International students’ letter regarding fall planning

On July 6, we received news describing Princeton’s plans for inviting incoming freshmen and rising juniors to campus this fall. As international first-years, we are excited at the prospect of being able to go to campus and connect with the vibrant Princeton community. Due to the present situation, though, several questions and concerns have been raised by the incoming cohort of international students. 

Since Princeton will be conducting hybrid learning this fall and because, as international students, we are required to take at least one in-person class to be on campus, we propose that there be a mandatory in-person class for incoming first-year and third-year international students who plan on residential learning. Examples are: freshman seminars, junior seminars, writing seminars, lab courses, design courses, small precepts, and other small-sized courses that might be available this year. Essentially, the incoming cohort of international students and international juniors would be able to choose from one of the above mentioned options. 

As it stands, the new Course Offerings will only be available July 20, and whether courses are in-person will not be announced until mid to late August. We request an accelerated timeline for the availability of this information to assist with international students’ decision-making. 

We urge the Davis International Center to send the new I-20s as soon as possible, whether virtually or physically. Given that visa issuances have been suspended and given the queue that has accumulated so far, it is likely that we won't receive our visas in time for the start of the semester even if we applied now. If the I-20s are sent in physical format, we would like to ask for them to be shipped without additional costs; as International students, we already have various additional costs, including the visa payment fee, SEVIS fee, and the increasing price of traveling. Adding the price of shipping another I-20 to this list would be of great financial burden to many international families already economically affected by the current situation.

We ask that the University make an exception for enrolled international students who begin their studies this fall and extend the window of arrival to campus until mid-October. Furthermore, we ask that these students be granted the option of living on campus for both semesters. Under the new SEVP rules, this cohort of international students would also choose from one of the aforementioned options of in-person classes for the spring semester as well. This exception would be beneficial for several students that cannot simply return to their home countries during these unusual circumstances or for students for which traveling back home would be a health hazard to themselves or their families. The option of staying on campus for both semesters is also especially important since students need to be enrolled for 12 months prior to applying for OPT; if internationals are forced to leave the school for even one semester, they will become ineligible. This will seriously jeopardize future employment opportunities. We additionally propose that if we are forced out of campus this spring, the Davis International Center make an exception this year to issue the CPT even if a student is only on campus for one semester. 

If schools must shut down as they did in March, what accommodations or arrangements will be made for international students? Many students ended up having a difficult time finding places to stay and couldn’t afford to come home or couldn’t get home because borders had shut. Will there be updates to the health insurance that are applicable to international students with clauses that cover pandemics? [1]

Several rising international sophomores and seniors are staying in the United States this summer because of internships or travel restrictions. Since sophomores and seniors are currently not allowed to return to campus in the Fall, the ICE ruling means that we will be soon forced to embark on an odyssey of repatriation or face deportation consequences. Even though these classes (2023 and 2021) can technically return to campus in the spring, the grave global situation means that it would be extremely precarious for them to come back if they were forced out of the country this fall. Some have career-critical internships and networking activities that will work out logistically only if they stay in the United States. We would like the University to ensure that international sophomores and seniors who are currently in the United States can find a place to stay in the fall. [2]

We request that housing confirmations and gap year application deadlines are extended for international freshmen, since we won’t have a confirmation on whether or not we will be able to go to campus until at least August, according to the Davis International Center.

We also propose that international students be given a guarantee that, if we choose to defer this year, we can join as the Class of 2025. We understand that there are other freshmen who will simply choose to stay at home, but, as international students, this choice may be largely forced on us because of travel restrictions and difficulty in obtaining a visa. Some of us do not have favorable working conditions at home, and it would be very difficult to engage in online learning. Even though this is not a decision made lightly, for some, taking a gap year is a better option than not being able to engage fully in classes and failing. The fact that we may have to wait two years or more to re-join is deterring people from deferring because of the risk of poor academic performance. By guaranteeing a spot in 2025 for international students who choose to defer this year, we will have the peace of mind that our education will be like the world standard Princeton promises to all, without having to wait more than two years to receive it.

Princeton’s international students have always been a key part of the vibrant academic and social community the University is greatly known for. Dismissing them during these times would be of great disservice to Princeton as a whole. As an incoming cohort of freshmen, we would love to have the same opportunities to experience campus life, intellectual stimulation, and invigorating in-person lessons as our domestic student counterparts.

