To the Editor:
As international graduate students from departments across the humanities, social sciences and sciences, we would like to contribute to the current debate over the announced changes to University funding and support for doctoral students.
The new policy, which guarantees only five years of funding, will place enormous pressure on all doctoral students to complete degrees within the five-year period - a time frame that is well below the median time required in most humanities and social science programs. Dean of the Graduate School Sheila Bonde has openly implied that most students cannot expect funding to continue after their fifth year, stating that "some sixth-year doctoral students will be funded, but only after we satisfy our obligation to students in their first five years" ("Grad school dean addresses funding policy," Feb. 8). This policy is not competitive with funding at schools such as Yale, where the average time of funding is 7.2 and 7.1 years for students in humanities and social sciences, respectively.
The policy is further at odds with the University's stated commitment to enhancing Brown's prestige in international higher education. International students often require more time to complete a Ph.D. than their American counterparts, due to extra time needed to acclimatize ourselves to the new culture and to pass language requirements. With a rigid policy of guaranteeing only five years of funding, Brown will become a far less attractive option for potential international applicants.
Furthermore, international students are unprepared for these funding changes. Because of our ineligibility for many sources of external funding and due to visa restrictions that prohibit us from working off campus and stipulate that we must have sufficient funds to pay for tuition, fees and living costs for each entire year, many of us who have thus far been making good progress to completion of our degrees could face the daunting scenario of having to return to our countries of origin after our fifth year.
We are therefore calling upon the Graduate School, under Bonde's leadership, to reconsider the new funding policy. If the University is truly seeking to bolster its international profile, then accommodating the realities of educating international graduate students is integral.
Elif Alpaslan GS of Turkey Fulya Apaydin MA'05 GS of Turkey Roberto Bacci GS of ItalyJoseph Clark MA'04 GS of Canada Ruben Durante MA'05 GS of ItalyAna Margarida Esteves MA'06 GS PortugalBenedetta Gennaro GS of Italy Emilio Gutiirrez Fernandez GS of MexicoGill Frank MA'03 GS of CanadaJeanette Lee MA'06 GS of Trinidad and TobagoInna Leykin GS of IsraelShih-Cheh Lo GS of TaiwanLisbeth Trille G. Loft GS of DenmarkErica Moretti GS of ItalyChung Nguyen GS of VietnamFeryaz Ocakli MA'06 GS of TurkeyBurak Onaran MA'03 GS of TurkeyOmer Ozak MA'06 GS of ColombiaOded Rabinovitch MA'05 GS of IsraelPooja Rangan GS of IndiaSian Silyn Roberts GS of New ZealandEoin Ryan GS of IrelandMarc Steinberg GS of CanadaAiko Takeuchi MA'04 GS of JapanJulia Timpe GS of GermanyPhong Tran GS of VietnamAslihan Tokgoz MA'03 GS of TurkeyStephen Wicken GS of the United KingdomMarch 3
