Text

theses

ETD graduate

With the onset of COVID-19 compounding the anti-immigration rhetoric that comprised much of former President Trump’s initiatives from 2016-2020, international students have been placed in a precarious situation within the stratified contexts of the U.S. university, public rhetoric, and a global pandemic. The July 6th ICE directive that threatened international students with deportation if they were not enrolled in face-to-face classes brought these contexts together, and American universities overwhelmingly responded in defense of their international students. While their support is important in preserving the safety and wellbeing of international students during a global pandemic, the public statements, the Harvard-MIT lawsuit filed against ICE, and the university rhetoric available on their websites construct a version of the international student as a fungible commodity: these students are valued because of how they positively impact the university rather than respected for their desire to learn. The value of the international student is determined according to how the university configures them. The resulting myth of international student as fungible describes the international student’s utility, their paradoxical construction by the university as outsider and insider, irreplaceable and interchangeable, diversity clout and homogenous group depending on the university’s needs. This thesis uses these documents as an access point to investigate how university rhetoric creates and perpetuates this myth. I examine the rhetoric around international students from Harvard, MIT, UPenn, NYU, Columbia, Northeastern, and Rutgers as these institutions actively recruit and admit international students and led the defense against international students after the July 6th ICE directive. Although these universities protected the wellbeing of international students during this time, they also participate in the continuation of the myth of the fungible international student. By examining the ways in which the rhetorical processes of recruitment, admissions, and sponsorship perpetuate this myth, this thesis outlines the university rhetoric, its motivations, and its flaws to advocate for the reimagining of the systems of recruitment, admissions, and sponsorship.

ETD_11860

M.A.

Includes bibliographical references

doi:10.7282/t3-kav0-n638

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