The Madison City Council Tuesday night voted 11-2 to \defend the equal protection of international students"" and denounce the pending fee levied by UW-Madison against international students for a mandatory student-visa surveillance program.
The council meeting witnessed the two opposing forces in the debate-international students and some domestic students-citing the cultural and social benefits of added diversity and UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley, representing the administration's budgetary concerns over the issue.
Wiley explained that the university foresaw no viable option other than to charge those students the system was designed for in order to fund the federally-mandated program, calling the council's resolution ""unnecessary.""
""The council is insulting the university by saying that they care more about our international students than we do, understand our budget better than we do, know what's best all the way around and were elected by voters of Madison to take decisions on issues like this, which frankly, I don't think that they were,"" he said.
Prior to addressing the council, Wiley was confronted by a contingency of students who demanded an explanation of his position on the issue. When speaking to the council, Wiley outlined the university's monetary dilemma, contending that general tuition and state tax funds could not be used to cover the fee.
SEVIS is a national appendage of the PATRIOT ACT designed to electronically track international students at American universities. This record-keeping system is projected to cost the university $330,000, money Wiley and his administration feel should come out of the pockets of the students the program is designed to track.
More than 30 students, teaching assistants and community members registered their support for the resolution at the meeting, with nearly half taking the floor to express their concerns about a fee deemed ""discriminatory"" in every speech.
Daniel A. Long, a UW-Madison graduate student, expressed a common sentiment among those supporting the resolution that the entire student population and the City of Madison are the primary benefactors of the impact international students have on the community, saying no other student service was billed solely to those it was designed to assist.
""[This fee] will make the climate for international students more hostile than it already is,"" he said.
The council stated it adopted the resolution because of its unwillingness to rationalize discrimination, that they felt a nominal fee spread across the entire student body suggested by those against the targeted fee was a better option and that it was their duty to speak out against university policy in issues such as this.
""We love [international students]. We support you. We value your presence here, you add greatly to the campus, and we're trying help make sure that you can stay here. This is for your benefit, this is not surveillance of you,"" Wiley said.
