By approving representation of the International Student Council on the President's International Council, the University has assured that students will always have input in its organization, administrators said.

"International students are best represented by their student council," Executive Vice President William C. Richardson said.

ISC President Abbas Aminmansour said his group has been happy with representatives normally sent to the president's council by the Undergraduate Student Council and the Graduate Student Association.

But ISC can offer a perspective different from other student representative s, he said.

"We know what it's like to be in a foreign country," Aminmansour said.

Although GSA traditionally has consulted with the Office of International Students and usually appointed an international student, ISC representation will make the process more direct and more fair to GSA, he said.

"I don't see why GSA should give up its own representation to OIS," Aminmansour said.

Richardson said he was pleased that GSA would now have more flexibility in its appointments.

Diana Dunn, chairwoman of the president's council, said she will be happy to have an additional student sit on the council. When ISC first requested its seat, members of the six-year-old council were concerned the student representation had been ineffective.

"That's been kind of a question mark here," Dunn said.

But she found the student representatives have been doing a good job, she said.

Aminmansour said ISC had no complaints about student representation in the past.

"I really look at this as a positive thing -- not as a criticism of the past or as a concern for anything specific in the future," he said.

The president's council meets twice each semester to discuss the University's role in the international community. Although it deals largely with issues of faculty and research, some of its activity does affect international students, Dunn said.

The most recent example was the examination of mandatory insurance for international graduate students, she said.

ISC received a letter confirming its seat on the president's council last week, Aminmansour said.

ISC first requested representation last November, Aminmansour said. He said he met with Richardson in December and received tentative confirmation of the position.

The presidents of GSA, USG and ISC will nominate two possible representatives to the Office of the President, Aminmansour said.