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Perspectives
EDITOR IN-HIEF
Sarah Kickler
EDITORIAL EDITOR
Mike Schmierbach
NIGHT EDITOR
Carl Yeh
Give Nike money to aid Asian students
The $100,000 emergency loan
fund will not he enough to
help the student affected by
the Asian economic crisis
JL Ed Vignoul said it best: “We re
ally aren’t doing anything different for any
one.”
Vignoul, director of Student Financial
Aid, was referring to the University’s re
n open letter to University Presi
dent Dave Frohnmayer:
Dear Dave,
sponse 10 ine aoumeast
Asian currency crisis,
which has affected about
450 international stu
dents. Though Vignoul
doubtless was trying to
express the opinion that
the University was treat
ing these students fairly,
he inadvertently pointed
out that we aren’t doing
Jeff
Shaw
any tiling speuiai lur peo
pie whose nations have had their entire
economies collapse. We should, for the fol
lowing reasons:
First, the situation these students face is
extraordinary. The Indonesian currency,
for example, has been devalued to one
fourth its original worth. This means stu
dents who normally would pay roughly
$20,000 for out-of-state tuition are paying
the equivalent of $80,000. Grenardy Arief,
head of Permias, the Indonesian student
association, said that “four or five students
have already gone back to our country due
to this problem.”
Those that are staying are having a tough
time paying for their basic needs, such as
food and housing. They are faced with few
alternatives; credits earned here are “like
nothing” in Indonesia according to Arief.
The same is true of many other countries
affected by the currency crisis. It’s the
quintessential rock-and-a-hard-place
dilemma. Either the students stay here,
struggle to afford food and hope the crisis
gets better — a gamble if ever there was one
— or they return to a devastated economy
without even recognized college work to
show for it.
And frankly, Dave, your proposed solu
tion of encouraging local residents to
“open their hearts and perhaps even their
homes” doesn’t go nearly far enough.
Even this $100,000 emergency loan fund
isn’t a viable long-term solution. For one
thing, it’s not going to be enough to help all
of the students in trouble. For another, the
loans could blow up in students’ faces if
the currency crisis deepens. As Amita
Malakar, co-director of the International
Student Association, put it: "It’s very nice
everyone’s concerned, but at the same
time, students are worried they might have
to pay back even more if the currency situ
ation gets worse.”
Ultimately, says Edward Chen of the
Malaysian Student Organization, this
could hurt future enrollment of interna
tional students altogether.
"For future enrollments, if the Universi
ty doesn’t come up with a solid deal, there
won’t be many students coming from these
countries in the future,” he said.
So, given that everyone wants to give in
ternational students the opportunity to
stay — you pointed out yourself that they
“are a very important part of the Universi
ty" and that “their art, culture and history
enrich campus” — we should look for an
alternative funding mechanism. Fortunate
ly, you have an appropriate mechanism at
your disposal.
After all, Oregon generally and this Uni
versity specifically has a lot to answer for
in these countries. Fiscal policy sponsored
by the United States has helped businesses
such as (your favorite and mine) Nike ex
ploit the resources of Southeast Asia for
some time now. Follow the chain of domi
noes with me:
Underage, underpaid and mistreated
workers construct the shoes. The money
Nike saves on labor goes into the pocket of
the company’s CEO. That CEO writes a
check to a university. And who has the
money then?
That’s right, Dave. It’s you.
The $25 million endowment Phil Knight
gave the University was made possible by
the sweat of people in these countries —
most likely, by family members of certain
students affected by this crisis. It’s time to
give something back.
Take some of the $25 million Knight sent
to the University and put it toward a tem
porary tuition reduction for the interna
tional students.
It’s the only way all students will get to
stay. Malakar told me that “as a long-term
solution, at least temporarily, if they could
lower tuition, that would be best.” Arief
agreed, and pointed out that such a mea
sure would only have to be temporary ...
“one or two years, until our currency is bet
ter.”
It’s fairly clear that this is the best thing
for everybody. The international students
get to stay without onerous constraints, the
campus is enriched by their presence, and
best of all, Dave, you come out of it looking
great.
Besides, there’s a certain poetry in Nike
dollars going to Indonesian, Korean and
Malaysian kids in their time of need. I like
the idea of that a lot.
Jeff Shaw is a columnist for the Emerald. His
views do not necessarily represent those of the
newspaper.
LETTERS TO THE EOITOR
Invest in the future
I am a junior here at the Uni
versity of Oregon in my first term
this winter. Upon entering the
University, I was counting on my
ability to receive financial aid to
assist with the expenses of re
turning to college after an 18
month break. I applied as early as
I possibly could, but still I did
not receive any grants or scholar
ships for the 1997-98 school year.
1 did, however, receive a large
loan to cover my dorm housing,
courses, books and a very small
amount for personal expenses.
I do not see loans as “financial
aid” necessarily, but I know that
without it I would not be able to
continue my education. Finan
cial aid is the only way 1 can at
tend school, and I will be de
pending on it every year until 1
graduate. I already have two
years worth of loans, and I esti
mate if the averages remain the
same, I will graduate being over
$50,000 in debt to student loans.
My largest concern is that college
costs increase every year, yet the
amount given to students seems
to decrease. Does anyone else see
the problem here? I am taking an
active part as a student and a
concerned citizen to address the
issue of the imbalance that exists
within the current financial aid
programs.
The ASUO is currently run
ning a campaign to correct the
imbalance that exists within the
current financial aid system.
Congress with be revising pro
grams affecting financial aid this
year. Within the last month we
collected video, postcards and
other messages for lobbying our
senators and representatives. I
hope to see more students take an
active part in their school and
volunteer or intern within their
student government, the ASUO.
It is such a positive experience.
Maybe with more participation
we can make some changes in
the current system that is causing
so much stress financially on the
students of the University of Ore
gon.
I wonder what kind of diffi
culties students today are going
to face in the future with gradua
tion, facing hefty loan balances
to pay. I wonder where the
grants and scholarships have
gone. Somehow in the effort to
balance the budget it has been
decided that cutting higher edu
cation funds would help. I per
sonally believe that government
should not take away from pro
grams that help the future of the
country. Government should in
vest in the future and stop cut
ting funding for higher educa
tion.
Rachelle R. Pavao
ASUO legislative team intern
Help all students
I was angry, confused and a bit
hurt when I read the article
“Asian crisis puts students in fi
nancial bind” (ODE, Jan. 23). As
a student here at the University,
I’m unable to attend classes this
term because of a financial crisis.
I thought that I was going to re
ceive financial aid that I did not
receive. I did not know that this
was the case until I went to regis
ter for my classes for winter term.
I paid a large amount of money
and thought 1 was in the clear.
When I was unable to register, my
parents and I both called different
people in the University to figure
out what had happened. In the
process, I was told that 1 had been
sent a letter to my home address.
I had never seen such a letter and
my mother confirmed that she
had not received such a letter.
When my mother called the Uni
versity to ask about the letter, she
was told that she needed to pay
better attention to her mail. Even
though I had half the money I
needed to register, and I would
have had the remainder in less
than two weeks and also a new
loan to cover winter term, this
was not good enough, and 1 was
unable to register for classes this
term.
The reason I’m angry is that I
feel the administration, if they are
going to bend to help internation
al students, need to help other
students as well. Granted there
are circumstances that make
every situation different, but I
think that other University stu
dents deserve at least as much
help during a financial crisis as
the international students do. I
hope that there will be more ac
commodations made for all Uni
versity students in financial crisis
in the future no matter what
country they call home.
Kate Lamb
Journalism