WEDNESDAY,JUNE19,2002
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 7
Middle Eastern students face tougher restrictions when studying in the US
By Lauren Beatty Kansan staff writer
Students from Middle Eastern nations may find it harder to study at the University of Kansas next fall.
The Justice Department proposed new anti-terrorism visa regulations June 5. The new regulations will require anyone from a Middle Eastern or Muslim nation to be photographed and fingerprinted if they stay in the United States for more than a month.
A visa is part of the passport, which is required for admission into the United States.
Not only will foreign students have to be photographed and fingerprinted before starting school, they will also be tracked once they start via a new government program called SEVIS.
Joe Potts, director of International Student and Scholar Services said about 240 students from Middle Eastern countries attended the University last year. He said he wasn't sure how the new regulations would affect that number.
SEVIS, or Student Exchange Visitor Information System, will be implemented in January 2003. All schools that admit foreign students are required by the government to be on the program.
Government mandates software to track foreign students
Student and Scholar Services, said the database would contain visa information about students. Schools will also use SEVIS to notify Immigration and Naturalization Services when foreign students arrive and when they leave, Potts said.
Joe Potts, director of International
One of the terrorists of the Sept. 11 attacks entered the country on a student visa.
—Lauren Beatty
"I can see some students feeling it is unfair to single them out," Potts said. "They might decide to go to schools in countries where that is not done at the border. On the other hand, maybe the students won't be bothered. It will be a way to avoid being subjected to other types of scrutiny."
scrutiny. Potts said other countries were actively recruiting foreign students who once
would have come to the United States to study,but were now afraid to.
Raghavendran Nagarajan, Srina, India, graduate student, said he understood why the United States implemented the new regulations, but didn't think they were fair.
"It's within the rights of the nation," he said. "They have no other way, but they should target people from certain countries like Pakistan or Afghanistan, not on the basis of suspicion."
the bursar Nagarajan arrived in August last year and plans to stay until next May. He is in the country on a F-1 student visa, which
would require him to go through the new regulation process had he arrived this August instead of last year. He said if he had gone through the fingerprinting and photographing, he wouldn't have come to the country.
"That is treating people like criminals," he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Contact Beatty at lbeatty@kansan.com. This story was edited by Matt Stumpff.
Body found in Lewis Hall
A body was found June 12 on the first floor of Lewis Hall, the KU Public Safety Office said in a statement. Police said they received a call at 5:45 a.m. from a housing employee.
the body of Samuel C. Sparks, a 21 year-old Lawrence resident and maintenance employee in the building, was found in a mechanical room by a supervisor reporting for work.
Police said there were no indications of criminal activity,but an investigation of the circumstances would continue.
Autopsy determines cause of student's March death
An autopsy report indicated that Benjamin G. Hartter, former senior from Morrill, died of asphyxiation.The report indicated the death was likely related to nitrous oxide use.
Because of the circumstances at the scene, nitrous oxide likely caused Harter to suffocate, Mitchell wrote.
Though nitrous oxide was not found in the body, the Douglas County coroner said the test could fail.
Hartter was found March 20 in the basement of a clinic shared by dentists Thomas Rainbolt and John Wulfkuhle, 316 Maine St., where he was a part-time employee. He was found near a container of nitrous oxide, according to the autopsy report.