Spectrum News
BY OLIVIA LEACH
Thursday July 16, 2020
International students around the country are breathing a sigh of relief after the Trump administration reversed an order that would remove international students from the country if their school held class 100 percent online.
Roda Mohamed is a rising senior and the student body president at Marist College. As an international student from Somalia, her heart dropped when she heard the news on July 6 that ICE would force international students to leave the country if their schools switched to online learning in the fall.
"In the blink of an eye, or like three hours, I was like oh where will I end up where am I going next?" said Roda Mohamed. "I don't have a family to fall back on in this country so there was so much uncertainty that I was dealing with."
She didn't know if she would have to return to her home country of Somalia nearly 8 thousand miles away to complete her education, where studying remotely would be difficult, especially with an eight-hour time difference.
"I would have to be up all night to do my online education in the morning and then as student body president that would be even more responsibility," said Mohamed."And there's also the problem with access to the internet."
But when she heard the news Tuesday she and the more than one million international students in the country would be allowed to stay, even if classes were moved online, she breathed a sigh of relief.
"To say that I was happy was an understatement," said Mohamed. "I saw clear [that] there are definitely people who are fighting for us to be here in the country."
Marist College had told students in June that they would resume in-person classes in August but Roda was still worried about what would happen if classes were moved online if the pandemic worsened in the fall. Now she can begin her senior year without worrying she could be sent home at any moment.
"At least now I don't have to worry about being student body president from two continents away."