Opinions from around the country

In his administration’s most recent misdirected policy change, President Bush proposed banning some international students from studying in certain fields in the United States. He released a directive stating the government shall prohibit international students from receiving education and training in sensitive areas, “including areas of study with direct application to the development and use of weapons of mass destruction.”

To determine what specific fields will be off limits and to whom, the president ordered “an interagency working group” be formed. This committee has been assembled with officials from various government agencies. Yet glaringly absent is anyone representing higher education institutions.

Universities are in the best position to advise on the exposure to sensitive technologies foreign students encounter. They are also in the best position to remind government officials of the contributions international students make to research. Foreign thinkers have raised the standard of living by creating everything from Prozac to rocket fuel cells.
These students have a profoundly positive impact on our economy. Without them, there will be severe erosion of the U.S. human capital base.

Also, universities will need to address that many fields of research don’t receive enough interest from American students and would be desolate without international students. M.R.C. Greenwood, University of California-Santa Cruz chancellor, spoke at an American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting and noted native-born students “are not sufficiently interested” in some fields.

Without foreign students, he said, those fields would languish. At MIT, for example, foreigners comprise 37.2 percent of all graduate students.

Academic officials must be given a voice to stress the best way to stop terrorists: Don’t let them in the country. Although plainly evident, it’s important to reiterate to government officials that academia isn’t the place to screen terrorists.

Banning students from countries with maniacal governments will unreasonably deprive academia, the economy and society of highly productive individuals. The government must recognize this, and it can start by accepting the help of those most knowledgeable — academic officials.

This editorial comes from the Minnesota Daily at the University of Minnesota. This column was distributed by U-Wire.

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