Latest news with #GenevieveLakier
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Can the IRS revoke Harvard's tax-exempt status?
For more than a century, the majority of colleges and universities have not paid most taxes. The Revenue Act of 1909 excused nonprofits operating 'exclusively for religious, charitable, or educational purposes' in order to continue acting in the public interest. President Donald Trump is looking to challenge that designation, complaining that colleges and universities are 'indoctrinating' their students with 'radical left' ideas, rather than educating them. And he has decided to start with the 488-year old Harvard University, one of the world's most prestigious institutions of learning and the first college founded in the American colonies. On Tuesday, he targeted Harvard University in a post on his social media site, questioning whether it should remain tax-exempt 'if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting 'Sickness?' Remember, Tax Exempt Status is totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST!' Tax-exempt status, which is decided by the Internal Revenue Service, means that these institutions do not pay certain kinds of taxes and that their donors receive a tax deduction when they make gifts. The rules they have to follow to maintain that status are set out in the tax code. We spoke with attorneys who specialize in nonprofit law and freedom of speech to try to answer questions about this challenge. Does a university's curriculum affect its charitable status? In general, no. Colleges and universities have broad leeway to design the education they provide. Genevieve Lakier, a First Amendment scholar at the University of Chicago Law School, said the U.S. Supreme Court has laid out four essential freedoms for colleges and universities — what to teach, how to teach it, who their students are and who their professors are. 'That's the irreducible core of academic freedom and it is constitutionally protected in this country,' she said, adding the government cannot threaten funding cuts or revoking a school's tax status as punishment for its views or what the school teaches. The First Amendment also protects the rights of other nonprofits to pursue their charitable missions under freedom of assembly, Lakier said, even if those missions are odious or the government does not like them. Can the president ask the IRS to revoke a nonprofit's tax-exempt status? No, he is not supposed to, according to two nonprofit tax attorneys who wrote about a previous call from Trump to revoke the nonprofit status of colleges and universities. In 1998, Congress passed a law that forbade federal officials from telling the IRS to investigate any taxpayer in an effort to increase trust in tax enforcement. The attorneys, Ellen Aprill and Samuel Brunson, also pointed to legislation that forbade the IRS 'from targeting individuals and organizations for ideological reasons,' after a controversy over how it treated Tea Party groups in 2013. H ow does a nonprofit get and keep its tax-exempt status? The IRS recognizes multiple reasons for a nonprofit to to be exempt from paying many kinds of taxes, including pursuing charitable, religious or educational missions among many other examples. The statute specifically names sports competitions, preventing cruelty to children or animals and defending human or civil rights as exempt purposes. Nonprofits can lose their tax-exempt status for things like improperly paying its directors, endorsing a political candidate or operating a business unrelated to its charitable mission. In short, tax attorneys say nonprofits must operate 'exclusively for charitable purposes,' which is a different standard than what the president referred to as, 'acting in the public interest.' Phil Hackney, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh, said, 'Long history and precedent suggest that Harvard and institutions of higher education are operating for educational purposes, which are considered charitable," under the tax code. He said it would be exceedingly difficult to make a case that a college or university was not operating for charitable purposes under current law. However, Edward McCaffery, who teaches tax policy at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, warned there is precedent for the IRS revoking the tax-exempt status of colleges that the government could lean on. 'I think to dismiss it out of hand as over-the-top bluster and that the administration has no power to unilaterally pursue it, I think that's naive," McCaffery said. "This could happen.' Has the IRS ever stripped a college of its tax-exempt status before? Yes. In 1983, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision that the IRS could deny tax-exempt status to Bob Jones University, a private Christian university that banned interracial dating and marriage on campus, and Goldsboro Christian Schools, which employed racially discriminatory admissions policies. The court found the IRS had some discretion to determine whether an organization seeking tax-exempt status met standards of 'charity,' meaning that it 'must serve a public purpose and not be contrary to established public policy.' Nonetheless, McCaffery said, 'The ability of the IRS just to come in and deny tax exemption, it better be a very clear, long-standing, deeply held public policy, and not political preferences for certain kinds of positions, attitudes and voting patterns.' How can the IRS revoke a nonprofit's tax-exempt status? Usually, the IRS would open an audit, where it gathers evidence that a nonprofit is not operating exclusively for charitable purposes. 'The IRS would have to send to Harvard a proposed revocation of its status,' Hackney said. 'At that point, Harvard would have many different means to talk with the IRS about why they believed they were within the law,' including suing. However, Hackney said the U.S. Department of Treasury could implement new regulations, for example, stating that operating a diversity, equity and inclusion program is not consistent with charitable purposes. Such a change would usually take years to make and would run counter to decades of precedent, Hackney said. 'I am skeptical this effort will be successful,' he said. 'If it were, this would be the most dramatic change of charitable law in my lifetime and I would say in the history of our charitable law.' ___ Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP's philanthropy coverage, visit
The Hill
17-04-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Can the IRS revoke Harvard's tax-exempt status?
