As government officials debate stronger security measures for international students at American universities, Northwestern has joined a growing list of colleges supplying information on foreign-born students to the FBI after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Although Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has backed off a proposal she made last month demanding a six-month moratorium on all student visas, international students at NU said they are concerned about becoming government targets.
In an Oct. 2 letter to Feinstein, University President Henry Bienen said that although he supports tracking international students through a proposed database, suspending student visas would “hinder the mission of the nation’s research universities.”
“Targeting these students would have a very limited effect against terrorism and would be similar to the targeting of all Muslims or all Arabs as suspects,” Bienen wrote. “I believe that the likely negative impact on this legislation upon the U.S. economy and international understanding would outweigh the possibility of deterring terrorists from entry into this country.”
The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that 200 colleges have released information regarding foreign students to federal and local investigators. According to a survey compiled by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, the FBI contacted 144 institutions, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service reached 56 schools.
University Registrar Suzanne Anderson said NU has received specific requests from governmental agencies for student data following the attacks, but officials did not ask for any details not listed in the easily accessible student directory. Directory information includes basic facts like a student’s address or phone number, and can be released without the student’s consent.
“Our position after the Sept. 11 attacks was that we will release the directory information as usual, but anything beyond that would have to be checked with the university attorney,” Anderson said. “I haven’t been put in any difficult situations.”
Anderson said releasing the directory’s information without student approval is a long-standing policy and does not infringe on students’ privacy.
Although international students at NU might not even know of government inquiries about them, many said they do realize they will soon be under other forms of tighter surveillance.
A 1996 federal law requires the INS to establish a database to track individuals with student visas by 2003. Education lobbyists are asking the federal government to pay for the project, but the government wants to require each international student to pay a $95 fee to fund the database.
In addition to asking students to supply the funding, universities would be responsible for collecting the fees and financing the system. C. Grier Davis Jr., Bienen’s special assistant for government relations, said forcing each university to collect the fee has been the proposal’s main stumbling block.
“For us to be in the position of collecting governmental fees is not a situation we want to be in,” Davis said.
But Ravi Shankar, director of NU’s International Office, said the university will have “little choice” if Congress imposes the tracking system.
“It makes sense for universities to endorse the tracking system if it becomes a law,” Shankar said. “The real question is the type of information they will be asking of students. It is something we will need to live with.”
Some student leaders said they support a more organized system accounting for international students, but that they disagree with reducing student visas or other means of getting an education.
“I’m not against the fact that the government should know who is coming into the country, but I do hope it doesn’t restrict people from getting an education,” said Weinberg senior Jawad Hussain, president of the Muslim-cultural Students Association. “Most foreign students stay here, work here and add to the economic well-being of the country.”
At the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, where 33 percent of students come from other countries, Public Relations Director Richard Honack said officials are examining potential problems students may face with renewing visas or traveling home during Winter Break.
The International Office sent an e-mail to students last week asking them to delay making travel plans until the situation overseas becomes clearer, Shankar said.
Bernardo Silva, a Brazilian Kellogg student and vice president of global affairs for the Graduate Management Association, said international students are uncertain about their immediate future in the United States.
“If we were better informed of what was going on in Congress, we could plan ahead,” Silva said. “Right now I don’t know whether to wait to renew my visa or take a quick flight to Canada and do it there. Of course I feel a little bit concerned. I know we have reasonable people discussing the issues in Congress, but I just wish they could give us a clearer message on what will happen.”
