Harvard visitor (inc PD) ban

[poetryandwine]

With the emphasis today on the ban the Trump administration has imposed on international students at Harvard, less publicity has been given to the fact that visitors on J-1 visas are an equal part of the ban.

This includes all short term international visitors. Furthermore, the large majority of international Harvard postdocs have been on J-1 visas. (Some who received the PhD in the US are eligible for an H-1 visa but we all know who makes the decision).

This aspect of the ban is almost more shocking than the international student ban (hard to believe I am writing that) given the claimed reasons for the whole thing.

One would be desperately worried about the research consequences of losing so many project workers except that all Federal funding is also being pulled from Harvard.

Yes, @poetryandwine it's shocking. Hearing the news made me wonder what university Trump went to (I maintain that the original RAE was imposed back in the 90s by Thatcher because Oxford wouldn't give her an Honorary degree).

I had a Harvard research fellowship a couple of years ago (and a rather lovely time there), but the process to get the J-1 visa was quite lengthy and expensive, and I got a cross-examination at Border Security at JFK when I flew in. I really had to stop myself saying "It's Harvard! And I'm a professor, I'm not going to be an illegal immigrant" but sensibly restrained myself from being an arse.

But I fully understood Althusser's concept of interpellation at that point. The process almost criminalises you in making you wonder if you are guilty of something or other.

They're after the funding for climate science and other "woke" science, according to my US colleagues @poetryandwine - so they're burning everything.

If the UK government had any vision or policy for UK research and universities as drivers of growth, they'd be poaching the top research teams from Harvard, MIT and Stanford. It would cost 10s of millions, but the long term benefits would be extraordinary. And get the UK back to being a top science research country and a destination for top researchers. Nobel prizes etc.

We already punch above our weight for the funding & population we have (try telling that to the small-minded parents on the MN HE forum!) but China and India, as well as the US will overtake us, and all that potential for growth through research will disappear in the next few decades, unless any government we have pulls its finger out.

Fascinating posts, @ParmaVioletTea

Trump’s alma mater is Penn. You’ve got me wondering whether he may have applied to Harvard and been rejected? We know he has a great capacity for revenge.

I have a similar anecdote to yours, in reverse. When first married I was on a lovely PD at a an Ivy+ that really treated the PD cohort well. DH had a readership in a Northern UK university. It was one of the best anywhere for his specialisation but IMO at the time neither the uni nor the city had much else to recommend, particularly in Winter.

We’d worked it so I was coming to the UK for January and he was coming back with me on a nice visiting position. The UK border guards asked the purpose of my visit and because it really wasn’t research driven I stupidly said ‘To visit my husband.’

Even though it is perfectly legal to do that on a tourist visa (I planned to lay low and write) all hell broke loose. The guard’s supervisor put a special notation in my passport only allowing me to stay for 24 hrs beyond my return flight. The whole time I was trying not to cry out ‘Why would I want to stay?’

And here we are. Thankfully much has changed.

I agree the present troubles would be a great opportunity if we could get ourselves together.

it is utterly crazy, but apparently some of the people in the US administration (Vance etc) have explicitly said that they want to destroy the universities.

Harvard seems to be fighting back pretty robustly and has enough money and a lot of good-will behind it to keep fighting. as with so many things in US politics, I imagine there will be a lot of arguments in court about everything.

I actually wondered if it was to humiliate Vance as a Harvard alumnus, one of the man's loyalty tests. Or just one of the many many hangovers from the 80s and 90s when Trump was an open joke among the New York cognoscenti and he didnt get invited to the right parties. I assume it's because they have a big name too.

Allegedly Harvard rejected DT's son Barron but took one of the Obama daughters.

Such sheer and focussed madness does seem personal, but who really knows?

A judge has issued an emergency stay setting aside this executive order but the impact is unclear at best.

The NY Times is reporting today that the pause on visa interviews begun yesterday will also affect academics planning visits to America

Can academics still go to conferences using ESTA? Though I’m not sure I’d fancy turning up at the border and explaining that I was an academic at the moment.

I went to the USA 3 weeks ago to speak at a conference on an ESTA and I’m booked to go again in November. But I’m white with a strong track record of US visas and zero social media presence. I wouldn’t recommend it to any of my students.

I would think so, as this is quite different to a long term visitor visa (J-1) and I don’t think an interview is required? (I hold a US passport) But in theory you may be required to surrender your computer and phone for searches at the border.

I agree with @parietal that it could be a bad idea for certain students and postdocs.

I’m supposed to be going to a conference in November. I’m not white and work in a field that is the subject of culture wars. Think I may pull out, unfortunately, it’s not worth the stress.

I am very worried about an ex-student of mine. He came from a really poor background. No one in his family had ever been to uni before. Ended up at Oxford and then got a fully-funded phD to Harvard two years ago. This could absolutely ruin his chances and he is a natural academic. No way could he do this without full funding. Even if he starts again in UK, he will be two years behind, and UK funding isn't enough to live on unless you live in a tent.

I am so sorry to hear all of this, @GCAcademic and @RedBeech . Absolutely horrifying.

I'm currently in the US, under an ESTA, because I'm paying for myself. The J-1 visa you need to get if the institution is paying you, is what I think they're after.

And it's not just Harvard - they're after the "liberal" establishment. All the guff about free speech was a smokescreen.

And my J-1 visa a few years ago was for a year, although I only needed a month (the length of my Fellowship).

I pulled out of plans for travelling there for fear of being detained on arrival or even just mistreated. I am British and would have perhaps gotten an ESTA with no problem but I am not white nor privileged (and my social media is full of posts about diversity and inclusion). Perhaps I'm paranoid and I might live to regret having turned down this once in a lifetime opportunity of a fully paid travel to the US, but at the time of my decision I didn't want to take my chances.

As a US citizen by choice, I am equally embarrassed and sorry