“I don’t think the International Office here at Harvard makes it clear how long it will take,” Nash says.

A Tough Spot For Harvard

State Department spokesperson Stuart Patt says that while there are no guarantees, next year’s visa process might go more smoothly.

“I think that overall we’ve got it down to not more than a month for these cases to go through,” Patt says.

But Patt adds that some applications, like those from the seven countries deemed state sponsors of terrorism, will likely considerably longer.

And, Patt says, students receive no special place in the pile of visa applications.

“We have not singled out students for special treatment,” Patt says.

Patt declined to specify the processes visa applications go through, or the criteria which single out certain applications for extra inspection.

Casey says he has spent much of his time this fall trying to get information about what’s happening and why with visa applications.

“We’re not sure why people are being detained in certain areas, we’re not sure why things are lapsing,” Casey says.

Casey says the new restrictions have both short-term and long-term effects on the University.

“There are several people who had to defer,” Casey says. “There are people we don’t know about who have decided not to come because of difficulties.”

Currently, Casey says, he’s working to arm the University with information about what has happened and what will happen—a difficult prediction to make, since the dust is still settling on the post-Sept. 11 legislation.

Casey is currently compiling statistics on how many students and scholars at how many schools have been affected by the post-Sept. 11 restrictions.

“The best thing we can do is try and get new information and try and catalog the hardships,” Casey says. “Borders are not supposed to mean a lot, but right now they do.”

—Staff writer Lauren R. Dorgan can be reached at dorgan@fas.harvard.edu.