Dunnett calls presidential directive "ghastly"
Would restrict foreign students' access to education in so-called "sensitive fields"
By PATRICIA
DONOVAN
Contributing Editor
Stephen
Dunnett, vice provost for international education at UB and a national
leader in the field of international education, has expressed serious
concern over a "hidden" directive from President George Bush that, if
implemented, would place stricter controls on student visas and bar
"certain international students from pursuing education and training
in sensitive areas."
| |
 |
| |
DUNNETT |
| |
|
"Although
I'm sure the administration has no evil intent here, this directive
is ghastly," Dunnett says. "It could cause great damage, not only to
the students in question, but to our universities on many fronts.
"It
flies in the face of everything that we stand for in this country,"
he says. "It restricts open access to education, research and knowledge-sharing,
despite the fact that we have been very outspoken as a nation against
other countries that have instituted such restrictions."
The
directive, "Combating Terrorism Through Immigration Policies," was issued
in October. It has not yet been implemented and is under review by an
interagency working group overseen by the White House Office of Science
and Technology Policy. The group has not sought input from colleges
and universities.
Fields
to be restricted by the directive are "areas of study with direct application
to the development and use of weapons of mass destruction," which could
include biology, physics, chemistry, computer science and engineering.
Dunnett
says the weapons information the directive seeks to restrict already
is available in journals, books, on the Internet and at universities
abroad. He also points out that virtually all terrorists identified
since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 got into the U.S. on tourist
visas and were not students in American universities.
Approximately
30 million tourist visas are issued every year through a system much
looser and less restrictive than that governing the slightly more than
500,000 student visas issued every year.
Last
month, three major associations representing the interests of U.S. higher
education protested this fact to the administration and complained in
a joint statement that "We are concerned that the fundamentally open
character of our education system may make it impossible (to implement
the directive)."
Dunnett
says there are several problems with the directive.
"First,"
he says, "50 to 60 percent of advanced graduate degrees in engineering
and the sciences are awarded to international students. American students
generally are not inspired to enter these fields on a graduate level,
and foreign students typically are far better prepared for studies in
science than are American students.
"So
if we close graduate education in science and engineering or computer
science to international students, who will fill our classrooms?" he
asks. "Who will help us do the research in these fields? Where will
we get future faculty members?"
The
second problem posed, he says, is the possibility of retaliation from
other countries in a position to restrict the access of American students
studying in their countries or the refusal by affected nations to share
their research with the U.S.
"Even
worse," says Dunnett, "these nations may refuse to assist us in funding
expensive research projects that require—and now receive—foreign
corporate support."
Third,
Dunnett says the directive is unenforceable.
"How
can a school track the academic activities of students, who tend to
change majors all the time once they're in the university?" he asks.
He
says the U.S. also needs to balance its policies with recognition of
the contributions foreign students have made to many scholarly fields
and to the country as a whole. He points out that students from abroad
tend to develop an appreciation for U.S. culture and institutions that
serves the U.S. well when they become leaders in their own countries
or in international arenas.
"As
noted in The Chronicle of Higher Education," Dunnett says, "UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan, a Nobel laureate, and King Abdullah of
Jordan are American university graduates and their knowledge and affiliation
have been very helpful to us in the present conflict."
He
notes, however, that they are from "suspect" countries and under the
directive, would have their studies restricted if they were going to
school today.
"We
need to defend our land from terrorists, of course we do," Dunnett says.
"But in doing so, we shouldn't let them win by changing the face of
our country."
