The Institute of International Education today released its Open Doors report, which provides an annual look at international students in the U.S. This year’s data refers to the 2009-2010 school year.  It shows a number of interesting trends – some expected, some not. Here are some things of particular interest:

1 ) The U.S. hosts more international students than any other country – 691,000 in 2009-2010, up 26% in the last decade (LA Times)

2 ) That said, growth in the number of foreign student enrollments is slowing. The number of first-time students grew only 1% last year, compared to 16% the previous year.

The growth is largely due to an influx of students from China, which had 30% more students enrolled in 2009-2010 than the year before (The Chronicle of Higher Education, with a long look at the trend in Chinese students and what it means)

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When Tyler Clementi, a freshman at Rutger’s University, committed suicide last month after being bullied for his sexual orientation, it hit home for Princeton students. We typically consider ourselves a welcoming place for gay students, but in the wake of this incident, we’ve been forced to reexamine how welcoming we really are.

Clementi, an eighteen-year-old freshman at Rutgers, jumped off the George Washington Bridge in New York on September 22, after his roommate broadcast a video on the internet of Clementi’s sexual encounter with another man.

Effect on Princeton students

In the days immediately following the incident, it seemed like Clementi’s death was everywhere on Princeton’s campus.  His suicide was so close to home—Princeton is a mere 18.3 miles away from Rutgers by car—that it really scared some people, and the fact that Molly Wei was a Princeton Junction native meant that the event was constantly present in the local news.

“I think the closeness did have a definite effect on us,” said Christina Henricks, a Princeton sophomore who has been active in events at Princeton’s LGBT Center since she arrived here last fall. “It happened nearby, rather than in another state, and that makes it much more relatable.”

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