international education

This whole debt ceiling mess, critical in its own right, is also obscuring fights for other priorities as the budget fight for FY12 heats up.

One such priority is international education. NAFSA CEO and Executive Director Marlene M. Johnson last week sent letters to influential members of Congress reminding them of the importance of global learning and engagement as a part of the national recovery from the recession. Here is a summary of the messages sent to various subcommittees on behalf of NAFSA and the students and educators it represents:

• Subcommittee: Labor, Health, Human Services, Education & Related Agencies: NAFSA urged the subcommittee to provide adequate funding for programs that provide financial aid and support services for low-income, minority, and first-generation college students. These programs include Pell grants, Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants, and TRIO. NAFSA also asked the subcommittee to fund the Department of Education’s international and foreign language programs at President Obama’s FY12 budget request of $125.881 million, the same level of funding these programs received in FY2010. The Department’s FY12 budget proposal includes objectives for these programs to better support students at underserved institutions and provide more teacher training, objectives NAFSA strongly supports. NAFSA spoke out on behalf of the President’s request for funding for the First in the World program, which would support institutions taking innovative steps to increase college graduation rates and replace FIPSE (the Fund to Improve Postsecondary Education).
• Subcommittee: State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs: NAFSA urged the subcommittee to make a strong investment in educational exchange programs such as Fulbright by approving funding at the President’s FY12 budget request of $637.1 million. NAFSA also highlighted the need for robust funding for the Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs, urging funding at the President’s budget request of $7.6 billion. NAFSA made note of the importance of the Peace Corps, urging support for this innovative and critical public diplomacy program at the President’s request of $439.6 million.
• Subcommittee: Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies: NAFSA urged support for the Administration’s requested budget for FY12 to support the International Trade Administration’s U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service, which actively promotes U.S. higher education in other countries as part of its mission to advance U.S. exports.

Once we get past this debt crisis and (hopefully) stabilize the fiscal health of the United States, President Obama has indicated he is interested in making investments to strengthen the country, including many of those mentioned above. Here's hoping members of Congress understand the importance of investing in these programs. From the Fulbright program and Foreign Commercial Service to the Peace Corps, Congress needs to affirm its support for America's students and the programs that allow them to succeed here and abroad.

At the NAFSA: Association of International Educators Annual Conference and Expo this week in Kansas City, Missouri, members and the board of directors approved a resolution formally opposing SB1070, Arizona's unjust immigration legislation.

NAFSA's own Everett Egginton, a past president, describes the resolution in a blog post at the NAFSA website:

The resolution calls for the immediate repeal of anti-immigrant legislation by the State of Arizona urges other states to refrain from passing similar measures; asks the U.S. Congress to act quickly to enact comprehensive immigration reform; and resolves the association to not hold national and regional meetings in the State of Arizona until the situation is rectified.

[...]

Of course there is great meaning in this resolution for me at personal level as well, related to where I live, work, and seek personal satisfaction in my life. New Mexico, one of Arizona’s neighbors, is a majority-Hispanic state. But it’s not only the Hispanics in New Mexico that are hurt and embarrassed by this legislation; the hurt and embarrassment are felt across the entire state. As such, we as New Mexicans are concerned with the burdens of this legislation on our Arizona colleagues...

As an employee working in higher education (and a student studying it), I am encouraged to see higher education groups mobilizing on this issue. Unfortunately, those opposed to the legislation are in the minority nationally. This makes standing up and speaking out against this legislation even more paramount. Props to NAFSA for taking a stand. Hopefully similar groups follow its lead.

UPDATE: NAFSA has also launched an advocacy campaign here. (You can automatically tweet a message or post it to your Facebook status, and also write a letter to your governor asking that they take a stand against the Arizona law.)