Free Republic

MANHATTAN, Kan. - On a recent afternoon at Kansas State University, a familiar set of late-summer rituals were under way. Piccolo and tuba players practiced their formations in clusters on the lawn, and fraternity hopefuls started Rush Week. This semester, the central Kansas agricultural powerhouse was also preparing for its first-ever celebration of Ramadan to welcome the newest members of its student body: 150 students from Saudi Arabia. This school year, college towns from Florida to Oregon will host an estimated 15,000 new Saudi students, nearly all of whom have full scholarships paid for by the Kingdom's royal family. They're...

IN THE QUAINT little city of Alexandria, Virginia there lives a woman whom I humbly classify as my new friend. Her name is Alicia, and she works on King Street, the gateway to the village's glittering Old Town district. A hard worker and indeed a very good worker, she is an immigrant; for almost a decade she has happily made her home in the United States. After leaving the Philippines, Alicia went where many new immigrants go: San Francisco. Today just a stone's throw from the nation's capital, she tours Washington like every other American, in awe of its grandeur...

NEW YORK — This month marks the first anniversary of a student tracking system that has nabbed 155 individuals in its first year for various suspicious activities, including using forged documents.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," chanted a group of nearly 120 University of Massachusetts student protestors in the reception area of Chancellor John V. Lombardi's third floor office in the Whitmore Administration Building yesterday. The protestors were part of a rally, organized by the Graduate Employee Organization, denouncing the new international student fee, which requires all international students on campus to pay $65 to fund a government monitoring system known as the Student Exchange Visitor Information System. The fee applies only to international students. "This fee is discriminatory, unfair, and not something to stand up for," said President...

WASHINGTON - Nearly 200 people were turned away after trying to enter the country on student visas last month when their names failed to show up in the government's new database of foreign students, a Homeland Security Department official said Tuesday. One of the 190 cases has led the agency to investigate a possible conspiracy to bring groups of foreign students illegally into the United States, said Asa Hutchinson, the department's undersecretary for border and transportation security. Universities, schools and other institutions that enroll foreign students had until Aug. 1 to enter identifying information of all enrolled foreign students into...

Database to Monitor International Students Students Must Register Personal Data by Friday Photo/Garrett Hubing International students must turn in registration paperwork at the SISS office, located in the International House. Send us a letter to comment on this article. By REGINA CHEN Contributing Writer Tuesday, July 29, 2003 UC Berkeley international students must register personal information into a new government database spawned by the USA PATRIOT Act by this Friday or leave the country within 15 days. Called the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), the database expands monitoring of foreign students, providing instantly accessible electronic data to...

Post-Sept. 11 security laws have colleges scramblingTOUGHER REGULATIONS: American college officials are struggling with a system they say is flawed to register all foreign students with the federal authorities by Aug. 1APMonday, Jul 21, 2003,Page 7 US college officials are struggling to meet an Aug. 1 deadline to register all foreign students with federal authorities under post-Sept. 11 security laws, but they complain many innocent foreigners could be denied an American education or even be deported due to computer glitches in the registration system. Campus offices that deal with foreign students are cutting back day-to-day services and working 14-hour days,...