Learning Without Borders: Immigrants Transforming Higher Education

Immigrants have long faced structural challenges when accessing and thriving within educational systems and academic spaces. These include linguistic barriers, precarious legal status, limited access to financial aid, cultural exclusion, and the emotional toll of navigating institutions not designed for their realities.

Under the current political climate, many of these challenges have intensified due to shifts in immigration policies, tightening of visa regulations, and increasing social and economic precarity for immigrant communities.

In this conversation, we will discuss both the historic and structural dimensions of these barriers and the new challenges emerging today. Bringing together scholars, students, and advocates, we will explore how immigrant communities continue to transform academic spaces, and what possibilities for solidarity, policy change, and institutional transformation might shape the future of higher education.

Panel of scholars, professors, and student(s) from CUNY:

Sunisa Nuonsy

CUNY Peer Leaders Facilitator, Futures Initiative

CUNY PhD Student

Lesly Ramirez Melchor

Baruch College Alumna

CUNY Peer Leaders Alumna

Cynthia Carvajal, PhD

Director of Undocumented and Immigrant Student Programs, CUNY

Lizbeth De La Cruz Santana, PhD

Assistant Professor, Baruch College