Clark University - Clark News summer 2003
Finding the balance between national security and international exchange
By Tammy Griffin-Kumpey
Since September 11, law-enforcement agencies have been under intense pressure to track down and prosecute perpetrators of student-visa fraud in the name of fighting terrorism—even though most of the cases have had nothing to do with terrorist activities. Clark, like most other colleges and universities, has had to meet new regulations designed to stop student-visa fraud.
“We have always had an immigration expert on campus,” says Amy Daly, Clark’s director of international students and scholars. “But with the new regulations, it’s not enough for me to be the only one. It’s definitely changing how we do business.”
While student-visa fraud has always existed, the terrorist attack put colleges under greater scrutiny when it was reported that one of the September 11 hijackers had used a student visa. In an attempt to reverse decades of lax enforcement stemming from too little money and staffing, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was given funding to fix the problem fast. The solution—the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS)—an INS database used to track foreign students, scholars, researchers and professors. Ideally, SEVIS will make the use of fake I-20s, the immigration document necessary to attain a student visa, impossible.
The nation’s colleges had until January 2003 to become part of the new database, which was plagued with severe technical difficulties. The legislation has imposed many burdens on colleges that have poured millions of dollars into SEVIS because participation is mandatory if they want to enroll international students. Despite these challenges, Clark soared through the process and was approved well before the deadline, which was extended by two weeks due to technical problems.
“I had no doubt we’d be approved. We’ve been doing what we were supposed to be doing right along,” says Daly, who explains that laws have always required colleges to maintain records on international students. In the past, the INS required colleges to report only those students who enrolled, but did not show up.
“We have no problem reporting those students—clearly we need to do this,” says Daly. “Now we are also required to report on students who enroll and arrive at Clark as expected.”
Daly keeps up with dozens of constantly changing regulations. Her part-time assistant is now full time and trained and certified to use SEVIS, and an office assistant has been added to the staff to help stay on top of a workload that has increased two-fold and is further exacerbated by major glitches in the SEVIS system.
A strain on foreign relations
But becoming part of SEVIS is only one aspect of the complexity of the new regulations. First, State Department figures indicate that only 2 percent of all visas issued annually go to international students. Because of this, many educators believe that by cracking down on student visas, the federal government only appears to be fighting terrorism.
Furthermore, the INS was dissolved recently, its duties transferred to the new Department of Homeland Security. This places SEVIS under the control of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security’slaw-enforcement arm, raising concern among officials at Clark and colleges nationwide about how foreign students will be treated. Daly says she and her colleagues worry that intense focus on enforcement will alienate international students and discourage them from coming to American colleges.
Value of international exchange
“International students are not the problem here. They are the solution,” says Daly, highlighting the now delicate balance between national security and the value of international exchange.
Daly, who serves as chair-elect of the New England-region of the Association of International Educators (known as NAFSA), says Clark, as a NAFSA member, is at the forefront of advocating on a national level on behalf of international students.
“Our government doesn’t do enough to promote and coordinate international student recruitment,” explains Daly. “Instead of putting up barriers, let’s make a concerted effort to recruit international students.”
NAFSA members believe that international educational exchange advances learning and scholarship, builds respect among different peoples and encourages constructive leadership in a global community. According to Daly, Clark has joined NAFSA in urging Congress to ensure that new policies do not reflect the erroneous conclusion that more barriers mean more security. NAFSA asserts new policies must be designed to prevent the entry of those who would do harm without damaging U.S. economic security, scientific pre-eminence or leadership in world affairs.
Global learning is key
Daly says NAFSA is advocating for a national policy to advance international education, which would support the learning of foreign languages and other cultures by Americans, promote study abroad by U.S. students, encourage students from other countries to study in the United States and facilitate the exchange of scholars and other citizens. Such a policy, she explains, would ensure that American students have the opportunity to acquire the skills, attitudes and experiences to allow them to see the world through others’ eyes and to understand the international dimensions of national issues.
Likewise, the millions of people who have studied in the United States over the years constitute a remarkable reservoir of goodwill for the United States, Daly says. Programs put in place today to make international experience integral to higher education will prepare the global community for the demands of the 21st century. Clark, Daly says, remains dedicated to this kind of global literacy.
“Clark has a longstanding commitment to our international students,” she says. “We will continue to welcome them here, and advocate on their behalf.”
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