For more than a century, the majority of colleges and universities have not paid most taxes. The Revenue Act of 1909 excused nonprofits operating 'exclusively for religious, charitable, or educational purposes' in order to continue acting in the public interest. President Donald Trump is looking to challenge that designation, complaining that colleges and universities are 'indoctrinating' their students with 'radical left' ideas, rather than educating them. And he has decided to start with the 488-year old Harvard University, one of the world's most prestigious institutions of learning and the first college founded in the American colonies. On Tuesday, he targeted Harvard University in a post on his social media site, questioning whether it should remain tax-exempt 'if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting 'Sickness?' Remember, Tax Exempt Status is totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST!' Tax-exempt status, which is decided by the Internal Revenue Service, means that these institutions do not pay certain kinds of taxes and that their donors receive a tax deduction when they make gifts. The rules they have to follow to maintain that status are set out in the tax code. We spoke with attorneys who specialize in nonprofit law and freedom of speech to try to answer questions about this challenge. Does a university's curriculum affect its charitable status? In general, no. Colleges and universities have broad leeway to design the education they provide. Genevieve Lakier, a First Amendment scholar at the University of Chicago Law School, said the U.S. Supreme Court has laid out four essential freedoms for colleges and universities — what to teach, how to teach it, who their students are and who their professors are. 'That's the irreducible core of academic freedom and it is constitutionally protected in this country,' she said, adding the government cannot threaten funding cuts or revoking a school's tax status as punishment for its views or what the school teaches. The First Amendment also protects the rights of other nonprofits to pursue their charitable missions under freedom of assembly, Lakier said, even if those missions are odious or the government does not like them. Can the president ask the IRS to revoke a nonprofit's tax-exempt status? No, he is not supposed to, according to two nonprofit tax attorneys who wrote about a previous call from Trump to revoke the nonprofit status of colleges and universities. In 1998, Congress passed a law that forbade federal officials from telling the IRS to investigate any taxpayer in an effort to increase trust in tax enforcement. The attorneys, Ellen Aprill and Samuel Brunson, also pointed to legislation that forbade the IRS 'from targeting individuals and organizations for ideological reasons,' after a controversy over how it treated Tea Party groups in 2013. H ow does a nonprofit get and keep its tax-exempt status? The IRS recognizes multiple reasons for a nonprofit to to be exempt from paying many kinds of taxes, including pursuing charitable, religious or educational missions among many other examples. The statute specifically names sports competitions, preventing cruelty to children or animals and defending human or civil rights as exempt purposes. Nonprofits can lose their tax-exempt status for things like improperly paying its directors, endorsing a political candidate or operating a business unrelated to its charitable mission. In short, tax attorneys say nonprofits must operate 'exclusively for charitable purposes,' which is a different standard than what the president referred to as, 'acting in the public interest.' Phil Hackney, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh, said, 'Long history and precedent suggest that Harvard and institutions of higher education are operating for educational purposes, which are considered charitable,' under the tax code. He said it would be exceedingly difficult to make a case that a college or university was not operating for charitable purposes under current law. However, Edward McCaffery, who teaches tax policy at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, warned there is precedent for the IRS revoking the tax-exempt status of colleges that the government could lean on. 'I think to dismiss it out of hand as over-the-top bluster and that the administration has no power to unilaterally pursue it, I think that's naive,' McCaffery said. 'This could happen.' Has the IRS ever stripped a college of its tax-exempt status before? Yes. In 1983, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision that the IRS could deny tax-exempt status to Bob Jones University, a private Christian university that banned interracial dating and marriage on campus, and Goldsboro Christian Schools, which employed racially discriminatory admissions policies. The court found the IRS had some discretion to determine whether an organization seeking tax-exempt status met standards of 'charity,' meaning that it 'must serve a public purpose and not be contrary to established public policy.' Nonetheless, McCaffery said, 'The ability of the IRS just to come in and deny tax exemption, it better be a very clear, long-standing, deeply held public policy, and not political preferences for certain kinds of positions, attitudes and voting patterns.' How can the IRS revoke a nonprofit's tax-exempt status? Usually, the IRS would open an audit, where it gathers evidence that a nonprofit is not operating exclusively for charitable purposes. 