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