I HAVE participated in and written on international student advocacy for the last four years. And I’ve concluded that its failure lies in a perennial Catch-22. An obdurate administration sees little need for change when there is such lackluster mobilization among current and former international students. But international student activism is anemic precisely because the administration’s icy rebuffs generate cynicism among students and stifle loyalty among alumni.
But I was willing to give the international student community one more chance to prove my cynicism wrong. So, last Wednesday, I snuggled into a comfortable green chair at Alumni Hall, munching on my sandwich and eagerly awaiting the launch of the new Global Student Council. Half of me begged to be impressed, while the other predicted I would be dejected. As usual, the result fell somewhere in between.
If it is accorded CIO status, the GSC will create the first common platform to address international student issues at the University. That alone is a phenomenal achievement. But the organization risks becoming a white elephant if the notoriously discordant cultural organizations refuse to bless it, the miserly administration refrains from supporting it, or docile international students simply do not utilize it.
International students have long needed a single body to address their wealth of grievances. They receive paltry incoming credit because they pursue non-AP programs like the International Baccalaureate. They face linguistic and cultural barriers in a new environment that most Americans do not. And the immigration hiccups they encounter make simple applications to jobs, internships and health insurance so time-consuming they ought to receive credit hours for them.
Creating a monolithic group also streamlines cooperation with a bureaucratic administration. Rather than deal with episodic huffs and puffs over international student financial aid or curriculum internationalization, the University will now have a sustained and unified partner that is representative of all its international students. As Senior Assistant Dean of Admissions Parke Muth put it, “having an organization is good because international student interests are part of a concrete group rather than just a reciprocation of interests on a periodical basis.”
But GSC’s goal of serving as the umbrella organization for international student interests is a lofty one. The multitude of cultural organizations on grounds represent innumerable parochial interests that will be difficult to pool. These organizations are content to restrict advocacy to organizing parties, selling food and advertising their traditions. Turning them political is itself a gargantuan task. Even if these groups do huddle under GSC’s umbrella, my experience with other ‘umbrella’ organizations suggests there will still be nit picky bickering over why certain cultural groups are represented more than others. The umbrella may turn out to be a leaky one.
The administration was extremely helpful at the meeting in guiding GSC toward concrete short term goals. Wayne Cozart, vice president for alumni engagement, advised the group to identify five or six specific countries where international students would help publicize the University through high school visits. Muthe broached the interesting idea of GSC linking up with faculty who travel a lot internationally. But while such goodwill should be noted, this comes at little cost to the administration. The real test will be when the University has to devote actual resources to aiding international students through financial aid or scholarships.
When I asked Cozart about what specific resources the University was willing to devote to GSC, he rattled off the usual babble about this being a process and the University being a complex organization. Needless to say, that did not reassure me. While GSC will take incremental steps initially, like publicity and alumni engagement to gain momentum, it won’t be long before it confronts the elephants in the room like financial aid. If the University does not reciprocate with the same goodwill then, it will once again fail its growing international student population.
GSC co-presidents Ansuya Harjani and Miloni Shah must also ensure that there is continuity within the organization to sustain it for decades to come. That will mean cozying up to the International Residential College and other cultural groups to sieve out committed leaders instead of resume builders. It also means publicizing a full calendar of interesting events through effective channels of communication. GSC has already planned for a Web site and blog. But these pathways must be connected to more familiar links to international students like the IRC Web site, International Studies Office, or even the University’s main page. Writing articles in The Cavalier Daily and working with Student Council are also essential pieces of the puzzle.
If GSC is set up, it will undoubtedly be a landmark event in the black-marked field of international student advocacy. But whether or not it can pull reform efforts out of the Catch-22 abyss is another question altogether.
Prashanth Parameswaran’s column appears Thursdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at p.parameswaran@cavalierdaily.com.
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