IOWA CITY

Visa denials hit math department hard

The government has denied visas to 51 foreign students who had planned to attend or teach at the University of Iowa this year. As a result, the mathematics department will lose the majority of its teaching assistants.

"We're having trouble staffing the mathematics tutorial labs," said Yi Li, a professor of mathematics.

Three of five students recruited to help with classes that began Aug. 26 were unable to enter the United States - two from China, one from the Mideast. Li said replacing the math department's lost teaching assistants at the last minute has been difficult. Of the 51 students denied visas, 43 were Chinese.

"This has nothing to do with 9/11," said Diana Davies, Iowa's director of international programs. "We saw this beginning to happen last summer."

In addition to the Chinese students who were unable to get visas, students from India, Vietnam and Guiana were refused admission.

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2002

Answers

I attended the U of I as a math major and this pleases me to no end. My 2nd year calculus class had to threaten to sue them to get an instructor that could speak AND understand English. Very few Americans graduate from UofI in the math/computer disciplines due to the high amount of foreign students and fewer still get grad teaching positions. Preference is given to foreign students.

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2002

Beckie,

I think it is the way you mentioned at most universities now. I know it is where I work.

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2002

Same problem in my computer class at Loyola, New Orleans. Iranian guy. Luckily, I could understand most of what he said because I had an Iranian friend and was used to the accent, but a lot of people had problems. That was early 80s. (I was already old and graying when I went to University!) So this problem has been growing for at least 20 years.

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2002