Dear Editor,
The recent executive order issued by President Donald Trump suspending entry to the U.S. by those from seven countries has left many confused and unsure, and some angry.
While border security is an issue of great concern, we in the Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program stand in support with many local and national organizations that call for thoughtful immigration policies that respect all religions and nations.
We recognize that many students here at UCM are international students from across the globe: Saudi Arabia, Yemen, India, Korea, Japan, Mexico, Somalia and elsewhere. Their enrollment not only benefits the university financially but these students also bring an important multi-cultural and more complex dimension to our campus. We are a better campus for having those students who look, talk and think differently than we do as Missourians.
It is that interaction between cultures that elevates our learning as it creates a marketplace of ideas that elicits growth in many aspects of our lives. As faculty, we love working with students from everywhere—from rural Missouri to St. Louis, to Mexico City or Sana’a, Yemen.
Many of us have been students in other countries or have served in organizations serving other countries. We understand how exciting and, simultaneously, disorienting and scary it can be to integrate into a new campus under normal circumstances. We know that  current political struggles make this even more difficult.
To those international students on our campus, we in WGS want to make it clear that it doesn’t matter where you come from or what your resident status is: as students of UCM, you are welcome—in our classes, in our offices and around our campus.
We’ll do whatever it takes to support you as sincerely as we reach out and support students who come to us more locally. WGS stays committed to the feminist recognition of the importance of creating safe and welcoming places for all persons.
We are better together.
Respectfully,
The Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program