The current crisis involving President Bill Clinton is making headlines around the world.

Iowa State international students understand the situation and have different opinions of the president’s problems.

“I think it is something that has gone on way too long,” said Rohihi Ramaswamy, graduate student in economics from Madras, India.

“Granted, he has not behaved very well, but I don’t think he should have been held accountable in the first place,” Ramaswamy said.

According to a CNN/USA Today poll, nearly 63 percent of Americans approve of Clinton’s performance as president.

Of those polled, 45 percent are in favor of censure, and only 25 percent favor impeachment.

Many international students said they agree with the poll and believe Clinton’s situation is a private matter.

“I think it is too personal; it is private what his family problems are,” said Jong-Hun Kim, sophomore in pre-business from Seoul, South Korea.

“The only reason people talk about it is because he is the president. A lot of people are talking about it, but I think it is worthless. It is not worth talking about,” Kim said.

To some students, the ordeal is just an image problem for the president.

“It seems a little embarrassing,” said George Ushakov, senior in computer science from Russia.

“I think it is a little irritating to have everybody talking about intimate and personal things,” he said.

Kim said this type of political situation would never have happened in his homeland.

“Based on Korean culture, this cannot be happening. Having an affair is unmoral. This man stands for the country; we would be ashamed internationally.”

A majority of international students said they are not used to this much attention being given to such a private matter.

“I am not used to this. We are not used to this much openness in Russia,” Ushakov said.

“Having all of your dirty stuff and personal matters talked about is different,” he said.

“We are not used to this situation, having people talk about it and put it on the Internet,” Ushakov said.

Clinton’s performance in his job is what is important, said Jaeyeon Won, an engineering student from South Korea.

“I think that they both have a problem. With Clinton, first of all I would like to point out that he was not on duty,” Won said.

“It is obvious that he had an affair, but it was not illegal, but it was immoral. In Korea no one knows about these types of things; nobody would find out because they would cover it up,” Won said.

Ushakov said knowing about the scandal would only change the way he felt about Clinton personally.

“I would not change my views of the person as a leader if this happened,” Ushakov said. “Although you are a political leader, as a person in office.”

“It would totally change my opinion of him as a person; I don’t think this would change my views of what I thought of him as a leader,” he said.

This matter is nothing new to Ramaswamy.

“It happens all the time in [India]. Your private life is separate from your public life,” Ramaswamy said.

“If the CEO of a company sleeps around, no one is going to slap them, are they? That is what [Clinton] is — he is the CEO of the country,” Ramaswamy said.