DVC Launches Compass Mentorship as Court Halts DHS Student Rule

Diablo Valley College has launched a new Compass Mentorship program this fall to pair incoming first-year students with experienced student mentors, while international students at DVC and Las Positas College are welcoming a court’s preliminary injunction that temporarily blocked new Department of Homeland Security rules governing student stays, according to two reports published Tuesday by DVC’s student newspaper, The Inquirer (report by Evelin Garcia and report by Aaron Maluleke).

Compass Mentorship Targets First-Semester Persistence Gap

Developed to help incoming students navigate campus services and build peer connections, DVC’s Compass Mentorship program uses the Mentor Collective online platform to match mentees and mentors via a registration survey and provide conversation starters and support tools. All first-year DVC students are eligible to join as mentees, and any currently enrolled student who has completed at least 24 units can serve as a mentor, with pairs expected to communicate at least once a month.

Cassondra Reinsel, dean of student equity and engagement at DVC, told The Inquirer that the program specifically aims to narrow the persistence gap between first-generation and non-first-generation students between their first and second semesters—noting that once first-generation students reach their second semester, persistence data into the third semester shows no gap between the two groups. Through the Mentor Collective platform, mentors can also raise a flag to connect a mentee directly with campus services such as financial aid.

Melrick Da Silva, a first-generation student in his second year as a physics major at DVC, said he initially struggled to find campus services until a friend told him about DVC’s technology loan program for obtaining a computer. Dual-enrollment high school student Emilia Magallon added that peer mentors make it far less intimidating to ask questions than approaching a professor, while first-year Puente student Lalo Lezama encouraged incoming students to use Compass Mentorship to ease the transition from high school.

Preliminary Injunction Halts Sept. 15 DHS Duration of Status Rule

In a separate report, The Inquirer detailed how a preliminary injunction halted a Department of Homeland Security rule—originally scheduled to take effect Sept. 15—that would have replaced the flexible “Duration of Status” framework for international students with a fixed period of study and stricter extension requirements.

Rodwel Manhare, an international student who recently transferred from DVC to Chico State, told The Inquirer he was relieved the rule was halted after his transfer, warning that a fixed study period limits opportunities for community college transfer students. Farai Muperi, an international student at Las Positas College in Livermore, said the court order brought relief because students often evolve in their academic and career goals and need legitimate flexibility under the Duration of Status system without added financial stress.

Albert Ponce, a political science professor at Diablo Valley College, noted that ongoing policy uncertainty weighs heavily on international students as they structure their studies and future plans in the United States.