Heather Shea
All right, welcome back to current campus context brought to you by Student Affairs. Now the online learning community for 1000s of us who work in alongside and adjacent to higher education and student affairs, I’m your host, Heather Shea, and this episode was recorded at 5:08pm eastern time on Thursday, March 20. As always, things might have changed by the time you listen for our third episode. We will continue our deep dive into the shifting landscape of higher education, as I’ve mentioned before, this limited series is all about making sense of the moment we’re in. Each week, we bring in two experts to unpack the latest developments, what’s happening, why it matters, and how we can respond within our spheres of influence. Our goal is to go beyond the headlines, offering context, perspective and actionable strategies to help you navigate these changes. As I’ve shared, we have a rotating group of five experts contributing to this series, so you’ll see some familiar faces over the next several weeks, and you can learn more about all of our correspondents on our website, studentaffairs now.com so I’m excited to introduce today’s correspondents who will help us unpack the latest developments, first back again this week. Dr OiYan Poon is an expert in the racial politics of education access, college admission systems and Asian Americans in education. She is the co director of the college admissions futures collaborative and consultant on higher education equity to Illinois Governor. JB Pritzker, education team, welcome back, OiYan,

OiYan Poon
thanks. It’s great to be back,

Heather Shea
and I am super excited to introduce Dr Crystal Garcia yay, who is an expert in minoritized college students experiences within campus environments. She is an associate professor and PhD program coordinator in the Department of Educational Administration at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, welcome Crystal.

Crystal Garcia
Thank you so glad to be here.

Heather Shea
It’s great to have you both. So this week, there are so many topics, but we’re going to focus on three key developments with some significant implications. So first, I want to say I just returned literally a couple of hours ago from Washington, DC, where I was advocating for continued Federal Trio, funding trio, maybe many of you know is one of the critical programs administered by the Department of Education’s Office of post secondary ed as of about maybe a half an hour before we started recording today, President Trump has signed the awaited, long awaited Executive Order initiating the dismantling of the Department of education, following through on his campaign promise to shift education authority to the states, while we have mentioned already that Congress would need to formally abolish the department Education Secretary Linda McMahon has been directed to begin this process. Yeah. So this, for me, raises all kinds of concerns. Having just been advocating for trio if states take over grant administration, what might that mean for access and equity and accountability? The Council on opportunity and education has already voiced strong opposition to such a move. So many of us, I think, at the policy seminar and and other places, were wondering what what is coming next. This move comes as the administration escalates its use of federal funding as a political weapon. The White House has frozen $175 million in funding for pen over its policies on transgender athletes, while Columbia and 51 other universities are now under investigation for alleged dei violations. And the message is for me pretty clear, universities that uphold certain policies risk financial retaliation, and I can’t imagine being a university president or chancellor at this moment, this is putting our university leaders in impossible positions. Speak out and face content funding cuts or stay silent and compromise your values. So adding to this climate of uncertainty, the recent deportation of Dr Rasha Alawi, a Lebanese American physician and Brown University assistant professor, has sparked campus protest and renewed concerns about barriers for international students and scholars. These policies directly impact student affairs, threatening campus climate belonging and diversity of perspectives in higher ed. Okay, so what does this mean for the future of international students and scholars in the US, and what does this mean for America’s standing as a leader in research and innovation? So when I turn it over to you, oyan, to just start helping us unpack what all of these news stories mean for us today, as we as we think about where we’re at on March 20,

OiYan Poon
March 20 at 5:13pm, Eastern, Standard Time, right? Thank you, Heather for that rundown. And as you were going through that, I really had to remind myself to breathe. And so I just want to remind our community of listeners and the Student Affairs now community, let’s just remember to breathe. This is a lot, right? I just want to acknowledge this is a whole lot, and this is very personal. And I want to kick us off by, you know, sharing, starting with the international students. Piece and story. My dad actually came over here as an international undergraduate student at Northeastern University back when Northeastern was like this little kind of commuter urban campus in the early 70s. And then I was born in Boston to this international student and his spouse, my mom, right, who worked in the sewing factories in Boston. And so this is very, very personal to me. My dad is also who I get my spark and interest in politics from. And so I can’t imagine what it must be like right now for international students. And so just, you know, reach out and connect with these students. You don’t have to be someone designated and tasked with working with international students. They’re on our campus, our international students and scholars and colleagues. You know, just be there for people. I think it really matters for, you know, the future of our country and our present? Yeah, I’m kind of getting choked up about this. It’s really, it’s catching me out of the blue, right? I’ve just been so enraged. I don’t think it’s been until this moment that I’ve been just kind of like sitting in this in my personal story, which I passed down to my daughter recently, too, right? I’m always talking about that with her, about how history matters, and how what we’re experiencing now as a historical lineage. And so I think about that. And you know, I know that there’s been recently legislation introduced specifically targeting international students from China. My parents came from Hong Kong when it was a British colony, so not part of China at the time, but it is now a place that is part of the People’s Republic of China. And so there’s also this personal attack and this thinking about, you know, our histories. We know that about 100 years ago, there was something in immigration law called the Asiatic barred zone, right? We are reliving the 1920s we are reliving the 1880s quite frankly, right, when there was something called the Chinese Exclusion Act, right? And so this is all repeating. So I keep wondering myself, what can we learn from our histories of community resistance, especially because people didn’t take it lying down at those times either, right? And then this is also personal for me, because I would not have been able to go to college and complete graduate education without federal financial aid. So now you know, with the closure, the so called closure, the unconstitutional executive order calling for the closure of the Department of Education, what happens to FAFSA? What happens to Pell Grants? What happens to TRIO programs, iPads? Right? As a research nerd I peds and NCS, this is gutting, essentially, the research infrastructure of this country, right? And so I would without the programs that are run through the Department of Education. And, you know, even without the executive order, what was it? Half the staff were eliminated, also illegally and unconstitutionally. And so lots of litigation, lots of resistance projects, we need to have each other’s backs. And so I’m so excited to have Dr Garcia here today as well, because I know that she’s been doing. Some amazing work to keep our community and field aware and engaged in the resistance. So yes,

Heather Shea
welcome, welcome, welcome. What, what would you like to reflect upon or add to what Dr Poon just shared?

