Nathaniel N. Urban
Provost and Senior Vice President
for Academic Affairs
Provost’s OfficeAlumni Memorial Building
27 Memorial Drive West
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015-3035(610) 758-3605 Fax (610) 758-3154
e-mail: provost@lehigh.edu
http://www.lehigh.edu

Submitted via www.regulations.gov
October 23, 2020
Sharon Hageman
Acting Regulatory Unit Chief, Office of Policy and Planning
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
500 12th Street SW
Washington, D.C. 20536
Re: DHS Docket No. ICEB-2019-0006-0001, Comments in Response to Establishing a FixedTime Period of Admission and an Extension of Stay Procedure for Nonimmigrant AcademicStudents, Exchange Visitors, and Representatives of Foreign Information MediaOn behalf of Lehigh University, we submit this comment letter in response to the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security’s proposed rule, Establishing a Fixed Time Period ofAdmission and an Extension of Stay Procedure for Nonimmigrant Academic Students,
Exchange Visitors, and Representatives of Foreign Information Media (DHS Docket No. ICEB2019-0006-0001), published September 25, 2020.
International students and scholars are a vital part of Lehigh’s academic community, and theircontributions extend far beyond our campus. This proposed rule places a significant burden onthem and furthers the message that the United States is not a welcoming place. It will make itharder for us to continue to recruit the brightest minds from around the world and exacerbate
the nationwide decrease in international enrollments that began in 2015-2016. Therefore, weurge that the proposed rule be withdrawn in its entirety, and that admission for the duration ofstatus remain in effect.
Lehigh University is home to 1,006 international students and scholars from 83 countries. They
make up 9 percent of undergraduates and 29 percent of graduate students. International
students bring different perspectives and experiences to the classroom, leading to moreinteresting discussion and more effective problem-solving. Our 26 international scholars include
visiting researchers and scientists, professors, and student interns in 14 disciplines, who sharespecial expertise and experience with their colleagues and students. International graduate
students work as teaching assistants, laboratory assistants, and graduate assistants, making
the academic experience for all students more culturally diverse and adding much needed
flexibility to academic programs. Of the last 15 Teaching Assistant of the Year awards (whichonly undergraduates can nominate), 10 were given to international students, demonstrating thecontribution they are making to undergraduate education, usually in STEM fields andeconomics. Beyond campus, Lehigh University’s international students and scholars contribute$66 million to the local economy and support 992 jobs, according to NAFSA: The Association ofInternational Educators.

