California higher ed community outraged over Trump order barring entry to some Chinese graduate students

President Trump’s May 29 proclamation halting entry for Chinese graduate students tied to China’s “military-civil fusion strategy” has sowed anxiety among the California university community, the Los Angeles Times reports. Universities fear that the order could lead to overreach, wrongfully barring some Chinese graduate students, driving away others, and jeopardizing international research collaboration.

Nox Yang, a sophomore from China studying at UCLA, told the Los Angeles Times that the order adds to Chinese students’ mounting stress exacerbated by the coronavirus crisis.  They feel isolated being far away from family, she said, and distressed by Trump’s references to “the Chinese virus” and the rise of anti-Asian hostility during the pandemic.