Every now and then I hear my friends joking about how the Pace NYC campus gets more attention than Pleasantville’s. We international students feel very much the same way, however, there is little humor in the matter.

It is easy to understand why there is a much a higher number of international students in NYC compared to Pleasantville/Briarcliff. Back home in Mexico when I was thinking of which Pace campus to attend, the city had an obvious appeal. I thought of all the Manhattan-based movies and television shows that I had watched and all of the cultural opportunities that the Big Apple has to offer. It is the city, after all. Yet once I compared the communications programs in both campuses—and the cost of dorming in lower Manhattan—I chose Westchester.

Still, there shouldn’t be such a big difference; you would expect Pace to offer similar opportunities to international students in both campuses, right? Through much frustration I have found that it is not so.

Last November the International Students and Scholars Office (ISSO) held International Education Week, which included programs celebrating student diversity and international studies, among other activities. However, there were only activities in Pleasantville for one day, and those activities were no different than the typical study abroad fair stripped of any events promoting international student engagement.

ISSO doesn’t provide international students with recreational opportunities; it doesn’t even provide the basics.

According to the Pace website, the ISSO is “available to work with students to answer questions about immigration regulations and process the paperwork necessary for traveling, employment authorizations, and other immigration-related services.”

Though its main office is located in the NYC campus, the ISSO has one here in Kessel. Since I came to Pace in fall 2012, however, there has not been a permanent advisor in Pleasantville. A temporary adviser visits Kessel twice a week just in the afternoons.

Given the number of international students, it does make sense for a Pleasantville advisor to not spend too much time on campus, but the schedule still is deficient.

As international students need a signature from the travel advisor before going out of the country to return home or vacation with family, tracking down the advisor can be very tricky. For example, the week before Spring Break, the advisor was only supposed to be in on Tuesday since she had to be at the law school as well. But then, students were notified that the advisor was sick and she would not be on campus. Granted, you shouldn’t wait until the last week, but, if for whatever reason a student couldn’t make it prior, he or she would have to miss class and rush to the city campus.

And the situation doesn’t appear to be changing any time soon. As of April 1, the temporary advisor will no longer work at Pace, further reducing service availability.

Another example of the ISSO’s deficiencies is its lack of workshops and programs for Pleasantville students.

This March the ISSO hosted a tax workshop –at the NYC campus, in the middle of the day on a Tuesday. Given the seriousness of taxes, there should have been a workshop for Westchester students, but there were none. I had to miss three classes to be able to attend the workshop. The ISSO did not even bother to schedule the workshop on a Friday or some other time that worked for students who had to travel to Manhattan.

Then, there are Optional Practical Training (OPT) workshops, opportunities for international students to get a job and stay in the country after graduation. As such, the ISSO offers several OPT workshops to help students fill paperwork and meet the requirements. All such workshops are held in NYC.

The low volume of international students in Pleasantville does not mean that there are none, just a fewer amount in comparison to NYC.

If Pace continues to attract international students, the university should consider expanding programs like the International Education Week to students in Pleasantville. International students should be more widely recognized by the administration. Already we are in the diaspora and so basic opportunities for students should be of equal opportunity to all.