'The IRS would have to send to Harvard a proposed revocation of its status,' Hackney said. 'At that point, Harvard would have many different means to talk with the IRS about why they believed they were within the law,' including suing. However, Hackney said the U.S. Department of Treasury could implement new regulations, for example, stating that operating a diversity, equity and inclusion program is not consistent with charitable purposes. Such a change would usually take years to make and would run counter to decades of precedent, Hackney said. 'I am skeptical this effort will be successful,' he said. 'If it were, this would be the most dramatic change of charitable law in my lifetime and I would say in the history of our charitable law.' ___ Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP's philanthropy coverage, visit
The Independent
17-04-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Can the IRS revoke Harvard's tax-exempt status?
For more than a century, the majority of colleges and universities have not paid most taxes. The Revenue Act of 1909 excused nonprofits operating 'exclusively for religious, charitable, or educational purposes' in order to continue acting in the public interest. President Donald Trump is looking to challenge that designation, complaining that colleges and universities are 'indoctrinating' their students with 'radical left' ideas, rather than educating them. And he has decided to start with the 488-year old Harvard University, one of the world's most prestigious institutions of learning and the first college founded in the American colonies. On Tuesday, he targeted Harvard University in a post on his social media site, questioning whether it should remain tax-exempt 'if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting 'Sickness?' Remember, Tax Exempt Status is totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST!' Tax-exempt status, which is decided by the Internal Revenue Service, means that these institutions do not pay certain kinds of taxes and that their donors receive a tax deduction when they make gifts. The rules they have to follow to maintain that status are set out in the tax code. We spoke with attorneys who specialize in nonprofit law and freedom of speech to try to answer questions about this challenge. Does a university's curriculum affect its charitable status? In general, no. Colleges and universities have broad leeway to design the education they provide. Genevieve Lakier, a First Amendment scholar at the University of Chicago Law School, said the U.S. Supreme Court has laid out four essential freedoms for colleges and universities — what to teach, how to teach it, who their students are and who their professors are. 'That's the irreducible core of academic freedom and it is constitutionally protected in this country,' she said, adding the government cannot threaten funding cuts or revoking a school's tax status as punishment for its views or what the school teaches. The First Amendment also protects the rights of other nonprofits to pursue their charitable missions under freedom of assembly, Lakier said, even if those missions are odious or the government does not like them. Can the president ask the IRS to revoke a nonprofit's tax-exempt status? No, he is not supposed to, according to two nonprofit tax attorneys who wrote about a previous call from Trump to revoke the nonprofit status of colleges and universities. In 1998, Congress passed a law that forbade federal officials from telling the IRS to investigate any taxpayer in an effort to increase trust in tax enforcement. The attorneys, Ellen Aprill and Samuel Brunson, also pointed to legislation that forbade the IRS 'from targeting individuals and organizations for ideological reasons,' after a controversy over how it treated Tea Party groups in 2013. H ow does a nonprofit get and keep its tax-exempt status? The IRS recognizes multiple reasons for a nonprofit to to be exempt from paying many kinds of taxes, including pursuing charitable, religious or educational missions among many other examples. The statute specifically names sports competitions, preventing cruelty to children or animals and defending human or civil rights as exempt purposes. Nonprofits can lose their tax-exempt status for things like improperly paying its directors, endorsing a political candidate or operating a business unrelated to its charitable mission. In short, tax attorneys say nonprofits must operate 'exclusively for charitable purposes,' which is a different standard than what the president referred to as, 'acting in the public interest.' Phil Hackney, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh, said, 'Long history and precedent suggest that Harvard and institutions of higher education are operating for educational purposes, which are considered charitable," under the tax code. He said it would be exceedingly difficult to make a case that a college or university was not operating for charitable purposes under current law. However, Edward McCaffery, who teaches tax policy at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, warned there is precedent for the IRS revoking the tax-exempt status of colleges that the government could lean on. 