How international students' presence benefits rural students at U.S. universities

That's what I heard this morning on NPR when Elissa Nadworny interviewed Michael Freeman, director of international students at the University of Arkansas, who "says international students are crucial to campuses."  She then includes this quote from Freeman:

Some of our students from rural towns, you know, have not met people from abroad. And so this gives them that opportunity to have that influence in their lives.

This is interesting.  It suggests that rural kids are rubes who will benefit from exposure to interntional students.  I can't say I disagree with that.  It reminds me, for better or worse, of the justification articulated in affirmative action cases for having students of color on college campuses:  racial/ethnic diversity will be good for white students.

I'm still wondering when authorities and institutions will realize--as Justice Powell did in the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Bakke:  that rural students also provide valuable perspectives and life experiences to the benefit of urban students and other students more widely seen as representing diversity.  Read more here and here.

After this NPR news segment, the Trump administration dropped its ban on international students who are not taking in-person or hybrid classes at U.S. universities.