Recent debates over international student visas have left the University community unsure of whether foreign students will have to undergo additional measures to study in the United States.
Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has voiced particular concern over international immigration policies because one of the hijackers entered the United States on a student visa.
Feinstein's original proposal to place a six-month moratorium on new foreign student visas was scrapped a few weeks ago, but, while still on the table, generated a high degree of concern.
University President Judith Rodin wrote a letter to Feinstein in early October, explaining her opposition to the six-month moratorium.
"We do not believe that refusing students entry to the United States -- or placing prohibitive restrictions on individuals who wish to study at our world-class institutions -- will serve this interest," Rodin wrote in her letter. "Here at Penn... the exchange of ideas between international students and scholars enhances global understanding and the learning experiences of our students."
But Feinstein's most recent plan to quicken the development of an electronic tracking system for the Immigration and Naturalization Service has sparked an equal amount of controversy.
In 1996, a federal immigration law required that the INS fully establish a tracking system for international students by 2003. Last month's events, however, have put additional pressure on the agency to develop the database.
But a tracking system may require a fee from international students, creating perhaps the largest concern on the part of those opposed to the system.
"What we're trying to get across to the legislatures is that we're willing to cooperate with the tracking system, but the higher education community in general would rather see the United States government fully fund [it] rather than charging the students," said Joyce Randolph, executive director of Penn's Office of International Programs.
The new database, which will include fingerprints, photographs and academic records of all students with visas, will cost $32 million to create. But while Feinstein and higher education officials have urged President Bush to set aside the funds for the database, there is no guarantee that the INS will receive federal support.
The proposed processing fee of $95 for incoming international students has raised concern largely because many international students do not have access to credit cards, U.S. currency or the Internet.
"At this time, the processing fee is something that higher education opposes because it places an unfair burden on the students and it is very hard to handle through the administration," Randolph said. "There are many international students who don't have access to these three methods."
But beyond administrative complications, there has been little controversy over charging students to help fund the system.
Political Science Professor Rogers Smith said that it is not unusual for the federal government to charge immigrants fees for security measures.
"For better and for worse, there's a lot of precedents for" the processing fee," he said. "Taxes on immigrants have often been used to ensure their health and safety while in the United States."
Smith did, however, urge the protection of civil liberties.
"I do think that heightened measures are necessary in these times, but I am worried in the name of security that we may go too far," he said.
College senior Omar Al-Wir, president of the Penn Arab Student Society and an international student from Jordan, said he is more concerned with the tracking system's potential for discrimination.
"It's really totally beside the point if we have to pay $1 or $10,000 for the implementation of this system," he said. "If it really does provide better security for the community as a whole without pointing fingers at a certain ethnic group, then I think that it is an acceptable measure."
Penn ACLU President Joshua Brown, a College sophomore, said he was concerned about the possible abuse of the tracking system.
"The INS certainly needs to have information about who is in the country on a visa, but the tracking system is only targeting students," he said. "And if students begin to have their privacy restricted and their personal information shared among various federal agencies, the tracking system will create problems antagonistic to anti-terrorism."
Currently, there are more than 500,000 foreign students attending American colleges on student visas -- yet international students make up only 2 percent of the total number of immigrants applying for United States visas.
Feinstein and other governmental officials are still debating the details surrounding the tracking system and its funding, and a final compromise should be reached within the next few weeks.
