US orders verification of student visas for newly arriving students
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Homeland Security Department ordered border agents ‘‘effective immediately’’ to verify that every international student who arrives in the U.S. has a valid student visa, according to an internal memorandum obtained Friday by The Associated Press. The new procedure is the government’s first security change directly related to the Boston bombings.
The order from a senior official at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, David J. Murphy, was circulated Thursday and came one day after the Obama administration acknowledged that a student from Kazakhstan accused of hiding evidence for one of the Boston bombing suspects was allowed to return to the U.S. in January without a valid student visa.
The student visa for Azamat Tazhayakov had been terminated when he arrived in New York on Jan. 20. But the border agent in the airport did not have access to the information in the Homeland Security Department’s Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, called SEVIS.
Tazhayakov was a friend and classmate of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Tazhayakov left the U.S. in December and returned Jan. 20. But in early January, his student-visa status was terminated because he was academically dismissed from the university.
Tazhayakov and a second Kazakh student were arrested this week on federal charges of obstruction of justice. They were accused of helping to get rid of a backpack containing fireworks linked to Tsarnaev. A third student was also arrested and accused of lying to authorities.
A spokesman for the department, Peter Boogaard, said earlier this week that the government was working to fix the problem, which allowed Tazhayakov to be admitted into the country when he returned to the U.S.
Under existing procedures, border agents could verify a student’s status in SEVIS only when the person was referred to a second officer for additional inspection or questioning. Tazhayakov was not sent to a second officer when he arrived, because, Boogaard said, there was no information to indicate Tazhayakov was a national security threat. Under the new procedures, all border agents were expected to be able to access SEVIS by next week.
The government for years has recognized as a problem the inability of border agents at primary inspection stations to directly review student-visa information. The Homeland Security Department was working before the bombings to resolve the problem, but the new memo outlined interim procedures until the situation was corrected.
Under the new procedures, border agents will verify a student’s visa status before the person arrives in the U.S. using information provided in flight manifests. If that information is unavailable, border agents will check the visa status manually with the agency’s national targeting data center.
It is unclear what impact the new procedure will have on wait times at airports and borders. Customs officials will be required to report any effect, including increased wait times, on a daily basis.
The Obama administration announced an internal review earlier this week of how U.S. intelligence agencies shared sensitive information before the bombings and whether the government could have prevented the attack. Republicans in Congress have promised oversight hearings, which begin Thursday.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, asked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Thursday for details from the student-visa applications of Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev, the Kazakhstan students implicated in helping Tsarnaev after the bombings, including information about how Tazhayakov re-entered the United States.
Lawmakers and others have long been concerned about terrorists exploiting the student visa system to travel to the United States. A 20-year-old college student from Saudi Arabia was arrested in Texas in 2011 on federal charges of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. Authorities accused him of plotting to blow up dams, nuclear plants or the Dallas home of former President George W. Bush. He was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
Teach for America founder to deliver BU commencement, Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman will receive honorary degree
Wendy Kopp, the founder and board chair of Teach for America, will deliver Boston University’s commencement address on May 19, BU officials announced today.
University President Robert A. Brown made the announcement during the annual Senior Breakfast at the George Sherman Union’s Metcalf Ballroom, according to BU Today.
Teach for America employs recent college graduates as teachers in "some of the neediest schools across America," according to BU Today.
"Kopp, a Texas native, founded Teach for America in 1990, just one year after developing a proposal for the organization as her undergraduate senior thesis at Princeton University," BU Today said. "The idea for the program grew out of her desire to address educational inequality in America."
Kopp will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree, BU Today said. The other honorary degree recipients include Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman, chemical engineer Robert S. Langer, and United Methodist Church Bishop Peter D. Weaver.
According to BU Today, Mayor Thomas M. Menino will be honored at commencement with a Boston University Medallion.
Weaver will deliver the Baccalaureate speech the morning of commencement in the Marsh Chapel, according to BU Today.
Katherine Landergan can be reached at klandergan@globe.com. For campus news updates, follow her on Twitter @klandergan.
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BC partners with six other schools, including Brandeis, to offer for-credit online classes
Boston College will partner with six other universities this fall to offer for-credit classes as part of an on-line initiative, BC officials announced today.