Crystal Garcia
Oh my gosh. Well, first of all, thank you so much, Dr Poon for sharing that and for your kind words. It is, it is hard to navigate this moment because everything feels overwhelming, and we know that that’s a strategy, and we know that that’s intentional, and it’s hard not to feel personally connected to so many aspects of what is happening, whether that’s through our families, our lives, our students, the things that we see, the things that we know as educators and as researchers, we’re well informed about The need for the Department of Education, we’re well informed of the need for protections for our faculty, for our students that are being just completely trampled on right now, and so it’s really difficult. And so I’m thankful to you, Dr Poon, for sharing that and about your family and your personal story. For me, I’ve been thinking about, you know, this aspect of universities under attack, particularly through threats, you know, extortion techniques, if you will, of we will withhold your funding if you aren’t doing X, Y or Z, and to egregiously misuse and misapply anti discrimination laws to dismantle civil rights work, and it’s just the the disgusting irony of it all is just appalling. It’s really hard to kind of wrap my mind around, but when I think about all of these things that are happening right now, you know, threats to institutions of we’re going to take away your grant funding, or we’re going to cancel, you know, hundreds of million dollars in in federal grants that these institutions need. I mean, people’s livelihoods depend on them. I think back to when I started my faculty career, back in 2017 I started at Auburn University, and just a few months before I began my position there, there was controversy, and I’m sure you all remember all of this happening at that time in higher education, when Richard Spencer was invited to speak on campus at Auburn, and the university wanted to deny this event from happening. You know, this is a neo Nazi. This is a white supremacist, very known for their beliefs, and when they tried to prevent the speaker from coming on campus, the courts intervene and said, No, you can’t do that. You know there’s freedom of speech, and it’s imperative that universities maintain that element of you know their being, that speech can occur within these spaces, no matter whether we agree with it or not, and so at the time, we had courts that were ordering white supremacists to have the right to speak on college campuses. Mind you, this is also during Trump’s first presidency in 2017 he didn’t feel the need to withhold federal funding from institutions that allowed Neo Nazis on their campuses. He didn’t feel the need to intervene at that time in any way, shape or form. But now we find ourselves in a time when the tables have turned, and he does feel the need to do so, but not to disrupt white supremacy, but in fact, to re reinforce it, to hold it. And so, you know, I think about in that dear colleagues letter, for example, the statement, in recent years, American educational institutions have discriminated against students on the basis of race. This is an actual quote. It goes on, right. They say, in recent years, American educational institutions have discriminated against students on the basis of race. What this statement fails to recognize, for those of us that are very well aware of the history of higher education, is that US higher education was founded on discrimination against students of color, black people very specifically. You know, we go from not permitting folks to having access to education at all, to burning schools that were created to ensure that people could have access to education, to horrific Jim Crow laws to segregation, then mandated desegregation, and now we have institutions that are trying to find. Finally do something in recognizing the ways that discrimination has been pervasive within education, and have been implementing policies to address that so that all students can thrive. That is anti discrimination, Diversity Equity and Inclusion is anti discrimination like it’s it seems madness that we’re having this conversation and that we’re having to even legitimize this as a topic that needs to be validated. But yeah, it’s just the frustratingness of let’s talk about that. Let’s talk about the fact that this is anti discrimination movements that are being targeted and attacked and demonized and to what end,

Heather Shea
you know, yeah, the the extent of gaslighting, right? That is going on calling something something that’s not what it is, right? It’s like, but that naming of something is opposite is somehow being taken as truth, and it’s very it’s very confusing. So listeners, if you’re also feeling confused or frustrated like there’s a there’s a lot that’s being twisted and misconstrued. You know, the the ways in which discrimination happens is not on the basis of diversity, equity and inclusion programs, right? Those programs are there to combat discrimination. Well, I’d love to move us to kind of the what we can do, right? What can we do within our spheres of influence? You know? What? What Can folks, particularly in student affairs and higher education administrative roles do so crystal will we’ll have you kick off this section.

Crystal Garcia
I think of a few different things. A lot of folks can feel overwhelmed by the amount of things that are happening and understanding that we study higher education. So, you know, for those of us that are in the field, it makes a lot of sense to us. We see the interconnections among the different attacks, etc. And so I think number one is just even being informed of what is happening and how it’s happening, and helping other people to understand it too, in a way that makes sense to them and that shows them the importance of it. You know, I would just say if folks aren’t subscribing to independent media at this time, you need to do that their support. Donate. Yes, yes, absolutely. You know, if you can only do the free option, that’s fine, but yes, absolutely, if you can subscribe in a meaningful way to support their work. You know, Aaron Parnas is a news, independent news reporter that I follow very closely. Aaron Reid focuses on trans and queer issues pertaining in society broadly, and those are some of the work or some pieces of work that are lifting up stories that aren’t being covered in mainstream media. So I think being informed is one thing, and then the second thing, it keeps being reiterated, but I don’t think that it can be emphasized. Enough community is so crucial. We have to be yes, we have to be in conversation with each other, and that pressure for us to keep calling on our campus leaders to do something. What that something should be is working collaboratively with other institutional leaders, whether that is, hey, let’s get together and think about a legal strategy that we can you know, we can work together on forward. Or you know, what resources are you using, or how are you guiding? You know your campus in this work and engaging in that community. Community piece is so crucial,

Heather Shea
yeah, and some of that is happening, I think, through professional associations, right, ACE and APLU NASPA, I know just is concluding yesterday or concluded yesterday. Not a he. I think my hope is that some of those Association work can also kind of, you know, at least begin to influence that feelings of solidarity, yeah. What about you, OiYan, what would you add as recommended actions? I

