Students from widely different cultures who became influential Americans shared a deep love for family, sports and foreign policy over 60 years of friendship.

The friendship between Winston Lord, who was born to wealth and privilege, and Leslie Gelb, who was not, started when Lord’s wife and Gelb were students at Tufts University in Massachusetts. It ended in August when Gelb died.

“We go back 60 years. He was quite a man,” said Winston Lord recently, reflecting on Gelb, who passed away at 82 in August. “He was my best friend.”

“They collaborated on a history project, both procrastinated and put off until the last minute, and they had to scramble,” said Lord of Gelb and his wife, Bette Bao Lord. “Of course they got an A.”

Foreign policy track

All three grew successful and powerful careers in foreign policy. Bao Lord became famous for writing about the Chinese American experience and contemporary Chinese society. She has been a champion of human rights, having served at Freedom House and Broadcasting Board of Governors. And she was Lord’s capable partner as he rose through the ranks of American foreign service, becoming ambassador to her native China.

Gelb earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in government from Harvard University in Massachusetts, taught by foreign policy heavyweights like Henry Kissinger, who became President Richard Nixon’s national security adviser.

Gelb taught at Wesleyan University for a couple of years before being tapped for positions in the Pentagon and the State Department, working on U.S. policies toward Asia and the then-Soviet Union. Described by some as disillusioned with bureaucracy and politics, he exercised his knowledge and expertise on foreign policy and government by serving as diplomatic columnist and editor for The New York Times.

Later, he devoted 10 years to preside over the Council on Foreign Relations, one of the most well-known think tanks, the decade after Lord had served in the same role. He also wrote books on foreign policy along the way.

“I call him unique because of his excellence in all these different areas,” said Lord, who went on to become Kissinger’s deputy in negotiations with China and on Southeast Asian affairs. He later became U.S. ambassador to China and assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific.

But while Lord was born to a wealthy family in New York City that was part of the Pillsbury flour empire, Gelb grew up in the suburbs to an immigrant family. Lord admits that on the outset, judging from the two men’s backgrounds, one might wonder how they could become the best of friends.

“We have a saying in America: born on the third base,” Lord says of their divergent beginnings. “I was born on Park Avenue, with a silver spoon in my mouth.” His friend, meanwhile, had come from a poor immigrant family who worked at his parents’ grocery store, and as a parking attendant and a dishwasher while in college.

“I think we both did quite well, but he started out with no advantages, whereas I started out with tremendous advantages," Lord said.

Mutual interests

Reflecting on what drew them together, Lord points to their mutual centrist interest in American foreign policy. And the importance of family.

“We both put family above every other consideration as the most important, starting with our wives,” Lord said. “Then, of course, we’re both sports fans!”

Except they were fans of competing teams.

“He loved the Yankees. I hate the Yankees! I like the New York Mets," Lord said. As if to affirm that some common ground existed between the two even in the competitive arena of sports, he added, “We’re both Washington Redskins football fans."

Gelb married his wife, Judith, in 1959, despite her parents’ reservations about his lackluster roots. He dedicated his last book, “Power Rules” published in 2009, to “Judy, Judy, Judy.”

Lord remembered his friendship with Gelb as a “uniquely American story. It shows the strength of America.”

“I don’t want to be pompous or exaggerate, but I believe our strength is diversity, including the strengthening of our society through immigrants, the fact that people from different economic, ethnic and social backgrounds can not only live together but become, in our case, extremely close friends," he said.

“This man had every conceivable physical ailment toward the end, yet he never complained,” Lord said, sending his friend off in a note of admiration. “He was in constant pain, he couldn’t see very well, and yet he always looked at the positive side of things.”

It’s tough to gain admission to Yale University, and it’s getting even tougher for international students as standout students from around the world set their sights on Yale.

The Yale Dale News, the campus newspaper, takes a look at the situation here.

Read the full story here.

Ruth Chane, a computer science major from Ethiopia, writes about her experiences settling into student life at Whitman College in the U.S. state of Washington.

"The community at Whitman College made sure I felt welcomed even before I stepped foot on campus," she says.

Read her essay here.

In The Student Life, the student newspaper for the Claremont Colleges, a consortium of five liberal art colleges and two graduate schools in Claremont, California, student Rochelle Lu writes about readjusting to her Shanghai home after spending a semester in the United States.

Read the full story here.

Cedarville University in the U.S. state of Ohio says it’s got more than 140 international students representing 44 countries.

Here, the school interviews Jonathan Sutton, director of international student services. He talks about his job and the opportunities for international students on campus.

Read the full article here.

Morehouse College, a private, historically Black liberal arts college in the U.S. state of Georgia, offers a guide for international students interested in attending the school.

Among the tips to apply and thrive at Morehouse:

• Take advantage of the school’s orientation program
• Turn to the school’s Center for Academic Success for tutoring, support and more
• Immerse yourself in campus life via clubs and societies

Read the full article here.

The administration of President Donald Trump said on Monday it will review Columbia University's federal contracts and grants over allegations of antisemitism, which it says the educational institution has shown inaction in tackling.

Rights advocates note rising antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias since U.S. ally Israel's devastating military assault on Gaza began after Palestinian Hamas militants' deadly October 2023 attack.

The Justice Department said a month ago it formed a task force to fight antisemitism. The U.S. Departments of Health and Education and the General Services Administration jointly made the review announcement on Monday.

"The Federal Government's Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is considering Stop Work Orders for $51.4 million in contracts between Columbia University and the Federal Government," the joint statement said.

The agencies said no contracting actions had been taken yet.

"The task force will also conduct a comprehensive review of the more than $5 billion in federal grant commitments to Columbia University."

The agencies did not respond to requests for comment on whether there were similar reviews over allegations of Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias.