In addition to BC, “Semester Online” will feature courses from Brandeis University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Northwestern University, the University of Notre Dame, Washington University in St. Louis, and Emory University.
These courses, in conjunction with the on-line educator provider 2U, will cover a range of topics from accounting to film, BC said in a statement.
“It is an exciting opportunity to explore this consortial approach to online undergraduate education and share our teaching excellence with a wider audience in partnership with peer schools and the nation’s leader in online education,” said BC Provost and Dean of Faculties Cutberto Garza.
The statement said the courses will be available to “academically qualified students” who are attending the universities in the consortium and other schools in the United States. To apply for a class, students must be in good academic standing and enrolled in a four-year, regionally accredited school.
Students attending universities in the consortium will pay standard tuition rates, and students from outside colleges will pay per class, the statement said. According to Jack Dunn, a spokesman for BC, the cost will be $4,200 for one course.
Unlike Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOCs, these classes will be capped at approximately 20 students.
Brandeis announced its involvement with the initiative in November.
“This consortium will expand opportunities for students everywhere and will help us all gain experience and understanding of the broad potential of distance learning," Brandeis Provost Steve A.N. Goldstein said in a statement. "We're looking forward to this exploration of the on-line world."
BC will offer two courses this fall: “How to Rule the World,” taught by political science professor Robert Bartlett, and “Vietnam: America’s War at Home and Abroad” instructed by associate professor of history Seth Jacobs.
Katherine Landergan can be reached at klandergan@globe.com. For campus news updates, follow her on Twitter @klandergan.
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Local colleges step up commencement security following marathon bombings
Following the April 15 attacks on the Boston marathon, local colleges and universities have decided to step up security at commencement ceremonies in the upcoming weeks.
Northeastern University spokesman Michael Armini said there will be increased police presence at the morning exercises at the TD Garden and the afternoon exercises at the school’s Matthews Arena, both scheduled for Friday.
“The stepped up presence will include both Northeastern and Boston police working in coordination,” he said in an e-mailed statement. “We cannot provide details for obvious reasons.”
Simmons College issued a statement saying that Simmons personnel, state and local police and other security staff will be at the Bank of America Pavilion commencement on May 10, inspecting bags and packages at every entrance. In the statement, the college asked attendees to refrain from bringing large bags and not to leave any belongings unattended during the ceremony.
“As a result of the tragic events at the Boston Marathon we have increased security personnel for this year’s Commencement ceremony,” the college said in the statement. “Public venues throughout the country are increasing security in light of these events; this should not be viewed as an indication of any increased threat to the Boston area.”
Berklee College of Music spokesman Allen Bush also said that the school plans to add security personnel at its commencement May 11 at the Agganis Arena. He did not have any further details.
School officials at Boston University and Harvard University said they could not disclose particulars about security, but that there would be “appropriate” measures taken for commencement ceremonies.
Ellen de Graffenreid, senior vice president for communications at Brandeis University, said in a phone interview that the university plans to be vigilant and increase police presence at its May 19, ceremony at the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center on the Brandeis campus.
“I think in the current environment it’s in everyone’s best interest to be careful,” she said.
Tufts University spokeswoman Kim Thurler said in an e-mailed statement that the school is still in the planning process for its commencement on May 19, but Tufts officials are giving extra attention to emergency preparedness.
"We are considering an increased uniformed police presence and additional steps to ensure security," she said in the statement. "Our incident command center will include public safety representatives from our host cities as well as Tufts personnel."
Katherine Landergan can be reached at klandergan@globe.com. For campus news updates, follow her on Twitter @klandergan.
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Death of BU student in fire is latest in string of fatal tragedies
The BU student killed in Sunday’s early morning fire is the latest in a string of fatal tragedies to hit the campus in recent months.
The Globe reported Sunday that a BU student died and 15 people were injured, including two other BU students, in an Allston fire earlier that morning.
University officials have identified the student as Binland Lee, a senior who was studying marine biology.
Lee was set to graduate in September from the school's marine program, BU officials said. She had served as the vice president of the BU Marine Science Association.
According to the university, Lee graduated in 2009 from Brooklyn Technical High School, a high school that accepts students who pass a rigorous exam.
John Finnerty, associate professor of biology, told BU Today that Lee was "a source of optimism for the future."
