International students may not have access to some information, projects

By Theresa Hogue

Mid-Valley Sunday

CORVALLIS -- Oregon State University's motto is "Open Minds, Open Doors." But for international students, some of those doors are swinging shut.

International students at OSU could lose access to research projects if their subject is deemed classified or sensitive. Following the USA Patriot Act and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, new restrictions have been placed on some federal grants that universities receive, limiting access to those dollars based on a student's country of origin.

"There's significant potential to create real problems," said Rich Holdren, vice provost for research at OSU.

In the past, some highly classified research projects have had nationality-based restrictions. But new regulations are continuously expanding the definition of classified or sensitive, and the list of countries targeted is growing as well, sometimes limiting access to U.S. nationals only.

Since February, when a new round of restrictions appeared, OSU has received government contracts with provisions restricting access based on nationality, but thus far no international students have been directly affected.

"We've gotten a few grant or contract packages containing provisions that have sparked general discussions," Holdren said. "They restrict participation based on nationality. We've moved forward with those on each case."

Holdren's worry is that future grants will affect foreign students, and when that occurs, the university will have to decide whether to accept the grant if it limits access. About one-fourth of OSU's 3,000 graduate students are from other countries.

"A significant percentage of graduate students are foreign nationals," Holdren said. "The culture of the university is we provide equal access regardless of gender, nationality and religion, and these will be particularly challenging."

The restrictions often aren't limited to the professor and research students, but also to those with whom they live.

"If we have a grad student who is talking to a roommate from a disallowed country, it could create problems," Holdren said. In that case, the student involved would have to promise not to discuss his research with his roommates or friends.

Un-Ku Moon, an assistant professor of computer and electrical engineering, is a naturalized citizen born in Taiwan. While he will not be directly affected by new regulations, some of his colleagues and students could potentially be restricted from projects within the department.

Some of Moon's students are undertaking an Air Force-funded project that attempts to reduce microchips' sensitivity to radiation exposure. Students are examining Honeywell's fabrication of microchips, hoping to improve on their design. Students of any origin can access Honeywell's commercial process, but when the research moves to a higher level, where access to military chips is required, Moon will have to restrict access to U.S. citizens only.

"At that point, some students cannot pursue (the research)," Moon said. "We don't have a solution for that. It's a difficult situation but we'll find a way. We may have to realign projects for foreign students."

Moon, while aware of the difficulties, said he doesn't think the regulations will prevent graduate students from doing research in the long run.

"I feel like we can always find other ways to do things, or find other research projects for them," he said. He is making it a priority to find funding and projects for all his students.

Recently, Moon's been more worried about trying to recruit top-notch foreign students, given the difficulty some students have had in attaining visas to study at OSU.

"I have an e-mail, just two hours old, from a student in China. I had sent him a tentative e-mail inviting him to study at OSU but he decided to decline."

The student decided it was easier to get a visa to study in Canada, or at a more internationally recognized school, than it is to get one to attend OSU, a university unfamiliar to most consulates.

"I've got to give him credit for thinking ahead," Moon said.

Meanwhile, international graduate students working in the computer and electrical engineering lab across the hall from Moon's office, said they were fairly unconcerned about increasing restrictions.

"It's the way things work," said Jose Silva of Portugal. "If it happens I think they'll say 'We will find you another project.' I think everything works out in the end."

Silva and lab partner Ranga Desikachari of India said they're more worried about keeping their visa status current than about being restricted from their research.

Restrictions were historically placed on some research subjects dealing directly with issues of national security. But now, the very idea of what constitutes a security breach is being redefined, and no one seems to know where the lines are being drawn.

"We are going to see this very broadly applied," Holdren said. "We are going to see this touch every facet of the university."

Holdren has been meeting with peers at other institutions to discuss the issue of restricted access to research. He said many difficulties appear in the conflicting restrictions now being handed down by the federal government, some of which conflict with federal privacy laws already in place.

So far, Holdren said, OSU has avoided violating those privacy laws by asking students involved to voluntarily provide the federal government with personal information, which they've been willing to do. But if a student refuses, the university then is caught between conflicting orders from the federal government. That's when administrators will have to come together to make decisions on how to proceed.

"I believe everyone from the president and provost on down will work together to make decisions cooperatively," Holdren said. "It is an atmosphere where everyone participates in the decision."

That team of decision-makers also will have to decide whether to accept federal grant money if accepting it shuts out an international student. There are repercussions if the university doesn't comply.

"The potential is," Holdren said, "if we manage things badly, we could lose certifications, which could result in us not being allowed to compete for federal funding."

That could devastate research at OSU, considering in fiscal year 2001-02 the university received nearly $103 million in federal grants, or 65 percent of the total money it received for externally funded programs.

Holdren said, "We hope and work toward keeping research enterprise as open as possible."

Theresa Hogue covers higher education. She can be reached at theresa.hogue@lee.net or at 758-9526.