WASHINGTON — Montgomery College’s student enrollment ranks as among the most diverse in the country, with 28 percent of the students categorized as “international,” according to college officials. Concern over President Donald Trump’s temporary travel ban has generated a great deal of discussion and even sparked an event aimed at the larger campus community.
The college will host a forum Wednesday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on the impact of Trump’s executive order on immigration and refugees. The forum, billed as a conversation on the topic, is open to current students, alumni and staff. It will be held at the Takoma campus in Silver Spring.
Montgomery College president DeRionne Pollard said the executive order hits home for students at the school: More than 7,000 of the students in credit programs are from other countries.
“We have about 215 students who come from the countries affected by the executive order,” Pollard said. She added that those students come from six of the seven countries listed in the executive order.
They’re not the only ones rattled by the action. “They have concerns as it relates to expansion to other countries,” Pollard said.
As students at colleges and universities across the region wondered how the executive order would affect them, presidents and provosts tried to offer reassurance as well as advice.
At Virginia’s George Mason University, president Angel Cabrera addressed the concerns of his students: “At George Mason, hundreds of faculty, staff and students were born outside of the United States, including our provost, our vice president of research, our dean of science, some of our most distinguished professors and yours truly. Many of the most talented leaders, academics, humanitarians and entrepreneurs to come out of Mason are immigrants.”