“I was struck by her intelligence, her determination, her vitality, and her infectious smile,” he said.
In a letter to the BU community, President Robert A. Brown wrote that “this tragedy comes close on the heels of the Boston Marathon losses, which have so affected our community. We are working to marshal counseling and support resources for all those touched by the fire while continuing to meet the needs of others who have been affected by the Marathon bombings.”
The university is holding a community gathering tonight at 7 p.m. in the George Sherman Union, according to BU Today.
"Monday's community gathering is a chance for the University community to get together regarding Sunday's tragic death of a student in an off-campus fire," BU Today reported. "Counseling resources and other information will be available."
Nearly two weeks ago, Boston University graduate student Lingzi Lu died in the marathon bombings. She was 23.
In early March, the Globe reported that a BU freshman died after he was found unconscious in an Allston apartment. The university identified him as Anthony Barksdale II, 19, an engineering student.
BU graduate student Christopher Weigl was killed in December while riding his bicycle in Allston. The 23-year-old collided with a tractor-trailer on Commonwealth Avenue.
In November, 21-year-old BU student Chung-Wei “Victor” Yang died after he hit a MBTA bus while on his bicycle in Brighton.
A third-year doctoral student at BU died in July after an apparent fall. The Globe reported that he was working on an archeological survey project.
The victim was identified as 26-year-old Chad DiGregorio of Upton.
And nearly a year ago, three undergraduate BU students died in a car crash while studying abroad in New Zealand. Several other students were injured.
The university identified the deceased students as junior Daniela Lekhno; Roch Jauberty, a 21-year-old sophomore from California; and Austin Brashears, a 21-year-old junior, also from California.
Dexter McCoy, the student body president of BU, said today in a phone interview that the students who have died over the last year are not just classmates, but "the people we call friends and family."
"The past year has been very hard," said McCoy, 21, from Houston, Texas. "Being a part of this community, you feel it every time."
McCoy said the BU community has proven it will stand strong and support each other through times of tragedy. But it never gets any easier.
"We start to appreciate life a lot more," he said. "For us as a community it hurts more and more but we do learn how to deal with it."
Katherine Landergan can be reached at klandergan@globe.com. For campus news updates, follow her on Twitter @klandergan.
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BU student-athletes host 'Olympic Day' for special needs children
(BU Athletic Department)
BU student-athlete Sam Kurker poses with a participant at BU’s Special Needs Olympic Day on Sunday, April 21.
The following is a press release from the Boston University Athletic Department:
The Boston University Athletic Department hosted its annual “Olympic Day” for special needs children on Sunday, April 21st at the Case Gym as part of the university’s Global Day of Service initiative.
Staffed by more than 50 BU student-athlete volunteers, the day featured games, races, obstacle courses, tattoos, face painting, dance performances and a pizza party for children of all abilities.
The event was hosted by BU student-athletes alongside Autism Speaks volunteers and other special needs professionals.
The day was part of BU’s Global Day of Service and was also held in recognition of April being Autism Awareness Month.
“After the tragedy that Boston experienced, the Sports Clinic was the perfect way to end the week,” said Kelley Borer-Miller, Autism Speaks’ senior director of field development. “It was a wonderful celebration of compassion, generosity, and perseverance. We are so grateful that these athletes dedicated their Sunday to promoting inclusion of people with all abilities.”
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Old photo essay by a BU student offers a glimpse into the life of Tamerlan Tsarnaev
A photo essay featuring Tamerlan Tsarnaev that appeared in a BU graduate student magazine in 2010 offers a glimpse into the life of the Boston Marathon bombing suspect who died last week.
The essay, “Will Box for Passport: An Olympic Drive to Become a United States Citizen,” tells the story of Tsarnaev’s boxing career through a series of photos and captions.
To view the complete photo essay, click here. The photos and captions appear after page 16.
According to the essay in “The Comment,” BU’s graduate student magazine for the college of communications, Tsarnaev said that although he had lived in the US for five years he had not become friends with any Americans.
“I don’t have a single American friend,” he told The Comment. “I don’t understand them.”
The essay says that Tsarnaev, who was an aspiring engineer, took a semester off from college to train for a boxing competition.
“Tsarnaev’s family fled Chechnya in the early 1990s because of the conflict there. He lived in Kazakhstan before coming to the United States as a refugee,” the essay says. “In the absence of an independent Chechnya, Tsarnaev says he would rather compete for the U.S. than for Russia.”
