President Donald Trump’s return to the White House last month has already been marked by a number of contentious executive orders. Since taking office on Jan. 20, Trump has signed 55 executive orders into law as of Feb. 11, covering issues ranging from freezing federal grants and spending to increasing mass deportations nationwide. Many of these policies have direct ramifications for students and higher education institutions alike, yet the full impact of the President’s slew of executive orders remains to be seen. On Jan. 30, Dean of the College Carlos Alamo sent an email to the Vassar student body in response to the new administration’s laws. Alamo discussed the effects of a temporary federal freeze on grants as well as Trump’s executive orders overhauling the immigration system.
The White House memo freezing federal grants raised alarm for many—specifically for students receiving federal financial aid. In his email, Alamo explained that on Jan. 27 the College received notice that all federal grants would be paused for a month. Alamo wrote, “Understandably, this caused immediate distress among many of our students who rely on federal funds to pay for tuition at Vassar. However, later, we learned that this freeze will not affect the distribution of Pell Grants or direct loans.” A hold on federal student aid would have made it difficult for the College to access federal funds such as Federal Work-Study, Pell Grants, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (SEOG), as well as other federally direct loans. In a written correspondence with The Miscellany News, Alamo confirmed financial aid-related concerns were no longer a concern for this semester.
The federal funding freeze was rescinded by the White House less than two days after it was released. The freeze was met with immediate judicial resistance including a lawsuit from 22 states and the District of Columbia in addition to a separate lawsuit brought by several nonprofit groups.
Alamo’s email also addressed the numerous changes to immigration policy the Trump administration has brought. Since his inauguration, President Trump has signed 10 executive orders focusing on immigration—a core tenet of Trump’s election campaign, in which he pledged to conduct mass deportations and to increase military presence at the United States-Mexico border. According to NBC News, the Trump Administration is planning to conduct raids in three U.S. cities per week.
The College has created a policy to be used in the event Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) subpoenas or requests documentation from Vassar for any Vassar community member. Alamo shared, “The College has developed a Response to Supbeona and Warrants that directs any officials claiming to represent ICE (or anyone attempting to serve a warrant or subpoena on campus) to the College’s General Counsel, Shay Humphrey.”
The outlined policy affirms the College’s commitment to protecting its students and employees: “Vassar will not take affirmative steps to assist in the enforcement of federal immigration laws subject to the policies set forth below.” The document outlines Vassar’s upholding of New York’s Human Rights Law, which disallows the discrimination on the basis of immigration status. The policy additionally states, “Vassar further acknowledges that NYS Executive Order 170 provides that no NYS law enforcement officers shall inquire about an individual’s immigration status unless investigating such individual’s illegal activity and such inquiry is relevant to the illegal activity.”
Members of the Vassar Student Association (VSA) are working with campus offices, including the Office of International Services and First Generation Low Income Program (FLI), to ensure any student who may be affected by these policies has access to immigration policy information. The Chair of the Residential Affairs Committee Nico Reyes Cardozo ’27 commented, “We believe those offices have a more educated and accurate plan of action than what the VSA can provide. We think that the best way we can support these students is to work with those offices instead of trying to make recommendations ourselves.”
Trump’s immigration policy has specifically threatened students who have participated in pro-Palestine protests. In a White House Fact Sheet, Trump was quoted, “To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you. I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.”
A member of Vassar Students for Justice in Palestine (VSJP) stated: “The conversation within SJP about how to best protect international and undocumented students is ongoing and did not begin with the Trump administration. International and undocumented student activists have been targeted indiscriminately by democratic and Republican presidential administrations, and threats of deportation have been a common tactic of repression for pro-Palestine organizers.”
Alamo said in a written correspondence with The Miscellany News, “My understanding is that the order actually targets students who were arrested for protest activities by law enforcement and who are international students. The College does not have students who fit that criteria. Even so, the College does not anticipate providing information to ICE about any of our students unless required by a court-ordered subpoena.”
The member of VSJP added, “We believe Vassar has a responsibility to protect students and our freedom of speech and expression. Vassar has already taken part in the targeting of international and low income students who organize on campus for many issues. While students face dangerous uncertainty at the hands of the College and the presidential administration, we are actively finding community and legal resources to aid students targeted by this repression.”
Sarah — executive orders are *not* law. They are intended to be interpretations of law for purposes of execution and enforcement of the laws passed by Congress. Trump (and others before him) are misusing these but it is critically important not to give him more power than he actually has.