Minutes recorded by:
Donna Lae, Educational Adviser, U.S. Norway Fulbright Commission,
Oslo, Norway, donnal@extern.uio.no
Chairperson: Sylvia Antonescu, Educational Adviser, Fulbright Commission, Bucharest, Romania
There were five handouts: Two brochures developed by a specific city dealing with personal safety, one especially for foreign students.
A video "A Little Street Wisdom," developed by NAFSA, was shown. Another video developed by the city of Spokane, Washington (available in several languages) showing different situations of potential danger, personal safety and driving/pedestrian safety wa
s shown.
Sylvia introduced the session by saying "visualize a city called "Campus". Ninety percent of the residents are young, sexually adult students of different cultures, backgrounds and countries, and it is apparent that sex is a very pertinent issue for forei
gn student advisors to consider.
Although "sex" is not usually a topic in pre-departure orientation abroad, all U.S. foreign student advisors consider it a very important issue.
Even though most universities offer safe-sex and AIDS prevention workshops, only 35% of students in 1993 practiced safe-sex.
There are often differences between the male/female roles in American culture versus those in a foreign country. As this can be confusing for foreign students, international students must receive information about the different roles of men and women in A
merican culture and about issues of sexual violence/date rape and AIDS awareness before coming to the USA to study.
Sylvia also noted that even when this information is included in pre-departure workshops, students may not believe it until they experience it for themselves.
Remarks by Elizabeth Partolan-Fray, Director, Multicultural Center, Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington
Elizabeth talked about misinformation that foreign students get about the U.S. from movies and by word of mouth.
A foreign student advisor can request safety statistics for any university by contacting the international office if this is a concern for a student.
Students need to be able to protect themselves in the U.S.-- the main concerns being:
- personal safety
- property protection
- driving/insurance/licenses/seat belt laws
- drinking/drug abuse
- racial discrimination
- victims of crime.
A video developed by Spokane, WA was shown at this point.
Remarks by: Diann Stewart, Director, International Students Office, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah
Diann gave a resume of the different levels of US law and government as well as the difference between Civil Law and Criminal Law.
Laws affect foreign students at all levels. For example, they are subject to Federal Immigration Laws, to State Laws regarding alcohol consumption and driving a car and to any regulations (laws) set down by the University they attend. She cautioned foreig
n advisors to inform students to ask about the laws and codes that affect them at all levels and to remain well within the laws of the U.S.
Remarks by Cristian Nicolae, computer Services Specialist, CEPES-UNESCO European H.E. Center, Bucharest, Romania
Cristian talked about computer crime on campus. Especially prominent is hacking-- an illegal break-in to a computer program, software piracy and, lately, threats through E-mail.
He cited two examples:
At Dartmouth College many students missed a final exam because they learned through the computer that the professor had canceled the test.
At Stephen F Austin University, a student was indicted for threatening the life of the U.S. President.
At the moment, there is no common solution to computer crime; each campus develops its own computer regulations.
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