public higher education to thousands of international students and attracts faculty members from across the globe.
We are honored that these international students and scholars choose UMass. They enrich our campuses and communities by providing a fullness of perspectives that helps fulfill our mission of research and public service benefiting the Commonwealth.
Since the signing on Friday of the President's Executive Order restricting entry to the U.S. by citizens of seven foreign countries, our International Students and Scholars offices, assisted by other staff from across our five campuses, have been working to connect with students, faculty and staff affected by this action and determine how to assist them. Several were out of the country at the time of the Executive Order, including two UMass Dartmouth faculty who were detained at Logan Airport on Saturday despite being lawful permanent residents of the U.S.
We are deeply disheartened by this alarming action that has violated the rights of members of the UMass community and many others. This is not the country we promised to them when we invited them to study, teach and conduct research here.