Four international undergraduate students have been given the pseudonyms Zoey, May, Catherine and Sarah. They each have been granted anonymity to speak candidly about their experiences.
International students have shared that they are afraid to speak out. Campus’s feminist magazine Spare Rib has taken down their website. The Dartmouth has received a wave of student requests asking for their names to be taken down from our pages.
The Department of Homeland Security revoked the student immigration statuses of two Dartmouth students earlier this month. The revocations are part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to crack down on student visa holders. Over the last few weeks, at least 790 students at over 210 universities across the country have had their visas revoked or their legal statuses terminated, according to the Associated Press.
“I’m terrified to say anything concrete that can be tied to me,” Catherine, a member of the Class of 2025 from a European country, said. “It generates a sense of paranoia because there are so many little things you could technically be doing wrong.”
Student publications have received requests to take down past posts attributed to international students. For example, feminist magazine Spare Rib has temporarily taken down its website to “assess the risk to our international staff members and give folks a chance to anonymize their contributions to our publication if they wish,” Spare Rib representatives wrote in an email statement to The Dartmouth.
“We know the current administration has targeted students who speak out against social injustice and has a vendetta against the diversity and intersectionality that is foundational to Spare Rib,” representatives wrote. “For us, this decision isn’t about backing down on our beliefs, but about taking steps to protect our most vulnerable members in a time of uncertainty, fear and state and institutional repression.”
May, a member of the Class of 2028, said she was not that surprised that Dartmouth students had their student statuses revoked because President Donald Trump “has been foreshadowing” visa revocations.
“Since Trump won the election, it was pretty clear in the international student bodies that maybe some things would happen and we [should] get prepared,” she said.
However, Catherine said she was “surprised” that Dartmouth students were targeted because the College can feel like a “bubble.”
“It’s easy to forget it’s a prestigious institution,” she said. “It’s like ‘Oh, we’re just a little group of people living together in the woods,’ so it’s easy to forget that it does make sense if you’re trying to make a point to target Dartmouth students.”
College spokesperson Jana Barnello wrote in an email statement to The Dartmouth that the College is “deeply committed to supporting international students, faculty and staff, answering their questions and hearing their concerns.”
“A core group of senior leaders meets daily to monitor and respond to immigration-related developments, including policy changes that could affect members of our community,” Barnello wrote. “The Immigration Task Force, a cross-campus working group, meets weekly to ensure alignment and continuity in our support and communication efforts.”
While international students have always had “wildly different” consequences for “college-aged behavior,” such as underage drinking or possessing a fake ID, that now also applies to speaking out against the government or attending protests, according to Catherine.
“A lot of us are definitely scared,” Zoey, a member of the Class of 2028 from India, said.
Zoey explained her friends and family at home have told her to be careful and “[stay] low” by making sure that immigration forms are completed on time, not speaking out against the Trump administration and not attending protests.
May said her concern over her immigration status has made her “quite cautious about speaking to publications.”
“It’s a very sensitive time, and I don’t want to have an impact on my own status here because the cost is so huge,” she said.
Barnello wrote that the Office of Visa and Immigration Services is “actively monitoring all federal immigration changes” through manual checks of the federal Student and Exchange Visitor Information System multiple times a day. The office is also “offering individualized support and guidance” to affected community members, she wrote.
Meanwhile, the International Student Experience office is working to “support students holistically” through Global Cafe events where international students can connect with office staff and other international students, according to ISE director Seun Olamosu.
“[OVIS] is helping them interpret what this may mean legally,” Olamosu said. “I’m more concerned about the emotional wellbeing of the student, how they are doing academically and what their immediate needs are.”
International students have expressed mixed feelings about the College’s efforts to support them.
Catherine said while she is “super grateful [to OVIS] for being on top of it,” she wished the College “was louder” and “took more of a stance” on the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies.
“I’ve found that the emails [are] just saying, ‘Oh yeah, it’s a shame,’” she said. “‘Holding space’ isn’t going to change anything.”
She added that emails from OVIS could be “anxiety inducing.”
“You’re waking up and checking your email and seeing you have one from OVIS every day,” Catherine said. “And you’re like, ‘Oh my God, am I being contacted because they’ve seen that my status was terminated?’”
May expressed that while she thinks that OVIS is doing a good job providing opportunities for students to talk to the College, she also wishes that there were more student spaces for “specific nationalities” to connect with one another.
Fear and uncertainty around immigration statuses have impacted some international students’ short and long-term plans. For example, some students changed their spring break plans last month to avoid leaving the country.
“The idea of leaving the country and having to re-enter caused me so much anxiety,” Catherine said. “I was like, ‘I can’t deal with this.’”
Catherine added that she was considering staying in the United States after graduation but started to question the decision following the 2024 presidential election.
“I really want to stay here but I’m terrified of the fact that [your visa] can clearly be pulled out from under you at any point,” Catherine said.
Meanwhile, some international members of the incoming Class of 2029 are questioning whether to attend Dartmouth due to concerns about immigration status, according to Zoey.
“I have [members of the Class of 2029] texting me asking about what the situation looks like,” she said. “Instead of making the decision about where they can get the best education, [they’re] rather having to make the decision about where [they’re] going to feel the most safe.”
However, Sarah, a member of the Class of 2025, said she is more “relieved compared to other people” as a J-1 visa-holder, which is often used for students in exchange programs in the U.S..
“I’m graduating pretty soon and I don’t actually need the credits from Dartmouth to graduate [from my international university], so I feel like if I really need to leave soon, it wouldn’t impact my life that much,” she said.
Although Sarah is “optimistic” about her own status, she said some of her friends on J-1 visas are worried about leaving the U.S. and being unable to re-enter.
“Me and my other exchange friends were planning to go to Montreal, but it got canceled because one of my friends wanted to keep it more low-key and take the safe side and to not risk not being able to come back,” she said.
Casey Bertocchi is a junior from Wilmette, IL studying government and environmental science. Outside of The D, she likes to sail, write satire, and take film photos with her Nikon N90.
