US university lends hand to international students affected by #MuslimBan

Anticipating further executive orders on immigration by the US President Donald Trump’s administration, Ohio University (OU) is taking steps to support its students who may be affected by such orders.

According to The Athens News, besides supplying summer housing, the Midwestern university also set up a landing page on its website to inform visitors of the school’s response to Trump’s various action on federal immigration policy.

“One such assistance is through the partnership of Ohio’s International Student and Faculty Services (ISFS), Housing and Residence Life and Culinary Services, who can provide campus accommodations to international students in need during the approaching summer months,” Dan Pittman, a university spokesman wrote in an email last Friday.

Students who had planned a trip home for the summer, but had changed their mind due to potential future travel restrictions are urged to contact ISFS.

Revision to order

The travel ban has been temporarily halted after a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a national injunction on Trump’s executive order, which banned travel from seven Muslim-majority country, popularly known as the Muslim Ban.

Trump has said he intends to appeal that decision

Yesterday, the White House revised the ban by removing Iraq from the list and imposing the 90-day- ban only on new visa applicants.

The order also suspends the US refugee programme for 120 days as before, but Syrian refugees will not be placed on an indefinite ban. The executive order will take effect on March 16.

Good explainer about what's new in #MuslimBan 2.0. Spoiler alert: It's still bad, especially for int'l students: https://t.co/nJUMx6jULU

— Young Invincibles (@YoungInvincible) March 6, 2017

As this plays out at the federal level, the spokesman said the school would continue to monitor how these policies may change and “discuss ways to assist” OU’s international community.

About 100 students, faculty and staff were affected by the said executive order, according to OU’s resource web page.

Other efforts by the school include waiving the “WellBeing fee” for any foreign student who wants to access OU’S Counseling and Psychological Services, as well as a public question-and-answer session last week with immigration attorneys on Trump’s policies.