Committee formed to advise Homeland Security chief on higher-education concerns

Chronicle of Higher Education : A new commission, which will advise the head of the Department of Homeland Security on security-related topics that affect academe, will hold its first public meeting 20 March. Comprising 19 university presidents and academic leaders, the Homeland Security Academic Advisory Council is charged with providing advice and recommendations to DHS secretary Janet Napolitano and to senior department officials, writes Karin Fischer for the Chronicle of Higher Education. One issue to be addressed is the student-visa system, which has been under fire recently because several questionable academic institutions in California and Virginia granted student visas to large numbers of foreign students but didn’t require them to attend classes.