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Imagine a classroom. You are in charge and are standing before 25 students, each from different country. Each student possesses some English proficiency, yet there are varying degrees within the group. You have six days in which to guide your students thr ough immigration, Social Security, registration, health insurance and housing. Meanwhile, you have to help them adjust to American culture and the American classroom, as most are completely unfamiliar with either.
That was the situation two weeks ago, when I was involved with the International Student Orientation. Twelve students, like yourselves, were asked to perform the functions I listed for roughly 300 new international students.
The ratio of student leaders to international students is indicative of the type of treatment international students can expect from the university. These students, although they make up over 6 percent of the total student population at this university, a re easily forgotten. They are swept under the rug like so much dust before guests come to dinner.
No one seems to care about international student issues because they are not a vocal, cohesive group. No one with power sees to it that their interests are protected, even though they are a minority group on campus and have special needs that deserve to b e addressed.
The Center for Global Student Programs, the only oasis at the UA for many international students, is supposed to be the voice for these students. Unfortunately, the center cannot spend its valuable time developing programs because it has so many students who have more specific needs. The center needs to spend its time making sure the students can maintain their immigration status and pay for their studies, but it has neither the time nor the manpower to do anything but the basics.
David E. Currey, Assistant Director of the Center for Global Student Programs, told me in an interview that the center becomes too busy during peak times like orientation.
"At that point, we are understaffed," Currey said. "We don't have the resources to carry that kind of load."
The center mimics a refugee camp during orientation. Some unfortunate students practically live in the office until finding temporary housing which the university does not provide. Currey went on to say that the staff typically feels overworked during the se peak times, barely keeping its head above water.
He summarized the staff's feelings during busy times by saying that they have to "work harder, work more, work late."
Clearly there is a problem. The center, the main resource for international students, cannot handle its current workload due to its small, overworked staff. Ten full-time and five part-time workers handle the needs of over 2,100 international students.
In addition, the center is expected to be the voice for these students, making certain that they are not manipulated by the system. It cannot possibly do both when its office, a small house on Tyndall Avenue, is constantly filled to capacity with students needing help with their I-20, I-94, or IAP-66 immigration documents. The center is already overexerting itself, wading through these impressive-sounding documents and helping students with immediate problems. They simply cannot do more.
I cannot understand why the university does not put more effort into the assistance of international students. We invite international students to learn at our university. They are our guests.
We do not, however, serve them first or offer them hors d'oeuvres while they sit on our couch. Instead, we ask them to grab us a beer as they pass the refrigerator. We offer these guests one overworked staff to assist with all of their problems, and then we forget about them.
The university needs a reminder that these guests are still part of this campus. These students do research, teach classes, sit on the mall, live in the dorms and eat at the union. The international student body is probably the most fascinating group of p eople I have met in my life, and it disturbs me that they are a forgotten resource of learning and friendship. Working with them was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life, but the university fails to recognize their value by not providing them with adequate support services.
Jamie Kanter is a spanish and psychology junior. His column, 'On the Flip Side,' appears every other Wednesday.
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