International Educators Confront a New Political Reality — and Find a New Resolve
By Karin Fischer MAY 31, 2017
LOS ANGELES
The biggest buzz at last year’s conference of Nafsa: Association of International Educators was about a survey of prospective international students that showed nearly two out of three would reconsider studying in the United States if Donald Trump became president.
Conference goers thought the findings scary. They also thought such a thing could never happen.
Mr. Trump, of course, won the election and just days after taking office, issued an executive order barring students and other travelers from a half-dozen predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. His maiden budget proposal, released last week, would halve funding for State Department exchanges and international-education programming and eliminate federal support for foreign-language study altogether.
What was merely academic a year ago is, at this year’s meeting, which runs through Friday, harsh reality.
There’s the matter of the populism that fueled Mr. Trump’s rise. It burns out, says Mr. Hudzik, who holds degrees in political science and history. "Populism has a short shelf life," he says, especially when "demagogues make promises they can’t keep or the folks who voted for them become disenchanted."
“The forces propelling globalization aren't going to reverse. No one in their right mind can ignore globalization.”
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