Following the #COVID19 emergency in the U.S., on March 13, Danny Habuki, the president of Soka University of America (SUA), sent out a university email that asked all SUA students to “return home and to remain home for the remainder of the semester.” The email asked students to “vacate the residence halls by March 27.” While such extreme measures may seem necessary in light of the current developments regarding COVID-19, the action has severe consequences for most of the students, who have received no communication about any possible reimbursement for travel, and the university’s lack of consideration for those raises serious questions on the administration’s leadership.

First, not all students (especially international students) have the option or resources to “return home.” Most flights, particularly international ones, have been canceled, and several countries have completely shut their borders. Therefore, mandating that all students leave campus not only forces international students into complicated and expensive decisions but will also put them at a greater risk of the viral infection, the very situation the university is trying to avoid.

Second, students who are to graduate in May 2020 have very limited time to complete their undergraduate thesis,  a challenge exacerbated by the extreme stress of the situation. Not all of their theses can be done at home/online. In particular international students who leave the US, will have an additional risk of not being able to reenter due to current and future Visa restrictions, thus jeopardizing both their degree and their future plans (such as grad school, OPT, etc.) International students from all grade levels hey will be further disadvantaged by the offered alternatives; online video conference classes will be incredibly difficult to attend from abroad due to time differences and lack of access in many students’ home countries.

While these problems are secondary to the quickly evolving nature of the COVID-19 epidemic, the university should fully consider the consequences of this extreme measure before it is implemented. The administration of Soka University of America should all consider that other universities, including UC Irvine, have urged their international students NOT to leave the country due to the difficulties they could face in returning. It is unclear how this situation will continue to evolve, and what further actions may be taken by the Federal Government to restrict international travel. The signatories of this decision feel that these actions have been taken to protect the administration from liability in case a student is affected by the virus. Although the administration allows students to remain on campus under “excruciating circumstances” (through a narrow option of a “petition” “upon strict review and approval process,” the statement’s vagueness is incredibly problematic considering the severity of this situation.

Instead of jettisoning the student body and creating a sense of panic, we urge that the administration of Soka University of America provide feasible alternatives to the students who cannot afford to leave the university, either because of their personal circumstances or due to broader inter/national situation. The university should also extend deadlines for papers/exams/theses because those are 1) not more important than students' lives, and 2) due to current events, students are not in a mindset to produce academic work to their full potential. Finally, in light of the importance Commencement to the Class of 2020, particularly first-generation college students and their families, the administration should be much more considerate of the weight of their decision to cancel the event.

The quickly evolving Covid-19 emergency necessitates a measured, reasonable, and, above all, a student-centered response from the administration of Soka University of America. The current decision to expel all students from campus in two weeks is anything but.