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AAO upholds educational mission during immigration restrictions
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The American Academy of Optometry has initiated an action plan and will continue to closely monitor the Jan. 27, 2017, executive order on visas and immigration as it relates to international members and annual meeting participants, according to an announcement from the AAO board of directors.
The AAO is also considering, “a contingency plan for Admittance Committee interviews, additional strategies to minimize any adverse impact on attendance for the Chicago annual meeting and ways to assure the free exchange of scientific information from our foreign colleagues affected directly by this order.”
The board said it agrees wholeheartedly with the concerns raised by scientific partners in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) letter, dated Jan. 31, to the White House, which encourages the Administration to rescind the order. A total of 171 organizations signed the letter, spanning broad professional scientific, engineering and education societies, national associations, and universities.
“The Jan. 27, 2017, White House executive order on visas and immigration has profound implications for diplomatic, humanitarian and national security interests, in part because of the negative impact on U.S. science and engineering capacity,” according to the letter.
The order will discourage many of the best international students, scholars, engineers and scientists from studying and working, attending conferences or seeking to build new businesses in the U.S., the AAAS said.