Rules Hinder Foreign Students

Data loss, information misplacement and other technical flaws in a computerized international-student database have made the United States inhospitable to foreign students, experts testified at a congressional hearing yesterday afternoon.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) implemented the Student Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) earlier this year in response to national security concerns following the attacks of Sept. 11. Three of the hijackers who carried out the attacks were in the country on expired student visas.

The database’s history of inefficiency threatens to deprive the nation of the valuable intellectual resources that many international students bring, President of the American Council on Education (ACE) David Ward told the House Immigration Subcommittee.

“We fear that some of the new policies and procedures may well make the nation a less desirable and welcoming place for international students and scholars and this will force some students to choose to go elsewhere,” Ward said. “The loss to our economy and our scientific enterprise will be incalculable and profound.”

Johnny N. Williams, interim director for immigration interior enforcement at the Department of Homeland Security, maintained that while SEVIS has had problems over the course of the past year, it provides a vital service to the nation in a time of security concerns.

“SEVIS enhances our ability to detect and deter those who may come to America for nefarious purposes, while extending a hand in friendship to those seeking the exceptional education and training opportunities this great country has to offer,” he said during the hearing.

But the technology behind SEVIS has been riddled with problem since its establishment. The system does not allow schools to edit student information once it is submitted, requiring them to resubmit entire records to update a single datum. As a result, obsolete records have bogged down the system, users say.

“Schools report that SEVIS frequently loses data that has been properly entered into the system. Many schools report that their immigration forms have printed out on the computers of other schools,” Ward said at the hearing.

The subcommittee spent the afternoon discussing testimony without reaching major conclusions.

But the hearing—one in a series about SEVIS held on the Hill over the course of the past year—marked a peak in a recent flurry of congressional activity questioning the efficacy of national security legislation aimed at the nation’s international student community.

As many colleges and universities look ahead to the fall, concerns about lowered international enrollment figures have impelled local representatives to call for reexamination of national security policies affecting foreign students, congressional officials said.

But Harvard’s Senior Director of Federal and State Relations Kevin Casey said that the University does not agree with administrators at other universities who want to see the system eliminated.

“We’re not against the process—we’re worried about the number of resources that the university has had to put into it,” he said. “If you have glitches in the system, you can’t fix them if you shut the system down.”

Harvard International Office Director Sharon Ladd said that while Harvard is fully compliant with SEVIS’ demands, she was glad to see that yesterday’s hearing addressed weaknesses within the system that have come to light in recent months.

“I was happy to see that this was happening,” she said. “We’re certainly hoping that things are going more smoothly in the summer and fall.”

Casey said that Harvard wants to ensure that no aspect of the SEVIS registration process comes as a surprise to students or administrators.

“What we’re looking for is transparency in the process so we can plan accordingly,” he said.

A Rising Tide

Yesterday’s hearing reflects a mounting concerns relating to international students in Washington over the past two weeks. Many of Massachusetts’ congressional representatives have taken an active stand on related issues.

Rep. Barney Frank ’61, D-Mass., who serves on the Select Committee for Homeland Security, issued a statement on Monday praising Congress’s decision to reexamine the effectiveness of the SEVIS program, which became effective on Jan. 31. Flaws in the system that have arisen since its inception ultimately act against the national interest, he said.

“Foreign students contribute greatly to the vibrancy of our universities,” Frank said. “They not only learn American democratic values that they then take back to their home countries. They also pay full tuition and thus provide an important infusion of money to our all-too-strapped American universities.”

He said the government should bear the burden of fixing the system so as not disrupt the flow of foreign students in and out of the country.

“The INS needs to devote sufficient resources to repair SEVIS so as to adequately flag potential terrorists while not preventing the law-abiding vast majority of foreign students from studying at our universities.”

But SEVIS is not the only national security legislation to garner criticism from congressional leaders in the past week. On Mar. 24, thirty-two members of the House of Representatives submitted a letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell urging him to reconsider the more stringent student visa policies established in response to post-Sept. 11 national security concerns.

While affirming the necessity for effective security measures, the letter said that the new standards had prevented many talented scholars from entering the country.

“It can now take months for people, whose applications would seem to be routine, to secure visas. The result is that students, visiting professors, and scholars have been unable to enter the United States for the semester for which they applied; eminent scientists have missed important scientific conferences; and exchange programs with friendly Arab countries have been threatened,” the letter read.

Visa delays prevented several members of the Harvard community from arriving on campus this year when they initially planned. Some were forced to spend a semester—or even a year—away from Cambridge.

Harvard administrators worked through the fall to facilitate students stranded in foreign countries, Ladd said. But the university can only do as much as the system allows, she added.

“We’ve had somewhat less control over this,” she said.

Michael Mershon, a spokesperson for Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., who authored the letter to Powell, said the representative’s effort was largely the result of pressure from four or five colleges in his region. Three other Mass. representatives, including Frank, signed the letter.

Mershon said McGovern remains optimistic about making the visa application process more amicable toward foreign students, even though present leaders have not shown the welcoming of foreign students to be a priority.

“Hope springs eternal that the state department will try and address this. This is the kind of thing that continues to lessen our standing in the world, particularly among our friends,” he said.

—Staff Writer Nathan J. Heller can be reached at heller@fas.harvard.edu.