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

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,,

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





ir.wsu

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.