Career services and housing for international students were the issues moved forward by the International Student Council at its meeting Thursday night.
In the council's final meeting of the semester, members voted unanimously to begin communication with Career Services about internships for international students, ISC President Natsuki Ikeda, said.
A letter, drafted by ISC, will be sent to Career Services to potentially improve opportunities for international students. The letter highlights the time spent by students seeking internships only to find out at on-campus career fairs that those internships are not looking for international students. The letter proposes that Career Services publish a list of companies that are open to international students before each career fair.
The council plans to follow up the letter with ISC repesentatives who will discuss the problem with Career Services, Ikeda said.
"It is the first time that we can become the voice of the students to certain departments on campus," Ikeda (senior-international politics) said.
International student housing was also discussed by council members.
An ISC-designed survey meant to identify problems international students have with housing was given to representatives at the October meeting and will now be placed on the Web site and handed out to students in the future, said Pawda Tjoa, ISC secretary and housing committee chairwoman.
The point of the survey is to set up a "case study," she said, "to have some sort of analysis and conclusion that will take us further."
Tjoa (senior-architecture) is currently finalizing the survey, getting it approved by International Student Services (ISS) and looking for committee members to help find solutions, she said.
Tjoa said she has begun communication with the Graduate Student Association housing committee, which she thinks will be an aid in the process.
Judicial Affairs representative Maureen McMahon (graduate-education) was ISC's guest speaker for the meeting.
She described judicial affairs as "responsible for interpreting and enforcing the Student Code of Conduct."
McMahon made several points she said every student should know, including information about the off-campus student policy. McMahon informed the council that Judicial Affairs is "obligated to report [off-campus misconduct] to ISS." McMahon said the reason for the off-campus policy is because students are always fundamental representations of Penn State.
"Penn State is concerned about your behavior no matter where you are because you are representing Penn State," McMahon said.
