A media pitch made for the Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration to help create an interview with our policy director.
Media Pitch
Interviewer: Sean Tessler, Spectrum News: 425 615-5101
Interviewee: Zuzana Wootson, Deputy Director of Federal Policy the Presidents’ Alliance, zuzanacepla@gmail.com
Hello Sean,
I hope you’re doing well. November 17th-21st marks International Education Week, a nationwide celebration of the benefits of international exchange and global learning. This comes at a particularly challenging time, as right now, a proposal from DHS is threatening to end “Duration of Status” D/S, this is the framework that allows international students to stay in the US while completing their degrees, instead of being tied to a fixed, pre-set end date.
If enacted, the rule would require the applicants to regularly submit additional applications to remain in the country and extend their stay, pose a significant burden on many colleges and universities as well as the federal government, and increase the existing immigration application backlog. As a result, this rule would create additional uncertainty, intrude on academic decision-making, increase bureaucratic hurdles, and risk deterring international students, researchers, and scholars from coming to the United States
I have been following your coverage of Syracuse Food Pantries, and thought with International Education Week coming up, the current difficulties facing international students would be of interest to you. We have a number of experts who could talk on this subject, but I would like to connect you with our Deputy Director of Federal Policy, Zuzana Wootson. As a former international student herself, Zuzana can speak from personal experience but also tackle the contributions of international students, highlight our position on the issue, as well as the current challenges this specific sector of the population faces with changing policies.
Please let me know if this is a story you would be interested in covering and I’d be happy to propose some times to meet with Zuzana during this week or the next.
All the best,
Kenia Guerrero and Matthew Lowman
