Editorial & Letters The Brown Daily Herald
Page 10 | Thursday, April 8, 2010
ale x yuly
e d i to r i a l
STEM and roots
t h e b r o w n d a i ly h e r a l d Editor-in-Chief
Managing Editor Chaz Kelsh
George Miller
Deputy Managing Editors Sophia Li Emmy Liss
editorial Anne Speyer Suzannah Weiss Brian Mastroianni Hannah Moser Brigitta Greene Ben Schreckinger Sydney Ember Nicole Friedman Dan Alexander Zack Bahr Andrew Braca Han Cui
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Anyone who follows national politics closely probably doubts that Congress will achieve bipartisan consensus on a major issue this year. Nonetheless, there has been some discussion that Congress may soon turn its attention to the nation’s immigration system. If it does, there is at least one reform that’s highly relevant to students and universities and is worthy of broad-based support. In a March 19 op-ed in the Washington Post, Senators Lindsay Graham, R-S.C. and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. presented an outline of immigration reform legislation. Their proposals include offering permanent resident status to any foreign student who completes a PhD or master’s degree in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM). “It makes no sense to educate the world’s future inventors and entrepreneurs and then force them to leave when they are able to contribute to our economy,” Schumer and Graham argue. We strongly agree. Under current law, if foreign-born STEM graduate students want to work in the United States after receiving their degree, they must find a sponsoring employer and apply for an H1-B visa. Unfortunately, the number of available H1-B visas is capped. Many heads of major technology companies — including Microsoft founder Bill Gates — have argued for relaxing limitations and making it easier for these students to stay, according to The Hill’s Hillicon Valley blog. Opponents of immigration reform are likely to claim that any proposed legislation will result in Americans losing jobs to immigrants. But that criticism doesn’t necessarily apply to this particular provision. Indeed, because of their training, STEM graduate students have a unique capacity for innovation and entrepreneurship that can benefit the American economy and create jobs. In
2002, the Public Policy Institute of California collected information on first-generation immigrants in Silicon Valley and found that 52 percent of those sur veyed had been involved with founding or running a start-up company. Despite this logic, some members of Congress might still worr y that critics on the right could characterize the change as harmful to American workers. But last year Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. — one of the most conser vative members of the House of Representatives — introduced legislation that would exempt STEM graduate degree recipients from visa quotas. Flake nonetheless received a perfect 100 rating from the American Conser vative Union. Moreover, he hails from a border state where residents are extremely passionate about immigration issues. If Rep. Flake supports easing restrictions on STEM graduate students, then the idea should at least be palatable to most of the American political spectrum. The real worr y is not that STEM graduate students might take jobs from natural born citizens here in the United States, but that technology companies might move their research and development operations overseas. A March 17 New York Times article highlighted this emerging trend, citing companies that are building labs in Xi’an, China. Xi’an “has 47 universities and other institutions of higher learning, churning out engineers with master’s degrees who can be hired for $730 a month.” It’s clear that America has to do more to remain competitive in the global economy, and the scientists and innovators educated here must be enticed to stay.
Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
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