posted
I recieved this message today from an interested grad student. Thought this might warrent some discussion.
Hi Doc,
Thanks for giving voice to the "internationals" in the Diamondback today.... a couple of comments if I might...
While I'm sure the school is "on the side" of the students the comments about "jeopardizing the country's role as a leader in bioscience, computer science and engineering" is kind of a slap to all the *other* internationals on campus one, and two is a little "self serving" - Gee, could it be internationals would just like to come to a University that is open and welcoming and *that* could be a goal of the university instead of "producing intellectuals" to benefit the U.S.'s production goals - again the point appears to be missed about why internationals are staying away. We're not cattle.
As for VISAs as the issue Mote et al is more or less right - but the issue of processing depends on *who* you are and *where* you're coming from (i.e. are you a "brown person from a hungry country." VISA processing is not the issue for many others that are staying away. Feeling like we're being watched every step of the way by the INS (BCIS now) AND by the University while we're here (by payroll/adminstrators for example and IES) has made it an emotional cost almost no "Americans" **really** have a clue about.
The lack of sensitivity and awareness to these issues - and the foisting back of responsibility for them to "The Government", rather than taking the issues to task here on campus themselves (and I don't mean just the IES since they are already doing what they can with not enough support), shows this problem as deeper than most recognize.
As an international we are also "silenced" in the discussion - something most don't recognize either - since to complain is to make your self marked for deportation at any time. Emails, telephone calls, mail etc we all have learned to be VERY careful about. I would write the Diamond Back about it myself if it weren't for the likelihood that my name may end up in the on line version and have "Carnivore" (the FBI database crawler) add my commentary to the list of things they don't like about me for the next time I decide to travel. In fact I don't travel at all by air any more for fear of problems.
It's these sorts of things I think that are being lost in the discussion - the loss of international students is not just a brain drain on the U.S. - it's a *personal* tragedy first for those students and second it's a *political* decision that schools have continued to ignore and not speak out about for fear of loss of their own status and funding.
If the Administration is going to put its money where its mouth is then it (and American students) will have to face the Patriot Act and SEVIS (Student Exchange Visitor Information System) for the monsters they have become, including other restriction like employment and hiring of foreign students (the ceiling of which was just dropped to a third of what it was the previous three years as of this past Oct 1...and ALL issuable work visas for the entire year were gone for in TWO days). Only then will the rhetoric mean something and foreign students will feel their positions are being thought of as more than "beans" being counted and then they will return again for the great educational opportunities that (do, in fact) exist here in the U.S.
Feel free to share this with others - just please remove my name.
Thanks
Posts: 258 | I am: Graduate Student Government President | Registered: Oct 2001
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