Press Room
Letter to Roll Call
The following NAFSA letter was published in the May 27, 2002, issue of Roll Call.
To the Editor:
I write to endorse Morton Kondracke's May 9 column ("Bush, Congress Need Joint Strategy to Fight Anti-U.S. Propaganda") calling on the administration to work with House International Relations Chairman Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) to enact the Freedom Promotion Act of 2002, which would strengthen the State Department's conduct of public diplomacy and would authorize new exchange programs with the Islamic world.
We are strong supporters of this legislation. However, we must do more. In addition to the predominantly nonacademic exchange programs authorized by the bill, we must also reinvigorate academic exchanges with the Islamic world. Only about 6 percent of the international students now pursuing higher education in the United States are from the Arab Middle East. In the academic year 2000-2001, only 229 Americans studied for credit in the Arab Middle East - less than 1 percent of the total number of American students who studied abroad.
International students are getting bad press these days because one of the 19 people who committed the terrorist acts of Sept. 11 entered the United States on a student visa and two others attended flight school.
Without question, controls are necessary to prevent a recurrence of such abuses, and such controls are being put in place with the full support of America's colleges and universities. Equally without question, however, it is essential for far greater numbers of students from the Islamic world to have the opportunity for higher education in the United States.
NAFSA: Association of International Educators has sought to call attention to the urgent need for an international education policy for the United States - a call that is endorsed by S. Con. Res. 7, which passed the Senate unanimously last year, and H. Con. Res. 201, which is pending in the House.
Among the priorities of such a policy should be proactive efforts to increase the enrollment of students from the Islamic world in America's colleges and universities.
Sincerely,
Victor C. Johnson
Associate Executive Director, Public Policy
NAFSA: Association of International Educators
To the Editor:
I write to endorse Morton Kondracke's May 9 column ("Bush, Congress Need Joint Strategy to Fight Anti-U.S. Propaganda") calling on the administration to work with House International Relations Chairman Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) to enact the Freedom Promotion Act of 2002, which would strengthen the State Department's conduct of public diplomacy and would authorize new exchange programs with the Islamic world.
We are strong supporters of this legislation. However, we must do more. In addition to the predominantly nonacademic exchange programs authorized by the bill, we must also reinvigorate academic exchanges with the Islamic world. Only about 6 percent of the international students now pursuing higher education in the United States are from the Arab Middle East. In the academic year 2000-2001, only 229 Americans studied for credit in the Arab Middle East - less than 1 percent of the total number of American students who studied abroad.
International students are getting bad press these days because one of the 19 people who committed the terrorist acts of Sept. 11 entered the United States on a student visa and two others attended flight school.
Without question, controls are necessary to prevent a recurrence of such abuses, and such controls are being put in place with the full support of America's colleges and universities. Equally without question, however, it is essential for far greater numbers of students from the Islamic world to have the opportunity for higher education in the United States.
NAFSA: Association of International Educators has sought to call attention to the urgent need for an international education policy for the United States - a call that is endorsed by S. Con. Res. 7, which passed the Senate unanimously last year, and H. Con. Res. 201, which is pending in the House.
Among the priorities of such a policy should be proactive efforts to increase the enrollment of students from the Islamic world in America's colleges and universities.
Sincerely,
Victor C. Johnson
Associate Executive Director, Public Policy
NAFSA: Association of International Educators
