Tuesday, December 15, 2015

As Brazilian Economy Falls into Crisis, even W.S.U. has Something to Lose.

It’s hard enough to pay attention to the economy in your own country, especially while the news is being bombarded by stories of turmoil in the Middle East, mass shootings, climate change, or another one of Donald Trump’s scandals. This is why it may come as a surprise to know that in the year before it hosts the Olympics, the Brazilian economy has fallen into disarray. Yet the true shock might be that this could have a more immediate effect on daily life in Pullman than the stories currently trending on Google News.

This is because the economic crisis has led the Brazilian government to shut down their Science Without Borders program, which is the main undergraduate program that brings Brazilian exchange students to Washington State University. The Pullman campus currently has 32 undergraduate students who benefit from this program, but new students will no longer come starting next semester. Cheryl Hansen, the Director of Global Services here in the Pullman campus discusses how beneficial the program can be. “We are thrilled to add this diversity to the W.S.U. student population,” she says, “the Brazilian students add a lot of warmth and spice to the campus. We hope they benefit from this experience as well.”

Daniel Filho, one of the Brazilian students who is finishing up his final semester here, says the program has been extremely beneficial. Filho joined the program a year and a half ago and is about to complete his courses abroad. “It’s an amazing program that I’m really glad to have been part of.” Filho explained that the Science Without Borders program payed for his tuition and living expenses while he was here, offered an extensive english program that taught him how to speak fluently, and introduced him to the country that he intends to live in once he graduates.

This program was run by the Brazilian federal government and it offered scholarships to over 100,000 students like Filho over the last four years. The program is only offered to students of STEM programs, and Filho is studying Biology. It is a full immersion program, meaning that the students even sign a contract saying that they will not return to Brazil for the duration of the scholarship, which is usually a year and a half. Since Filho couldn’t go back to Brazil for summer break, he got a research internship in The Everglades. This was another opportunity that he got because of the program, he says, “the professor I worked with has offered me a spot in his post-graduate program, so I want to go back to Brazil, finish my degree, then come back to the U.S. to get a masters.”

Brenno Cruz, another one of the Science Without Borders students, is pursuing an engineering degree and is also about to return to Brazil. Cruz says that, like [Filho], he “also wants to go and come back.” Cruz says that he loves life here and he has even started a long term relationship that will continue long distance in the coming months. Both students have different stories but share the same feeling, that they are grateful for the opportunity to study here in Pullman.

Amidst scandals of political corruption and economic recession, the government has put a “freeze” on many federal programs, including this one. The University of Sao Paulo is the largest university in Brazil and it is the one that sends the most students abroad through this program. Renato Portella and Rafael Dall’Olio both work at the university and help find scholarships for undergraduate students who want to travel abroad; they explained exactly what this freeze means. “For now”, Rafael explains, “it pretty much means that it’s on permanent hiatus.” Portella seemed even more pessimistic about it, saying that it probably won’t start back up again. Most of the scholarships for now are going to be through private institutions and they will be on a much smaller scale than the Science Without Borders program.

For W.S.U., this is the only program that they are a part of that receives Brazilian students. Hansen says that the slowdown in the program will stop the influx of students, but that there may be more openings for post-graduate students in the future. This is good news for Filho and Cruz, who intend on coming back to the United States to continue their education, but detrimental to tens of thousands of Brazilians and for the diversity of the international program at here at Washington State. It seems unlikely that a program like this one will return anytime soon.

FOIA Request:

FOIA request:

Lucas Catunda

3214 175th ct. ne,

Redmond, Wa, 98052

Dec 4 2015

Office of International Programs

International Undergraduate Admissions

PO Box 645121

Pullman, Wa, 99164-5121

USA

To whom it may concern,,

Pursuant to the state open records law Wash. Rev. Code Secs. 42.56.001 to 42.56.904, I write to request access to and a copy of any records regarding the number Brazilian foreign exchange students at Washington State University for the last five years. This includes any records regarding how many of them will be attending next semester.