'I think to dismiss it out of hand as over-the-top bluster and that the administration has no power to unilaterally pursue it, I think that's naive," McCaffery said. "This could happen.' Has the IRS ever stripped a college of its tax-exempt status before? Yes. In 1983, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision that the IRS could deny tax-exempt status to Bob Jones University, a private Christian university that banned interracial dating and marriage on campus, and Goldsboro Christian Schools, which employed racially discriminatory admissions policies. The court found the IRS had some discretion to determine whether an organization seeking tax-exempt status met standards of 'charity,' meaning that it 'must serve a public purpose and not be contrary to established public policy.' Nonetheless, McCaffery said, 'The ability of the IRS just to come in and deny tax exemption, it better be a very clear, long-standing, deeply held public policy, and not political preferences for certain kinds of positions, attitudes and voting patterns.' How can the IRS revoke a nonprofit's tax-exempt status? Usually, the IRS would open an audit, where it gathers evidence that a nonprofit is not operating exclusively for charitable purposes. 'The IRS would have to send to Harvard a proposed revocation of its status,' Hackney said. 'At that point, Harvard would have many different means to talk with the IRS about why they believed they were within the law,' including suing. However, Hackney said the U.S. Department of Treasury could implement new regulations, for example, stating that operating a diversity, equity and inclusion program is not consistent with charitable purposes. Such a change would usually take years to make and would run counter to decades of precedent, Hackney said. 'I am skeptical this effort will be successful,' he said. 'If it were, this would be the most dramatic change of charitable law in my lifetime and I would say in the history of our charitable law.' ___ Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP's philanthropy coverage, visit
Associated Press
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Can the IRS revoke Harvard's tax-exempt status?
For more than a century, the majority of colleges and universities have not paid most taxes. The Revenue Act of 1909 excused nonprofits operating 'exclusively for religious, charitable, or educational purposes' in order to continue acting in the public interest. President Donald Trump is looking to challenge that designation, complaining that colleges and universities are 'indoctrinating' their students with 'radical left' ideas, rather than educating them. And he has decided to start with the 488-year old Harvard University, one of the world's most prestigious institutions of learning and the first college founded in the American colonies. On Tuesday, he targeted Harvard University in a post on his social media site, questioning whether it should remain tax-exempt 'if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting 'Sickness?' Remember, Tax Exempt Status is totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST!' Tax-exempt status, which is decided by the Internal Revenue Service, means that these institutions do not pay certain kinds of taxes and that their donors receive a tax deduction when they make gifts. The rules they have to follow to maintain that status are set out in the tax code. We spoke with attorneys who specialize in nonprofit law and freedom of speech to try to answer questions about this challenge. Does a university's curriculum affect its charitable status? In general, no. Colleges and universities have broad leeway to design the education they provide. Genevieve Lakier, a First Amendment scholar at the University of Chicago Law School, said the U.S. Supreme Court has laid out four essential freedoms for colleges and universities — what to teach, how to teach it, who their students are and who their professors are. 'That's the irreducible core of academic freedom and it is constitutionally protected in this country,' she said, adding the government cannot threaten funding cuts or revoking a school's tax status as punishment for its views or what the school teaches. The First Amendment also protects the rights of other nonprofits to pursue their charitable missions under freedom of assembly, Lakier said, even if those missions are odious or the government does not like them. Can the president ask the IRS to revoke a nonprofit's tax-exempt status? No, he is not supposed to, according to two nonprofit tax attorneys who wrote about a previous call from Trump to revoke the nonprofit status of colleges and universities. In 1998, Congress passed a law that forbade federal officials from telling the IRS to investigate any taxpayer in an effort to increase trust in tax enforcement. The attorneys, Ellen Aprill and Samuel Brunson, also pointed to legislation that forbade the IRS 'from targeting individuals and organizations for ideological reasons,' after a controversy over how it treated Tea Party groups in 2013. H ow does a nonprofit get and keep its tax-exempt status? The IRS recognizes multiple reasons for a nonprofit to to be exempt from paying many kinds of taxes, including pursuing charitable, religious or educational missions among many other examples. The statute specifically names sports competitions, preventing cruelty to children or animals and defending human or civil rights as exempt purposes. Nonprofits can lose their tax-exempt status for things like improperly paying its directors, endorsing a