American university team in Lebanon to allay Arab fears

University officials from the United States have been touring the region for the past few days as part of a campaign to dismiss fears of Arab students being detested by Americans in the wake of the September 11 attacks and encourage them to study in the U.S.

"We consider our Arab students to be a tremendous asset," said Patrick Plunkett, the executive director of the division of international initiatives at Northea-stern University.

Plunkett came with a delegation that included Howard Dooley, the executive director of international affairs at Western Michigan University and Donna Scarboro, the assistant vice-president for special academic programmes at George Washington University.

"Arab and Muslim students learn much about American culture and society, and they also provide their fellow students with the opportunity to learn more about the Arab world and Islam," he added.

Dooley said that in the aftermath of September 11, many were concerned about a possible backlash against Arabs and Muslims in the United States.

"We want to make it very clear that our society does not condone such actions, and that those who pursue them have been and will continue to be punished to the fullest extent of the law," he said.

The U.S. Embassy in Beirut has issued a statement in which it said that some 17,000 Arab students were enrolled last year in the U.S. educational institutions of which over 1,600 were Lebanese students.

Plunkett told of a similar situation at his university saying that right after September 11, eight students out of 450 Arabs decided to leave the university and that all of them were Saudis and Kuwaitis. He said that this year the number of Arab students only decreased to 443 out of 2,800 international students.

U.S. Ambassador to Beirut Vincent Battle admitted that it was taking more time to obtain a student visa than it did before September 11.

"We greatly regret the inconvenience that some students and their families endured this year because of changes in the administrative rules for processing visas," he said.

Battle added that the embassy was "working hard" to end the backlog of pending visa approvals.

"But we must also recognize that September 11 proved that America was vulnerable to attack, and we consider it our primary duty to protect our citizens and our visitors from future attacks by being very careful to screen all visa applications," he said.

The ambassador explained that U.S. "authorities are now very interested in ensuring that once a student goes to the United States on a student visa, he or she maintains his student status. So the universities have an obligation to verify to the authorities that a person is a full-time student."

Karim Nassif, a student from the American University of Beirut, told Gulf News that student visa to the U.S. has always been a complicated issue even before September 11.

"Most graduates from our university spend months applying to American universities," he said adding in case these students receive their I-20, they might have to wait for a similar period before they receive their student visa.

Nassif argued that other reasons lay behind the decrease in students applying to U.S. universities. "There is a question of the job market after graduation. If you come back here, you'll be over-qualified and not everyone wants to stay and work in the U.S.," he added.

Nassif also said that he plans to continue his MA studies in the U.S. but he is waiting to receive a scholarship. "Financial aid in U.S. universities is tempting. Once you finish your higher studies, you know that you come back to the Middle East and will receive higher salary offers," said Nassif.