Dozens of Marquette faculty attended the Spring 2025 Faculty Forum in the Alumni Memorial Union Tuesday, where concerns for international students on college campuses nationwide were top of mind.
Faculty expressed a variety of concerns to Marquette University President Kimo Ah Yun, along with Acting Provost Sarah Feldner and Executive Vice President Joel Pogodzinski in a panel-style event.
Free speech on campus
Student free speech was one of several political issues brought up at the forum. Faculty expressed concerns about students being targeted for speaking out against the actions of President Donald Trump. This came after several international students at universities across the nation had their visas revoked by the administration after protesting in support of Palestine.
Ah Yun emphasized the importance of protecting Marquette’s students right to free speech.
“There is no question that free speech is something that we value,” Ah Yun said. “Fortunately, I have, to date, not heard of any impacts on Marquette students or faculty.”
International students and faculty
Concerns were also raised about international students and faculty traveling outside of the United States. Feldner emphasized the work that the Office of International Education is doing to keep in touch with all international students and those studying abroad.
“There are regular communications and updates going out to those students, letting them know what is the current situation, what alerts are in place and making sure they understand their rights,” Feldner said.
Some faculty also expressed concerns about their Marquette colleagues from around the globe. Phillip Rocco, professor of political science, said he is worried about losing people who he believes are assets to the university.
“We have colleagues across this campus who here on a [work] visa or are green card holders, and they are being told by their country of origin that if they leave to go see their family, might not get back into the United States,” Rocco said.
Rocco added that he and his colleagues are concerned about the lack of information about how the university intends to support those faculty.
Support from the university
Ah Yun conceded that the university may not be able to support every foreign faculty and staff member who is affected by the fallout from recent executive orders from the Trump administration. He said the university will continue to monitor the situations and advise foreign faculty and staff on the best way to proceed.
“We would obviously look at the situation, we would understand through our general counsel about the best opportunities to be able to help anyone who ends up in the situation,” Ah Yun said.
This story was written by Sahil Gupta. He can be reached at sahil.gupta@marquette.edu.
