As the Saturday deadline approaches for universities to implement a new international student tracking program, some of Northwestern’s 1,700 international students say the system makes them feel inconvenienced, distrusted and even unwanted.
“It’s so vague — what kind of information they want from us,” said Grigorios Andrianis, a McCormick junior from Greece. “Everything you say or do could make a difference.”
The information management program, called the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), was implemented at NU in December, said Ravi Shankar, director of the International Office. Congress mandated SEVIS as part of the USA Patriot Act after several hijackers in the Sept. 11 attacks were found to have expired student visas.
Shankar said the system requires his office to report information about international students directly to the government. Students are required to update certain information within 21 days of any change, including their academic programs, full- or part-time status, off-campus employment and school addresses. Students who don’t comply risk losing their visa status.
McCormick sophomore Zhi Chuen Tan said when he attends job fairs, he finds employers often immediately disregard him after learning he is from Malaysia.
“The first question they ask you is not ‘What’s your major?’ or ‘What’s your GPA?'” he said. “The first question they ask you is, ‘Are you a U.S. citizen?'”
Tan reported to SEVIS last week when he was chosen for a summer internship with Cummings Power Generation in Minneapolis. He said he understands the need to reduce national security threats but resents the inconvenience of the new system.
“It definitely makes me feel a little uneasy, being tracked down,” he said.
NU’s international students are being notified of regulation changes in e-mails and information sessions by the International Office, Shankar said.
“It’s not so much of a change in the information being reported as in the reporting requirements,” he said.
But some students said they wish they knew more about what kind of information the university is sharing with the government.
“The information they give us through the International Office is really superficial,” Andrianis said. “We don’t really know what information that’s related to us is funneled to the (Department of) Homeland Security. They claim it’s just academic information, like what classes we’re taking, but we really don’t know.”
Tina Valkanoff, president of College Democrats and former president of ACLU-NU, said she understands why the government should collect basic information, such as addresses and enrollment statuses. But she questions the relevance of students’ employment status and majors.
“It implies to me that the government is looking very closely at these students in areas that don’t necessarily have anything to do with their immigration status,” said Valkanoff, a Weinberg senior.
Since Sept. 11, international students have received many forms of special treatment limiting the freedoms that American students take for granted, said Jawdat Sha’sha’a, Andrianis’ roommate. Sha’sha’a, a Jordanian citizen, was detained and interviewed at O’Hare International Airport immediately after Sept. 11 by Immigration and Naturalization Service agents.
“If you ever see me you’ll know why they stopped me. I’m kind of dark and I have a goatee. I’m the perfect suspect,” said Sha’sha’a, a McCormick junior considering a transfer to Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences — which he half-jokingly said he would soon report to the International Office.
Sha’sha’a said the frequent airport searches do not bother him too much, although he said it is “kind of a curse these days to be from the Middle East.” If SEVIS had existed when he was choosing where to go to college, however, he might have stayed home.
“If I were going to just start my education career, I would reconsider coming here,” he said. “The education is worth it. But … I feel kind of constrained.”