With best regards,

Princeton University International Students

[1] and [2] - these paragraphs were added after some signatures had already been made in order to reflect the concerns of seniors, sophomores, and other students that provided feedback. 05:54 EST 07/10/2020

Signatory count as of July 12:  503 signatures 

Erin Macanze ’24 - Mozambique

Aybars Önder ’24 - Turkey

Shazra Raza ’24 - Pakistan

Ronit Singhi ’24 - India

Won-Jae Chang ’24 - South Korea

Helena Frudit ’24 - Brazil

Jiwon Jun ’24 - South Korea

William Doyle ’24 - United Kingdom

Hervé Ishimwe ’24 - Rwanda

Brandon Ambetsa ’24 - Kenya

Ananya Grover ’24 - India

Hanna Stjernstrom ’24 - Sweden

Ansh Bhargava ’24 - Singapore

Toru Obunge ’24 - United Kingdom

Shireen Waraich ’24 - Pakistan

Haoyi Lin ’24 - China

Hadley Kim ’24 - South Korea

Diya Kraybill ’24 - Singapore

Inci Karaaslan ’24 - Turkey

Aaysh Sharma ’24 - United Kingdom

Rohit Narayanan ’24 - Singapore/USA

Ladislav Topfer ’24 - Czech Republic

Mahya Fazel “24 - Canada

Sriyans Rauniyar ’24 - Nepal

Pedro Pimenta ’24 - Portugal

Mufid Rahman ’24 - United Kingdom

Seppe Tom C. De Pauw ’24 - Belgium

Koji Kawamoto ’24 - Japan

Rosy Monaghan ’24 - United Kingdom

Anika Agarwal ’24 - Singapore

Advika Srivastava ’24 - India

Robyn Tompson ’24 - United Kingdom

Kanak Gupta ’24 - United Arab Emirates

Dimitar Chakarov ’24 - Bulgaria

Nazdar Ayzit ’24 - Turkey

Ishan Nanak Rangarajan ’24 - India

Lara Zakaria ’24 - United Kingdom/ USA

Zeyu Wang ’24 - China

Jiatong Yu ’24 - China

Chanketya Nop ’24 - Cambodia

Yiming Feng ’24 - China

Songtao Li ’24 - China

Su Fey Ng ’24 - Malaysia

Antea Garo ’24 - Albania

Kritin Vongthongsri ’24 - Thailand

Jemima Williams ’23 - United Kingdom

Thanh Hien Pham ’23 - Vietnam

Max Gonzalez Saez-Diez ’23 - Germany ’23

Ava Peters  ’23 - United Kingdom

Angela De Santis ’23 - Italy

Rachel Qing Pang ’23 - Singapore

Gawon Jo ’23 - Korea/ USA

Celine Pham ’23 - Vietnam/ USA

Lulu Hao  ’23 - United Kingdom

Wendi Yan ’23 - China

Grace Wang ’23 - China

Zachary Lopez ’23 - Philippines

Bowei Liu ’23 - China

Matthew Weatherhead ’23 - Barbados

Priyanka Aiyer ’23 - Singapore

Yujin Angolio ’23 - Kenya

André Koch Liston ’23 - Brazil

Alevtina Studenikina ’23 - Russia

Abhinav Agarwal ’23 - India

Cherry Ge  ’23 - United Kingdom

Luisa Edmond ’22 - United Kingdom

Isabella Hilditch ’22 - United Kingdom

Masi Nagdee ’22 - United Kingdom

Agnes Robang ’22 - Philippines

Deus Nsenga ’22 - Rwanda

Ruyi Ding ’22 - China

Emiri Morita ’22 - Japan

Helena Yu ’22 - China

Yazan Mimi ’22 - Palestine

Andrea Toth ’22 - Canada

Yodahe Gebreegziabher  ’22 - Ethiopia

Ahmed Farah ’22 - Tunisia