political candidate or operating a business unrelated to its charitable mission. In short, tax attorneys say nonprofits must operate 'exclusively for charitable purposes,' which is a different standard than what the president referred to as, 'acting in the public interest.' Phil Hackney, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh, said, 'Long history and precedent suggest that Harvard and institutions of higher education are operating for educational purposes, which are considered charitable,' under the tax code. He said it would be exceedingly difficult to make a case that a college or university was not operating for charitable purposes under current law. However, Edward McCaffery, who teaches tax policy at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, warned there is precedent for the IRS revoking the tax-exempt status of colleges that the government could lean on. 'I think to dismiss it out of hand as over-the-top bluster and that the administration has no power to unilaterally pursue it, I think that's naive,' McCaffery said. 'This could happen.' Has the IRS ever stripped a college of its tax-exempt status before? Yes. In 1983, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision that the IRS could deny tax-exempt status to Bob Jones University, a private Christian university that banned interracial dating and marriage on campus, and Goldsboro Christian Schools, which employed racially discriminatory admissions policies. The court found the IRS had some discretion to determine whether an organization seeking tax-exempt status met standards of 'charity,' meaning that it 'must serve a public purpose and not be contrary to established public policy.' Nonetheless, McCaffery said, 'The ability of the IRS just to come in and deny tax exemption, it better be a very clear, long-standing, deeply held public policy, and not political preferences for certain kinds of positions, attitudes and voting patterns.' How can the IRS revoke a nonprofit's tax-exempt status? Usually, the IRS would open an audit, where it gathers evidence that a nonprofit is not operating exclusively for charitable purposes. 'The IRS would have to send to Harvard a proposed revocation of its status,' Hackney said. 'At that point, Harvard would have many different means to talk with the IRS about why they believed they were within the law,' including suing. However, Hackney said the U.S. Department of Treasury could implement new regulations, for example, stating that operating a diversity, equity and inclusion program is not consistent with charitable purposes. Such a change would usually take years to make and would run counter to decades of precedent, Hackney said. 'I am skeptical this effort will be successful,' he said. 'If it were, this would be the most dramatic change of charitable law in my lifetime and I would say in the history of our charitable law.' ___ Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP's philanthropy coverage, visit
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump administration revokes student visas from University of Chicago, Northwestern and University of Illinois
CHICAGO — The state's top universities, including the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Northwestern University and the University of Chicago, confirmed Wednesday that visas of international students were revoked by the Trump administration, joining a growing number of international students across the country who have had their visas canceled. Officials say that many if not all have been revoked with no explanation and no prior notice, creating confusion on campuses and deep-rooted fear among students. On Wednesday, U. of C. officials confirmed that the federal government terminated the F-1 visas for three current students and four recent graduates, while their Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVIS) status had also been terminated. Meanwhile Southern Illinois University Edwardsville confirmed eight of its international students had their visas canceled, including three enrolled undergraduate students and five graduate students on optional practical training. Students from U. of I., University of Illinois Chicago, Northwestern and Southern Illinois University Carbondale also have had their visas terminated, according to officials from those schools who declined to say how many. However, a high-ranking official at U. of I. who did not have permission to speak on the record told the Tribune that 19 students had their visas rescinded, according to data in the SEVIS system. SEVIS, an online system maintained by the Department of Homeland Security, is used to monitor the records and information of international students on F-1 or J-1 visas and keep track of students whose visa status is being challenged. Legal experts say once a SEVIS record is terminated, a student's legal status becomes immediately invalid and they must either leave the U.S. within the grace period, typically 15 days, or take steps to restore their status. Otherwise, they may risk deportation and future visa restrictions. 'My understanding is that Trump promised mass deportations and the people you can find that are the easiest to identify are students,' said Genevieve Lakier, a University of Chicago professor who specializes in freedom of speech and American constitutional law. 