In the op-ed in today’s issue, titled, “Community Coalition Invites Administration to Improve Support and Protection for International Students and Workers,” members of the Washington University community call on the University’s administration to improve conditions for international students and workers on our campus.

We as an Editorial Board wholeheartedly back the requests listed in the op-ed, seeing them as being both feasible and necessary for the University community. We encourage Washington University’s administration to respond to the coalition’s requests quickly and with the intention to fulfill their requests. We encourage both Chancellor Mark Wrighton and Chancellor-elect Andrew Martin to respond to the letter.

In the past, the administration has supported its international students through giving statements in support of DACA and in opposition to the Muslim travel ban. We encourage the university to expand this sentiment to the rest of its policies regarding the treatment of international students.

Despite the support in past statements, the University has made concerning statements regarding the F-1 visa statuses of international graduate student workers, saying that if an international student was to honor a strike while part of a graduate worker union, they will be considered to not be maintaining their “full course of study” and can be deported for failure to maintain said study. The policy says “…if the union were to engage in a strike, F-1 visa students engaged in graduate teaching and research experiences could be legally prohibited from continuing to ‘work’ in that capacity. Under such circumstances, F-1 visa students could be subject to deportation whether they continued to ‘work’ or not.” These statements follow the description of what the University can do when students go on strike, in which the dissenting statements of the Columbia University union case are given. The Editorial Board feels that the decision to give the dissent of this case is deliberate and that the inclusion of these statements directly before describing possible consequences to international student workers is threatening.

The intellectual community of Washington University—both undergraduate and graduate alike—prospers when students challenge norms and engage critically with ideas. The University attracts students of all backgrounds and interests with the hopes to celebrate and further these ideals. We as a student body must understand that these demands are not abstract to significant portions of our community and that they carry real consequences. This means that for the 8% of undergraduate students who are international students and 41% of graduate students who were born outside of the United States, it is our responsibility to not just listen, but advocate with them.

It is also important to foster relationships with graduate students. Talk to them and learn about what they’re going through. Graduate student workers, especially international graduate student workers, are vulnerable. To threaten these members of our community with a loss in visa status when they attempt to unionize is absolutely deplorable. Take the time to learn about their struggles and why many of our graduate students want a union in the first place. Become an advocate for your assistant to the instructor, for your teacher, for your friend.

In the letter, the group lists 9 asks: to allow detained students, deported students and students refused re-entry to the US to finish their degree programs, ensure that detained workers, deported workers and workers refused re-entry to the US are paid for their work prior to detention or deportation, ensure that Washington University will refuse to give information to ICE without a warrant or subpoena, make sure students continue to receive financial assistance despite any legal proceedings against them, provide “confidential and free legal counseling” for students and workers, “maintain immigrant and international students’ and workers’ visa statuses regardless of their political views,” reimburse visa and Optional Practical training expenses and provide “tax and financial assistance for international students,” lobby for immigration reform and create a committee that will meet to make sure that the University follows through on these policies.

Alongside the many signatories of the op-ed, we would like to ask the University to be a supporter of and advocate for our international student and worker community at Washington University. Washington University must make it clear that it cares about its international students through its policies, not just its statements.