A message from CCS President, Don Tuski:

On July 6, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released new guidance on the status of international students in the United States, requiring them to attend at least one in-person class or risk losing the visas that permit them to study here. Harvard and MIT immediately filed a motion challenging the legality of the guidelines, and on Tuesday, the Association of Independent Colleges of Art & Design (AICAD) — which represents 36 schools and of which CCS is a member — supported the legal challenge.

In an unexpected reversal, the ICE guidance order was rescinded as of Tuesday night. While we await the revised directives, we are pleased to know that international students around the world will have more choices for continuing their education this fall. 

As you know, the College for Creative Studies, like other institutions, moved our courses online last spring at the start of the global pandemic. Throughout the summer, CCS has worked tirelessly to develop a hybrid model for fall semester reopening, one that would allow students maximum opportunities to take courses online, in person or in combination.

More important, we have been preparing to welcome all of our students back to a safe and healthy educational environment.

CCS felt strongly that the guidance from ICE not only ran counter to our goals and ethics as an institution, it was unnecessarily and arbitrarily punitive to talented students who make up a significant part of CCS’s vibrant community. As of 2019, CCS students hail from 21 countries and make up 6 percent of our undergraduates and nearly 65 percent of our graduate students.

And we are not alone. International students make up a significant proportion of art school enrollment and, as reported by the American Council on Education (ACE), their impact on the American economy is considerable: more than one million students generate $41 billion and support 450,000 US jobs. 

But the intellectual and cultural contribution of these students is incalculable. CCS strives for a diverse creative community — not for the sake of diversity itself but for the intellectual rigor, cultural understanding and much-needed global perspective such diversity brings.

The College for Creative Studies believes that this reversal of course is not only sensible but the right thing to do. The global public health crisis we face requires that colleges and universities strive to make education for all of our students more accessible, not less. CCS will work to ensure that our students have the quality they deserve and the flexibility these times demand.