When administrators at George Mason University attempted to access the school's records on a federal electronic database used to track foreign students, they pulled up the private record of a Princeton University student instead, according to an article recently published in the Washington Post. The glitch was one of many that have raised concerns that the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) may hinder U.S. security and interrupt academic pursuits at the nation's universities.
SEVIS replaced a paper-based system after the Sept. 11 attacks and was intended to ensure that foreign students and exchange visitors who have entered the country actually enroll in schools.
As the Aug. 1 deadline to submit data on enrolled students draws closer, schools across the country have expressed concerns that problems in the system may have serious consequences.
"Potentially, this could have an effect on our ability to admit next year's incoming class of foreign students," said Victor Johnson, associate executive director for public policy for the Association of International Educators, the Washington Post reported. "In this environment of terrorism alerts, we face the possibility of having thousands of students in this country technically out of status due to SEVIS problems and subject to detention."
During a hearing conducted yesterday by the House Committee on Science, President Shirley Tilghman expressed concerns about SEVIS glitches, a national backlog of visas for foreign students, and a lack of information about IPASS, a visa review body the Bush administration plans to create.
Tilghman said the combined effect of these problems "could dissuade excellent international students from applying to U.S. institutions for fear that this new system will impose additional burdens and delays," according to the Committee's press release.
Recent errors have also resulted in the records of a Harvard student appearing at Cornell University, according to the Washington Post, and have prevented schools from printing necessary immigration documents, according to Transcript, an online news source for members of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.
Southeastern University President Charlene Drew Jarvis said that the arrest of a Southeastern University student from Thailand was the result of incorrect information on SEVIS, the Washington Post reported.
U.S. officials confiscated the passport of a Belgian psychologist traveling to Michigan State University to pursue a postdoctoral fellowship after they were unable to locate his SEVIS record, and in another instance a student from Egypt headed to Michigan State was stranded in Toronto, according to Transcript.
While Georgetown University and the University of Maryland temporarily stopped entering data in the system for several days, according to the Washington Post, Princeton has continued to use the system.
Members of Princeton's Office of Visa Services were frequently kicked off the system several weeks ago, and often discovered that entered data had not been saved, said Jennifer McNabb, International Graduate Student Advisor. However, such problems seem to have been solved, she said.
The Office of Visa Services is making inquiries with SEVIS regarding the appearance of a Princeton student's record on a George Mason University computer, McNabb said.
"We're concerned about it working in general. We want to comply with immigration regulations but we want the system to work out and not cause problems for the students here," said McNabb.
SEVIS was created following the discovery that three of the Sept. 11 hijackers were in the government's foreign student database. The system is operated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
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