Xuan Hoang Le ’22 - Vietnam

Mika Hyman ’22 - United Kingdom/ USA

Chloe Chen ’22 - Taiwan

Josh Brown ’22 - Japan

Asad Hussein ’22 - Somalia

Ananya Vinayak ’22 - India/ USA

Anika Duffus ’22 - Jamaica

Ashira Shirali ’22 - India

Elif Aydin ’22 - Turkey

Tanvi Kishore ’22 - United Kingdom

Raphael Njoku ’22 - United Kingdom

Manya Kapoor ’22 - India / USA

Bailey Ransom ’22 - Netherlands/ USA

Sophie Li ’21 - China

Marcus Jonas ’21 - United Kingdom

Aparna Shankar ’21 - India

Anoushka Mariwala ’21 - India

Harshvardhan Babla ’21 - Tanzania

Ellinore Ahlgren ’21 - Sweden

Dina Kuttab ’21 - Jordan/ USA

Joanna Zhang  ’21 Australia

Celia Aranda Reina ’21 - Spain

Julius foo ’21 -  United Kingdom

Ysabel Ayala ’21 - Philippines

Nimra Nadeem ’21 - Pakistan

Carlota Corbella ’20 - Spain

Yang Shao ’20 - China

Malika Oak ’20 - India

Yashodhar Govil ’20 - India

Kexin Jin Grad - China

Isabella Swartz ’24 -  USA

Cole Meyer ’24 - USA

Katie Baldwin ’24 - USA

Ana Villada ’24 - USA

Sierra Stern ’24 - USA

Yenet Tafesse ’24 - USA

Julia (Truc) Nguyen ’24 - USA

James Adams ’24 - USA

Brooklyn Northcross ’24 - USA

Gedeon Guercin ’24 - USA

Brendan Kehoe ’24 - USA

Theodore Gross ’24 - USA

Vivian Li ’24 - USA

Hugh Shields ’24 - USA

Kwaku Nyarko ’24 - USA

Ariana Rausch  ’24 - USA

Ashley Fan ’24 - USA

Adam Kelch ’24 - USA

Sarah M. Choi ’24 - USA

Zoe San Martin ’24 - USA

Alex Slomba ’24 - USA

Jordan Johnson ’24 - USA

Anna Salvaotre ’24 - USA

Ryan Vuono ’24 - USA

Kaleb Boyd ’24 - USA

Helen Brush ’24 - USA

Leuna Sen ’24 - USA

LaJayzia Wright ’24 - USA

Safiya Topiwala ’24 - USA

Katrina Nix ’24 - USA

Benjamin Howe ’24 - USA

Bryan Boyd ’24 - USA

Vivek Kolli ’24 - USA

Anna Chung ’24 - USA

Mohan Setty-Charity ’24 - USA

Ameya Vaidya ’24 - USA

Jeremy Kiil ’24 - USA

Kaeli Ficco ’24 - USA

Maya Satchell ’24 - USA

Isis Arevalo ’24 - USA

Grace Morris ’24 - USA

Hope Perry ’24 - USA

Joshua Arce ’24 - USA

Pranav Avva ’24 - USA

Vinay Konuru ’24 - USA

Charles Mshomba ’24 - USA

Auslin Mills ’24 - USA

Dusu Sidibay  ’24 - USA

Kenneth Taylor  ’24 - USA

Kutorkor Kotey  ’24 - USA

Emmy Song  ’24 - USA

Avner (Avi) Chesler  ’24 - USA

Jupiter Ding  ’24 - USA

Eugene Liu  ’24 - USA

Nika Belova  ’24 - USA

Anastasiya Shybitov ’24 - USA

Destiny Allen ’24 - USA

Kristal Grant ’24 - USA

Jessica Celuch ’24 - USA

Theresa Lim ’24 - USA

Sophia Duchateau ’24 - USA

Ananya Parashar ’24 - USA

Adwoa Afrifa ’24 - USA

Erin Petrino ’24 - USA

Joyce Mo ’24 - USA

Faraz Awan ’24 - USA

Benjamin Gorse ’24 - USA

David Chmielewski ’24 - USA

Sam Bisno ’24 - USA

Oluwatise Okeremi ’24 - USA

Julianna (YoungEun) Lee ’24 - USA

Sophia Girand ’24 - USA

