To the editor:
You have carried a series of articles related to the increasing number of foreign students being enrolled at Dickinson State University. This, in response to several students who questioned the effect this influence has had on the education they are receiving at DSU.
My hat is off to them, for such concerns are best brought out and discussed in the open.
I am a graduate of Dickinson State and have always been proud of DSU and the education I received there. A part of that education came from the other students I met there.
I often wonder if I didn't learn as much from the people I associated with as I did from the courses studied; for every individual has a different background, and we are influenced to some degree by everyone that we deal with.
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However, at what point does diversity become diversion? Can dealing with excessive cultural differences become a distraction?
Our students are paying to come here attempting to learn a profession or trade that will benefit them in life. Mr. Vickers may have felt warmth upon seeing other universities that had a "United Nations feeling," but many of us do not exactly share this same "warm glow." We remember we are first a sovereign nation and must retain that sovereignty.
As to the financial aid that allows these foreign students to come here for their schooling, I have often wondered exactly where these grants come from, bit it the federal government, state or university sources. Wouldn't there be some way of making such funds available to our local students first, before giving it to foreign students? We have students right here who could use some help against the ever-increasing cost of college.
Again, it is good to bring this issue out and look at it from all sides. I am not presenting any answers, but I do have questions regarding the direction our university is taking?
Jim Lowman
Fairfield
