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In response to the September 11 attacks, Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) has proposed putting a six-month moratorium on student visas. Other people have also attacked the loose regulation of the student visa system as an easy entry point for potential terrorists. While closer monitoring of international students may be necessary, especially as the expiration of their visas approach, international students bring a vibrant and vital contribution to the University community. Sen. Feinstein's six-month moratorium makes the United States appear closed- minded and will not solve any of the real concerns about the student visa system.
American universities whether they will admit it or not cannot function without the large cadre of international graduate students who carry much of the responsibility for teaching and research at large universities. Here at the U, foreign graduate students play a crucial role in IT. According to statistics published by the American Association of Engineering Societies in the fall of 2000, 307 of the 487 Ph.D. students at the U were foreign nationals. That's 63% of the Ph.D.s, from which one can estimate that probably over half of the TAs and RAs in IT are international students. These educational leaders are responsible for the day-to-day running of classrooms and research labs. If a moratorium on student visas is implemented until proper student visa tracking measures are set-up, IT would likely face a severe labor shortage not to mention a debilitating brain drain.
Beyond playing an important academic role, international students in all disciplines bring to campus's across the country diverse perspectives on world affairs. By eliminating students from one particular region, ie the Middle East, we are effectively shutting out one voice in the increasingly important international discussion of foreign policy in the Middle East. At times like this, the exchange of international students is crucial for developing global understanding of the present situation. America deprives itself of an important opportunity to learn through personal interaction by restricting access to its universities. In addition, foreign students who study in the US often return to their home countries better informed about life in the US and better able to combat stereotypes of America abroad.
Looking at the international population residing within the United States, the student population is only 1.8 percent of the 31 million foreign citizens who enter the US on visas every year. Although one of the hijackers, Hani Hanjour, had entered the United States on a student visa, but never attended school, most of the other hijackers did not enter using student visas. Students arriving on student visas are already more carefully monitored than other foreign citizens. A six month moratorium as proposed by Feinstein would not allow sufficient time to set up an effective tracking system, but it would be long enough to effectively prevent any new international students from arriving for an entire academic year. The intellectual cost of such a move would be priceless.
The Editors.
