http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/03/30/1522252
Foreign students in the United States last year became the latest target in
the Department of Homeland Security's widening hunt for so-called "potential
terrorists."
A new monitoring system called the Student and Exchange Visitor Information
System, or SEVIS, took full effect last August in colleges and universities
around the country.
Under SEVIS, foreign students are required to enter personal information into
a computer-based system that is then cross-checked against other government
databases by federal agents in Washington.
But that's not all. Some universities have gone so far as to add an extra fee
for foreign students to fund the SEVIS program. So not only are foreign
students being watched. They are being charged for their own surveillance.
Well, students across the country have taken direct, grassroots actions
against payment of the SEVIS fee. We go first to the University of
Massachusetts at Amherst where students have refused to pay the $65 fee to the
university. Joining us on the phone from Amherst is George Liu, an
international phD student from China. He is an International Organizer with
the Graduate Employee Organization, a union of graduate employees which is
leading the protest against payment of the SEVIS fee.
* George Liu, an international PhD student from China at the University of
Massachusetts at Amherst. He is an International Organizer with the Graduate
Employee Organization, a union of graduate employees which is leading the
protest against payment of the SEVIS fee.
* Mike Quieto, a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin. He is
the former co-president of the Teaching Assistants' Association at the
university which led the successful campaign last year opposing having
international students pay SEVIS fees.
RUSH TRANSCRIPT
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AMY GOODMAN: We're going first to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst
where students are refusing to pay the fee to the university. Joining us on
the phone is George Liu, an international Ph.D student from China,
international organizer of graduate employee organizations, a union that is
leading the protest against the fee. Welcome to Democracy Now!
GEORGE LIU: Hi Amy. How are you doing?
AMY GOODMAN: It's good to have you with us. Is this fee levied just against
the foreign students or all students?
GEORGE LIU: It's levied against all foreign students and visitors who have F-1
or J-1 visits.
AMY GOODMAN: And can you talk about your protest about the university's
reaction to you refusing to pay it?
GEORGE LIU: Well, the university sent out kind of threatening emails to urge
people to pay for the fee, and some terrorists in the -- in Bush's office
where we pay our bills tell people in an intimidating way, if you don't pay
the fee, you will be withdrawn. We are protesting at different levels. We are
making it a public campaign. We think it's about the image of the public. We
also, having as many people as possible to withhold this $65 fee as a protest
against discrimination.
AMY GOODMAN: In addition to George Liu, we're joined on the phone by Mike
Quieto, a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin, former co-president
of the Teaching Assistant's Association at the university which led the
successful campaign last year opposing international students' payment of the
Sevis fees. He is joining us from community station WORT in Madison. Can you
talk about the protest on the University of Wisconsin Madison campus?
MIKE QUIETO: Certainly. Thank you. Yes. It was an amazing event. We were in
the middle of a really nasty contract dispute with the state of Wisconsin, and
on April Fool's Day, international students received an email from the
university informing them that they would be charged an extra $125 next year
to pay for their own surveillance. And literally, dozens of them emailed the
university back to the effect of: we understand that you Americans have this
tradition of April Fool's D ay, but this is simply not funny. And so, on April
2, an additional email went out explaining to everyone, that, no, in fact, it
was the real policy. 20% of the members of our union are international
graduate students, and so, we certainly couldn't sit on the sidelines as this
racist, xenophobic policy was shoved down their throats. We marched on the
administration building, we had rallies, got on TV and local radio, and
actually got a resolution passed by student government and the city council
denouncing the actions, and after a month of intensive pressure, finally on
May 7, the Chancellor announced that he had found the money to fund it without
any resort to student fees.
AMY GOODMAN: George Liu at the University of Massachusetts, what kind of
consequence do you face as a foreign student refusing to pay this Sevis fee?
GEORGE LIU: We have right now passed the due date to pay the university bill,
and we are waiting for a warning letter or email which says by a certain date
if we don't pay it in the full amount, then those withholders will be
administratively withdrawn. Three weeks after that, they will report this
information to the Homeland Security department and we might face to be
deported.
AMY GOODMAN: Why are you taking this risk?
GEORGE LIU: I'm sorry.
AMY GOODMAN: Why you are taking this risk?
GEORGE LIU: Well, I -- frankly, I don't want to graduate from a school which
fostered this discriminative and xenophobic atmosphere. I like U. Mass. I like
it a lot, but I don't want it to become this institution which discriminates
against international students.
AMY GOODMAN: What about your response to the U.S. students who in solidarity
are refusing to pay $65 out of their own fees in solidarity with your protest?
GEORGE LIU: I really appreciate the support that we have received from the
U.S. students. They have San Antonio, you know, really courage and they have
shown their ethics. They have shown great solidarity with the international
students. That was really helpful.
AMY GOODMAN: Finally, Mike Quieto, the kind of support that you have gotten on
campus at the University of Wisconsin?
MIKE QUIETO: Yeah, we were able to form a very broad-based coalition between
the union undergraduate group, student government and clubs that were centered
around international student issue, and came up with some amazing email lists
and wonderful on-the-ground contracts. I would encourage every grad employee
and teacher's union on campus that is imposing such a fee to get out and do
the organizing and make sure that this sort of policy is stopped because no
TA. union certainly can be strong without reaching out to international members.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, I want to thank you for both for being with us. Mike
Quieto, former co-president of the Teaching Assistant's Association at the
University of Wisconsin and George Liu, international Ph.D student from China
at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. We'll certainly follow this
grassroots movement around the country and encourage people to go it our
website at Democracy Now! We will link to the other programs we have done on
the Sevis program.
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