In the face of recently enforced immigration regulations that make it difficult to stay at Dartmouth legally during sophomore summer, only 38 percent of sophomore international students are on campus this term, according to the Dean of the College Office, often after rearranging their Dartmouth Plans and risking canceled visas.
In 2005, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security clarified preexisting laws, ruling that international students may not take off more than one term of school in a row or take more than one leave term in a year.
As the same law had been interpreted previously, students could take off two terms within a one-year period without problems. But in order to comply with the re-interpreted regulations, international students at Dartmouth must remain enrolled in classes for three consecutive terms between leave terms. If they break the rules, the visas that allow them to study in the United States will be terminated. For many, this was the death knell for sophomore summer.
For example, a typical plan of being on campus during sophomore year and summer, while taking a term off during junior year, is prohibited by the regulations because if a student also takes off junior summer, he or she does so without having spent three consecutive terms on campus. The easiest way to comply with the regulations is to be away from campus every summer.
But Romanian student Roxana Mirica '08 decided to stay on during the summer, knowing that it could lead to legal problems. She said she has not decided whether to graduate one term early or find some other alternative.
Or, she said, she could "break the rules," an option not without ramifications. Theoretically, a student who breaks the rules would automatically have his or her visa terminated and would have to apply for a new visa. But for those who wish to eventually work in the United States, such a violation could make it difficult to obtain a work visa later on.
In addition to being inconvenient, the regulations seem unjust to Mirica.
"I feel that they are unfair most for international students and give us extremely little flexibility in arranging a favorable D-Plan," she said. "For the past few years, the regulations have kept on getting stricter, so we can only hope that this is actually the end and that there are no more surprises coming up."
While many international students wish to remain in Hanover during sophomore summer, a term seen by many as a crucial element of the Dartmouth experience, others view it as less central.
Canadian Latif Nasser '08 saw the complicated regulations as an opportunity to pursue his own interests in lieu of taking classes. He is touring a play he wrote, called "The Star Chamber," around the United States, including two Hanover performances in July.
"I don't really care much about staying here for the summer, because I think there are more interesting things that can only be done in the summer," he said. "To be honest, this was my excuse not to be on. Instead, I'm doing the research project of my dreams, funded by the College."
The re-interpreted regulations affected another Canadian, Doug Raicek '08, differently. Because he was enrolled last summer through the China Foreign Study Program and took a term off in the fall, he was required to be on this summer or his visa would have been cancelled.
"The problem then becomes that I'm now locked into a D-plan that keeps me enrolled over summers and, this being my second summer in a row taking classes, I really don't want to be taking classes next summer," he said.
Instead of taking classes next summer, Raicek said he will take the summer off and risk the consequences of a canceled -- and hopefully reissued -- visa.
Mirica credited the international office with helping students navigate the regulations.
"They are helpful and try to come up with solutions, but obviously, cannot change the regulations or make exceptions," she said.
