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Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Universities Brand 'Drama Therapy' And 'Journalism' as STEM Majors to Circumvent Immigration Law

Several American universities are expanding the scope of their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in an attempt to circumvent U.S. immigration regulations, which allows international students who major in STEM subjects to stay in the country two years longer than counterparts who major in the humanities. New York University, for example, now includes journalism, classics, and drama therapy under its STEM umbrella.

NYU is one of a number of universities exploiting a U.S. immigration policy that requires most international students to leave the country a year after finishing their studies—but permits those who studied STEM disciplines to work for an additional two years. The policy is part of the Department of Homeland Security's Optional Practical Training (OPT) program, which aims to shore up the United States' supply of engineers and tech workers.

The result has been a dramatic increase in the number of foreign students seeking the STEM exemption—it ballooned to nearly 70,000 in 2018 from just over 2,000 in 2008 as the University of California, Berkeley, Boston University, California State University, and others have classified journalism, media studies, and digital media arts as STEM programs.

CSU said that it followed DHS guidelines when it made its decision to label certain programs as STEM. None of the other schools responded to requests for comment.

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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Boooo Hisssss.

Colleges need to stop circumventing the rule of law.
Colleges need to stop with their greeee$$$$$d too.

The business model of the past was broken, is broken and needs to be fixed going forward. Maybe the COVID is the massive reset needed.

Also - Trade schools are very very good too - again, maybe this society reset will see the need, the importance of Trades in our country!

Anonymous said...

Aw, you can't deport brown people as easily. Let me play the world's smallest violin for you.

Anonymous said...

Journalism is an arts program not STEM. What the hell is drama therapy? And really...majoring in classics? Short of a dual major in literature with a focus on education that is not going to get anyone far. If my kid said he wanted to major in classics I would tell him to open a book and join a club.
It's one thing to take some classes as part of your gen ed credits ir even for personal enrichment if you can afford it....but really now, some of the majors schools are coming up with are a waste. I have my degrees and I feel that there are just some areas that need to be slimmed down now.
I do like that some community colleges have gone to certificate programs where you only take classes that apply to career field. If you want to work in computer networking you only take computer based classes and skip your arts and sciences. An employer in that field is not going to give a damn how well you did in BIO 101....they just want to know if you can keep their business running and problem solve.

Anonymous said...

1034 college business model is about $$$$ - they dictate the courses for degrees so it pays for those Professor's tenure! Long tenure which means their long rule of the system.

Anonymous said...

This will not stand. The colleges knew the intent but choose to attempt to circumvent it.

Anonymous said...

More colleges and universities are using adjunct professors which means they are part time. Between my associates, bachelor's, and now my master's degrees few if any of my professors were tenured. That idea is so outdated. I'm not saying that colleges aren't about the bottom line but little is going to tenured professors anymore when they can hire more part-time for less.

Anonymous said...


Hope Fed DOE mandates solid core math and science classes to qualify as STEM. When the snowflakes they're trying to sneak in through the EXIT get their F grades the scheme will be gutted.