Campus accounting honors
fraternity offers free help
■Community members
and students will have three
opportunities to gettax help
from Beta Alpha Psi’s service
By Danielle Gillespie
Oregon Daily Emerald
For the mathematically chal
lenged, it’s that dreaded time of
year again — time to fill out those
tax returns.
Monday, April 15 is the deadline
to file state and federal taxes.
Many University students per
ceive 1040 and W-2 forms to be a
confusing pile of complicated pa
perwork, but the accounting honors
fraternity, Beta Alpha Psi, offers an
opportunity to make filling taxes
less stressful and time-consuming.
Beta Alpha Psi will be holding its
third annual free income tax prepa
ration services for students and
community members from 10 a.m.
to 4 p.m. Saturday and again on
April 6 and 13 in conference room
228 of the Chiles Business Center.
“I think that this is something the
accounting profession can do to
help people. For some people, fil
ing taxes is not that simple and
many students can’t afford to pay
for someone to file their taxes,”
Beta Alpha Psi tax preparation co
ordinator Ana Inclan said.
During the seminars, about 10 to
13 volunteers will help students
complete their tax returns. Anyone
from the community who needs
help filing their tax returns can at
tend the event, except for small
business owners and international
students, because they have more
complex paperwork, Beta Alpha
Psi President Scott Rawitscher said.
The service not only helps fulfill
Beta Alpha Psi’s chapter communi
ty service requirements but pro
vides fraternity members the op
portunity to work in the area of
their interest, accounting.
“It’s a great experience and it
gives us skills for the future,” Raw
itscher said.
Last year the group helped near
ly 250 people in a five-day period,
but this year the workshops will
be held only three days. Inclan
said with the donation of 10 lap
top computers from a Portland
business firm this year, the group
hopes to serve just as many people
as in past years but in a shorter
time span.
“I think that this is
something the accounting
profession can do to help
people. For some people,
filing taxes is not that simple
and many students can’t
afford to pay for someone
to file their taxes.”
Ana Inclan
tax preparation coordinator,
Beta Alpha Psi
Before the seminars, the account
ing fraternity prepares tax prepara
tion volunteers with a two-day
class taught this year by CPAs An
drea Wenrick from Moss Adams
LLP in Eugene and Aaron Gor
gensen from Anderson Financial
Group Inc. in Portland.
Wenrick said the classes aqd the
seminars are great experience for
college accounting students be
cause students learn basic skills for
filing straight-forward tax returns.
“I chose to help with this pro
gram because I like staying con
nected with the students and hav
ing them see where the accounting
profession can take them,” she said.
Wenrick and Gorgensen will be
monitoring the volunteers during
the seminars along with five IRS
members who will be checking the
volunteer’s work before it’s “e
filed” or printed as well as answer
any questions.
“At the classes, all of the volun
teers learned how to prepare tax re
turns for the first time and did not
feel like they knew what they were
doing in the beginning,” Rawitsch
er said. “But after the seminar, they
felt more confident and excited
about what they had learned.”
Students will have the opportu
nity to file their taxes electronical
ly at the workshops using the IRS’s
e-file software. If students use the
Internet-based e-file, they will re
ceive a response in approximately
11 days, as opposed to a month lat
er through traditional mail. Nor
mally, accounting service compa
nies charge customers $50 to send
an e-file, but Beta Alpha Psi will be
offering this service for free, Raw
itscher said.
Those who do not want to file
their completed tax forms electron
ically can print and mail them Jit a
later date.
E-mail reporter Danielle Gillespie
atdaniellegillespie@dailyemerald.com.
DDS
continued from page 1
bench seat next to her, put his arm
around her and said, “How’s it go
ing, baby.” When she told him to
get his hands of off her, he accused
her of being “one of those.”
She said the most frustrating
part of the experience was that the
driver and navigator did absolute
ly nothing to defend her. She said
they could clearly hear what was
going on, because she was in the
seat directly behind the drivers.
“I wish the drivers could have at
least said, ‘Knock it off,’” she said.
“I felt isolated even though I could
reach out and touch” the drivers.
After a second instance when a
patron joked to the drivers, “You
should get blowT jobs for tips,” she
wrote an e-mail to Sparks, she
said.
In an e-mail response to Melissa’s
complaint, Sparks wrote: “I don’t
know of any employee currently
working for DDS that would hesi
tate to interrupt an unsafe or un
comfortable situation for a patron if
they are aware of it. ... We have
very respectful men and women
working for DDS, and our first con
cern is safety. We all have to re
member that we do drive intoxicat
ed students home. ... It is your job
to let the driver or navigator know
that you are uncomfortable.”
Last week, Melissa found herself
in another compromising situation
on a DDS van, she said. The four
male students riding in the van
with her seemed close to fighting
— one student yelled “fuck” and
punched the window, she said.
Following Spark’s instructions,
she told the driver and navigator
that she was worried the situation
could get out of hand. They told
her not to worry about it, she said.
Melissa is not the only student
with complaints about DDS em
ployees’ conduct. During fall term,
senior Niki Wilkins called DDS for
a ride. After a female student at the
front of the van vomited, the driv
er made the approximately eight
students get out near the intersec
tion of 15th Avenue and Patterson
Street and then drove away, pre
sumably to clean the van, she said.
Wilkins said the sick student, a
freshman, was intoxicated and
very disoriented, so Wilkins
walked her back to her residence
hall. She said she questions
whether DDS employees’ conduct
complies with the program’s mis
sion to drive students safely home.
“The drunk driver shuttle was
just going to leave her there to fend
for herself,” she said.
Sparks said it is DDS’s policy to
send another van on the rare occa
sions when a passenger vomits.
She said she was never notified
about that particular situation.
Drivers go through no specific
training to deal with any harass
ment that may arise on the van,
she said.
“But if something is uncouth,
we have a right to kick them out of
the van,” she said. “Safety is our
main issue. We’re keeping people
from driving. ”
ODE Archives, find ODC stories from 1994 through
today. Archived on the uieb @ uiumi.doilyemerold.oom
As a University program, Melis
sa said, DDS has a responsibility to
ensure its patrons feel safe.
“They are accountable for what
does happen,” she said. “They
should provide a safe atmosphere
for all customers.”
*Last name omitted for privacy.
E-mail reporter Diane Huber
at dianehuber@dailyemerald.com.
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