HCC students expressed their grievances at Wednesday’s Board Meeting over the abrupt cancellation of various student trips, including a highly anticipated study abroad to London. Students claim the reasons are unknown, as they have received conflicting explanations from the executive director of the honors college and the chancellor. They seek clear answers and restitution. 

Bradley Michalsky, the honors student who directly addressed the Board, revealed that the Chancellor’s office initially told the students that President Trump’s recent executive orders triggered immigration fears. However, they now claim they acted on the security threats identified on the travel agency’s website. 

As Michalsky pointed out, the security threat was identified on September 6th, a month before London was decided as their destination. This discrepancy is raising questions among students.

Astou Sene, Vice President of the United States Council and fellow honor student, claimed the cancellation was known about since the 24th of September, but they were only made aware of this on January 31st. 

“I didn’t find any coherence,” she said.  “There is a huge miscommunication.” Sene being an international student had to pay $2000 to travel to Senegal to receive her visa, with the visa itself costing $580.

Michalsky maintains that the cancellation is because the college lacks funding, something made worse in lieu of Trump’s administration’s potential shut down of the Department of Education, even though they’ve been told repeatedly that the issue had nothing to do with funding. “I think there is a lack of truth being spread.”

Tennis students also had their 3-day domestic trip to Fort Worth cancelled “last minute”.

“A lot of us took time off of work,” Ayoka says. “We lost money, we lost time, and it was really something I wasn’t expecting from an institution like this.” She claims they haven’t received a proper explanation.

While no immediate resolution was reached at the meeting, Michalsky emphasized that the goal was to officially document the students’ concerns as many appointees allegedly failed to respond to their inquiries. For Michalsky, this situation has dampened his faith in the college administration 

“A lot of [honor] students are only here for this trip,” mentioned Michalsky. “So, my trust is definitely much lower than me coming here at first.”

The opportunity to travel aboard is a big selling point for the honor’s program, and they have yet to remove it from the site.