I'd also like any records regarding how they pay for school here at Washington State University. This includes but is not limited to any public record concerning scholarships or financial aid that the University knows they are getting and any records regarding the "Ciencas sem Fronteiras" program. If your agency does not maintain these public records, please let me know who does and include the proper custodian's name and address.

I agree to pay any reasonable copying and postage fees of not more than $75. If the cost would be greater than this amount, please notify me. Please provide a receipt indicating the charges for each document.

As provided by the open records law, I will expect your response within five (5) business days. See Wash. Rev. Code Sec. 42.56.520.

If you choose to deny this request, please provide a written explanation for the denial including a reference to the specific statutory exemption(s) upon which you rely. Also, please provide all segregable portions of otherwise exempt material.

I would note that violation of the open records law can result in a fine — payable to me — of up to $100 for each day that I am denied access. Litigation costs, including reasonable attorney fees, may also be awarded. See Wash. Rev. Code Sec. 42.56.550(4).

Thank you for your assistance.

Sincerely,

Lucas Catunda

425-283-7758

Sources:

Brenno A. Cruz
Brenno.cruz@gmAil.com

5093394504

Daniel Filho
(509) 339-3572
j.rodriguesoliveira@wsu.edu

Bolsas de Intercâmbio Internacional

Renato Delfino Portella

Tel: (11) 3091-0512

Rafael Dall´Olio

Tel: (11) 3091-3529

mobility.area3@usp.br

Cheryl Hansen

Director, Global Services

BRYAN 108A

cheryl.hansen@wsu.edu

509-335-4508

Friday, December 4, 2015

Pitch/FOIA request

Pitch:

Two-Sentence: For this project I’d like to report on how there might not be as many (or any) Brazilian foreign exchange students here in the years to come. This includes an explanation of why the program was cut and Brazil's current economic situation. I’d then like to explore the stories of these two exchange students to make the story more personal and relevant.

Why Now:I have recently found out that the Brazilian government has “frozen” funding for the “Ciencias Sem Fronteiras”, or “Science Without Borders” program. According to two foreign Brazilian exchange students that attend Washington State University, this will drastically cut down the influx of Brazilian foreign exchange students here at Washington State University. This program offered financial aid and scholarships to over 25,000 Brazilians a year for them to study abroad. According to Brenno A. Cruz and Daniel Filho, the two Brazilian students that I interviewed, the change in the program will also force many Brazilian foreign exchange students to go home earlier than they expected.

Evidence: Brenno is one of these students, he intended on staying at least until the end of Spring Semester. He has a long term girlfriend here and he recently found out that he will have to return to Brazil by the end of this month. Brenno intends on going to Brazil, finishing his undergraduate program in engineering, and find a way of coming back to get his PhD here in the U.S.

Daniel Filho already had planned on leaving as this is the end of the two years he was supposed to visit Washington State University. Along with Brenno, he expressed that he would rather stay here to finish his studies before going back to Brazil, but this isn’t even a possibility because the program has been “frozen”.

FOIA request:

Lucas Catunda

3214 175th ct. ne,

Redmond, Wa, 98052

Dec 4 2015

Office of International Programs

International Undergraduate Admissions

PO Box 645121

Pullman, Wa, 99164-5121

USA

To whom it may concern,,

As provided by the open records law, I will expect your response within five (5) business days. See Wash. Rev. Code Sec. 42.56.520.

Thank you for your assistance.

Sincerely,

Lucas Catunda

425-283-7758

ir.wsu

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

eavesdropping

The conversation I listened to was in a relatively enclosed space. It started with four people talking about a common acquaintance, we’ll call this person the subject of the conversation. They didn’t like said acquaintance and so the conversation began with one of them coming up to the others to complain/comment on a ridiculous situation they had been through with the subject of the conversation. The conversation started with “Oh my god, you wouldn’t believe” and then after she told a story, each other person agreed and gave an example of a previous (generally negative) experience they had had with the subject. Nobody asked any form of questions to keep the conversation going, instead, all the questions were generally for clarity. Each person in the conversation would listen to one story and then add another. In between and during each of these stories other people in the conversation would add in comments, even simple ones like “really” and “no way, man”, to show their interest and disbelief. The conversation changed subjects when one of the people brought up a t.v. character that reminded them of the subject. They then all tried to identify the t.v. show and talked about that for a while (this is where I stopped listening, it had been at least few minutes).

