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news
Bill rubs international
students wrong way
By Adrienne Figueroa
On-line Forty-Niner
In a controversial
move, California Sen. Diane Feinstein and Arizona Sen. John
Kyl have presented a bill that would deny student visas to
individuals from countries that have been known to support
terrorism.
Meanwhile, Cal
State Long Beach is withholding judgment on the bill.
"The position
of the [California State University] system is that we are
not taking a position on Senator Feinstein's proposed legislation,"
said Paul Lewis, director of international education.
No warnings have
been issued to the international and foreign exchange students
on campus, "because this is proposed legislation and
it does not have force of the law at this point," said
Lewis.
Introduced two
weeks ago, the bill proposes a complete revamping of the student
visa system. This process would block students of certain
countries from obtaining visas to study in the United States.
The countries, which appear on the U.S. Terrorism Watch List
issued by the State Department, include: Cuba, Iran, Iraq,
Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria.
The need for reform
became apparent following the attacks on Sept. 11, when the
country learned that several of the hijackers were in the
United States on student visas. The bill attempts to "plug
holes in our system and prevent these types of atrocities
from occurring again," Feinstein said in a prepared statement.
If signed into
law, this measure would affect all international and foreign
students who come to study in the United States. When applying
for a visa, students would be required to provide "personal
biometric" information, according to Feinstein spokesperson
Scott Gerber.
This could be in
the form of a fingerprint, but the details are unclear at
this time. After collecting student data, the State Department
would issue newer, tamper-proof visas.
Individuals from
countries on the watch list would not be restricted from obtaining
student visas in every circumstance. They could apply for
a waiver and admittance into the country would be determined
on a "case-by-case basis," said Feinstein Press
Secretary Jim Hock.
Lewis does have
some advice for the students who plan to travel to their home
countries for the holidays and return in the spring.
As a precaution,
"it's probably a good idea for students to take a copy
of their recent transcripts," he said.
This may be helpful
to people like Taner Kalaycioglu from Turkey, an international
graduate student studying electrical engineering, who has
expressed concern over getting back into the country if he
flies home to visit. However, it does little to alleviate
his feelings of disappointment with the Feinstein bill.
"It's not
fair," he said. "I thought before coming here, this
was a free country. In fact, it is not. There is a lot of
discrimination here."
Senior broadcast
journalism major Rebecca Christiansen, an international student
from Norway, shares similar views.
"They're discriminating
among people from different nations," she said. "I
think there should be equal criteria for all students regardless
of country of origin."
Christiansen, who
studied in New York City and attended classes at the World
Trade Center several years ago, also understands the need
for additional scrutiny in the student visa system.
"If I'm going
to study in this country, I also want to be safe," she
said.
The Feinstein bill
has been assigned to a Senate judiciary committee for review.
According to Gerber, it is uncertain if the Bush administration
has taken a position on the measure.
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