Julian Rodriguez ’24 - USA

Shirley Yang ’24 - USA

Akhila Bandlora ’24 - USA

Sydney Moore ’24 - USA

Isaac Lunar ’24 - USA

Paul-Louis Biondi ’24 - USA

John Fitzgibbons ’24 - USA

Orli Epstein ’24 - USA

Diya Dalia ’24 - USA

Jane Castleman ’24 - USA

Rishi Khanna ’24 - USA

Katherine Dailey ’24 - USA

Corey Segal ’24 - USA

Zoe Koniaris ’24 - USA

Mary Kumcheva ’24 - USA

Julie Levey ’24 - USA

Molly Taylor ’24 - USA

Chaewon Han ’24 - USA

India Ingemi ’24 - USA

Jewel Justice ’24 - USA

Hanako Helton  ’24 - USA

Angel Kuo ’24 - USA

Sarah Pedersen ’24 - USA

Jonathan Gagnon ’24 - USA

Sara Covin ’24 - USA

Jackie Namala ’24 - USA

Chioma Ugwonali ’24 - USA

William Ao ’24 - USA

April Dong ’24 - USA

Claire Middleton ’24 - USA

Reha Mathur ’24 - USA

Lauren Fahlberg ’24 - USA

Aneekah Uddin ’24 - USA

Chiara Vilna-Santos ’24 - USA

Jasmine Berger ’24 - USA

Ben Small  ’24 - USA

Emma Mohrmann ’24 - USA

Reese Owen ’24 - USA

Mia Beams ’24 - USA

Annie Leach ’24 - USA

Leila Hudson ’24 - USA

Owen Travis ’24 - USA

Allie Matthias ’24 - USA

Mesonma Anwasi ’24 - USA

Kathy Yang ’24 - USA

Tiffanie Cheng ’24 - USA

Amber Rahman ’24 - USA

Lauren Gilbert ’24 - USA

Cara Khalifeh ’24 - USA

Emily Nguyen ’24 - USA

Jackson Lehner ’24 - USA

Bryan Alfaro ’24 - USA

Sean Park ’24 - USA

Nick Masters ’24 - USA

Maddie Lausted ’24 - USA

Benjamin Cai ’24 - USA

Evan Haley ’24 - USA

Paige Cromley ’24 - USA

Maria Khartchenko ’24 - USA

Mark Dawod ’24 - USA

Tiana Ruden ’24 - USA

Kathleen Li  ’24 - USA

Aaron Brzezinski ’24 - USA

Brian S.-K. Li ’24 - USA

Alison Lee ’24 - USA

Howard Wang ’24 - USA

Audrey Royall ’24 - USA

Bryan Wang ’24 - USA

Sophia Colmenares ’24 - USA

Adithya Sriram ’24 - USA

laura esguerra ’24 - USA

Tanvi Haldiya ’24 - USA

Jiyoun Roh ’24 - USA

Jackie Liang ’24 - USA

Alexander Heine  ’24 - USA

Isabella Shutt ’24 - USA

Daniel Drake ’24 - USA

Becky Rosen ’24 - USA

Katie Rohrbaugh ’24 - USA

Heidi Temple ’24 - USA

Alison Parish ’24 - USA

Gabriel Chalick ’24 - USA

Evan Wang ’24 - USA

Avaneque Pennant ’24 - USA

Destiny Turner ’24 - USA

Youngseo Lee ’24 - USA

Katie Kolodner ’24 - USA

Annette Lee ’23 - USA

Camille Reeves’ ’23 - USA

Ian Accetta ’23 - USA

Megan Specht ’23 - USA

Emma Chang ’23 - USA

Corey Segal ’23 - USA

Grace Chung  ’23 - USA

Trivan Menezes  ’23 - USA

Andie Granskog  ’23 - USA

Rohan Jinturkar  ’23 - USA

Tao Zhu ’23 - USA

Catherine Keim ’23 - USA

Annika Kelly ’23 - USA

Ana Blanco ’23 - USA

Kesavan Srivilliputhur ’23 - USA

Aishah Balogun ’23 - USA

Emily Della Pietra ’23 - USA

Anagha ’23 - USA

Dhvani Jain ’23 - USA

Dylan Tran ’23 - USA

Justin Chae ’23 - USA

Kriti Kothari ’23 - USA

Viki Mancoridis ’23 - USA