He also told The Comment that as a practicing Muslim, he did not drink or smoke.
“God said no alcohol,” he said.
Katherine Landergan can be reached at klandergan@globe.com. For campus news updates, follow her on Twitter @klandergan.
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BU students create a montage of the Marathon Bombing and its aftermath
One week ago Monday, everything changed. On a day that’s normally joyous as triumphant runners cross the finish line of the Boston Marathon, two blasts took lives, injured many others, and shook the city and the nation. Here’s a look back at the extraordinary events of the week through the lenses of Boston University Photojournalism program photographers.
This video is being published under an arrangement between the Boston Globe and the Boston University News Service.
College officials scramble after lockdown cancels events for prospective students, less than 2 weeks before decision day
A number of Boston-area colleges canceled events for prospective students on Friday and Saturday, leaving some high schoolers temporarily stranded, and school officials scrambling to reschedule open houses before the looming May 1st decision deadline.
According to the Boston University admissions website, the open house programs scheduled for April 19th and 20th were canceled. The university will hold makeup sessions on April 26th and 27th.
Admissions officers fielded questions on the BU Class of 2017 Facebook page.
Northeastern University rescheduled its Saturday events for prospective students to Sunday April 21st and Berklee College of Music canceled its Saturday open house.
Mark Campbell, vice president for enrollment at Berklee, said the open house was expected to draw a few hundred potential students. Although the events were canceled, college officials met with about 30 students, many of whom had traveled from as far as Mexico and Canada.
"They were very appreciative of our effort," Campbell said in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon.
Campbell said he is hopeful that the marathon bombings will not drastically hurt the college's yield rate.
"It would be collectively naive [for Boston colleges] to feel as though it would have no impact," he said."On the other hand we are seeing an incredible outpouring of support for Boston and for Berklee," later adding, "we're hoping that in the end they will decide to see this through and enroll."
Nearly 1,400 students who had been accepted to Harvard College, some international, were en route to Cambridge on Friday for an annual three-day event called Visitas, the college said in a statement. By noon, the university had officially canceled Visitas.
But hundreds of students, many with their parents, had already landed at Logan Airport Friday morning, the statement said. College officials ordered pizza for approximately 85 students and nearly 20 parents, helped reschedule flights home, and booked hotel rooms.
Members of the Harvard community improvised by using the hashtag #virtualvisitas on Twitter to answer questions from prospective students.
William R. Fitzsimmons, the dean of admissions and financial aid at Harvard College, said in the statement that Harvard is not rescheduling the event, but the college may extend the acceptance deadline beyond May 1 for students who had planned to attend Visitas.
“We will do whatever we can to help them in making their decision,” Fitzsimmons said in the statement.
On Sunday, Harvard President Drew Faust sent a message to the prospective students, in which she encouraged them to choose Harvard.
“Whether you are an aspiring artist or scientist, whether you are from Minneapolis or Mumbai,” wrote Faust, “whether your passions find you on the playing field or in the orchestra pit, whether you draw your intellectual energy from parsing texts or debating policy issues or writing code, I hope we will have the privilege of your joining the Harvard community.”
Katherine Landergan can be reached at klandergan@globe.com. For campus news updates, follow her on Twitter @klandergan.
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Students in disbelief as city is on lockdown: 'It feels like the world around you is going into anarchy'
Thousands of local college students are huddling in their dorms and apartments today, listening to scanners, texting parents, and swapping stories, as police and FBI agents are on an all-out manhunt for the marathon bomber.
Ritchie Chen, a Phd student at MIT, said that he was in the library at the time of the campus shooting last night, feet away from where the police officer was shot and killed.
He did not hear the shots being fired. Minutes after the shootout, someone pulled the fire alarm. Chen said he didn’t think much of it. But when he was back inside, his friend learned of the shooting through social media.
“My friend said someone was shot, a police officer was shot,” Chen said. “I told him, it’s not April 1st anymore. You’ve got to be joking.”
Chen said he was sequestered in the library until 2 a.m. Students were mostly silent, and listening to the police scanners.
