Young Shoo Shim did not get upset and decide to return to his home country after he experienced discrimination at SIUC.

When students like Shim hail from places where everyone is from the same racial background, it is hard for international students to understand being treated differently because of the color of their skin or the accent in their voice.

International students potentially face these discriminatory situations when they come to America. They also may have to adjust to being treated poorly at times as a result.

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This month, SIUC is recognizing its 50th year of international enrollment, but the celebrations are not taking administrators’ minds off of the recent significant drop in that enrollment. SIUC, once ranked sixth in the nation in international student recruitment, now ranks 23rd.

According to the 1995-96 Open Doors, a report on international educational exchange, international students make up about 3.1 percent of all U.S. higher education enrollments. Recruitment of international students has increased even among community colleges as more U.S. schools are trying to lure international students to their campuses. International students sometimes pay as much as three times the tuition of American students.

Because of this, any incidents of discrimination against international students would be especially unsettling for SIUC because of the intense competition.

For Shim, a graduate student in journalism from Korea, discrimination is an unusual thing. That is why he was astonished when he encountered discrimination at SIUC because of his ethnic background.

In his two and a half years at SIUC, Shim has had encounters with various campus employees. But the most upsetting encounter, he said, occurred last semester when he needed help with some research. He asked a campus employee for assistance, and she would not let him complete a sentence, saying she did not understand him.

He cleared his throat, taking his time to articulate his words to make them distinct. The woman kept interrupting him, saying again that she did not understand him. He continued to tell the woman about what he was looking for while she continued to interrupt.

Shim was forced to ask her if she really did not understand what he was saying. Her response was snotty and inconsiderate as she finally told him where he could find his information.

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Shim reluctantly accepted her information with a helpless, angry feeling.

She was just so unkind, Shim said. She was very stiff instead of helping me with the books.

Atsushi Miki, a senior in speech communication from Japan, said he also has had negative encounters with Americans. As a result, he often avoided asking for help so that he would not endure experiences like Shim’s.

When I first came here, it was frustrating, he said. I just tried to learn how everything worked so that I wouldn’t have any problems.

Although Shim enjoys his time in America and generally has had better experiences with Americans, he said his and Miki’s experiences are not isolated ones.

But, he believes those experiences may add to SIUC’s problem with declining international enrollment. American universities’ reputations can be enhanced by positive word-of-mouth among international students and their friends and families.

SIUC generally has the good reputation of having Southern hospitality’ and for treating international students well, Shim said. It’s really important to keep these traditions to maintain international students who prefer the hospitality here as opposed to other campuses.

John Jackson, vice chancellor of Academic Affairs and provost, is worried about these and similar experiences that could occur on campus. He is one of the administrators who are working to return the campus to its former standing, but he says discrimination against international students is not one of the problems threatening SIUC’s enrollment.

We have welcomed internationals from around the world for a half century, it’s part of our tradition, he said. I can’t tell you that no international student has ever experienced bias or prejudice or even racism. I will say in general SIUC is a pretty tolerant place.

While Jackson does not confirm nor deny that SIUC’s international students encounter discrimination, he believes a university is the best place to eliminate these activities.

I’m sure there had been some unfortunate examples of bad behaviors, he said. I’m trying my best to set a tone that would say living in the modern world includes learning to get along with people who are different from your own background, racial, ethnic, gender, whatever gaps need to be closed when you are in an university setting.

If we don’t do it here, where will we ever accomplish it in our society?

Shim believes there is an simple solution to help prevent negative experiences for international students, a solution that would benefit the entire student body.

Although some international students may need extra help learning campus ways because of their unfamiliarity with U.S. language and culture, Shim says people who are able to help these and all students can benefit the campus by taking this challenge in stride.

Just being nice can go a long way toward making international students feel welcomed.

I understand that people who have a lot of contact with students might get tired of dealing with students, he said. They might not have a lot of energy left to smile and say hi’ to students. It would make a huge difference if the employees would just say hello’ and smile.