The Chronicle of Higher Education reported on Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s newly announced Homeland Security Academic Advisory Council (HSAAC), which recently held its first meeting in Washington, D.C.  The committee’s 19 members are leaders in the academic community and have been charged by Secretary Napolitano to provide their ideas as part of a continuous exchange and “to forward her advice and recommendations for best practices and regulatory change.”

According to the article, the first meeting focused on international students and campus emergency preparedness, but HSAAC will also devote time and attention to the issues that surround international students. College officials worry that tight visa restrictions and current immigration law will deter some of the best and brightest international students from choosing to study in the United States. One council member said “that there is an urgency for the commission to tackle immigration and visa matters.”

Secretary Napolitano agrees that the student-visa process is unnecessarily complicated but “noted that substantial reform to the visa and immigration systems will require congressional approval, while her department only has the authority to make regulatory change.” Lou Farrell, Director of the Student and Exchange Visitor Program also agreed that such adjustments are necessary. He believes that with the Secretary’s involvement, HSAAC “has the ear of the person who could move it forward”.

Over the next few months, HSAAC will create two subcommittees. One “will delve more into these international-student concerns, while another will take a look at college emergency preparedness and response.”

Source

• Homeland Security Asks New Academic Advisory Group to Keep Ideas Flowing,The Chronicle of Higher Education