GAPSA asks U. to fight legislation

The Graduate and Professional Student Assembly passed a resolution March 25 to raise awareness among students and faculty about the Grassley-Sanders Amendment to the federal stimulus bill.

The amendment, passed by the Senate unanimously in February, places restrictions on the hiring of foreign workers holding H-1B visas by companies receiving Troubled Asset Relief Program funding. GAPSA is turning to the University to help fight the legislation.

The body's chairman, School of Medicine Ph.D. student Andrew Rennekamp, explained that Penn's administration is aware of the issue and the problems international students and alumni face, such as rescinded job offers, specifically in finance-related fields.

GAPSA's resolution, which passed unanimously, asks Penn President Amy Gutmann, the Office of Government and Community Affairs and local congressmen to lobby against the amendment.

The resolution takes a two-part approach to the issue.

First, GAPSA is interested in addressing the specific problem and creating an environment helpful to international students and alumni.

The second component aims to prevent similar legislation in the future.

GAPSA vice chairman for International Affairs and Engineering Masters student Omar Khan, who drafted the resolution, said, "Hopefully, through this resolution, Penn can ensure similar legislation cannot be introduced, especially since international students spend so much money on an American education."

"Penn administration is completely in sync with GAPSA's thoughts on this matter," Rennekamp said. "They understand that this issue is important not just to two to three people but to the entire student body."

"We feel it is our moral obligation to do something about this, even if we cannot reverse it," he added.

Jeffrey Cooper, vice president of Penn's Office of Government and Community Affairs, recognized the importance of this issue for students.

"The University is working in Washington to try to assure that the Grassley-Sanders amendment is implemented in a way that will cause the minimum amount of disruption possible to Penn students," he wrote in an e-mail. "We believe, at present, that for the University, those efforts are more likely to have some success if done through conversation and persuasion rather than through public statements."

GAPSA has contacted students at peer schools to garner support.

Carnegie Mellon University students approached GAPSA earlier seeking support for a resolution they created which aims at simplifying the process of getting H-1B visas.

While GAPSA supports Carnegie Mellon's resolution, it is focusing now on the bigger issue at hand, Rennekamp said.

"We need to make sure that the students do not go through the entire process of interviews before finding out that they were not eligible in the first place," he explained.

Liberal and Professional Studies student Asako Kondo, who is from China, wrote in an e-mail that she hopes GAPSA maintains a strong stance, especially since there is a very large share of international graduate students, "facing many disadvantages in an economic crisis like this."

"It is already hard enough to obtain an H-1B visa, and now they are saying that they won't hire [H-1B] visa holders," she said.

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