Drew University is home to over 400 international students, with an undergraduate student body representing over 50 countries from around the globe. These students of diverse cultural backgrounds have immeasurably added to the story of our school. In order to honor Drew’s international community of both past and present, celebrate International Students Day—held annually on Nov. 17—and explore the obstacles international students have all overcome to achieve their education in the U.S., this week’s article will be dedicated to exploring the international experience at Drew over the past nine decades.
Drew was founded as a Methodist seminary in 1867 and has attracted theologians from around the world to study here in the Forest. At the time, global focus was tradition for the Methodists, who succeeded in spreading their religious teachings to the far corners of the globe. As such, a deeply diverse group of learners was attracted to Drew to receive an education of their own. Graduate students seeking degrees in divinity came to Drew from as far away as Japan around the turn of the century.
The first international student to graduate from Brothers College, which would later become the College of Liberal Arts, was Cyril Jenner Modak (C’33), a student from Jubbulpore, Central Provinces, India. Modak would have a prevalent role on campus as an astute academic, a decorated member of the debate team and a writer. In fact, Modak returned to India following his graduation to serve at Mission High School and received financial support from Brothers College at the onset of the Great Depression, allowing him to continue his work. Modak would go on to use his finely tuned writing skills and rhetoric to publish “India’s Destiny” in 1944 and join the voices that made up the Indian Nationalist Movement.
According to an Acorn article from October 1937, international students from Asia, Africa, South America and island nations in the Caribbean had already attended Drew. At a time when international travel was long and dangerous, gentlemen from around the globe traveled thousands of miles and for dozens of days to reach Drew for their semesters.
Of important note is the influx of students seeking education abroad in the interwar period. This phenomenon has been examined by historians such as Schuiken and I.T. Sanders, and summarized by historian Gregory James in “Overseas Students in the United States.” James points to three major periods of international student influx: “the domination by the foreign missionary movement,… the domination by private philanthropy,… and the period of government involvement, [in] the 1930s.”
The influx of students after World War I was viewed as an attempt at global peace and understanding and was supported by philanthropy from organizations like the Rockefeller Foundation, private support through religious institutions and government involvement from both the U.S. and foreign bodies. All of these factors culminated in international students being more prevalent in the U.S. and, in turn, at Drew.
Sadly, international exchange and education became increasingly difficult, as growing tensions in Europe and Asia erupted into another world war. Like universities across the country, Drew witnessed a decrease in overseas students. In the 1950s, each incoming class saw a handful of international students coming in, and they would often issue special welcomes to these incoming freshmen using The Acorn. Students from Greece, Japan and India were noted to be fairly common for Brothers College. Despite global and political hardships, an international community slowly began to take form.
By the 1960s, Drew would witness another influx of overseas students, especially from countries in Europe and Asia. As Cold War rhetoric influenced decision-making within the American government, the U.S. made an attempt to attract international students in the name of globalizing education and spreading American ideals. These efforts culminated in The Mutual Education and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961. In the following years, other pieces of legislation would be passed with the intent to increase the population of international students at American universities. Such legislation is responsible for thousands of international students entering the U.S.
While no documentation of Drew students who received funding from these programs was found in public-facing resources, it is inarguable that the culture that was being facilitated by these pieces of legislation is intertwined with the wave of international students that found their ways to Drew in the following years.
By the 1970s, international students on campus were able to come together to establish the International Student Association, a student organization still active on campus today. The association serves as a place for international students to find community and connect with their domestic student counterparts through activities such as the international students’ ball, a foreign student banquet and various organizational speakers who give talks on a variety of globally important topics.
Over the next few decades, the number of international students at Drew would increase to the numbers we see today, in large part thanks to INTO Study, which started its partnership with Drew in 2014. INTO is a nationwide web of universities that allows international students to find schools that will support them through moving to the U.S., help improve their language skills and work towards completing their major. Since Drew is the closest of INTO’s partners to New York City, there is a big draw for students looking to gain experience through Drew’s NYC Semesters and find jobs in the metropolitan area post-graduation.
Despite the litany of programs and legislation designed to help international students, the early months of 2020 would pose a new, unexpected challenge for the lives of students, both domestic and overseas. The COVID-19 pandemic proved to be an especially challenging time for international students who had chosen to pursue their education at Drew.
Aline Carla Kruger (‘23) arrived on campus in January 2020, and she recalls the first week of lockdown for the eastern United States and scrambling to catch the second-to-last plane from New Jersey to her home country of Brazil.
Kruger expressed how grateful she was to have a family who was willing to accommodate her, putting her education first, and for professors who understood her situation. Yet, she also expressed that she has heard stories of other students who were not as fortunate. Some students were forced to struggle through online learning without reliable Wi-Fi or safe learning environments. Kruger was able to complete the rest of her semester virtually and returned to in-person learning in August 2021.
Classes for Drew students resumed after an extended spring break, and for students like Kruger, the two-hour time difference was manageable. Other students had to completely readjust their sleeping schedules, with students in Europe, Africa and Asia having to deal with more serious time-zone adjustments.
One such student was Renzo Bass (’24). Bass, a student from Indonesia, experienced virtual learning through an 11- to 12-hour time difference. For Bass, this meant taking classes during the early hours of the morning while the rest of Indonesia slept. Bass, 15 years old when he began his college education, worked hard to stay focused throughout his first two semesters of college, which were entirely Zoom classes. He finally arrived on campus in August 2021.
Some students were unable to return home for extended periods of time over the first years of the pandemic due to their countries closing their borders. This was the case for recent alumni Harrison Neal (C’23).
Neal, from Wellington, New Zealand, was unable to spend his summers and breaks back home until December 2022. Neal looks back on the experience with a positive sentiment, as a time in which other international students in the same position were able to bond and support each other. For many, the inability to see their family and friends back home meant that they had to rely on one another for support. Friendship and community were forged in new ways as COVID radically changed the way that the college experience functioned.
As international travel restrictions lessened, Drew’s international community was revitalized in its classrooms, clubs and all three of the schools on campus. This summer’s international orientation saw the largest number of incoming in-person students since the global shutdown. These students, representing every continent (excluding Antarctica) bring with them unique perspectives, life stories and goals, and they help make up the social fabric of Drew University.
Today, the flags hung proudly in the EC are a reminder of all of the nations that international students have represented at Drew, both past and present. As Drew students continue to partake in a global community that has found its home in Madison, they foster international connections through classroom learning, extracurricular involvement and collaboration between international and domestic students, making all involved better-adjusted members of the global community.
Jocelyn Freeman is a junior majoring in history, English and Chinese.