“Social media was the easiest way to keep updated,” he said. “Twitter or Facebook – that was how we found out an officer was shot, that he was hurt in the hand and belly. It was right there, like a couple feet from the library.”
Chen said he biked home, right past the crime scene. He didn’t stop to look.
Universities including MIT, Harvard, Brandeis, BU, BC, Boston Conservatory, Bentley, Suffolk, Northeastern, Simmons, Berklee, Wheelock, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Tufts, Emmanuel, and Emerson have canceled classes today.
Roger Brown, president of Berklee College of Music, issued a statement urging students to stay in their dorm rooms or apartment and said that college personnel are “doing everything in our power to keep our students, faculty, and staff safe.”
“I am very proud of and confident in our security team, and we have been in continued contact through the night and morning,” he said in the statement. “I know we all look forward to being able to put this behind us, but for now, the key is to allow law enforcement personnel to do their jobs.”
At Northeastern University, final exams that were scheduled for today have been pushed back.
"We are working closely with the deans and the faculty to develop alternative arrangements so students can complete all of their work in the coming days," the university said in an e-mail to students. "We will continue to provide updates as new schedules are being developed."
At Emerson College, officials are coming up with creative ways to help students finish the semester after the unexpected shortened work week. Dean of Students Ron Ludman wrote in a message to the community that "as soon as it is reasonably possible, each faculty member will communicate with the students in his or her class a flexible plan to complete successfully spring semester course work."
In the message, a few solutions were proposed, including, "Allow each student to receive a grade for the term based on evaluations done to date; Allow students to complete the semester by sending completed projects to one’s faculty at a later date certain, providing an Incomplete for this semester with a grade registered after evaluation of the paper or project; and Allow students to develop individual agreements for academic situations that do not fall into the above categories."
Mary Kate Hennelly, a sophomore at Boston College said that she has been awake with eight of her friends since 10 p.m. thursday night, following the man-hunt as its unfolding.
"We’ve been on a combination of police scanners, t.v., and twitter," she said.
Hennelly said the group is exhausted and very concerned.
"I think right now we are just all pretty tired," she said. "Tiredness punctuated with tension."
Although Hennelly said the week has felt tumulteous, she and her friends have been touched by the outpouring support from friends and family.
"That's the beautiful thing," she said.
Molly Flynn, a junior Simmons College, said she stayed awake all night listening to the police chase and shootout on the scanners.
“I’ve been awake since 9:30 a.m. yesterday,” Flynn said. “Once [the shootout] happened, it’s just adrenaline.”
Flynn, who is at her apartment in the Back Bay, said she always has considered Boston to be a very safe city. After witnessing the bombings on Monday, she has cried every day.
“I’ve been crying a little bit in the morning, and I never cry,” she said. “It’s really an uncontrollable thing.”
Sarah Campbell, a student at Boston University, said she and her dorm mates feel that although staying indoors is tiring, it's an important safety measure.
"It's not getting any worse for [the suspect] the longer he stays out there," she said. "It could get worse for us" if we were outside.
Campbell, 19, said she was at the finish line at the time of the explosions. She was hit with a large piece of debris, but was left uninjured.
"It instantly turned to total chaos," she said of Monday's bombings.
As the week went on, Campbell said she started to process what had happened. But today has set her back.
"Waking up, hearing that the two guys are the same ones that carried out the bombings, it just sent me into another whirlwind."
She said that when she learned one suspect had died, she felt very conflicted.
"My emotions were haywire, because I definitely think he deserved [to die] but there should have been some justice," Campbell said.
Chen said this week has left him shaken, he said, particularly since he saw Monday’s bombings.
“It’s extremely traumatizing because I was on the Harvard Bridge running,” he said. You see this smoke and your skin is crawling.”
Chen said he is trying to follow his normal routine, but it has been difficult.
“It feels like the world around you is going into anarchy,” he said.
Katherine Landergan can be reached at klandergan@globe.com. For campus news updates, follow her on Twitter @klandergan.
Looking for more coverage of area colleges and universities? Go to our Your Campus pages.
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- US orders verification of student visas for newly arriving students
- Teach for America founder to deliver BU commencement, Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman will receive honorary degree
- BC partners with six other schools, including Brandeis, to offer for-credit online classes
- Local colleges step up commencement security following marathon bombings
- Death of BU student in fire is latest in string of fatal tragedies