An Open Letter From US Business School Deans To President Trump

e the U.S. has the high-skill talent it needs, nor does it have the capacity to train enough people with those skills. Without a substantial change in our approach, this deficit of skills in key fields will hinder economic growth.

The fact that our economy has created an estimated three million open STEM jobs is a positive. It speaks to the vibrancy and opportunities available in a healthy, growing economy. Yet the fact that those jobs are unfilled – and that the U.S. is not producing enough people with the skills to fill them – is not just a negative, it’s a crisis.

We are needlessly capping our growth and can do better.

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America remains, as President Ronald Reagan put it, “a shining city upon a hill.” The best and brightest from all around the world want to come here, and their hard work and expertise make our economy stronger and more globally competitive. They want to provide American companies with insights with what approaches will succeed as these companies expand into foreign markets.

Yet a combination of our outdated laws, artificial regional and skills-based caps on immigration, and recent spikes in hostility are closing the door to the high-skilled immigrants our economy needs to thrive. For the first time since we started keeping track of these data, the past three years have seen a reduction in the number of foreign students studying in America’s universities and business schools. Every year, we turn away hundreds of thousands of high-skilled immigrants for no other reason than that they failed to win the H-1B lottery. 

We cannot allow this dangerous negative trend to continue. As leaders committed to growth in America’s economy, we know that policy reforms could usher in immense benefits.  These should include:

Removing “per-country” visa caps, modernizing our visa processing system and reforming the H-1B visa program to make it possible for the most talented people to have a reasonable chance of gaining entry to the United States.

Creating a “heartland” visa that encourages immigration to the regions of the United States that could most use the vitality of these talented individuals.

We can maintain the shimmer of our ‘shining city upon a hill’ that welcomes immigrants, as it has throughout history, to a land of opportunity.

We hope you agree, and we urge you to take these recommendations seriously. 

We are confident that America’s future economic success depends on it.

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SIGNATORIES

1. Andrew Ainslie, Simon Business School, University of Rochester 
2. Paul Almeida, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University
3. Eugene W. Anderson, Martin J. Whitman School of Management, Syracuse University
4. Arjang Assad, Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh
5. Antonio Bernardo, UCLA Anderson School of Management
6. Bill Boulding, Fuqua School of Business, Duke University
7. Peter Brews, Darla Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina
8. Jeffrey R. Brown, Gies College of Business, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
9. Frank Buckless, Poole College of Management, North Carolina State University
10. Bob Camp, Eberly College of Business and Information Technology, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
11. Anne Carroll, College of Business at Kutztown University, Kutztown University
12. Kerwin Charles, Yale School of Management, Yale University
13. Vivek Choudhury, Daniels College of Business, University of Denver
14. Martha J. Crawford, PhD, Jack Welch College of Business & Technology, Sacred Heart University
15. Robert Dammon, Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University
16. Scott DeRue, Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan
17. Sanjay Gupta, Eli Broad College of Business, Michigan State University
18. Kevin Hallock, Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell University
19. Jay Hartzell, McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin
20. Ann Elizabeth Harrison, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley
21. Frank Hodge, Foster School of Business, University of Washington
22. David Hummels, Krannert School of Management, Purdue University
23. Charles Iacovou, School of Business, Wake Forest University
24. Erika James, Goizueta Business School, Emory University
25. M. Eric Johnson, Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University
26. Eli Jones, Mays Business School, Texas A&M University
27. Idalene Kesner, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University
28. John Kraft, Warrington College of Business, University of Florida
29. Stefanie Ann Lenway, Opus College of Business, University of St. Thomas, Minnesota
30. Jonathan Levin, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Stanford University
31. Costis Maglaras, Columbia Business School, Columbia University
32. Stephen L. Mangum, Haslam College of Business, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
33. Sharon Matusik, Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado, Boulder
34. Susan McTiernan, Mario J. Gabelli School of Business, Roger Williams University
35. Anuj Mehrotra, School of Business, The George Washington University
36. Jacqueline R. Mozrall, Saunders School of Business, Rochester Institute of Technology
37. Matthew Myers, Edwin L. Cox School of Business, Southern Methodist University
38. Mark W. Nelson, PhD, Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell University
39. Donna Rapaccioli, Gabelli School of Business, Fordham University
40. Keith Rollag, F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business, Babson College
41. Marc Rubin, Farmer School of Business, Miami University
42. Douglas Shackelford, Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina
43. Matthew Slaughter, Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College
44. Ira Solomon, A.B. Freeman School of Business, Tulane University
45. David Souder, School of Business, University of Connecticut
46. Raghu Sundaram, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University
47. Paul Tesluk, University at Buffalo School of Management, The State University of New York
48. Dr. Richard D. White, Jr., E. J. Ourso College of Business, Louisiana State University
49. Charles H. Whiteman, Smeal College of Business, The Pennsylvania State University
50. Sri Zaheer, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota

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You can read the original letter here.