Visa restrictions and new regulations following Sept. 11, 2001, and the war in Iraq have made it increasingly more difficult for international students to receive an education at colleges across America, including UB.
According to President William R. Greiner at Tuesday's Faculty Senate Executive Committee meeting, the war in Iraq has made international students increasingly concerned about the future of their educations.
"There is no way to predict how long the incursion in Iraq will continue and no way to predict how it is going to go," Greiner said.
Stephen Dunnett, vice provost for international education, said that due to new regulations passed by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, people who hold an F2 visa and are enrolled in the university can no longer continue to pursue a degree.
Dunnett said people who are coming to the United States to receive a college education receive an F1 visa, while their spouses and dependents receive an F2 visa.
Since the regulations were enacted in January, Dunnett said eight graduate students have been forced to resign from the university and three are still continuing illegally.
Though Dunnett did not know the penalties for remaining at UB without a visa, he said the students had been warned that if they were caught, the penalties would be severe. The university has lobbied on the three students' behalf, he said, but their future at UB looks bleak.
"We have not been able to reverse this," Dunnett said, "and frankly, I do not think that we are going to."
Sherene Cheah, a graduate linguistics student from Malaysia, said the new restrictions are an inconvenience.
"I think it is a hassle, but it cannot be helped," Cheah said. "All the new restrictions definitely make it harder for international students to travel, from what I have heard."
According to Maureen Jameson, chair of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, the new F2 visa regulation "disproportionately affects women."
Because of the new regulations, when an international student comes to the United States to study on an F1 visa, his or her dependants and spouse may come along on an F2 visa.
F2 visa-holders were previously allowed to take classes and obtain degrees, but since the new regulations have been imposed, Jameson said none of the credits these students obtain could count toward a degree.
Since the majority of students who come from overseas are men, Jameson said, this new policy has more of a negative affect on women, which, she said, is unfortunate, because women with degrees have the opportunity to lead better lives in the their home countries.
Prior to the new regulations, Jameson said, a women in the United States with her husband "could earn that degree, and she could go back to that country and have a different life than the life she would have if she took basket weaving."
Jameson said the Office for International Education has been negotiating with immigration services to allow spouses of F1 visa-holders to continue in degree programs.
As for now, Dunnett said he encourages dependants and spouses of F1 visa-holders to inform the Office of International Education before they depart for the United States, so the office can help change their visas to F1.
According to Joseph Hindrawan, assistant vice provost and director of international enrollment management, because of the war in Iraq and overall security concerns in the United States, many people across the world have decided not to come here to study.
"Parents are not feeling at ease letting students come to the U.S.," said Hindrawan.
Dunnett said he believes that eventually these regulations will be overturned, but not any time in the foreseeable future.
"Someday, I will have the satisfaction of reading in the newspaper that this was unconstitutional," Dunnett said. "But I do not think that that will be today."
"I could understand the restrictions for homeland security reasons," said Wei Loon Leong, a senior electrical engineering major from Malaysia. "As far as I am concerned, I do not see these restrictions affecting me for the time being."
Catherine Dodds, a freshman biochemistry major, said the restrictions are ridiculous.
"I think it makes no sense whatsoever," Dodds said. "International students have nothing to do with the war, and we are restricting their education and making the rest of the world hate us."
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
