当地时间14日，美国选举人团确认拜登正式赢得总统大选。在此之前，已经有各国领导向拜登致以祝贺。而在这些祝贺中，有一封祝贺信非常有意义，它来自哈佛大学校长。
早在12月11日，哈佛校长Lawrence S. Bacow给拜登总统写了一封公开信，信中不仅祝贺了拜登的当选，更提及了希望拜登总统上任头几天就尽快处理国际学生签证事宜。
劳伦斯校长写到，世界上几乎每一个国家都接纳移民，纵观历史，美国社会历来都是由现有公民的祖先移民过来形成的。移民群体在美国社会和经济的发展上有着巨大的贡献。而在吸引世界各地的优秀人才来到美国这件事上，美国高等教育扮演了重要角色。
Nearly every country in the world admits immigrants, but the United States has long been defined by the immigrant origins of many of our citizens. Throughout our history, waves of immigrants have come here and made this country their home. With energy, talent, and determination, immigrants have helped make our nation, economy, and communities stronger and more prosperous. Higher education has played an important role in this pipeline—identifying extraordinary students and scholars throughout the world, attracting them to the US, and developing their talents, which has resulted in new ideas and innovations that have benefitted all of us.
但是过去四年，美国政府禁止了许多人入境，其他人则遭遇了签证延误、积压和阻碍。不确定性的阴影笼罩在移民和非移民身上，造成了损失。《国际教育交流开放报告》最近公布，新生入学人数连续第四年下降，也是自2005年以来国际学生总入学人数首次同比下降。同样令人不安的是，虽然在美国高校获得博士学位的绝大多数人选择了留在美国，但中国和印度学生，却因为留在美国将面临的不确定性而选择回国或去了其他国家。而中国和印度是的美国理工科博士的两个最大生源国。
Yet, over the past four years, executive orders and presidential proclamations have barred entry to many, with others beset by processing delays, backlogs, and administrative hurdles designed to frustrate access to opportunities in this country. As a result, a shadow of uncertainty has been cast over immigrants and nonimmigrants alike—and it has taken a toll. Recently, the Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange announced the fourth straight year of decline in new student enrollments, and the first year-over-year decline in total international student enrollments since 2005. Equally troubling, while the overwhelming majority of those who earn doctorate degrees at our colleges and universities choose to remain in the United States, the “stay rate” for students from China and India, who represent the two largest source countries for US science and engineering doctorate recipients, has softened as those students choose opportunities at home or elsewhere in the face of uncertainty here.
劳伦斯校长写到，美国把世界上最优秀的学生、研究人员和学者聚集在一起，丰富大学校园的教学内容，同时这些群体也在美国最复杂的挑战项目的前线做贡献。在信中，他特别提到了当下在应对新冠疫情战线上的许多国外健康行业人士、医生、学生以及移民所付出的努力。据美国国家科学委员会估计，高达50%的美国高需求科学和工程领域的博士出生在国外。此外，自2000年以来获得诺贝尔化学、物理和医学奖的美国科学家中，超过三分之一（37%）是移民，哈佛大学自1998年以来的13位获奖者中有5位是移民。
因此，随着世界各地美领馆的常规签证服务逐步恢复，他希望拜登总统优先考虑留学生和学者，在合理的裁定时间内，确保签证处理流程合理、可预测。同时，他为拜登总统决定取消部分穆斯林国家的旅行禁令感到高兴，并鼓励拜登总统认真审查和重新考虑其他的一些入境禁令，确保这些禁令是有建设性、时限性，是经过深思熟虑的，是有明确、快速的审议豁免程序的。
As routine visa services resume at US consulates around the word, I encourage you to prioritize the consideration of international students and scholars, and ensure that visa processing is streamlined and predictable, with a reasonable timeframe for adjudication. I am pleased to know that you intend to rescind the ban on travel from certain Muslim-majority countries, and I encourage you to carefully review and reconsider these other entry bans, ensuring that they are constructive, timelimited, and thoughtfully focused, with clear, expedited processes for the consideration of exemptions.
劳伦斯校长还提到，随着一月份的临近和新冠确诊率的上升，许多学院和大学必须继续为春季学期提供远程学习和研究。他希望拜登总统在上任的头几天，立即指示“学生交换签证项目”为国际学生提供便利，明确他们能通过参加远程全日制课程来保持学生身份，最关键的是，要为今年疫情期间的应届新生提供这种灵活性的选择。这样的政策将促使学校把校区安全放在首要位置，同时尽量减少对学生学业的干扰，特别是对美国外的国际学生。
As January approaches and COVID rates rise, many colleges and universities must continue to accommodate remote learning and research for the spring semester. I hope you will act without delay in your first days in office to instruct the Student Exchange Visa Program to provide guidance clarifying that continuing students will be able to maintain their status by enrolling in a full-time course of study through distance learning and, most critically, extending that flexibility to new students for the duration of the pandemic. Such a policy will allow schools to assign top priority to the safety of their communities while at the same time minimizing disruptions to the academic progress of students, especially those outside of the United States who have persevered through the fall term with unreliable or restricted internet and dramatically different time zones. I also encourage you to remain alert to any efforts to replace or curtail the longstanding “duration of status” policy, which allows students to remain in the US for their full course of study or approved program.
劳伦斯校长最后写到，“要成为世界的领导者，我们必须确保美国及我们的大学向全世界开放，而不是被孤立在这个世界之外。在鼓励人们和思想的合法流动，或承认移民对美国所做的贡献上，我们目前的移民制度做的还远远不够。新冠疫情告诉我们，我们面临的许多最困难的挑战都是全球性的，解决困难的办法在于国际之间的关系与彼此在研究上的合作，而这些合作需要时间来建立，需要灵活便利的移民政策来支持。
To remain a world leader, the US and its colleges and universities must be open to ensurethat we do not become isolated from the discourse that occurs outside of our borders. Our present immigration system does not do nearly enough to encourage the legitimate flow of people and ideas or recognize the contributions that immigrants make to the US. The COVID pandemic has taught us that many of our most difficult challenges are global—and their solutions lie in international relationships and research collaborations that are established over time and enabled by flexible and accessible immigration policies.
劳伦斯校长的信中从历史到现状，从提出问题到解决方法，有理有据。让我们一起期待一下拜登总统的回应吧。希望2021开始，对留学生们能好一些！
