Yep just taking up space. registered in name only it appears. He tweeted about all of the homework he was doing in the last few months but apparently he wasn't doing too much of that.
The Following is from memory going back to 1995 & 1996.
As early as the mid to late 1990s International Student Visas were being scrutinized as having gotten out of control.
At the time, I worked at a major university in a department that was preparing for the new laws that would govern & tighten up the rules/status of all F1 (student visas.) IIRC, students were under some other general visa status and would be given a separate and closely monitored status. In soome case the found students had outstayed there Visas and would have to leave the US and reapply under the new guidelines.
Universities were scrambling to find and evaluate all of their International Students. It was a mess. Universities had allowed students to "transfer" to other "schools", under their original Visa (sponsored, IIRC, by the original school.) Often without monitoring their progress or status or basically without any follow up.
Universities had kept students on "active" status even when those students had not been attending classes. As part of the overhaul, every University was being required to attempt to track down their International students who had entered the US with the sponsorship of that institution.
(This is the best recollection I have as I was part of a pool of staff used to get this work done by the government deadline.)
Apparently, the schools had had plenty of time to prepare for the upcoming changes but had done little to prepare for a task that they soon realized was HUGE. It was whispered throughout the offices, between the big wigs, that they just had to show that they had done there best to get all students accounted for....in order to avoid fines and some sort of consequence. No one was forthcoming on the details.
IIRC,the future changes would require that International Students would have a separate Visa classification with VERY STRICT guidelines. IIRC, Universities that did not follow proper procedures, time limitations, tracking and reporting of these students would face harsh fines...under these new policies/guidelines.
I think UMASS might be shivering in their boots as well as the heads of the FBI, HSA, CIA and the Whatever they are now calling the old Department of Immigration, Customs and Naturalization.