Overall, each person had a lot to say on the subject and they didn’t need constant questions to offer up their information. Generally the conversation was light hearted (they were complaining but not angry), and jokes would be added into stories or other people would comment quick jokes during each even that people were describing.

Monday, November 30, 2015

News Articles

News articles from this week:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/pope-francis-visits-mosque-in-war-torn-bangui-calling-for-end-to-the-conflict-there/2015/11/30/d31a634a-915f-11e5-befa-99ceebcbb272_story.html

Pope Francis visits the war-torn city of Bangui, in the Central African Republic. What is most interesting about this story is that there is currently a civil war in which both sides justify themselves with their religions. Pope Francis went to a mosque and spread the message that "Muslims and Christians are brothers."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/30/us-israel-palestinians-eu-idUSKBN0TJ1N020151130#O5R4wziB6H8xrH1b.97

Interesting piece about how the EU wants products from Palestine to be labeled as such, instead of "product of Israel". The Israeli government responded by saying that they could cut off humanitarian funding to the West Bank if this policy takes place. As a consumer I find it very relevant to know who and under what conditions the product I am buying comes from. After all, how I spend my money is one of the major ways that I affect the world around me. Israel fears that people will boycott their products in Europe if this distinction is made, but I'd think that cutting humanitarian funding would be their last resort, not their first.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/article47151700.html

Short AP article about the viral "dancing cop" and how he got fired from his job because he was protesting that his server wrote "blacklivesmatter" on his coffee cup. BlackLivesMatter protesters were going to dance by his new job today.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/11/30/9818502/blackberry-pakistan-ends-service-government

Security and online culture are two things that have become extremely relevant in the last few years. This article talks about how BlackBerry is no longer going to do business in Pakistan because the government is requiring a "backdoor" into their email services. This seems significant but the aritcle also discusses how this could be a P.R. stunt. Pakistan is not a major market for BlackBerry and they have agreed to share information with various other governments.

http://www.eonline.com/news/719761/j-j-abrams-on-having-a-female-lead-in-star-wars-i-want-moms-to-take-their-daughters-to-see-the-force-awakens

To an extent, the media that we consume changes our view on what is normal in the world. In recent years many studies have suggested that women are not portrayed in the same light as men. Their characters are often less deep than their male counterparts and it is still a lot more common to see a male lead. This article discusses how J.J. Abrams is excited that there is a female lead in the new Star Wars and how he hopes that this will be a movie that "mothers take their daughters to."

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

An Alternate "College Experience"

It’s Friday evening in Pullman and the week long anticipation starts breaking out. Music starts playing all over College Hill and within the next few hours most frats and bars will be packed. For most students this is the start of the weekend ritual. Maybe a fun night out on Friday, the football game on Saturday, and a balance of studying and recuperating is left for Sunday. For Conner Donovan, Friday is the transition from his school week to his work week. He dresses in all black and goes to his first eight hour shift, waiting and busing tables. He’ll have at least two more of these shifts by the end of the weekend.

Donovan’s situation is representative of many students who come to Pullman without the financial help of their parents. It’s his first semester here and he is already what many students hope to one day be: financially independent. Of course for a 22 year old who has only worked minimum wage jobs, college tuition is only attainable through the help of financial aid and loans. The problem is that FAFSA, or the free application for student aid, will not consider him as an independent from his parents. This means that he gets no federal grants and is only offered loans. This semester he took out the first loan of $5,500, but he will have to take our more loans in coming semesters for the next four years.

“It’s a daunting experience,” says Conner, “the whole time I feel like I’m juggling between work and school and if I mess up either of them, I either won’t have money for rent or my loans could be cut.” In 2009 the research group Public Agenda published a study that cited “an inability to balance work and school” as the most reported reason for young adults that drop out of college. The study stated that almost three quarters of students who graduated had a household income of over $35,000 while more than half of the dropouts had an income below $35,000. These students are not represented in the college brochures and, in a college town such as ours, it’s easy to forget that they even exist.

