FBI, public moved on from investigations

IU international students claim the on-campus climate has remained largely untouched in the advent of Sept. 11, despite FBI questioning of several students three months ago as part of an investigation into the terrorist attacks.\nThe U.S. Attorney's Task Force investigation touched down at IU with interviews of less than 10 international students. Since then the FBI has moved on to more international investigations, and so has the public.\n"That particular phase (of interviewing college students) has ended, to my knowledge," said Agent Doug Garrison, spokesman for the FBI's Indianapolis branch. "If we were to come back to a college for information, it would be for a specific reason. The first phase was for intelligence-gathering and to shed light on terrorist information."\nSome groups in the academic community worried the FBI targeted international students as suspects.\n"The people who drove the planes were not John Smith from Sheboygan," Garrison said. "The fact is that they were Middle Eastern students of flight schools. We're looking into a particular class of students associated with theirs. It's common sense."\nAt the Office of International Services, Associate Director Lynn Schoch said there have not been any complaints about the FBI's investigation.\n"We've had no complaints about the FBI here," Shoch said. "If they've profiled anyone, they probably chose people from obvious countries."\nSchoch said he strongly opposes racial profiling, but said he doesn't have any knowledge it has happened at IU. \n"If the FBI chose people from specific countries, it is the direction (the investigation) should probably be going," Schoch said. "They were trying to find the people involved. It just makes sense."\nMany of the international students at IU have said the environment at IU has been more welcoming than not. \nSchoch said when the University created a system of escorting international students around campus at night, more than enough students volunteered than were ever needed. \n"IU students seem to be really open-minded," senior and international student Mihyun Sung said. "I don't have a problem here, most of the times I'm very comfortable. But sometimes I am teased."\nSung, originally from Korea, said the most noticeable changes for her after Sept. 11 are stricter governmental policies, like making visas harder to obtain. She also said she occasionally witnesses incidences of racism. \n"Once one of my friends got rejected from a bar, even though she's over 21 and had two pieces of ID," Sung said. "She thought it was racist because it was never like that before Sept. 11." \nSung said she hopes people can continue to see beyond the color of each other's skin to achieve resolution after the terrorist attacks.\n"Hate is not a solution," Sung said. "We want to know the truth, and I hope they can find that out." She said she thinks the FBI investigation is acceptable. \n"The truth will come out in the end," Sung said.\nWhile the FBI searches for the truth, Schoch said he hopes people can learn from the disaster of Sept. 11, and all of the entanglements that have followed. \n"I think if there's a lesson here it's that students are not inherently dangerous," Schoch said. "Sept. 11 has shown us that we don't need to worry about students. The vast quantity of them are here for legitimate reasons." \nSchoch said international students add to the cultural diversity of IU. \n"They keep us from being closed off from the rest of the world," Schoch said.