The proposed DHS rule, which eliminates the “duration of status” standard for international
students and exchange visitors (F-1 students, F-2 dependents, J-1 exchange visitors, and J-2dependents) and replaces it with a fixed visa time period not to exceed four years, would placea significant burden on these students and scholars. The proposed four-year limit on student
visas – and just two years for certain students – does not conform with the typical length of a
doctoral degree program of five to six years, meaning that even a student making satisfactory
progress towards a degree will not be able to complete his or her studies within the allotted
duration of the visa. The proposed rule also does not accommodate requirements for students
in many bachelor’s and specialized master’s programs. Time to degree in undergraduate
programs hinges on a number of factors. Many talented students pursue multiple degrees orminor programs in their fields of study; this type of training benefits the world due to theinterdisciplinary perspectives these students will bring to problems. In addition, some specialty
programs at Lehigh, such as Integrated Business and Engineering, and Arts and Engineering,are designed as five-year programs. It is an unreasonable expectation that international
students will invest the significant time and money that it takes to study in the U.S. if they are
not sure that they will be permitted to stay and finish their program, even without extenuating
circumstances. The uncertainty will discourage international students and postdocs fromapplying or accepting offers to higher education institutions in the U.S.
Furthermore, with this rule, the government would encroach on academic decision-making. DHS
proposes to eliminate the “normal progress” standard for allowing an extension of stay in favorof a “compelling academic reasons” standard; but this is not clearly defined by the rule, meaning
the government will have more discretionary power over students than their own university. It is
inappropriate and overreaching for the rule to give a USCIS officer the ability to evaluate
whether a student is making good academic progress, rather than the school. The reasons thatstudents request an extension are many but not unusual: a health issue for self or a family
member; the birth of a child; the loss of funding; or the loss of an advisor. Lehigh hasadministrative processes at both the undergraduate and graduate level to review requests for anextension of time to complete a degree that involve students’ academic advisors, program
directors, college deans, and registrar. The staff with the Office of International Students andScholars relies on this robust, existing administrative process when confirming that a student ismaking sufficient academic progress and approving an extension of time to complete a degree.
The rule change would upset this process by allowing a USCIS officer oversight of a student’s
academic program that would overreach that of the university itself
This rule change also directly impacts our current and planned growth in research. Lehigh is
one of the nation's most distinguished private research universities, and like many universities,
our research enterprise is driven by graduate research assistants. In some fields, domestic
applicants are limited. Without a diverse, talented – and global – pool of graduate applicants,
many research programs could not continue at the current pace. US prominence in sciencecomes in large part from welcoming foreign-born trainees and scientists: 42 percent of all NobelPrizes awarded between 1901 and 2015 went to individuals working in the U.S., and 31 percent
of all U.S. Nobel laureates were born outside the U.S. We should be making it easier, notharder, for the most talented thinkers to share their knowledge with the U.S. By placing
additional burdens on international students and scholars, the proposed rule threatens to throttle
this flow of ideas and expertise, making the U.S. slower to innovate and respond to newproblems.
We are particularly mindful of the impact that these restrictions on graduate students will haveon growth of current and new graduate programs. As part of our vision to build a stronger, more
dynamic university and widen our impact on society, Lehigh has recently committed more than$150 million toward interdisciplinary research and education with investments focused on facultyand student talent, new research and academic programs that collaborate across colleges, andthe expansion of campus facilities dedicated to interdisciplinary research and learning.
Additionally, Lehigh launched a new College of Health in Fall 2020, with plans for the graduate
programs to start in Academic Year 2020/21, pioneering the field of population health. We
anticipate that the programs developed by faculty in the College of Health should be ofparticular interest to international students from around the world seeking training that prepares
them to address major world health issues. Under this proposed rule, international students
would not be able to complete the 4:1 undergraduate/graduate program in the allotted timeframe. This 4:1 program allows students to complete MPH and MS degrees in one year, inaddition to their four-year sequence, thus making it five years. Students will also be unable tocomplete the Ph.D. in population health, which requires substantial mentoring and experiential
learning opportunities, within four years. In short, at the time that we are developing newacademic programs, this rule change would hinder our ability to attract the best minds for study
and research.
All of this harm is unnecessary. SEVIS is already sufficient to accomplish DHS’s goals, giving
DHS immediate access to detailed information related to almost every student and exchange
visitor event that could impact a student or exchange visitor’s compliance with the regulations.
Furthermore, the existing SEVP (re)certification and Designated School Official (re)designation
processes already provide the mechanisms necessary to track down overstays and mitigate
fraud. DHS can effectively enforce the current immigration laws by wisely using its resources toengage in data-driven initiatives that focus on specific risk factors, rather than subject entire
nonimmigrant categories to an expensive, cumbersome, and time-consuming extension of stayprocess that largely duplicates the efforts that schools and exchange visitor programs willcontinue to make to comply with heavy SEVIS reporting obligations.
The US has benefited immensely from the goodwill capital generated through its university
system. This goodwill extends to people the world over who have benefited from being
educated in the US as well as those in their professional networks. The role that US universities
play in promoting the American brand—-ingenuity, innovation and creativity—-cannot be
overstated and has a direct effect on how people view the US. This policy may indeed
undermine US geopolitical standing by trading short-term political gain for long-term strategic
positioning of a vital global sector, higher education.

Dr. Nathan Urban
ProvostDr. Cheryl Matherly
Vice President/Vice Provost
International Affairs