Local colleges grapple with Trump's travel ban

Local college officials are scrambling to determine the impact of President Donald Trump's immigration ban, advising students not to travel to the affected countries and saying they will protect the rights of students.

Trump's executive order bans immigrants from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Sudan, Yemen and Somalia from entering the U.S. for 90 days and bars refugee admissions for 120 days. Syrian refugees were banned indefinitely by the order.

While many colleges said that no students or faculty were impacted by the ban, presidents from several colleges addressed the scope of the ban and their stances on the order.

READ: Local leaders react to Trump immigration ban 

MORE: What to know: Trump’s executive order on refugees, immigration 

In a letter to students and staff, Bard College President Leon Botstein said the college will support and protect students without reference to their immigration status, continue to admit and support undocumented students and “do everything in its power to protect our international students, faculty and staff from abroad as well as immigrants within the student body, faculty and staff throughout the Bard network.

"The recent directives from President Trump demand careful scrutiny with respect to their implications," Botstein said. "However, I believe that Bard must sustain its commitment to the principle of non-discrimination by reason of race, religion or national identity."

Botstein said Bard has a proud history “as a haven for refugees, first in the 1930s and again after the failed Hungarian Revolution of 1956,” and will continue to do so.

It was unclear how many students and which programs at Bard were impacted by the executive order, said Mark Primoff, director of communications at Bard.

"The implementation and legality of the executive order are being challenged as we speak, so we’ll know if and when that impact becomes specific," Primoff said.

Greg Cannon, chief public affairs officer at Marist College, said that the school currently has three students from affected countries, but no faculty or staff.

"President Trump's recent executive order on immigration has caused a great deal of alarm and confusion across the country and in our own college community," said Marist President David Yellen in a letter to the Marist College community.

Yellen wrote in the letter that "with the situation so confused and fluid," Marist students from the seven countries specified in the executive order are being advised to postpone all international travel until further notice.

"We will continue to monitor the situation closely and work with our fellow colleges and universities. The Center for Multicultural Affairs is talking individually with those Marist students affected by the order to provide appropriate assistance and advice," Yellen said.

Dutchess Community College spokeswoman Judi Stokes said the college shared with students and staff a statement from State University of New York officials, which advised students and faculty to put off making trips to any of the nations in Trump’s travel ban for immigrants from those countries.

According to SUNY officials, the nation’s largest public university system has 320 enrolled students who come from those countries. The officials say they’re working to determine the potential impact Trump’s order could have on students, faculty and staff who are abroad or at home on the system’s 64 campuses.

Stokes said while the school does have study abroad programs, none of the countries outlined in the executive order are involved. As a community college, she said, the school does not "have as many foreign students, faculty and staff" as many four-year colleges.

Two Syrian students are attending SUNY New Paltz for the semester on exchange visitors visas, according to Melissa Kaczmarek, director of media relations at the college. The two students, both from The American University in Cairo, were sponsored through the Middle East Peace Initiative, which is funded by the U.S. Department of State, Kaczmarek said.

The ban would not impact study abroad options, Kaczmarek said.

In a letter to the Vassar College community, Jonathan Chenette, interim president at the Poughkeepsie school, said the ban has "sown confusion and upended lives.

"It is in stark and disheartening contrast to the values of inclusion that we at Vassar and so many others in our country consider paramount," Chenette said.

The letter affirmed that Vassar College would not release information on the immigration status of employees or students unless required to do so by law.

"Over the coming days and weeks, we will monitor the developing situation closely and determine ways in which we can support vulnerable members of the Vassar College community," Chenette said.

None of Vassar's students or faculty have been impacted by the ban, according to Amanita Duga-Carroll, director of media relations.

The same holds true at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, said David Kennett, interim president at the college.

The college will do "everything" to protect the constitutional rights of its community, Kennett said in the letter, quoting Pope Francis on the obligation Christians have to refugees.

"It’s hypocrisy to call yourself a Christian and chase away a refugee or someone seeking help, someone who is hungry or thirsty, toss out someone who is in need of my help," he said.

While Mount Saint Mary College offers students the option to create a custom study abroad program, the ban does not impact its programs or travel opportunities, said Matt Frey, assistant director of media relations.

"No students are studying in or plan to study in areas affected by the ban," Frey said.

Geoffrey Wilson: gwilson@poughkeepsiejournal.com, 845-437-4882, Twitter: Geoff_LW; Abbott Brant: abrant@poughkeepsiejournal.com; 845-437-4809; Twitter: @AbbottBrantPoJo.