Pepperdine Administrators hold an informational town hall to discuss how COVID-19 will affect international students.
Photo by AJ Muonagolu
Pepperdine held an informational town hall March 13 to address international students’ concerns. International students make up 11% of the student body, and the town hall addressed how COVID-19 could impact these students, specifically.
The following are all the questions Pepperdine answered to the general group of international students from the town hall:
Q: How will students transition to different rooms if they are staying on campus? What are the guest restrictions? Are we still able to use on-campus facilities if we live off campus in or near the Malibu area? Will there be summer housing?
“All housing, after we do spread people out, will be single occupancy rooms — so it’ll be about a week that you’ll still maybe have a roommate, but then we’ll phase into that second transition where we have everyone in a single space,” said Robin Gore, director of Housing Operations.
Students began transitioning to their new rooms from Thursday, March 19 through Sunday, March 22.
Pepperdine said overnight guests are no longer allowed for the remainder of the pandemic; however, on-campus residents are still allowed to have guests during the day. It is still advised that students keep to social distancing to minimize harm.
The Student Health Center remains open Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Health Center will provide COVID-19 testing and cover all costs except for the cost of service.
There has been no decision on summer housing yet, and students will be informed about any new developments by the EOC.
Q: Are international students in danger of losing their visa or student status? If I am a Chinese international student, how can I renew my visa if the U.S. embassy has been shutdown in China? Will I be able to return for graduation as a returning student?
“[Student status] will only be terminated if there’s a violation of status,” explained Judy Lee, the associate director of the Office of International Student Services (OISS). She continued by saying that to avoid any unnecessary termination, all international students should stay in constant contact with OISS.
For Chinese international students, or any other students who face similar issues, there is no clear picture of when embassies will open back up if they have shut down or closed. In the instance of Chinese international students, Lee and the contact with the Chinese embassy advise and encourage students to look at wait times in the different provinces in China.
Also, seniors who wish to fly back only for graduation will be unable to utilize their F1-VISA since they have technically finished their program. Instead, graduating students would need to apply to enter the U.S. as a visitor.
Q: How are Optional Practical Training (OPT) and Curricular Practical Training (CPT) affected by these recent developments? Do I need a new I-20 form? Can one be mailed to me?
“Yes. So we are still processing requests to a CPT,” said Lee. “Once again, we have a form. It’s called an OPT request. So if you’re not familiar with where we have our electronic forms, just contact the office — we’ll show you how to access it — but just apply as soon as possible, and again, we will process your request.”
Both CPT and OPT requests and applications should be continued as normal. CPTs will be pushed to being done online similar to online classes.
International students are advised to request new I-20s “no matter what.” The town hall clarified that international students need to fill out the Travel Permission form. If students are unable to grab a physical copy, they should email OISS so the form can be emailed to them and directed on a case-by-case basis.
For any more individualized questions, international students should contact the OISS and speak with their designated student official. Students can email OISS at oiss@pepperdine.edu, Housing and Residence at housing@pepperdine.edu and the Student Care team through La Shonda Coleman at lashonda.coleman@pepperdine.edu.
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Contact Anitiz Muonagolu via email: (aj.muonagolu@pepperdine.edu@pepperdine.edu)
