Provost considers urging passports for all freshmen

During his commencement speech at Middlebury College in August 2008, Allan Goodman, president of the Institute for International Education, answered the question of what a university’s curriculum ought to be if that curriculum were to take account of the globalized world we share.

“Almost every audience is disappointed by my answer: require every entering student to arrive with a passport and all to graduate speaking another language,” Goodman said in a press release. “But I believe that if all our students had passports, they would find ways to use them, and that if they were able to speak another language, it would open the door to understanding how people think and work beyond one’s own immediate culture and surroundings.

“And that understanding may be the best thing any of us can do to prepare the next generation for life in a world that scholars once again agree is flat.”

After Goodman visited IU and spoke with a number of school officials last spring, Provost and Executive Vice President Karen Hanson and other administrators began to consider the idea, Associate Vice President for Overseas Study Kathleen Sideli said.

“Provost Hanson was very excited at the concept and promised to work with campus administrators regarding the feasibility of recommending that all incoming freshmen arrive with passports,” Sideli said.

Having every incoming student arrive at IU with a passport sends the message that students should seriously consider studying abroad before they graduate, Sideli said.
While the idea has not yet been implemented, Sideli said it is being carefully considered before becoming a recommendation or practice.

Roxana Cazan, a Ph.D. student studying English, said she thinks it is a great idea for incoming students to have a passport and a plan to study abroad.

Cazan, a Romanian native who travels between Europe and the United States regularly, said one question that often arises when she is in the States is how students define themselves and for what purpose.

“When you are in a different country or culture, you learn to define and value yourself more,” she said. “You are more able to recognize the identities you have.”

Junior Emily Tam said she also thinks the idea of having all students enter college with a passport is fascinating.

“It is less intimidating when you are used to traveling around the globe and meeting new people,” she said.

Tam, born in Canada, has also lived in Hong Kong and the United States.

“When it comes to culture, I’m more acceptable than anyone,” she said. “I basically know all the cultures from these three places. And I don’t experience cultural shock, as I know a person from another country can have a totally different opinion or perspective than mine.”