By Brendan Reilly

Northeastern’s international student body will be faced with many questions over the next several months, and some may feel they shouldn’t have to.

Sparked by the first attempted bombing of the World Trade Center Towers in 1993 and later expedited by the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, Northeastern is now complying with the federal government and using the newly finalized Student and Exchange Visitor System (SEVIS).

“We have to comply with federal laws,” said Ed Klotzbier, director of university communications. “This is no different than any other law. We comply to all of them.”

While Northeastern has already complied and hooked into SEVIS, U.S. colleges are not required to use the program until Aug. 1.

SEVIS is a database of information on international students attending U.S. universities. Colleges and universities are required to upload information about the students to the database for government review and monitoring. Information such as course outlines and schedules, address and employment are all included in SEVIS.

“I think it is necessary to have some kind of control but I think there are other ways to do that,” said senior international business and marketing major Fernanda Oliviera, a native of Brazil. “I knew they would be able to track me when I applied for my student visa. But I don’t like that Northeastern would be required to send my personal information like my address, employment and course schedule to the government.”

For an international student at Northeastern, things that an American student might take advantage of would be a considered a luxury. An international student bound by terms of a student visa and government regulations cannot easily join their friends for a spring break trip to Montreal.

An international student must report any course changes to the administration so the information can be reported through the SEVIS program to the government. If a student were to drop below 12 credits after 30 days into an academic term, they may face deportation if the government does not feel the reason for doing so is a valid one.

“I think it is outrageous,” Oliviera said. “Just because I am an international student doesn’t mean I should not be allowed to allowed to walk into a class and decide I don’t want to take it. That doesn’t mean I am doing something wrong. I have that right like any other student.”

Ryuzo Ogawa, a junior marketing and management major from Japan, does not share Oliviera’s outrage, though.

“Under a student visa if you drop below three classes you aren’t considered a full-time student anyway, so I guess that’s not really an issue for me,” he said.

Ogawa says that while he does not necessarily agree with some of the things that may be reported in the SEVIS program, he hasn’t noticed any effects it has had on his everday life and does not really see it as a problem right now.

When asked if they feared SEVIS might be used to unfairly place students from certain countries such as Iraq and Iran under more scrutiny than students from other countries, both agreed it was possible but doubt that Northeastern will have any part in that.

“I am sure they [Middle Eastern students] won’t be singled out by Northeastern, but I don’t know if they might feel singled out by the government,” Oliviera said.

Klotzbier said students Northeastern is working to comply with the law but make its students feel at home at NU.