What's New at PBA - July 17, 2025
July 17th, 2025
International Relations Takes a Bite Out of PBA Programming
The 2025-2026 school year was set to begin in an exciting way. After a four-year near-blackout of our Ryukoku Sogo Gakuen Study Abroad Program (RSG SAP) due to COVID-19 and the weak yen – in its heyday the RSG SAP brought 20 Japanese high school students from member schools of the Ryukoku Sogo Gakuen, the federation of Shin Buddhist schools of which PBA is the sole non-Japanese member – PBA was set to welcome 14 exchange students to spend the first six weeks of the 25-26 school year at PBA.
But when U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio directed all embassy and consulate offices to halt scheduling new visa interviews pending guidance for expanded vetting of the social media accounts of prospective international students in early June, we feared PBA’s exchange program goose was cooked.