OiYan Poon
would add, you know, are we connecting with our trustee members? Is there a way to connect with trustee members? And I’m kind of like trying to channel Dr Felecia Commodore right now and Dr Demitri Morgan right and understanding who our trustees are of our institutions, because there’s the administrators right, like the the chief executives, but there’s also that cabinet also reports up to a board of trustees, right? And then, relatedly, I think to Crystal’s point of creating community, facilitating nurturing community, we need to keep nurturing community. I mean. Looks, I think I brought up potlucks last time. I love potlucks, right? And just building that community to then also go to our Congressional Representative town halls, right, wherever you are, right? I think that’s been kind of giving me some hope to see in these like, deeply, you know, so called Red districts, where people are showing up and saying like, hey, wait a second. You’re eliminating SSS grants, Student Support Service grants, what I you know, and just having this realization and and being part of that community right signing up for your elected representatives, email list serves, and then also communicating with them, and then showing up together with your community at those town halls, or, you know, creating a letter writing campaign, or, you know, doing the the call five yes thing, right a day on a particular thing, right? There’s so many tools these days to facilitate civic engagement in the electoral piece aspect. I think that’s that’s something to do as well. Yeah,

Heather Shea
yeah. We didn’t even get into the implications of, you know, the threatened government shutdown and the and the continuing continued resolution, which, you know, provided less specificity in terms of what the government was actually funding, and left that pretty wide open. So I know there’s some, there’s some questions there, maybe, maybe next week that will hit the top three. I don’t know. I know appropriations are now on the on the table, right for fiscal year 26

OiYan Poon
Yeah. I mean, as someone who lives in Illinois, you better believe I’m like, pissed at Senator Dick Durbin, right now, right? And so, and he’s hearing it for me, so, you know, and my friends, right? So organize that

Crystal Garcia
way, yeah?

Heather Shea
Well, as we always kind of run out of time, and we’re trying to keep these episodes short and concise, so they’re hopefully a good source of news and also some actionable steps that we all can take where we’re now at final thoughts. And so Dr Poon, we’ll start with you what’s on the horizon, what’s keeping you up at night and what is bringing you joy right now. Okay, what’s

OiYan Poon
keeping me up at night right now is the intention to end and destroy public service loan forgiveness programs. PSLF is also, I mean, it was a game changer for me, and I still care, because it still affected my life. And you know, there this is a huge I know there’s a huge segment of our field, of folks who could not have entered the field without student loans, federal student loans, and so then to have this burden on us for the longest time, and then, you know, having some semblance of hope to have those loans canceled is and I will tell you, as someone who has had my loans canceled, finally, it really is that amazing and joyful. So I think we really need to keep pushing around that civic engagement, advocacy organizing, around these, all of these programs, and really identify those market economic benefits of that too. There’s so many things that people can now do having that burden lifted right and I will jump right to joy is there was a 60 minute story this last Sunday about a youth band that came together, like these children, high schoolers, who auditioned to be Part of essentially this diversity, national band, right? An orchestra, but it got canceled. So their national their their big concert in DC, got canceled. They were supposed to play with the Marine Corps, orchestra or band, whatever it was, but so then those soldiers and the marine corps were told to stand down, essentially, and it was canceled. But there’s the story on 60 minutes, was this, I mean, it just brought me to tears, because people found a way, right retired, retired Marines from that symphony, you know, they organized with a nonprofit organization around, you know, developing musicians and diversity. And then also CBS, as a network, also was like, Hey, we were doing this story. And just like with all of our guests, we flew all of these young people and their families to DC, because they’re minors, so they needed their guardians with them, and so they were able to play this concert, and it was recorded and now an even larger. Audience is able to see this, so we need to be reminded. I was like, we need more stories like this to remind us that we could be creative and, and this is what it looks like to be there for each other. Yeah.

