LSU has been recognized, whether accurately or not, for its strides in increasing diversity on campus. However, some issues have been brought to the forefront of the international experience for both foreign and American students, from restrictions on obtaining visas to interaction among students.
According to an article in “The Economist,” visa rejection rates have increased since Sept. 11, 2001, as consulates around the world get picky. Despite these restrictions and obstacles, some international students at LSU, such as Francisco Aguilar, said extra hurdles will not keep foreign students from getting into the United States if they are determined enough.
Aguilar, a forestry graduate student, said new security measures check students’ profiles in more depth than before, and the process by which they get student visas is more bureaucratic.
“If you’re committed to come, you’ll do whatever it takes,” Aguilar said. “It may make other countries more appealing, but it’s not going to keep people out.”
The Ecuadorian native left South America 10 years ago and, traveling to Europe and Asia before coming to Louisiana. He said getting accepted into LSU and going through the process of getting his visa was easy for him but difficult for friends who did not already know someone in the states.
“I met my major professor, Dr. Richard Vlosky, two years ago and he offered me an assistantship,” Aguilar said. “I paid my fees and got my visa the same day. But I know of two French exchange students who had to go to their consulate three different times because their visas were rejected three times. That gets costly for them because it costs $100 each visit.”
Deepti Subudhi, a computer science junior, said the difference in time it takes to get approved for a student visa has changed since Sept. 11.
“Visas usually take up to a month, but now some people have to wait a month just to find out if they got an interview,” Subudhi said. “Then they have to wait another month to go in for the interview where they have to sit for hours and answer lots of questions. They investigate you.”
The process for allowing international students into U.S. colleges and universities has taken its toll on university officials in international departments as well.
Natalie Rigby, International Student Program director, said new guidelines for keeping records on international students have put a strain on her staff, adding hours to their workload.
A new database tracking system, known as SEVIS, is the current database system that Rigby and other ISP employees must use.
“SEVIS was on the books in 1996 and came out of the first World Trade [Center] bombing because one of the four bombers was on a student visa,” Rigby said. “[The system] has increased our workload, but higher education will do whatever it can do to protect our borders.”
Rigby said keeping detailed records on international students became important after finding that one of the 19 hijackers from Sept. 11, was in America on a valid student visa. She has seen how the government puts an emphasis on monitoring the issuance of student visas, but wonders how effective this is in deterring terrorism.
“There are visas for every letter of the alphabet,” Rigby said. “Maybe things are being done [with other visas] and I just don’t see it, but what about the other 18 hijackers who were here on tourist visas?”
She said SEVIS is a documentation system for entering a student’s addresses and contact information, as well as current status at the University, things that used to be done through PAWS.
Although the system will prove efficient in the long run, Rigby said the government has rushed the program’s release, causing short-term stipulations.
“The new system is not flawless,” Rigby said. “After 9-11, SEVIS went into warp-speed mode and the system was put up without being tested. There were already 320 corrections made by May.”
The task of updating reports and adding more information on each international student put the University’s International Student Program staff in overdrive as they tried to reach their federal deadline of Sept. 26.
Despite the rush and added workload, Rigby said the requirement is making the department more organized and efficient.
“[The University] is taking a pro-active step with SEVIS,” she said. “We’re running lists and auditing our current system. If you send it up to SEVIS and everything is not filled out, it comes back an error so we’ll have to correct it eventually. This way we’re fixing it before that happens.”
Her department had to welcome a new employee this fall for the sole purpose of entering extra data.
“Without that extra person we’d be in overload,” Rigby said. “[The University] saw what this program involves, and regardless of the state of the economy, they knew we would need help.”
Rigby said SEVIS has another positive yet unexpected effect on students: international students who are accepted into an American college or university are more determined and more serious than ever.
“When we get international students, we have no idea how many are going to show up on time for their orientation date,” she said. “It’s mandatory, but a lot of them just pay the late fee if they didn’t get their visas in time or couldn’t leave their country when they wanted.”
“But with the international media making a big deal out of the visa delays, we had more [students] make it to the first orientation this fall than we’ve ever had,” Rigby said. “They’re taking this very seriously because they know Big Brother is watching.”
