[Peace] Fwd: MASSMAIL - Supporting International Students, Faculty & Staff

[Alfred Kagan]

FYI.  Note mention of the new International Support Fund.  It is nice 
to see this here.

>Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2003 01:12:09 -0600 (CST)
>To: All Faculty & All Academic Professionals & All Civil Service Staff &
>     All Undergrad Students & All Grad Students <everybody at uiuc.edu>
>From: "Chancellor Nancy Cantor" <chancellor at uiuc.edu>
>Subject: MASSMAIL - Supporting International Students, Faculty & Staff
>Reply-To: chancellor at uiuc.edu
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>
>Dear Members of the Campus Community:
>
>We have one of the largest enrollments of international students in the
>nation, 4,555 students among the 39,300 who registered last fall. These
>students, along with our international faculty and staff, are valued
>members of our community, contributing greatly to life on our campus. 
>
>As you know, new Federal policies to promote national security have begun
>to affect the international members of our community.  I am writing to let
>you know how this is going and what we plan to do.
>
>We have begun operating the internet-based record-keeping system called
>SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System), required by law
>of all colleges and universities.  
>
>Ivor M. Emmanuel, director of the Office of International Student Affairs,
>and Carol Buss, director of the Office of International Faculty and Staff
>Affairs have worked closely with deans, program directors, department
>heads, and academic advisers to keep international students, faculty, and
>staff apprised of the new rules and ongoing requirements.  They and all
>the units that include them will need to be attentive to the demands of a
>newly intensified regulatory environment.
>
>Earlier this year, the Federal government announced its fourth round of
>call-ins for international visitors to the United States. These now affect
>citizens of 25 nations. So far, 205 students and 20 faculty and staff from
>our campus have been called to register at the I.N.S. offices in Chicago.
>Staff members from the Office of International Student Affairs have
>accompanied some of the students. The Office of International Faculty and
>Staff Affairs has worked with the faculty and staff involved.   I am
>pleased by reports that these registrations have gone smoothly, without
>the difficulties so widely-reported elsewhere.
>
>We are also consulting with other universities and scholarly organizations
>in an effort to assure that the new regulations arising from the
>government's legitimate concerns about security are approached in ways
>that are consistent with our academic mission and the individual rights of
>members of our community. 
>
>We are concerned about a number of graduate students, faculty and staff
>who have found it difficult to return to the United States because they
>have been unable to obtain security clearances. Several Chinese students
>have been unable to return from China because of delays in the screening
>of students working in sensitive areas by the Interagency Panel on
>Advanced Science and Security, known as IPASS.  Others have encountered
>long delays in acquiring visas to study in the U.S.
>
>The Office of International Student Affairs now administers loan programs
>through which students may borrow small amounts for short periods of time
>in the event of an emergency.  There is a comparable Faculty-Staff
>Emergency Fund.  To these, as a demonstration of our concern and support,
>we have added an International Support Fund.   It will be administered by
>Earl D. Kellogg, Associate Provost for International Affairs, who will
>seek contributions from faculty and staff.  He will consult with an
>advisory committee in evaluating requests for legal or other emergency
>aid.    
>
>When the United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, accepted the Nobel
>Peace Prize two months ago, he said:  "We have entered the third
>millennium through a gate of fire."  In the aftermath of September 11th,
>we face a new kind of insecurity that seems to know no boundaries of
>status or geography.
>
>The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is making every effort to
>insure the safety of members of our community.  We are working hard to
>fulfill our responsibilities to the Federal government in its effort to
>prevent any abuse of international visas.
>
>We must work equally hard to insure that our university is a place of
>openness, empathy, and intense dialogue.  Our success as an institution
>that is focused on learning and research demands an academic environment
>attractive to, and receptive to, excellent students, faculty, and staff
>from all over the world.
>
>We are preparing future citizens who will find themselves in a world that
>is both increasingly diverse and yet fearfully inclined to polarization
>over that diversity.  Society counts on higher education as a proving
>ground for inter-group relations, for living with and learning from
>difference. 
>
>Our international faculty, staff, and students are part of the solution to
>terrorism - not part of the problem. I hope you will join with me in
>expressing to them your friendship, your concern, and your continuing
>support. 
>
>Nancy Cantor
>Chancellor
>
>
>
>This mailing approved by:
>The Office of the Chancellor
>
>--
>This Message sent via MASSMAIL.  < 
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-- 


Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA

tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu