The letters written by university presidents emphasize the good character of undocumented students and their contributions as members of the education system and future members of the workforce. In his letter, Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber writes, “I expect that the extraordinary young people at Princeton and other institutions of higher education who have benefited from the DACA program will be leaders in building the innovation economy that your administration has championed.”

Threats to DACA have repeatedly attracted the involvement of university presidents over the past year, and this week’s personal letters echo the language of other letters signed en masse by higher-education leaders. In November 2016, shortly after Trump’s election, more than 600 college and university presidents—including those of the aforementioned schools who wrote letters—signed a statement in support of DACA. “DACA beneficiaries on our campuses have been exemplary student scholars and student leaders,” the signatories stated. “They are actively contributing to their local communities and economies.”

This past March, a letter submitted by the American Council of Education thanking Trump for his positive comments on “DREAMers”—all unauthorized immigrants brought to the U.S. as children—and urging him to continue DACA was eventually signed by nearly 600 colleges and universities. Notably, the signatures in the March letter, which also included the aforementioned schools whose presidents wrote letters, were listed by name of university as opposed to that of the institution’s president. These personal letters, then, are ostensibly among the most direct attempts thus far by higher-education leaders to engage in the DACA debate.

The wording of these personal letters isn’t much different than that of the earlier group statements, though their pleas for the Trump administration to defend DACA in court are more urgent in tone given the looming prospect of a lawsuit from the Republican attorneys general. The language is concise and focused on practicality—these students are, the university presidents argue, valuable members of the education community, contributors to society, and propellers of the U.S. economy.

Some find the utility-focused language lacking. “You read these and wonder if they’re from just another Fortune 500 company,” said Chad Wellmon, an associate professor of German studies at UVA who has written about the inability of university leaders to assert their moral roles. In Wellmon’s view, this week’s statements are an example of how universities often miss opportunities to establish their identity as institutions dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge and to make arguments on the basis of this identity. “What I would want [these university presidents] to say is, ‘this is a trespass on the … project of the university,’” Wellmon said. “It undermines our mission not as a production of economic utility and citizenship but [of] what we do best, which is to create knowledge, to share it and discover new knowledge.”