Heather Shea
Oh, I we’re gonna link that in our in our show notes, so that folks can find that and, and, and also kind of capture some of that joy. Yes. Dr, Garcia, what would you like to finish up with final thoughts? What’s keeping you up? What’s bringing you joy? What’s on the horizon? Few, three

Crystal Garcia
too many things are keeping me up. I want to go to sleep, but I think one of the things that’s on my mind right now, you know, as we began the conversation, you know, in thinking about faculty being targeted and detained, we I mean, increasingly, we’re seeing stories of people that are not receiving their due press due process rights are being detained? Are I? I’m on Tik Tok, and it’s great and also terrible at the same time, because it’s horrific. Some of the videos and the stories that have come out of people saying, Hey, I’m being held essentially against my will. Like people have been here for 20 days and haven’t been processed, we haven’t been able to communicate with our families. Like all of these things are horrifying, and these are happening to everyday people that have no criminal records. And now we’re also hearing stories of students that are being detained, of faculty members, I’m sure staff you know, have been affected as well. I am horrified that Brown’s response was, don’t travel internationally. Um, you’re in danger. To me, that is a horrifying a horrifying reality that we have one of the top universities in our country that have to tell international students, staff, faculty, don’t travel, you’re in danger, if people don’t understand that as a warning. I don’t know. I don’t know. What else you know we can do to really help them and understand how how dire the situation is that we’re in right now, and how scary it is. So that’s something that I’m continuously thinking about and worried about and hoping to see, to see more outreach around be completely honest, to turn the tracks on. That in terms of joy, I am a hobby enthusiast. So, you know, I take adult beginner tap dancing lessons and voice lessons and things like,

Heather Shea
we need a video Tiktok. Is there evidence of this on your

Crystal Garcia
Tiktok? Not on my Tiktok? That’s all home renovation stuff, mainly. But no, I those types of things bring me joy. And then, you know, oyon, you know, echoing you being in community with others, we have a collective that we’ve started in Nebraska, and something that we’re going to be doing next week is having one of our members talk to us about gardening and tips on how to, you know, sustain your own garden. And it’s relaxing and necessary, you know, in terms of decreasing our reliance on corporations and things so, so, yeah, those are some things bringing me joy right now. Good,

Heather Shea
good, good. Well, I will echo the community. I have a First Fridays feminist fun night. I don’t know. Somehow we, we, we’re really loving the the alliteration when we created this so I cannot wait till the first Friday in April, because I need my people right. So wherever you are, I hope you who are listening today can find some joy, find some community before we wrap up this episode, though. Thank you so much to both of you, Dr OiYan Poon and Dr Crystal Garcia. Thanks for your insight, for your wisdom, for sharing space with us. For me, these conversations have really become essential, and I look forward to continuing them. If you’ve missed the previous two episodes, you can check them out on our website at Student Affairs now.com/current-campus-context

and I want to send a special shout out and thanks to the entire student affairs now host team for their support in shaping this series, with an extra shout out to Dr Keith Edwards for being a thought partner in this work, we would love to hear from you. So if you’d like to share feedback, you can email us at host at studentaffairs now.com or connect with us on Instagram, Facebook, blue sky. And if you’re finding this series helpful, please pass it along to your colleagues. Thanks for listening to current. Campus context brought to you by Student Affairs now we will see you all next week.

Education Department Accuses 51 Colleges of Discrimination (Mar. 17)

International Students Navigate Escalating Threats (Mar. 18)

Trump demands unprecedented control at Columbia, alarming scholars and speech groups (Mar.14)

Homeland Security says professor deported to Lebanon with US visa supported Hezbollah leader | AP News (Mar.18)

The Cost of the Government’s Attack on Columbia – The Atlantic (Mar. 19)

Trump Signs Order to Break Up Education Department – Inside Higher Ed (Mar. 19)

What musicians did after an executive order on DEI led to the cancellation of U.S. Marine Band collaboration – CBS News (Mar. 16)