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PLATFORM / REPORTS / TIMELINE / PRESS / READINGS
The administration has a responsibility to the international
students it brings to Yale:
• Yale's administration should make public statements and provide clear documentation of the academic and economic value of international students to the University.
• President Levin should continue to lobby government for a streamlined visa application and renewal process. Graduate students should be apprised of these activities and their progress.
• Hardship fund for people stuck outside the US due to visa delays
• Commitment to waive the SEVIS fee for all international students
• Improved English language training, including summer courses before classes begin (with full room and board), writing tutors, expanded one-on-one tutoring program
• Fair alternatives to the SPEAK test and more uniform application of it
• Equal requirements and pay/funding for international and domestic students
Related GESO reports:
• The Need for Academic Visa Reform and Labor Rights at American Universities [.pdf] 09/23/2003
• The New Face of Science [.pdf] 02/2003
History:
May 2006 |
National Immigrant Rights Day of Action: Organizers from GESO join Unidad Latina in the planning of and organizing of May Day events on the New Haven Green as part of a national day of action for immigrant rights. Xioaye Li speaks at a rally for immigrant rights on the New Haven Gren.
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Spring 2006 |
Yale International Scholars Committee: In February, members of ISOC march to Dean Jon Butler's office to demand access to and transparency in the ad hoc committee reviewing reports of discrimination. The following month, ISOC holds an open forum in HGS to discuss ways of improving working an dliving conditions for international scholars at Yale.
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October 2005 |
ISOC Grievance: ISOC submits a class-action grievance signed by a majority of Chinese students on campus to President Levin, calling for the fair treatment of Yale's international scholars, and specifcally, settlement with Xuemei Han, a fourth-year student in Ecology and Environmental Biology facing departmental discrimination, expulsion, and deportation. ISOC, joined by 200 GESO members, rally at HGS. Her case becomes a national story in China, with multiple live interviews about her situation airing on China's largest television stations. Xuemei Han is allowed to stay at Yale, and transfers to the Forestry program, as she requested, with a new advisor and full funding. By December, Yale announces the creation of an ad hoc committee to review cases of discrimination among international scholars.
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September 2003 |
Immigrant Workers Freedom Rides: Two GESO members speak with members of Congress as part of the AFL-CIO's Immigrant Workers' Freedom Rides. Members of congress express support for visa reform. They tell us to come back with a proposal for visa reform and, if possible, with the support of our university administration for that proposal.
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2003-2004 |
NATIONAL VISA REFORM CAMPAIGN: GESO publishes report on The Need for Academic Visa Reform and Labor Rights at American Universities. [.pdf]GESO members, along with Local 34 researcher travel to Washington, D.C. to meet with U.S. Representative Chris Cannon, member of the House's immigration subcommittee. Cannon agrees with our proposal and encourages us in our plans to begin a nationally-coordinated lobbying effort. GESO, having drafted a proposal for a security pre-check for prospective visa applicants, starts to build an organization of graduate students at 30 campuses across the country. Students at those universities begin meeting with administrators at their universities to ask them to support our legislative proposal. VICTORY! With the groundswell of support for visa reform, the H-1B Visa Reform Act of 2004 is passed, giving international scholars more flexibility for their study and stay at American universities.
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Summer 2003 |
Birth of ISOC: GESO’s International Students’ Committee convenes. Coordinates request from leaders of several international students’ organizations to President Levin for meeting on international students issues. Initiates national petition for visa reform.
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Press Articles
• International students worry about visa delays
WTNH, Channel 8
February 19, 2004 10:12 PM
Related Readings
• In the summer of 2003, GESO helped to found a national campaign for visa reform in the U.S. Learn more at www.visareform.net.
• In October of 2003, two GESO members participated in the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, marking a historic step in the struggle for the rights of international workers in the U.S. See www.iwfr.org.
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