CU joins others in lobbying against restrictive foreign student legislation

International Education Week was established by the federal government last year to recognize the contributions of international scholars and students to our universities, culture and social realm. This year's recognition, which is taking place this week, has a special resonance in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

One of 19 hijackers that day was in the United States on a student visa, and that circumstance turned the political and media spotlight on the issue of how those visas are issued, and to whom. On Nov. 9, U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein introduced legislation that would require the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to conduct background checks before the U.S. Department of State can issue student visas to foreign nationals; create a new centralized "lookout" database that would provide the INS and federal law enforcement information to monitor, track and alert appropriate authorities about visitors to the United States; and require all educational institutions to immediately notify the INS when a foreign student violates the term of his or her visa by failing to show up for class. The legislation would also prohibit persons from obtaining student visas if they come from terrorist supporting states. However, the secretary of state could waive the ban if the student passes an extensive background check and the secretary certifies that the student would not pose a threat to national security.

Stephen Philip Johnson, Cornell assistant vice president for government affairs, is lobbying in Washington, D.C., with representatives of other universities, against restrictive legislation directed at students. He points out that student visas account for less than 2 percent of visas issued annually.

"We have been lobbying this issue in Washington with California universities and the higher education associations," Johnson said. "Last week, I joined government affairs colleagues from Columbia, Syracuse, SUNY-Stony Brook and New York University to meet with staff from the New York congressional delegation to discuss these issues."

Cornell enrolls 3,024 international students from more than 120 countries, including 31 from the Middle East. There are approximately 1,000 international scholars teaching and conducting research here, most of them in agriculture, the physical sciences, engineering and the life sciences/biological sciences, in that order.

The Department of Commerce reports that international education is the United States' fifth largest service sector export, while the National Association of International Educators (NAFSA) estimated that international students and their dependents annually contribute more than $12 billion to the U.S. economy.

"Too many Americans, including most political leaders, float along in the illusion of national self-sufficiency -- that is, until events catch up with us and make us realize how much we are bound up with the larger world," said David Lelyveld, executive director of the Mario Einaudi Center of International Studies. "Now, tragically, events have once again revealed the extent to which we have been insufficiently informed about the complex world we live in."

The Einaudi Center's web site, "Terrorism and War: Context and Aftermath of Sept. 11th" www.einaudi.cornell.edu, aims to foster greater global understanding. (See Chronicle article and photo at www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicles/11.8.01/Einaudi_web.html .)

After the Sept. 11 attacks, there were news reports from around the country of physical assaults and verbal harassment against persons from the Middle East or who appeared to be from the Middle East. In Ithaca, there have been a handful of incidents of verbal harassment of people walking on streets, and some e-mail harassment.

"We were all very concerned that people of Muslim faith or Middle Eastern descent would be targeted after the attack," said Brendan O'Brien, director of Cornell's International Students and Scholars Office. "Nationally, certain ugly events have gained much attention and we deeply regret that some have responded in this hurtful way. At Cornell, except for a few deplorable isolated events, our international students have reported that they feel comfortable and supported in this community. That support has come from a variety of sources, including other students, residence hall staff, faculty and the Cornell Police, who have met with several student groups."

William Goldsmith, professor of city and regional planning, offered a broad perspective of the value of an international element in education: "Over the nearly 40 years I have taught at Cornell, I have marveled at the contributions made to our educational enterprise by the many and diverse foreign students in the classroom," he said. "Many have gone home to important careers as city planners, national government officers, and scholars and teachers. They have worked and do work for USAID, for the World Bank and the IMF, for the UN, for NGOs and for other groups doing the essential work of development in this miserably underdeveloped world. I have taught in marvelous classrooms with Israelis and Palestinians
working together to figure out the process of urbanization, with Chinese and Saudis trying to figure out how to settle nomadic peoples, with Cubans on the left and Cubans on the right trying to understand Latin American underdevelopment. In all these cases, American students in larger numbers were there together with these foreign students, all learning that their world is complex, their issues misunderstood, their future uncertain."

CU events continue to mark International Education Week

To celebrate International Education Week, the Einaudi Center has been sponsoring a series of events -- seminars, lectures, activities and related films, plays and exhibitions -- all week in partnership with colleges and units across campus. Among the week's events remaining on the schedule are today, Nov. 15: a presentation of international initiatives in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (G-08 Uris, 8:30 a.m.); a Peace Studies Program seminar on the new paradigm for human security (G-08 Uris, 12:15 p.m.); an international flag-painting event (Big Red Barn, 3:30 p.m.); and a talk on social stratification in contemporary China (374 Rockefeller Hall, 4:30 p.m.). There will be a showing of Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai's film In the Mood for Love (Willard Straight Theatre, Friday, Nov. 16, 9:45 p.m.) and performances in Spanish by Cornell's Teatrotaller theater group of Garcia Lorca's play "La Casa de Bernarda Alba" (Statler Auditorium, Friday and Saturday, Nov. 16 and 17, at 8 p.m.). In addition, there are special exhibitions such as "Treasures of the Asian Collection" in the Rare and Manuscript Collections, Carl A. Kroch Library, level 2B, through Friday, Nov. 16. For a full schedule of events, visit this web site: http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu.