"We are in shock because of the situation in the USA. It's terrible and awful. We are very sorry for the losses and we condole with everybody." This message was sent to me on Sept. 11 by a Ukrainian physicist and businessman, Yuri Shepenik, who stayed in my home a year-and-a-half ago as part of the Community Connections Program of the Los Angeles International Visitors Council, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. Yuri and his fellow Ukrainians all had home stays during their two-week visit while they studied entrepreneurial business in Southern California. By the end of his stay, Yuri told me, "The United States should put more of its foreign aid money into international educational exchange." He talked about the direct and long-term benefits of investing in this kind of aid as opposed to larger foreign aid projects where funds can be dissipated along the way to completion. Yuri needed little urging to apply for a Fulbright grant to pursue his research in the area of electron physics and the implications of climate change around the world. He will be arriving at UCLA with his family in November to work on a major international project on the ozone layer, which will bring together scholars from around the world.

Projects such as this one, that require cooperative international efforts to address global problems that could one day pose as great a threat as terrorism to the world, will be jeopardized if Congress passes a recent proposal by Sen. Dianne Feinstein ( D-California). She has called for a six-month moratorium on the issuance of all new student visas to the United States to give the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) time to develop an effective tracking plan that would detect foreign students who have violated the terms of their visas.

While debating Sen. Feinstein's proposal, Congress should consider the fact that, according to the most recent data from the INS, international students represented only 1.8% of the 31 million foreign citizens who obtained visas and entered the United States in 1999. Her plan would prohibit all foreign students from entering the country, but would leave other visa options untouched. International students who come here are some of the world's best, and they return to their home countries as ambassadors for personal freedom and democracy. They often work for American companies abroad and help to create a market for American goods and services in foreign countries.

Sen. Feinstein's proposal would have disastrous consequences for colleges and universities, many of which have significant international student populations. It would delay or prohibit an entire entering class of international students, many of whom would go to study in other countries where they would be welcomed.

Most importantly, the international exchange of students and scholars enhances global understanding at a time when Americans are waking up to their lack of knowledge of the rest of the world. Such efforts are in America's long-term strategic and economic interests. This would be the worst possible time to reduce the opportunities for foreign students to study here. In light of recent events, we need more international education and understanding, not less.

Kerr is coordinator of the Visiting Fulbright Scholar Enrichment Program at UCLA. In 1984, her husband, UCLA Professor Malcolm Kerr, who served as president of American University in Lebanon, was assassinated in Beirut by unknown assailants who claimed responsibility in the name of Islamic Jihad.