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SEVIS continued from page 1A stipulate that colleges and universi ties must electronically notify the State Department and Immigration and Naturalization Service when a student has been accepted, registers for classes, drops out or graduates. The database will go online in early July, and colleges and universities must connect to it by Jan. 30,2003. However, Ginny Stark, Universi ty associate director of international programs, said the rules do not pro vide enough concrete details of the database, such as the specific stu dent information it will keep. Until the INS or the Justice Department can provide more details, she said, the University cannot begin to build an interface to the database. “Until (the details) are in place, we don’t know what we are going to do,” she said. The proposed rules also stipulate that individual schools must pay for the interface to the new database, train their employees to use it and log current international students into it. International educators at Oregon State University and Lane Commu nity College worry that paying for a new system without any financial compensation from the government will be difficult. “We can do it, but I don’t think it will be easy,” said Christine Stra han, international student adviser at LCC. She said that while her of ice is small, she and one other em Dloyee will begin entering the near v 300 names during the summer md work throughout the fall. That ask may be more daunting for uni /ersities with larger international student enrollments, like Oregon State University and the University }f Oregon, she said. The database is the first piece of najor legislation affecting interna tional students since investigators discovered that Hani Hanjour, one of he suspected terrorists in the Sept. 11 attacks, entered the country on a student visa but never showed up to classes. Congress first proposed SE ^IS in 1996 but never provided Hands for the database. The database aecame part of the Enhanced Border Security Act, which the Senate recently passed on a 97-0 vote and President Bush signed into law in mid-May. Lawmakers hope the database will replace the mostlv-paper bureaucra cy at the INS, which will allow the agency to keep better tabs on interna tional students and educators. There is a chance that not all col leges and universities will be ready, said Paul Hassen, assistant director of public affairs for the American Coun cil on Education. He said international student admission and enrollment could be affected for fall 2003 if many colleges are not online by tire deadline. Valerie Rosenberg, associate di rector of international education at Oregon State University, worries that with the deadline so close for SEVIS to be up and running, and so many questions left unanswered, the INS may not have enough time to test the entire database. “We are all going to be trying to access the database on the same time. What if the system crashes?” she said. Rosenberg said the speed of over hauling a huge bureaucracy that has only worked on paper until recently may be a daunting task. Also, the proposed system promises a lot of functionality that officials are not certain it can deliver. “Our concern is some things seem to be asked for, and we don’t know how that’s going to work,” she said. E-mail features editor John Liebhardt at johnliebhardt@dailyemerald.com. Challenges continued from page 1A Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS, that will connect colleges and universities electronically with the State Department and the Immi gration and Naturalization Service. However, international educators and student groups fear a new set of proposed visa restrictions could be just the beginning of a harsher climate that makes it extremely difficult for the more than 500,000 international stu dents who study in the United States. “We definitely understand the need to provide greater protection,” - said Julie Suchanek, legislative di rector for the Oregon Student Asso ciation. “But students should not be turned away or jump through a bunch of hoops to get an education. ” International educators had to de fend student visa requirements af ter investigators found that Hani Hanjour, one of the suspected ter rorists of the Sept. 11 attacks, en tered the country with a student visa but failed to attend classes. In the months since Sept. 11, other agencies have proposed rules regard ing international students. Some of the most recent proposals include: • Students from Mexico or Canada will no longer be able to enroll part time at colleges in the United States. • Students from the seven coun tries the State Department suspects of sponsoring terrorism will face more background checks before they can be issued student visas or other nonimmigrant visas. Those seven countries are Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, North Korea and Cuba. • This scrutiny will become more strict when students from these coun tries sign up for “sensitive courses,” which administration officials said includes classes that have a direct ap plication to the development and use of weapons of mass destruction. Advocacy groups like the Oregon Student Association argue that the heart of this debate is student access to colleges and universities. Suchanek feels that the increased rules could de ter international students from apply ing for schools in the United States. “Coming to school abroad is stress ful enough, and this just exacerbates this unnecessarily,” Suchanek said. Administrators also think the myriad new rules and restrictions may make recruiting international students much more difficult. With competing institutions in Europe, Australia and Canada ready and willing to accept students — with out the visa restrictions proposed in the U.S. — many international stu dents could settle elsewhere. “I think everyone in the field gen erally agrees that the new rules cre ates a negative effect for students to come to the U.S.,” said Jack Van de Water, director of international pro grams at Oregon State University. Both the University of Oregon and Oregon State University have seen an increase in international student ap plications for fall 2002, which is a trend many schools are seeing across the country. However, those short term gains could disappear, Van de Water said, if prospective interna tional students hear or perceive that the new rules will make it more diffi cult to obtain a student visa. Regardless of perceptions, the more visa restrictions, the more dif ficult it will be for students to enter the country, said Christine Strahan, international student adviser at Lane Community College. “They may apply, we may admit them, but they may not be able to get into the country,” she said. One problem administrators see is the unclear message the federal government is sending colleges and universities regarding issues sur rounding international students. Shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., pro posed legislation to place a six-month moratorium on new international students. After meeting with higher education officials, Feinstein backed off the proposal. However, some in ternational educators said the dam age was already done and the wrong message had already been sent. Since Feinstein’s proposal, neither Congress nor the Bush administration has been able to provide a compre hensive list of changes to international student visas. As the different propos als trickle in, many educators worry the students may get lost in the minu tiae of paperwork and proposals. “We feel the effect that require ments are changing constantly,” said Valerie Rosenberg, associate director of the office of international educa tion at Oregon State University. E-mail features editor John Liebhardt atjohnliebhardt@dailyemerald.com. BOOK YOUR SUMMER IN OREGON 2002 SUMMER SESSION GROUP-SATISFYING AND ELECTIVE COURSES, SHORT COURSES, SEMINARS, AND WORKSHOPS BEGIN THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER. Summer session begins June 24. Duck Call starts May 6. The UO Summer Session Catalog with Schedule of Classes is available now. You can speed your way toward graduation by taking required courses during summer. 2002 SUMMER SCHEDULE First four-week session: June 24-July 19 Second four-week session: July 22-August 16 Eight week session: June 24-August 16 Eleven week session: June 24-September 6 333 Oregon Hall i 1279 University of Oregon Eugene OR 97403-1279 Telephone (541) 346-3475 Check our website http://uosummer.uoregon.edu UNIVERSITY of OREGON SUMMER SESSION
