April 9, 2024

Dear President Davis, Provost Vanden Bout, Vice-President Cochran-McCall, Dean Ades, and Dean Reddick: 

The Executive Committee of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) at the University of Texas at Austin calls on you urgently to address the revocation of visas of international students on our campus. In the past week, we have learned of three visa revocations at UT Austin: two are students who have graduated but were working in the U.S., while one is currently a doctoral candidate in the Cockrell School of Engineering. This is likely only a fraction of the actual number, as administrators and current or former students themselves may not yet be aware of visa terminations made by the Department of Homeland Security through the Student Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). The number of revocations will surely grow in the weeks ahead. According to an article published by Inside Higher Ed yesterday, at least 147 students have had their visas revoked across the country over the past five days, including nine at Texas A&M.

According to Texas Global, UT Austin currently has a total of 6,644 international undergraduate and graduate students. These students are a vital part of our community and their safety and security is at risk. Many international students have already conveyed to us the fear and uncertainty that they are experiencing. This has affected their ability to travel, to teach, to present their research, and to express their political views. These students are facing the threat of legal status termination, without due process, and the end of their educational pursuits at UT Austin, as well as the prospect of detainment, deportation, or immediate departure from the country. Our students’ lives and their futures are at stake.

In accord with the national leadership of the American Association of University Professors, we call on you to institute best practices at the University of Texas at Austin designed to minimize harm to international students, including: 

1. Checking SEVIS daily to see if student and postdoctoral scholars’ visas have been revoked and notifying them immediately of any changes in their legal status.
2. Ensuring that any students whose visa or legal status is revoked and who is either detained or deported can remain enrolled at UT Austin and can continue their program of study until completion, whether the student is an undergraduate or graduate student. 
3. Allowing any student or postdoctoral scholar who is receiving a fellowship, stipend, or salary from the University and is deported the opportunity to continue to receive that funding until the end of their contract or course of study.
4. Providing and paying for legal support for UT Austin students and postdoctoral scholars whose visas are revoked.
5. Refraining from complying with any orders to disclose personal information of international students or postdoctoral scholars, whether these orders come from the Trump administration, DOJ, DHS, ICE or other government agencies involved in the investigation, prosecution, or deportation of international students and scholars. 
6. Communicating UT Austin’s policies and actions to international students, postdoctoral scholars, faculty, and students in order to address the fear and uncertainty on campus.

As leaders of the flagship campus in the UT system, your actions are a model to your peers at public colleges and universities across the state. We call on you to do everything in your power to protect our international students and postdoctoral scholars in this moment of crisis.

Thank you for your consideration. We stand ready to work with you.  

Sincerely, 

Dr. Pauline Turner Strong, President, AAUP chapter at UT Austin* 

Dr. Brian Evans, Past President, AAUP chapter at UT Austin* 

Dr. Andrea Gore, Vice President, AAUP chapter at UT Austin*

Dr. Lauren Gutterman, Secretary, AAUP chapter at UT Austin* 

Dr. Steven Seegel, Treasurer, AAUP chapter at UT Austin*

Dr. Karma Chavez, Member, Executive Committee, AAUP chapter at UT Austin*

*speaking for ourselves as private individuals, not on behalf of our employer

Cc: Nancy Brazzil, Deputy to the President

Faculty Council, Office of the General Faculty