With one week remaining until the Jan. 30 deadline for universities to implement an electronic database to track international students, UW-Madison is already in compliance, according to Judy Brodd, the university's interim director of international student services.
The Student Exchange Visitor Information System, which is mandated under the USA PATRIOT Act, monitors individuals' foreign and domestic addresses, their status as full-time students and any changes in major, degree level and financial support.
With 4,000 international students and 1,000 international scholars, UW-Madison has one of the largest international student populations of campuses in the United States.
UW-Madison has had to adapt its electronic infrastructure to accommodate technology required for the SEVIS.
\There have been some costs from technical support to our office, and there continue to be costs to purchase and maintain software to ... maintain SEVIS,"" Brodd said.
While many other universities have had trouble implementing the new system, UW-Madison has not experienced many difficulties. Jane Yahr Shepard, international admissions coordinator, said compliance with SEVIS has been a group effort.
""There are many different offices that have to coordinate with the new system,"" she said. ""It was the summer of 2002 that various offices started to work together to coordinate such a large program for such a large campus.""
Advising on campus has also adjusted to help international students and faculty navigate the changing laws. Brodd said her office holds weekly SEVIS workshops for students and encourages them to contact the office to learn the new rules.
SEVIS changes procedure for students who stay at the university longer than planned, Brodd said.
""If they go beyond [the time provided], then we need to do an extension through immigration and notify the INS through the system,"" she said.
Brodd noted that as a homeland security measure, SEVIS monitors only a small number of international visitors in the country.
""The problem is international students only represent 2 percent of international visitors that come to the U.S. each year,"" she said.
Rep. Peter Holkstra, R-Mich., the chairman of the subcommittee on Select Education, expressed similar sentiments.
""In America today we have seven million undocumented aliens ... [So] you're tracking all these students really closely but out there you have seven million people that you don't know who they are or what they're doing,"" Holkstra said. ""This is one step in a total solution.\
