Archived

This content is available here for research, reference, and/or recordkeeping.

Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0009-0001-5380-2889

Date Available

10-12-2026

Year of Publication

2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College

Education

Department/School/Program

Educational Policy Studies and Eval

Faculty

Eric T. Weber

Faculty

Jungmin Lee

Abstract

International graduate student workers (IGSWs) occupy a distinctive position within U.S. higher education as students, employees, and temporary visa holders. Their academic progress, financial support, and legal authorization to remain in the United States are often closely intertwined, creating dependencies that heighten their vulnerability to exploitation, unequal treatment, and institutional power imbalances. Although previous scholarship has documented these challenges from empirical, legal, and policy perspectives, comparatively little attention has been given to universities' ethical responsibilities toward IGSWs.

This dissertation examines how U.S. higher education institutions should fulfill their ethical responsibilities to international graduate student workers. Grounded in Dewey's pattern of inquiry, it offers a normative philosophical analysis of three representative institutional conflicts concerning workload expectations under visa dependency, grievance protection and institutional self-interest, and institutional responses to immigration-related vulnerability. These conflicts are analyzed through the ethical frameworks of deontology, utilitarianism, and virtue ethics.

The analysis shows that universities incur heightened ethical responsibilities because they intentionally recruit, employ, supervise, and benefit from relationships marked by visa dependency, unequal power, and structural vulnerability. Although deontology, utilitarianism, and virtue ethics differ in their philosophical foundations, they converge in supporting institutional policies and practices that protect the autonomy, dignity, and well-being of IGSWs while reducing foreseeable harms stemming from these structural conditions.

The dissertation shows that institutional mechanisms such as human resources, ombudsperson offices, university legal counsel, international student offices, and graduate student unions each have important yet limited roles in supporting IGSWs. Since employment, academic supervision, immigration, finances, and grievances often overlap, no single office can fully address all vulnerabilities faced by these students. Therefore, the ethical analysis advocates for coordinated institutional strategies that align policies, practices, and responsibilities among relevant university offices.

This dissertation's main contribution is a normative framework for assessing how institutions are responsible for international graduate student workers. Rather than asking only whether universities offer support mechanisms, the framework assesses whether their policies, governance, and practices sufficiently address the structural vulnerabilities faced by IGSWs. It concludes with practical suggestions to improve workload policies, grievance processes, faculty supervision, immigration support, and institutional coordination, aiming to better safeguard international graduate student workers in U.S. higher education.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2026.450

Archival?

Archival

Download

Share

COinS