This can lead to what many would consider a worst-case scenario, thousands of dollars in loans without a degree to show for it. This is currently the case for Zack Water’s, a W.S.U. student who lost his grants and is now working a minimum wage job with $10,000 of student loans that he has already had to start paying back.

Waters explains that he lost his grant because he “messed up one semester, and then retook the classes [he] did bad on the next semester.” Waters was receiving the cost tuition from the FAFSA and taking loans to cover all of his expenses. He didn’t meet the requirement for total credits in a year, a requirement that he claims to not have fully understood.

Waters still lives in Pullman and intends on completing his degree but is having a hard time going back to school. He believes that he can easily appeal to FAFSA for more loans and grants, but says that he’s hesitant. When he returns to school he wants to keep working to help with his expenses, but he knows that if he messes up again his current situation could become a permanent one. He’s also expressed interest in online classes, saying that it might be a lot easier to fit into a work schedule.

Mark Grinell, another W.S.U. student who works while getting his degree, says that this has worked a lot better for him. Mark moved to Pullman in 2013 after going to Bellevue College. He wanted what he describes as “the full college experience” and so he joined a frat and became a full time student. He also got a job at Southside Cafe, along with $7,600 in loans a year to help cover tuition. Grinell believes that he could be getting a full grant from the government but he cannot file as an independent, despite the fact that he supports himself.

“The frat would get frustrated that I wasn’t involved enough” he explains “and work would accommodate for classes but not for Greek events.” He found himself making work the priority because he needed to pay his monthly expenses and because of this he would take shifts that conflicted with classes. He would try to make up for this during any time he had off, “if you ask anyone from the frat, they’ll tell you that I was the person who was in the study rooms the most. I just couldn’t keep up.” In the end he got kicked out of the frat for not attending events and put on academic probation because of low grades.

He moved back to the Westside because it was easier to find work and he had people that could help him a lot more than here. By the end of 2014 he was enrolled full time as an online student. During his last semester in Pullman his G.P.A. was a 1.9, in the last three online semesters he has averaged a 3.7. He says that this is because he can study on his own time and that it’s easier to find well paid work closer to Seattle, so he doesn’t have to work as much.

Yet, to some extent, all of their college experiences are limited compared to what they could be. All three of these students said that Pullman offered a more complete college experience and Donovan says that he’d love to get more involved in extracurriculars, but that time and cost is keeping him from doing so. They also all said that they wish FAFSA was more flexible and clear. The process doesn’t consider those under 23 who don’t get help from their parents and still is overly bureaucratic. The financial aid department helped them but they all stated that FAFSA should require meetings with a loan supervisor every semester.

But more than anything they all conveyed the same point, that the cost of university is crippling and part-time minimum wage jobs don’t cover expenses. While in Pullman, their priorities were on working to cover their monthly expenses and not on school. Meanwhile, all of them dreaded the prospect of being thousands of dollars in debt for a degree they didn’t finish.

Sources:

Conner Donovan

(425) 894-2071

Mark Grinell

425 736 1567

mark.grinell@yahoo.com

Zack Waters

206 313 9553

zackcwaters@gmail.com

Article about study:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/10/education/10graduate.html

Actual Study:

http://www.publicagenda.org/files/theirwholelivesaheadofthem.pdf

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Pitch for Profile Story

According to a study done by the Melinda Gates Foundation, nearly three-quarters of students who dropped out of college said that work contributed to their decision, 54% identifying it as a major factor. Considering that, since 2008, only 55% of college students have graduated, finding out the causes and what happens after a dropout seem extremely relevant to in a college town. I want to get specific dropout rates for W.S.U. and interview three people.

One is Zack Waters, who stopped attending school two semesters ago but he continues to live in Pullman with the hope of getting back his financial aid and continuing college. While Zack is living here he has already had to start paying back loans whith funds that he could be saving up to help him when he returns to college. He has 15,000 dollars in student loans and, so far, no degree to show for it.

The second is Matt Grinnell, a student who lived in Pullman and then dropped out for a year, stating that he couldn’t handle working, studying, and being part of the Greek system. He is currently working full time and taking online classes with W.S.U.. He has already started paying back the interest on some of his loans but mostly he works to study and cover living expenses.

