INS extends deadline to implement SEVIS Many colleges naa amicuities with the Web-based system tracking international students Jennifer Bear Campus/Federal Politics Reporter The federal government’s Web based system that monitors interna tional students is still not fully imple mented, even though many schools, such as the University, have been us ing the system for months. American universities were sup posed to start using the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System by Jan. 30. But many col leges had access problems, which prompted the Immigration and Naturalization Service to extend the deadline. Ginny Stark, director of Interna tional Student and Scholar Ser vices, said the University was cer tified to use SEVIS last fall, but several factors have slowed the transition from paper records to Web-based records. Stark said the main problem with using SEVIS is that universities all over the coun try have been scrambling to input records into the system, and the overload of users can create diffi culties. She added that the Office of International Programs has had to schedule their workload in the afternoons when the volume of ac tivity on SEVIS is lower. Ed Sale, spokesman for the Port land District Office of INS, said SE VIS is going to greatly streamline the process of monitoring interna tional students and scholars. He argued the Web-based system will dramatically reduce fraud, cut down on the amount of university paperwork and increase security in the United States. SEVIS was originally created so that universities could share infor mation about international students and scholars with INS and the State Department. Universities have been charged with sharing personal, aca demic and employment-related data on international students so that INS can better track their whereabouts and activities. Besides implementing SEVIS, INS has taken several other steps to increase nation security, includ ing a stricter, swifter enforcement of even the smallest rule viola tions. One example is the regula tion requiring international stu dents to notify INS when they change addresses. The regulation has been in effect for many years but was never strictly enforced. But now if students fail to comply with this regulation, they could ei ther be arrested, fined 8200, jailed for 30 days or deported. In addition, before they can reduce their course load below full-time status or with draw from the University, interna tional students must first receive OIP approval and the academic change must be entered into SEVIS. Stark said as far as she knows, no University international students have violated any INS regulations, but there could be problems occur ring at other universities in Oregon. Sale said it is difficult to deter mine how many international stu dents are facing consequences for violating INS regulations. He said INS officers examine problems on a case-by-case basis and don’t keep track of student violation figures. He did say, however, that the majority of people removed from the country by INS are criminal aliens. International students from cer tain countries are also being required to register with INS as a part of the National Security Entry-Exit Regis tration System. NSEERS is part of a mandate contained in the USA PA TRIOT Act, and requires males from certain countries who are 16 or older to be photographed, fingerprinted and interviewed under oath with INS. The latest round of special registra tion is directed at nonimmigrants from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait. Hope Marston, coordinator for the Lane County Bill of Rights De fense Committee, said she is skepti cal of the USA PATRIOT Act and other federal government security measures. She argued they amount to racial profiling and overlook the fact that people with white skin could also be involved with terror ism. Marston said she is worried that the government is creating an oppressive society and hostile rela tions with other countries. “My concern is that we treat all students equally — not based on color, where in the world they come from or what their religion is,” she said. Contact the senior news reporter at jenniferbear@dailyemerald.com. RFC continued from page 1 four groups, and subsequently passed new budgets for the groups. All four dealt exclusively with budget issues regarding minimum wage increases. Shull said recalling groups was appropriate PFG business, and added that she did not think recalls required a two-thirds vote. Earlier in the day, ASUO accounting coor dinator Jennifer Creighton-Neiwert said PFG had the right to do any number of things during a normal meeting, including recall budgets. PFG members emphasized they were simply interested in complet ing the budget process as accurate ly as possible. “We just want to make sure we get numbers right,” PFG seat No. 2 Alex Dietrich explained earlier in the day. The committee voted 4-2-1 to re call the Emerald’s budget. PFG at large member James Tilford joined Dietrich in casting the two dissent ing votes. Tilford said he was wor ried about recalling the student newspaper before new contract ne* gotiations took place. Contract negotiations could be a central issue in determining a new Emerald budget. At the Emerald’s original PFC meeting, the ASUO Ex ecutive, which usually purchases 10,000 newspapers as a student sub scription each year, recommended that the committee fund the Emer ald’s 169 issues at 10 cents an issue, and reduce the daily number of pa pers purchased to 6,500. After more than 90 minutes of discussion and several failed attempts to pass re vised budgets, the Emerald’s budget passed with a 2.81 percent increase from the previous year, and the sub scription stayed at 10,000 papers, al though ASUO officials said they planned to reduce the amount dur ing contract negotiations. PFG programs appointee Joy Nair said she was just interested in seeing how the Emerald and Til ford, the newspaper’s PFG tag, came up with their original budget request of #132,811. “I just really want to see PFG have to go through the same stuff ... James did,” Nair said. “If we could just get a cool subscription or that rate figured out this year, well, that’s a really big deal for next year’s PFC.” Despite possible subscription rate adjustments, PFC members were careful to avoid saying whether they planned to raise or cut the Emerald’s budget. During the past six weeks of budget nego tiations, the committee has boost ed student group funding from #4,294,948 in 2002-03 to #4,827,013, an increase of 12.39 percent. The ASUO planned a bench mark, or allowable increase, of up to 16.15 percent, which allows them to add up to #161,587 to 2003-04’s budget if they desire. However, PFG members added they were glad they are consider ably under benchmark. The Career Center’s budget will also be discussed Monday night. PFC senator seat No. 3 Mike Sher man said he’d been approached by several student senators who want ed to hear more discussion on the career center. Shull said she planned to contact both groups Friday, and added that notice of the recalls would be pub licly posted outside the ASUO con troller’s office. Contact the news editor atbrookreinhard@dailyemerald.com. 8TH ANNUAL WOMEN OP