Columbia had no immediate comment. It previously said it made efforts to tackle antisemitism.

College protests

Trump has signed an executive order to combat antisemitism and pledged to deport non-citizen college students and others who took part in pro-Palestinian protests.

Columbia was at the center of college protests in which demonstrators demanded an end to U.S. support for Israel due to the humanitarian crisis caused by Israel's assault on Gaza. There were allegations of antisemitism and Islamophobia in protests and counter-protests.

During last summer's demonstrations around the country, classes were canceled, some university administrators resigned and student protesters were suspended and arrested.

While the intensity of protests has decreased in recent months, there were some demonstrations last week in New York after the expulsion of two students at Columbia University-affiliated Barnard College and after New York Governor Kathy Hochul ordered the removal of a Palestinian studies job listing at Hunter College.

A third student at Barnard College has since been expelled, this one related to the occupation of the Hamilton Hall building at Columbia last year.

The Trump administration is opening new investigations into allegations of antisemitism at five U.S. universities including Columbia and the University of California, Berkeley, the Education Department announced Monday.

It's part of President Donald Trump's promise to take a tougher stance against campus antisemitism and deal out harsher penalties than the Biden administration, which settled a flurry of cases with universities in its final weeks. It comes the same day the Justice Department announced a new task force to root out antisemitism on college campuses.

In an order signed last week, Trump called for aggressive action to fight anti-Jewish bias on campuses, including the deportation of foreign students who have participated in pro-Palestinian protests.

Along with Columbia and Berkeley, the department is now investigating the University of Minnesota, Northwestern University and Portland State University. The cases were opened using the department's power to launch its own civil rights reviews, unlike the majority of investigations, which stem from complaints.

Messages seeking comment were left with all five universities.
A statement from the Education Department criticized colleges for tolerating antisemitism after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and a wave of pro-Palestinian protests that followed. It also criticized the Biden administration for negotiating "toothless" resolutions that failed to hold schools accountable.

"Today, the Department is putting universities, colleges, and K-12 schools on notice: this administration will not tolerate continued institutional indifference to the wellbeing of Jewish students on American campuses," said Craig Trainor, the agency's acting assistant secretary for civil rights.

The department didn't provide details about the inquiries or how it decided which schools are being targeted. Presidents of Columbia and Northwestern were among those called to testify on Capitol Hill last year as Republicans sought accountability for allegations of antisemitism. The hearings contributed to the resignation of multiple university presidents, including Columbia's Minouche Shafik.

An October report from House Republicans accused Columbia of failing to punish pro-Palestinian students who took over a campus building, and it called Northwestern's negotiations with student protesters a "stunning capitulation."

House Republicans applauded the new investigations. Representative Tim Walberg, chair of the Education and Workforce Committee, said he was "glad that we finally have an administration who is taking action to protect Jewish students."

Trump's order also calls for a full review of antisemitism complaints filed with the Education Department since Oct. 7, 2023, including pending and resolved cases from the Biden administration. It encourages the Justice Department to take action to enforce civil rights laws.

Last week's order drew backlash from civil rights groups who said it violated First Amendment rights that protect political speech.

The new task force announced Monday includes the Justice and Education departments along with Health and Human Services.

"The Department takes seriously our responsibility to eradicate this hatred wherever it is found," said Leo Terrell, assistant attorney general for civil rights. "The Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is the first step in giving life to President Trump's renewed commitment to ending anti-Semitism in our schools."

The Times of India breaks down the most popular subjects for international students to study in the U.S.

STEM and business lead the pack. Read the full story here. (January 2025)

U.S. News & World report addresses some of the misconceptions about U.S. colleges and universities, including the difficulty of getting a visa.

Read the full story here. (January 2025)

US News & World Report details the three top factors in foreign students' decision to study in the U.S. They include research opportunities and the reputation of U.S. degrees. Read the full story here. (December 2024)

A British student who did a year abroad at Bowling Green State University in Ohio talks about adjusting to life in America in a TikTok video, Newsweek magazine reports.

Among the biggest surprises? Portion sizes, jaywalking laws and dorm room beds.

Read the full story here. (December 2024)

Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health reaches out to international students by detailing the international student experience at the school.

Learn more about housing, life in Boston and more here.

China issued its first national action plan to build a "strong education nation" by 2035, which it said would help coordinate its education development, improve efficiencies in innovation and build a "strong country."

The plan, issued Sunday by the Communist Party's central committee and the State Council, aims to establish a "high quality education system" with accessibility and quality "among the best in the world."

The announcement was made after data on Friday showed China's population fell for a third consecutive year in 2024, with the number of deaths outpacing a slight increase in births, and experts cautioning that the downturn will worsen in the coming years.

High childcare and education costs have been a key factor for many young Chinese opting out of having children, at a time when many face uncertainty over their job prospects amid sluggish economic growth.

"By 2035, an education power will be built," the official Xinhua news agency said, adding that China would explore gradually expanding the scope of free education, increase "high-quality" undergraduate enrolment, expand postgraduate education, and raise the proportion of doctoral students.

The plan aims to promote "healthy growth and all-round development of students," making sure primary and secondary school students have at least two hours of physical activity daily, to effectively control the myopia, or nearsightedness, and obesity rates.

"Popularizing" mental health education and establishing a national student mental health monitoring and early warning system would also be implemented, it said.

It also aims to narrow the gap between urban and rural areas to improve the operating conditions of small-scale rural schools and improve the care system for children with disabilities and those belonging to agricultural migrant populations.

The plan also aims to steadily increase the supply of kindergarten places and the accessibility of preschool education.

The Open Notebook, a site focusing on educating journalists who cover science, has complied a list of U.S. graduate program financial aid information for international students.

Read it here.