MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon has released a statement in response to President Trump's executive order that bans the entry of people coming into the United States from seven majority-Muslim countries for 90 days and bans all refugees coming from Syria indefinitely.
Simon calls the executive order "deeply concerning" and says it runs counter to the global nature of our communities and country. Her statement also says the executive order gets in the way of MSU's values of quality, inclusiveness, and connectivity.
Here is the full text of her statement:
"President’s Statement on Executive Order on Immigration, Jan. 29, 2017
President Trump’s executive order on immigration is deeply concerning as it runs counter to the global nature of our communities and our nation. At MSU, our core values are quality, inclusiveness, and connectivity, and this action is an impediment to each. I am keenly aware of the need to address genuine risks to our nation but this order, and the manner it was implemented, is not the best approach. I join my AAU colleagues and other higher education leaders in expressing our concerns regarding the collateral damage caused by this action and calling for a quick end to the order. We must protect our borders, but we also must ensure we do not stem the flow of people of goodwill who come and work to make this nation better. Our students and scholars come from around the world to become Spartans, and then return to the world to make it better. We must not allow fear to change the nature of who we are.
We have an executive team led by Steve Hanson, Associate Provost and Dean for International Studies and Programs, that is constantly monitoring the situation and communicating with affected faculty, staff and students."
