Dear members of the campus community,

We want to provide a brief update on the university’s response to the recent White House executive order banning travel to the United States from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, and Yemen.

UMBC’s Office of International and Education Services (IES) and other campus offices are working proactively to determine the immediate effect of the executive order on our campus. To our knowledge, no UMBC students from the seven countries have been prevented from entering the U.S. IES has contacted the approximately 40 students potentially from the designated countries and offered individual guidance and support. Currently, we know of no faculty or staff whose ability to travel has been adversely affected by the executive order.

We are aware that the impact of this executive order is felt broadly in our inclusive campus community and on campuses across the nation. One of American higher education’s great strengths—and one of its significant contributions to our nation—is its ability to bring together the best minds from around the world to create scholarly communities that benefit from diversity of experience, background, and thought. We take great pride in the fact that UMBC is home to students, faculty, and staff from more than 100 countries. We know firsthand the educational, societal, and economic benefits of bringing together people from across the globe to solve our nation’s, and our world’s, most pressing challenges.

For that reason, we have joined the American Council on Education and hundreds of individual institutions in sending a letter to the Secretary of Homeland Security, expressing deep concerns about the impact of the recent White House executive order.

As we are all aware from news reports about legal challenges to the executive order, this is a very fluid situation, subject to change on an almost daily basis. As previously advised, those who are citizens of the countries affected by the executive order or dual citizens of one of the countries and a country not on the list should seek legal advice before making a decision about traveling outside the United States. IES continues to post updated information regarding implementation of the executive order on its website.

In addition to responding to immediate questions regarding the executive order, campus leaders are addressing the broader effects this development may have across our diverse campus community in such areas as campus climate, advocacy, enrollment, and student success. We will continue to keep the campus updated about this work on the UMBC Diversity and Inclusion website.

President Freeman Hrabowski and Provost Philip Rous