Impact and Importance of International Students at Wilson
Mallory Wallace-Usry | September 9, 2025
Photo of the International Dorm by Emma Taylor McCallum
Warren Wilson College (WWC) once boasted that a quarter of its student body was international students, and it was even referred to as "a little United Nations." Now, the U.S. government's moves against international student immigration threaten to severely limit international students at WWC.
While it is now an independent liberal arts university, WWC was at times closely associated with the Presbyterian Church. Church funding allowed for an impressive global outreach in those years, but even today, remnants of this culture of internationalism can be found across campus, especially in conversation with staff and alumni.
Jason Barbas, stepfather to a current WWC freshman, has an aunt and uncle who met at WWC, both international students in the 1970s. His family is a shining example of the relationships built by WWC’s international students program.
“My uncle Serghios, who's from Cyprus, [talked to] his army captain [who] gave him a list of schools that had good international students,” Barbas said. “Warren Wilson was on that list. When he came to visit, he said he had not seen any place so green in his life.”
While Serghios found WWC through the army, Barbas said his aunt, Tina Barbas, a native of Thailand, found out about WWC through missionary work and decided to immigrate to America to attend.
“There was a mission that did a lot of service and outreach to the community she lived in,” Barbas said.
Though no longer recruiting students via missionary placements, WWC continues recruitment through sports and education partnerships in countries all over the world.
“Wilson must have had a strong kind of international outreach,” Barbas said. “[Tina and Serghios] came from two [different] corners of the world at the same time, but they met each other. You know, it was the ‘70s, they were hippies, and they loved it there.”
“Internationalism was really embedded and rich and vibrant within all of the fibers of Warren Wilson,” Rachel Kerr, an alumna and the current director of global engagement for WWC, said.
Deeply invested in the international student community on campus, Kerr works to ensure current and future international students are supported in their journey to attend college in the U.S.. She’s also well-versed in the college’s history.
“The Presbyterian Church fully funded all of our international students,” Kerr said. “After we were no longer connected with a Presbyterian Church, our international student numbers dipped.”
After the college split ties with the church in 1971, international student numbers progressively declined until they hit an all-time low of 2% just under a decade ago. Since then, WWC’s administration has worked to increase international enrollment and bring back the ethos of the school’s international community.
“My secret, not so secret goal is that we will bring back some of the vibes of [the] little United Nations as much as possible and continue to grow our international student body,” Kerr said.“I think that inbound and outbound mobility broadens and shrinks the world in really important ways. Hopefully, we can make that happen.”
Today, WWC students are from 17 countries across the globe, with the largest percentage of students coming from Zimbabwe, and the second largest from France. However, recent visa delays and tighter immigration restrictions threaten to halt the college’s progress towards cultural diversity as well as impact its existing international community.
Archie Evans recalls his experience coming to the U.S. just last month. Coming from Australia, Evans found WWC through sports recruitment back in the spring, but did not un-enroll from college in Sydney until late summer in case his visa fell through.
“[It] was a bit of a stressful process because I only got the I-20 (student visa) about three weeks before I was meant to leave, and then I had to book the visa interview,” Evans said. “There weren’t many openings for that; it's been a bit of a busy period with all of the restrictions.”
Evans, fortunately, was able to go through the immigration process on a fast track, but other students have not been so lucky.
Becky Campelo, an intended psychology major from Brazil, was unable to attend her first semester at WWC despite living in the US for three years.
“It takes the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services about four to five months to respond to your request,” Campelo said.
Depending on application volume, staffing, and whether or not additional information is needed, processing times can vary greatly on a case-by-case basis. Campelo declined to comment further on the details of her experience. Still, she remains optimistic.
“I’m very excited about the community at WWC in general, and I’m excited about college life in general, living on campus and being surrounded by people who understand me,” Campelo said. “It’s a big life change.”
From Harvard to WWC, institutions across the U.S. are united in the value of having international students on campus.
“We can learn and celebrate so much more than what we are, and we should,” Kerr said. “Having the humility and understanding that we are not more than ourselves is really important. We get to see a bigger picture, a bigger whole. Our international students are crucial to what Warren Wilson is and have been for a really long time.”
In the face of tightened restrictions and increasing hostility towards international immigrants in America, global engagement remains paramount to the WWC experience, with over 200 study-abroad opportunities offered as of September 2025. Multicultural environments foster a deeper understanding of others and a greater sense of empathy for all, and WWC will continue to grow its international student community well into the future.