Gillian Hilscher ’23 - USA

Angelica Qin ’23 - USA

Elizabeth Zheleznyakova  ’23 - USA

Christine Nguyen ’23 - USA

Adira Smirnov ’23 - USA

Rose Nguyen ’23 - USA

Maya Rozenshteyn ’23 - USA

Alice McGuinness ’23 - USA

Zhudi Pan ’23 - USA

Imani Mulrain ’23 - USA

Danielle Ranucci ’23 - USA

Kevin Yeung ’23 - USA

Isabel Rodrigues ’23 - USA

Calif Chen ’23 - USA

Spencer Koonin ’23 - USA

Hannah Faughnan ’23 - USA

Auhjanae McGee ’23 - USA

Chirag Kumar ’23 - USA

Riya Singh ’23 - USA

Addele Hargenrader ’23 - USA

Bridgette Schafer ’23 - USA

Hilcia Acevedo ’23 - USA

Ye Chen ’23 - USA

Jessica Lee ’23 - USA

Ben Bobell ’23 - USA

Caroline Subbiah ’23 - USA

Ariel Blumenberg ’23 - USA

Madeleine Chong ’23 - USA

Andrew Alexander ’23 - USA

Faith Meitl ’23 - USA

Angelina Lumour-Mensah ’23 - USA

Anya Sharma ’23 - USA

Karena Yan ’23 - USA

Ci’Anee Campbell ’23 - USA

Ruth Aregawi ’23 - USA

Aliha Mughal ’23 - USA

Chloe Satenberg  ’23 - USA

Lola Constantino ’23 - USA

Nannette Beckley ’23 - USA

Lucy Sirrs ’23 - USA

Macey Mannion ’23 - USA

Charlotte Merchant ’23 - USA

Kyle Ikuma ’23 - USA

Grace Liu ’23 - USA

Sofia Alvarado ’23 - USA

Emily Murray ’23 - USA

Kate Gross-Whitaker ’23 - USA

Marissa Mejia ’23 - USA

Leon Chen ’23 - USA

Grace Tan ’23 - USA

Annika Hsi ’23 - USA

Sydney Pargman ’23 - USA

Colton Wang ’23 - USA

River Reynolds ’23 - USA

Albert Lin ’23 - USA

Debby Park ’22 - USA

Christina Im ’22 - USA

Helen Chen ’22 - USA

Daniel Goodman ’22 - USA

Kathleen Song ’22 - USA

Eloise Schrier ’22  - USA

Aemu Anteneh  ’22  - USA

Richard Ma ’22  - USA

Jesse Brewer ’22  - USA

Ryan Thorpe ’22  - USA

Shelby Kinch ’22  - USA

Lydia Yi ’22  - USA

Jeremy Bernius ’22  - USA

Jacqueline Xu ’22  - USA

Alan Lin ’22  - USA

Anne Wen ’22 - USA

Marc Schorin ’22 - USA

Sophia Lewandrowski ’22 - USA

Rachel Roesch ’22 - USA

Willow Dalehite ’22 - USA

Nafisa Ahmed ’22 - USA

Natasha Montiel ’22 - USA

Sakura Price ’22 - USA

Benjamin Porter ’22 - USA

Olufisayo Adeyina ’22 - USA

Caoimhe Boyle ’22 - USA

Anna McGee ’22 - USA

Mina Yu ’22 - USA

Connor Haskin ’22 - USA

Darlene Barrios ’22 - USA

Brooke Redwine ’22 - USA

Ben Bograd ’22 - USA

Alek Kawczynski ’22 - USA

Kai Torrens ’22 - USA

Tai Jeffers ’22 - USA

Sabrina Fay ’22 - USA

Rhea Park ’22 - USA

Hanna Soulati ’22 - USA

Grace Xu ’22 - USA

Elijah Benson ’22 - USA

Roy Kim ’22 - USA

Katarzyna Krzyżańska ’22 - USA

Jesse Lin ’22 - USA

Will McClure ’22 - USA

Elena Montgomery ’22 - USA

Emily Liushen ’22 - USA

Aria Buchanan ’22 - USA

Jacqueline Chu ’22 - USA

Angie Sheehan ’22 - USA

Hifsa Chaudhry  ’22 - USA

Emily Sanchez  ’22  - USA

Oleg Golev  ’22  - USA

