New tracking software not affecting students - yet

Most IU students don't have to pack 18 years of their life into two suitcases when they come to college.\nThey're free from all rules, except a weekly call to Mom and Dad, if that.\nBut for international students, Mom and Dad comes in another form -- SEVIS.\nSEVIS is a nationwide computer system that tracks international students. The Immigration and Naturalization Service is requiring all universities to use the system, and students -- for minor or major errors -- could face deportation if they don't fulfill the requirements.\nStudent visas became a hot topic following the Sept. 11 attacks. when two of the hijackers entered the country with student documents.\n"The perception was that students were responsible for these activities," said Lynn Schoch, the associate director of the office of international services. "In fact they have identified one for sure had a student visa, and it was for a private language school."\nStudent visas comprise only 2 percent of all visas issued, but are more easily regulated than B-visas, which are issued to travelers and business people.\nMicrobiology Ph.D. student Thomas Danhorn, who is from Austria, attended an information meeting about SEVIS Tuesday.\n"Ninety-eight percent of visas are not affected by this, which makes the whole thing ridiculous," Danhorn said. "Basically, (the OIS representatives) said it's because (the INS) can. They would like to crack down on other people but they haven't figured out how."\nThe crackdown might have something to do with America's institutional memory, Schoch said. \n"(Students) represent a large group in the United States," Schoch said. "I think for us older folks there is a lingering recognition that students represent a very powerful group. If you remember back to the Vietnam Era, students did a lot and represented a very powerful force."\nSome national organizations, like Open Doors -- Institute for International Education and NAFSA: Association of International Educators, advocate for international education saying it helps to fight terrorism rather than help it.\n"It's ridiculous," said Danhorn of the regulations, "because the people who usually come here to study usually have a positive attitude towards the United States or else they would not come here to study."\nInternational leaders that have studied in the United States include U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, French president Jacques Chirac and former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. \nCurrent IU graduate student Nancy Alemán wants to be added to that list.\nFor Alemán, 50 degrees is chilly for where she comes from. \nThe average temperature in Ecuador is near 80 degrees.\nThe average temperature in Indiana is 51. 6 degrees\nBut Bloomington is almost home to her now.\nAlemán earned a bachelor degree from IU in 2001 and said she never planned to come back to Bloomington for her masters. But last fall, she was back at IU studying in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs.\n"I got used to being here, so when I was there, I missed being here," said Alemán, who is in her second semester at SPEA.\nAlemán's parents pushed her to study abroad, she said.\n"Unfortunately, education in Ecuador is not so good," Alemán said. "So I guess it was my parent's dream to send me abroad because of the level of education."\nAlemán said her time in the United States has broadened her horizons, and that is why she has trouble returning to Ecuador, where the culture is more conservative.\n"I've lost many stereotypes that I didn't realize I had about the American culture," she said. "You hear Americans are cold and not very friendly. Or they're not very intelligent. But I've met some of the smartest people here."\nIU's eight campuses are home to 4,500 international students hailing from more than 120 different nationalities. Foreign students comprise 8.5 percent of the Bloomington campus.\nSome are recognizable. Some are not.\n"I don't have the feeling I'm being treated differently," said Danhorn, a tall, blond-haired Caucasian in his third year at IU. "I think people who look different are automatically classified different, not necessarily in a bad way, though." \nDanhorn said most people don't realize he is foreign until they hear his accent.\nAlemán, who has dark, straight hair and large, expressive brown eyes, said she's never felt prejudiced against but has heard stories from people who have.\n"A girl was saying she was walking in a street, and a car went by and threw a rock at her," Alemán said. "Some guys say they feel uneasy in bars. They say people look at them different."\nThe new SEVIS regulations haven't affected Alemán, she said.\n"All I know is if you change your address you have to tell them," Alemán said.\nDanhorn said he trys to stay within the INS regulations so the INS isn't a problem for him.\nBut other students are being affected, including a colleague of Danhorn's, who he said has to add more credit hours because her research only adds up to 6 hours, which is under the required minimum.\nDanhorn's colleague is Asian-Canadian, working toward her Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology at IU. She's not the typical victim of racial profiling.\n"I don't think anybody associates students with terrorists now," Danhorn said. "Though a lot of people probably associate some countries with terrorism"