Janet Kirsch, International Cultural Center manager, said international students generally are not upset about having to submit so much information because they understand what is involved in participating in the program.
“Most of the students are coming from places, like Bulgaria and places like that, where freedoms aren’t the same as in the states,” Kirsch said. “They clearly have an understanding that they’re being watched more, but they say, ‘If that’s the conditions, and that’s what it takes for me to be here, I’ll do it.'”
Funsho Afelumo, Jr., an ISDS sophomore from Nigeria, said he started his education at the University in 2000, before the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania.
He said it bothered him at first when SEVIS was implemented, but he complied with the new rules because he wanted to continue his major.
“We don’t have negative motives,” Afelumo said. “We just want to go to school and get our degree.”
Deepti Subudhi said doing more paperwork than the average college student is part of being an international student in America, but more rules and regulations will not keep more students from trying to get an education in the U.S.
“Some things I don’t even know why I’m doing it, like all the taxes, but we have to do it,” she said. “We have a few laws, like we can’t work off campus, and if our GPA is not good enough, we are out of the college. But they cannot stop it completely. Students are still going to come here.”
In the semesters since Sept. 11, Rigby said the University has not seen a drop in international student enrollment, although it has not seen an increase either. She said numbers stay at or around the average enrollment of 1,700.
“For two years or so I’ve told people that our numbers may go down, but they never do,” Rigby said. “The people here give me a hard time and say, ‘How many times are you going to tell us the sky is falling?'”
She said the University is large and serves as its own recruiting tool with good reputations for its business and engineering schools, areas that attract many international students.
Even with its impressive academic capabilities, the University may struggle in one aspect of the international student experience – interaction with American students.
According to a 2002 study by the American Council on Education and the Center for Institutional and International Initiatives, 80 percent of the people surveyed agreed that the presence of international students on U.S. campuses enriches the learning experience for both American international students.
Kirsch said she encourages foreign students to put themselves in environments that mix with American students, but it is often easier said than done.
She said the foreign students experience culture shock when they see how big American cars and streets are, or how much greenery Louisiana has, but there are few complaints about not getting along with American students.
This may be because most international students do not break away from the comfort zone places like the International Cultural Center.
“It’s hard for them to break in unless they are forced into situations with other students through group projects and school-related things,” Kirsch said. “They typically will stay in groups they’ve made within ICC.”
She said her main goal is to get them to interact more with American students to see the differences in cultures. She brought groups of students to a recent rally at the capital during the gubernatorial race, and she often brings them to free events around Baton Rouge where there will be a chance to mingle with other Americans.
Francisco Aguilar’s experience with American students has been positive, he said, but he attributes it to the fact that he interacts with graduate students who tend to act differently than undergraduates.
“They way I met most Americans was in class,” he said. “In grad school, people are open and aware to other cultures. There’s a tendency for undergraduate [international students] to have a different experience, and many people miss the opportunity to interact with locals.”
The future of international students in America seems to be in a positive and welcoming position, according to the American Council on Education survey.
Along with finding that students think their learning experience is enhanced when international students are present, the survey also said college-aged people are more likely to support an increase in the number of international students and scholars at their local college.
Of the younger participants in the survey, 27 percent said they would be less likely to support an increase, while 37 percent said they would be most likely to support it.
In an Oct. 26 Reveille article, LSU alumnus and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services director, Eduardo Aguirre, Jr. said no matter the circumstances, having international students does contribute to a university’s diversity and learning experience.
“International students bring their academic opinion, knowledge, and their cultures and backgrounds,” he said.
He said making it harder for international students to get their student visas may keep some students from coming here, but he thinks most students are willing to go through some inconveniences for the benefits of higher learning.
“I like to compare it to airline traveling – any time we have to go through security in an airport, we might have to take our shoes off or get our laptops or bags checked,” Aguirre said. “It’s an inconvenience we as Americans go through for the comfort of traveling safe. It’s the same for international students and if that means there are inconveniences to come here, they’ll appreciate coming to a safe place.”