'They're in the system, and universities maintain records that are easy to access via multiple pathways. And of course, the administration doesn't like universities, so it does not mind disrupting their business model. It's a win-win for the administration and horrifying for our students, who are terrified.' Over the past week, nearly 300 full-time international students across the country were informed that their visa status had been revoked, making them targets of deportation and detainment. College officials and university communities are left to unpack what is happening and how best to advise its students. Many of the universities impacted by the cancellations in Illinois have large international student populations. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 10% of the student body at Northwestern has non-U.S. resident status, while U. of C.'s student body has 17% non-U.S. resident status and U. of I.'s student body has 15% non-U.S. resident status. Faculty and students at U. of C. told the Tribune that some of the visa revocations appear to be connected to minor infractions such as parking tickets or traffic violations, though school officials could not confirm. In Florida, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported this week a student from Colombia who was taken into custody by immigration agents after he was stopped by Gainesville police with an expired registration and driver's license signed his self-deportation and returned home. Other visa terminations are related to participation in pro-Palestinian protests or political speech criticizing Israel, such as the high-profile case of Mahmoud Khalil, who helped lead last spring's protests at Columbia University and now faces possible deportation despite facing no criminal charges. Some institutions have shared publicly that students have lost visas, but many colleges and universities have yet to disclose the exact number. The negative effects of the nationwide student visa revocations have been far-reaching, said Ida Salusky, research associate professor at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Salusky, who works with undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral students, said her students are scared about their visa status, citing the case of Rumeysa Ozturk — a Turkish international doctoral student at Tufts University who was taken by immigration officials near her home last month. 'The images of the young woman from Tufts in Boston, you know, basically being grabbed off the street. That's terrifying for any student, for any young person, especially for somebody who is on a visa,' Salusky said. Students are unable to fully focus on their work, causing them to be less productive, she noted. 'Everybody talks about and this administration is talking about, 'We want the people to be productive. We want our dollars to be well spent.' But that is hard to accomplish for anyone when you're in constant fear about whether you will be able to remain in the country to do the work or to pursue the degree and the studies that you came here to do,' Salusky said. U. of C. spokesperson Gerald McSwiggan said the Office of International Affairs (OIA) also identified the U. of C. terminations during an audit of SEVIS records. McSwiggan did not clarify when the visas were revoked or when students were notified. McSwiggan said the U. of C. is committed to continued deep engagement and active exchange with international students, scholars and visitors. 'The university has a long history of supporting America's position as a magnet for talented people from across the globe, and we will continue to work to assist the members of our international community,' he said. Last Friday, U. of I. sent a message to their student body that students at the university were affected by the widespread visa terminations. In the letter, U. of I. Chancellor Robert Jones and Provost John Coleman said the federal government does not proactively notify the university of no-contact terminations, adding that students whose immigration status has been terminated should 'consider making plans to exit the United States immediately' as the visa terminations do not carry a grace period. The letter encouraged students to speak with their departments about alternative ways of completing their degrees, including online learning. U. of I. declined to provide more details on which students were impacted out of privacy concerns, but said that they are 'working directly with affected students to help them connect with appropriate resources and understand their options.' Lakier, the U. of C. law professor, noted it was the 'pervasive practice of the Trump administration to not give notice.' She said school officials have recently implemented daily checks of the SEVIS portal to see who is in status and who is out. 'There is no provision of notice,' Lakier added. 'It is a fundamental principle of a system of rule of law that you give notice to people when their legal status or their legal rights change, that is just a basic norm so that they can structure their lives knowing the rule of the government.' Jackie Stevens, a professor of political science at Northwestern, said that while the deportations may help the Trump administration optically, it is unclear if the deportations advance any policy goals. 'I don't even know that it fits any particular policy goal, economic or otherwise, that the Trump administration has in mind,' Stevens said, 'but it does help them bump up the metrics as far as deporting people.' _____
