Splainer

Wednesday, July 8 2020

I mean, when you drive a car, you've got to obey speed limits, you've got to use your turn signals [indicators], you've got to avoid hitting pedestrians. If you can't do those three things, you shouldn't be driving a car…. If you can't wear a mask and wash your hands and social distance, I've got no respect for you, man. I don't buy your argument.

That’s Tom Hanks expressing his frustration at many Americans who refuse to wear a face mask. Hanks and his wife Rita tested positive for Covid in March. They have also donated their blood for research into plasma therapy. Illustration: Parth Savla

the big story

The latest Trump casualty: International students

The TLDR: International students at institutions across the United States have been given a choice: either attend in-person classes or leave the country. But this latest bit of Trumpian insanity has little to do with his toxic anti-immigration politics. The President is actually waging war on universities who are refusing to open their campuses in September.

What happened here?

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a startling notice that said:

International students on F-1 and M-1 visas must leave the country if their college or university has moved all of its classes online. If they fail to do so, they will be forcibly deported.
Point to note: F-1 is issued for an academic degree while M-1 visas are issued for vocational programs.
This also applies to students who came back to India when their campuses shut down due to the pandemic.
Also: US Immigration will no longer issue student visas for those planning to attend such institutions in September.
Students, however, can transfer to a university that has opened its campus, and offers courses in the classroom.

The exemptions: There is no exemption for those on M-1 visas. They cannot do any of their coursework online. But those on F-1s can stay if they do a mix of online and in-person courses.

What kind of mix?

In today’s edition

Headlines That Matter

Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro has Covid
Test cricket is baaack!
Russia’s ice cream problem
Worries about Galwan

Reading Habit

Words With Deepanjana Pal

Smart And Curious

Why we travel
How ‘white’ became a metaphor for all things good
The 1920s ‘kissing screen used to achieve the ‘pure and germless kiss’

Life Advisory

Up the laughter (yoga) quotient in your life
Have more atma nirbhar chocolate

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