Taj-Jahnae Brailsford-Forde   ’22  - USA

Deena Mainali  ’22  - USA

Calla Schultz   ’22  - USA

Vincent DeLuca  ’22  - USA

Connor Scaglione  ’22  - USA

Cindy Song  ’22  - USA

Ellen Whiteside ’22  - USA

Caren Ju ’22  - USA

Joyce Luo ’22  - USA

Zev Mishell ’22  - USA

Scarlett McNulty ’22  - USA

Natalia Arbelaez Solano ’22  - USA

Valeria Torres-Olivares ’22  - USA

Ryan Sung ’22  - USA

Naomi Hess ’22  - USA

Lauren Almstead ’22  - USA

Chaz Bethel-Brescia ’22  - USA

Elle Ruggiero ’22 - USA

Regan McCall ’22 - USA

Adelina Rolea ’22 - USA

Jenny Driscoll ’22 - USA

Nina Onyemeziem ’22 - USA

Tamica Perera ’22 - USA

Andre Yin ’22 - USA

Mansi Totwani ’22 - USA

Sandra Yang ’22 - USA

Cassidy Barnes ’22 - USA

Christina Moon ’22 - USA

Lourdes Santiago ’21 - USA

Lillian Chen ’21 - USA

Brian Foster ’21 - USA

Jordan Stallworth ’21 - USA

Noah Pacis ’21 - USA

Katherine Leggat-Barr  ’21 - USA

Grace Hong ’21 - USA

Michael Watson ’21 - USA

Erica Dugué  ’21 - USA

Olivia Hadley  ’21 - USA

Alejandro Roig  ’21 - USA

Favour Oribhabor  ’21 - USA

Madison Schwab ’21 - USA

Rylie Pease ’21 - USA

Victoria Lee ’21 - USA

Ilene E ’21 - USA

Catherine Song ’21 - USA

Zhamoyani McMillan ’21 - USA

Martin Mejia ’21 - USA

Bevin Benson ’21 - USA

Sean-Wyn Ng ’21 - USA

Anne Sullivan-Crowley ’21 - USA

Anna Macknick ’21 - USA

Mia Rosini ’21 - USA

Hassan Ahmad ’21 - USA

Kathryn Leung ’21 - USA

Scott Aravena ’21 - USA

Jonathan Carr ’21 - USA

Vic Panata ’21 - USA

Julian Knodt ’21 - USA

Joseph Ort ’21 - USA

Chris Callegari ’21 - USA

Isaac Velasquez ’21 - USA

Thea Zalabak ’21 - USA

Sophia Winograd ’21 - USA

Aman Andemichael ’21 - USA

Ellie Goodspeed ’21 - USA

Rei Zhang ’21 - USA

Andrew Kaneb ’21 - USA

Sabrina Sequeira ’21 - USA

Yael Marans ’21 - USA

Emily Ryu ’21 - USA

Alec Israeli ’21 - USA

Zyanne Clay-Hubbard ’21 - USA

Alex Pirola ’21 - USA

Stephanie Schrage ’21 - USA

Fumika Mizuno ’21 - USA

Joe Kawalec ’21 - USA

Niranjana Bienkowska ’21 - USA

Mary Murphy ’21 - USA

Ayame Whitfield ’21 - USA

Natalia Miller ’21 - USA

Chantal Thantrong ’21 -  USA

Larissa Oliveira ’21 -  USA

Ally McGowen ’21 -  USA

Jonathan Ort ’21 -  USA

Diana Chao ’21 -  USA

Millicent Darko ’21 - USA

Janie Kim ’21 - USA

Eileen Wang ’21 - USA

Phoebe Park ’21 - USA

Daniel Kwak ’21 - USA

Ishan Sinha ’20 - USA

Natasha Thomas ’20 - USA

Katherine Miao ’20 - USA

Rose Arbittier ’20 - USA

Henry Ando ’20 - USA

Grace Grady ’20 - USA

Ivy Xue ’20 - USA

Glenda Chen ’20 - USA

Rebecca Miller ’20 - USA

Christine Lu ’20 - USA

Sylvie Thode ’20 - USA

Abby Breitfeld ’20 - USA

Joshua Faires ’20 - USA

Rachel Kim ’20 - USA

Trina Swanson ’20 - USA

Tiffany Chen ’20 - USA