In the last 50 years, airplanes, internet, telephones and global markets have all shortened the divides between countries to make the world a truly porous place. Front and center in this globalization project has been the United States.

It's no wonder we have encouraged such a course of action. For decades, the United States has been reaping the harvests of this global sphere. From expansion of trade to increasing technology to sharing knowledge, it has proven a real boon to American society (often at a cost to non-American nations and people).

One of the sectors of the United States that has become a great beneficiary of this transformation is higher education facilities, especially research universities like UW. Standing at the forefront of the global revolution means that U.S. universities hold an allure as the créme de la créme of education.

This sort of status has enabled top research universities to consistently attract the best and the brightest from all over the world to take up residence. And, indeed, international students have flocked to the U.S. with increasing enrollment numbers since the U.S. solidified as a premier educational spot following World War II.

Though many of these international students come to study in the United States, complete their program and then return to their home country, the advantages even this temporary tenure heralds for the United States are great. For years, our nation has assumed the lead role in many scientific and technological advances because our universities are submerged in a pool of global genius, which in turn further strengthens our whole country.

Biotechnology at Wisconsin, for example, has pioneered revolutions in genetic knowledge, crop technology and stem cell research precisely because of its status as a leading university.

On a local scale, this has further increased the prestige, funding and cultural diversity of the entire campus. Consequently, not only does a degree from the University of Wisconsin hold more clout for all UW students — which comes in handy when finding a job — but we are also the benefactors of a more diverse campus that helps integrate us into the international society in which we live.

On a more macro level, the treasure chest attached to leading the charge in biotechnology (or a host of other scientific and intellectual innovations for that matter in the case of other universities in the U.S.) has brought with it a slew of direct and indirect benefits to the United States that cannot easily be quantified.

While the very success and prestige of university research institutions has come to hinge on international appeal and recruitment prowess, the advantage's potency is quickly diminishing in the face of new homeland security measures.

Since the terrorist attacks September 11, the U.S. administration has been beefing up security across the United States: throwing more money into security programs and networks, monitoring more closely who comes in and out of the country, making the processes to obtain admission to the United States more stringent, lengthy and difficult and a host of other things all in the name of homeland security and taking the "offensive" against terror.

These "offensive" measures, however, construct settings in which international students are put on the defensive and greatly ostracized by these sorts of reforms.

The student VISA process that used to take a matter of weeks, now clocks in at anywhere from nine weeks to six months. International students are closely monitored and must adhere to strict research guidelines while they fear leaving the U.S. in event they cannot re-cross the border. Some are restricted from using certain lab facilities because of where they are from, and the list goes on. The newest appendage on this bill of restrictions would require that students from "countries of concern" obtain a special permit to use lab equipment.

Jumping through all this rigmarole detracts from the appeal American universities hold for international students. Other opportunities are surfacing elsewhere, so that the benefits of studying in the U.S. no longer usurp its mounting costs. Therefore, enrollment figures of international students have taken a precipitous plunge in the wake of these "security" measures for the first time since the 1940s.

These measures are causing the seas to shift and take the tide away from the United States' educational preeminence. Because these facilities lay at the cornerstone of our prominence as a world power by cultivating our technology, our diversity and ultimately our educational facilities, the doors are slamming shut for not just international students, but for all students in these universities and eventually all people in the United States.

Protecting our homeland does not mean taking an offensive stance that instills a culture of fear and "otherness" and assumes all foreigners are dangerous terrorists. Instead, restricting international students removes U.S. universities from their top dog status and marks a prodigious cascade of negative consequences that will do little to secure America. This legislation is barking up the wrong tree entirely and simply will not work within the broader scheme of the global world we have created.

Kate Flick ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in sociology.