--- title: Trump Immigration Order: Universities Call for End to Ban description: Almost 50 university presidents on Thursday sent a letter to President Trump, urging him to rescind his controversial immigration order canonical: https://time.com/4660098/donald-trump-universities-immigration-ban/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-03T21:42:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:08:21.793Z article:section: Politics og:title: University Leaders Call President Trump's Immigration Order a Threat to Higher Ed og:description: "This executive order is dimming the lamp of liberty and staining the country’s reputation" og:url: https://time.com/4660098/donald-trump-universities-immigration-ban/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9cc269bef7c66eff/6988b8c1ab6d7762cc6acbbb/donald-trump-university-letter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: President Trump Expected To Sign Executive Order To Review Dodd-Frank Act Rules og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: University Leaders Call President Trump's Immigration Order a Threat to Higher Ed twitter:description: "This executive order is dimming the lamp of liberty and staining the country’s reputation" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9cc269bef7c66eff/6988b8c1ab6d7762cc6acbbb/donald-trump-university-letter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # University Leaders Call President Trump's Immigration Order a Threat to American Higher Ed > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Feb 3, 2017 9:42 PM UTC  President Donald Trump gestures toward members of the media as he walks out of the White House to board Marine One in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 3, 2017. President Donald Trump gestures toward members of the media as he walks out of the White House to board Marine One in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 3, 2017. Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Feb 3, 2017 9:42 PM UTC Almost 50 university presidents on Thursday [sent a letter](http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S48/60/53M84/?section=topstories) to President Donald Trump, urging him to rescind his [controversial executive order](http://time.com/4657654/trumps-immigration-order-is-legal-for-now/) banning immigrants from seven majority-Muslim countries and suspending the country’s refugee program. “If left in place, the order threatens both American higher education and the defining principles of our country,” they wrote in the letter, which was signed by the presidents of 48 colleges and universities, including all eight Ivy League schools, Stanford, Georgetown and Tufts. The order drew [immediate global backlash](http://time.com/4652877/donald-trump-immigration-ban-muslim/). Some universities [spoke out against the ban](http://fortune.com/2017/01/30/trump-muslim-ban-harvard/), as students or professors became stranded while traveling abroad, unable to return to the U.S. because of the order. In the long run, the order could also have a [negative financial impact](http://fortune.com/2017/01/31/donald-trump-immigration-ban-international-students/?iid=leftrail) on universities. “We welcome outstanding Muslim students and scholars from the United States and abroad, including the many who come from the seven affected countries,” the letter said. “Their vibrant contributions to our institutions and our country exemplify the value of the religious diversity that has been a hallmark of American freedom since this country’s founding.” Read the complete letter [here](http://www.princeton.edu/president/eisgruber/docs/Presidents-Letter-Immigration.pdf): --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4660098/donald-trump-universities-immigration-ban/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4660098/donald-trump-universities-immigration-ban/"},"headline":"University Leaders Call President Trump's Immigration Order a Threat to American Higher Ed","datePublished":"2017-02-03T21:42:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:08:21.793Z","description":"Almost 50 university presidents on Thursday sent a letter to President Trump, urging him to rescind his controversial immigration order","url":"https://time.com/4660098/donald-trump-universities-immigration-ban/","keywords":["Donald Trump","Education","College","Immigration","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9cc269bef7c66eff/6988b8c1ab6d7762cc6acbbb/donald-trump-university-letter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9cc269bef7c66eff/6988b8c1ab6d7762cc6acbbb/donald-trump-university-letter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Expected To Sign Executive Order To Review Dodd-Frank Act Rules","caption":"President Trump Expected To Sign Executive Order To Review Dodd-Frank Act Rules","creditText":"Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4660098/donald-trump-universities-immigration-ban/","name":"University Leaders Call President Trump's Immigration Order a Threat to American Higher Ed"}}]}] ```