Conner Donovon is the third student. It is his first semester here at W.S.U. and he is working as much as he can to cover his expenses. He is dealing with what the other two cited as their reasons for dropping out. He is getting used to the schedule but says that it is hard to keep up with school and work, and that paying rent next month is always a something that stresses him out.

I think that with these three interviews as well as information on dropout rates (and how many people are working while studying) will paint a clear picture of what it is like to have to balance work and school and what happens if you don’t manage to do that.

Friday, October 23, 2015

Washington State Pullman Campus takes the Final Steps towards becoming Smoke Free

Every Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. Conner Donovan leaves his Chemistry class, goes to an isolated corner, and lights a cigarette. He doesn’t have much time before he has to go to his next class, which is usually followed by a work shift, so he cherishes the few moments he has to smoke and unwind. He says this ritual helps him get through the day, but the rules here at Washington State University are changing and pretty soon he will no longer be allowed to practice it.

In May of 2014 the Washington State University undergraduate students passed a referendum which supported a tobacco free campus here in Pullman. Ever since, a Tobacco Free Advisory Task Force has been working on a plan to make the Pullman campus completely tobacco free by next Fall. The policy is now reaching the final stages of approval and all that is left is a plan on how to implement it.

The change in policy has already faced a few challenges. Critics claimed that graduate students and faculty had not gotten the opportunity to participate in the tobacco free decision and that a tobacco free campus could affect various aspects of the university including admissions, athletics, and the International Student Program. So the Task Force set out to find out who the policy change would affect and how many people, including graduate students and faculty, would actually prefer a tobacco free campus.

The Task Force of over 40 people surveyed over 5000 graduate and undergraduate students along with faculty; in every group over 60 percent of people were in favor for a tobacco free campus. They also talked to various different departments such as Admissions and found that most departments would benefit from this new policy.

The Pullman campus would not be the first to implement a policy like this. The Vancouver and Spokane campuses have already switched to a tobacco free policy, along with 1,514 other University campuses in the United States.

Dwight Hagihara, one of the leaders of the Task Force, explains that the purpose is not to punish those who have smoking habits, but rather to promote a healthy lifestyle for everyone at WSU. The program will work with the Health and Wellness Center to offer help to smokers who would like to quit.

From the Vancouver campus, Lieutenant Dave Stephenson explains how their policy works. “When we get a complaint we contact the smoker and tell them that they can’t smoke on campus. If we have to contact the person more than once, we will either inform the Student Conduct Board or the Human Resources Department. We’ve never had to contact the same person twice.” The Vancouver campus has been smoke free since the end of 2013 and the campus police only receives a complaint once every other month.

The policy does, however, reach farther than just the use of cigarettes, it bans all tobacco. This includes the recently popularized e-cigarette, which many people use to quit or instead of traditional tobacco. The policy bans this along with chewing tobacco, leaving few alternatives for those who want nicotine. Daniel Nihan, a user of e-cigarettes, finds this to be the most frustrating part of the policy. “I quit smoking cigarettes with my e-cig, and now I can’t even use that. They’re banning them even though they don’t even produce second hand smoke.”

Hagihara thinks that this is an important part of the policy. He explains that nicotine addiction usually starts during the ages of 20-25 and that this policy helps prevent all forms of nicotine addiction. He also stated that designated smoking areas were not a good alternative because they created areas of built up smoke.

At this point there is little that Donovan or Nihan can do to prevent the policy. The last public hearing for took place on September 22nd, with only one person showing up to voice their concerns. By the end of this month the Board of Regents is expected to approve the policy and then all that is left is a plan for implementation, which should take effect by Fall of 2016.

Sources

Dwight Hagihara

Executive Director, Environmental, Health & Safety and Risk Management

hagihara@wsu.edu

509-335-3051

Lieutenant Dave Stephenson

dstephenson@vancouver.wsu.edu

Phone: (360) 546-9004

Fax: (360) 546-9352

Conner Donnovan

425894271

Daniel Nihan

9499399485