President Kaplan Reiterates Support for University’s International Students

In a message to the University community, President Kaplan committed to ensuring that all international students, regardless of any eventuality the University may face due to the pandemic, will have the support and resources they need to continue to pursue their educational goals at the University of New Haven.

July 10, 2020

Dear Members of the University Community,

I felt it was important, in light of the latest federal guidelines announced earlier this week, to emphasize my and the University’s full support for all of our international students. Our hundreds of international students who hail from countries around the globe greatly enrich our University community and the countless curricular and co-curricular activities they take part in – whether they are participating in these programs on campus or virtually.

The anxiety level for our international students is, understandably, very high. We have reached out to all incoming and returning international students to reiterate our support and discuss the new guidelines with them. We have reinforced that the University meets the current guidelines and that we will ensure no international student will have a full online course load for the Fall 2020 semester.

We have expressed to all of our international students that should another outbreak occur impacting on-campus course delivery, the University will work with them, to the extent possible, to maintain course continuity and enable them to continue to pursue their educational goals at the University of New Haven.

Above all, we have a responsibility as a community of scholars to support each other. When the University transitioned to full online instruction in March and we were forced to close our residence halls due to the global pandemic, there were some international students who, due to a variety of factors, unfortunately had nowhere to go. We provided on-campus housing, including assisting some students who were not living on campus at the start of the spring semester. We will, as always, continue to do all we can to ensure that our international students, regardless of any eventuality we may face due to the pandemic, have the support and resources they need to excel.

I am pleased to pledge my unqualified support to the many colleges and universities across the country that are fighting these misguided and ill-advised regulations that unfairly target and place an undue burden on international students and their families. As a University community, we must stand in solidarity with our international students and all international students studying across the United States because it is the right and just thing to do.

With best wishes,

Steven H Kaplan, Ph.D.
President