During the 2002-'03 academic year, the university required UW-Madison international students to pay $50 per semester to support the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, a tracking service required by the USA Patriot Act. This year, the university funded the fee on a temporary basis. University officials have decided to continue funding SEVIS, according to Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Paul Barrows.
After negative response to the initial fee, Barrows said, the university decided to cover costs to show support for international students.
\We've heard the message loud and clear from our faculty, from international students and other students,"" Barrows said.
Barrows said the university will continue dipping into private gift funds and the base budget, which includes tuition, state money, grants and donations, to pay for SEVIS.
Vineet Dsouza, a UW-Madison junior from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, disagreed with the university's initial decision to implement the SEVIS fee.
""Having to pay it is, in my opinion, wrong, because we're pretty much paying for the government to track every single thing we do in the United States,"" Dsouza said.
In a memo to International Student Services, UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley addressed anticipated negative response to the fee.
""[We] are caught in an intense social and political debate that obscures a continuing and fundamental challenge: The need to make certain that international students and scholars, who have made such vital contributions to UW-Madison over the years, continue to find a home here,"" Wiley said.
Wiley also addressed other problems, such as difficulties obtaining visas, that could deter international students from coming to the university.
""Many of these students are electing to go to Canada and Europe. So that's a serious issue for us as a nation,"" Barrows said.
Although Barrows said difficulties getting a visa may dissuade students from studying in the United States, he said he did not believe the SEVIS fee drove international students out of the United States.
""Officially, when we proposed that [international students] pay the fee, we got a lot of reaction from faculty, staff and students. We decided that maybe there was a better way to pay for this,"" Barrows said.
""I think it's a common reaction for everyone to be annoyed with such a decision from the university,"" Dsousa said.
While Barrows said he remains optimistic about the future of SEVIS fees, Dsouza was skeptical.
""I don't think the university will continue to pay for it in the long run,"" Dsouza said. ""I mean, it is a considerable amount of money.\
