Statement from the President | July 2026
One of America’s greatest strengths has long been its ability to attract competitive students from around the world. They come here to learn from and contribute to, a vibrant community of scholars, and the unique perspectives and experiences they bring has fueled the speed of US innovation both inside and outside the academy. The Department of Homeland Security’s final rule replacing the longstanding “duration of status” system with fixed admission periods for international students risks undermining that strength. When we make it more difficult for exceptional scholars to complete their education here, it is a loss for our nation.
History offers a stark lesson in what the United States forfeits when it turns away the scholars it has trained. Qian Xuesen came to the United States in 1935, earned graduate degrees at MIT and Caltech, helped found what became NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and became one of America’s leading aeronautical scientists. During the Red Scare, he lost his security clearance on allegations that were never substantiated, spent years under house arrest, and was ultimately deported, where he became the architect of China’s missile and space programs. The nation that educated him lost the benefit of his talent and the contributions he might have made here.
The consequences extend well beyond universities. They reach into the nation’s scientific capacity, technological innovation, public institutions, and global contributions. Those stakes are especially acute for anthropology. Doctoral training in our discipline cannot be compressed into a standard timeline. Anthropological research depends on language training, sustained ethnographic fieldwork, long-term relationships with communities, and patient observation over time. Graduate students emerge from their training as experts on regions and cultures around the world that are critical for US diplomacy and security. Anthropology PhDs are also employed alongside engineers, designers, physicians, businesses, governments, and nonprofit organizations to help ensure that emerging technologies, public policies, and institutions reflect how people actually live, communicate, and make decisions.
Constraining the training that produces this expertise weakens the nation’s capacity to understand the people, communities, and technologies that shape our shared future. We urge policymakers to ensure that immigration policy reflects the realities of scholarly research and preserves the United States’ longstanding ability to attract and retain exceptional talent from around the world.
Carolyn Rouse, PhD
President, American Anthropological Association
Henry G. Bryant Professor of Anthropology, Princeton University
July 2026