The Powers That Be by Slayter Box 7160

Dear The Denison Powers That Be That Have Screwed Over Many Students This Past Week,
I would like to draw your attention to your recently released letter, which states:
“Two changes will take effect beginning with the 2010-11 academic year:
1. Denison need-based funding for off-campus study will no longer be made available for full year programs. It will be provided for just one semester.
2. Providing an international study opportunity to students of need is primary to our financial aid commitment to off campus study programs. Because this opportunity is effectively already being fulfilled for international students through their four year program on the Denison campus, international students no longer will be eligible to receive Denison funding for an off-campus study program in addition to their Denison experience.”
Now, read the non-discrimination policy that your forbearers, in their academic and institutional integrity, have laid out for you to follow:
“Denison University does not engage in discrimination in its educational, student life, and employment policies against students, employees, or prospective employees, on the basis of race, color, religion, ethnic or national origin, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status.”
So…international students have been barred from the opportunity to receive financial aid to go abroad. This sounds like they are being discriminated against because of their national origin. Naughty, naughty Denison Powers That Be.
They sign up to go to a school where they are informed they will be treated THE SAME as every other student on campus and then, oh, whoops, nope, nevermind…they are “special” and “different”!!! They have added diversity to this school by having graduated from a high school in another country (which you can brag about to prospective students without mentioning the way you’ve treated them) so now you are going to screw them over and not let them study abroad. I bet they feel so accepted, so much a part of this “community” everyone keeps blathering on about. And, really, really, you just had to wait until the week after the MLK “Celebrating Community” events because the timing was just too sweet, too perfect, to see the dreams and sense of acceptance crumble right after everyone on campus talks about the possibility (slim as it may be) of being better stewards of campus inclusion and consideration.
And do you really think you can attempt to act like a weasel and shimmy your way out of a lawsuit because this is a “financial” policy, not an educational one? Because, as we all know, studying off-campus is all about the EDUCATIONAL and STUDENT LIFE opportunities and this opportunity is not available to someone if they don’t have the money to pay for it. It’s all about the money, guys. And you totally knew that, attempting to logic your way out of this by prefacing your blatantly discriminatory move with the idea that international students have already had the experience of studying abroad…by studying at Denison…so they don’t need to go study somewhere that will enhance their educational experience with a different cultural and educational perspective from the one they will receive here as they have already taken college classes elsewhere, right? What’s that? NO! oh, well then…guess they’re just SOL.
And what about all those American students who have also been lied to? Did you not promise all of them and their families that their financial aid would transfer to off-campus programs in order to rope them all into coming to Granville, OH, tiny town (yes, cute, but still…exciting much? nope, not at all) USA? Oh, but you forgot to mention the fact that once they sign on the dotted line and sweat and panic over their multipart proposal, you are just gonna tell them you will only cover the first semester. I bet you think they should feel happy, privledged even because they are not one of those poor international students who just gets nothing. They should feel lucky, right? WRONG! Sure, one semester will get covered but that does not mitigate the fact that you broke a promise, a soft contract so to speak. And you broke it AFTER everyone has applied to their programs, be it for a year or a semester, so changing plans now that the financials have changed is ridiculously difficult and basically falls to an option: Pay Up or Don’t Go. But, they shouldn’t be angry. Oh no, not at all.
So, Denison Powers That Be, what else will you do to salvage this budget crisis once you get sued? Or what about the fact that this money was already appropriated to these students when they signed the dotted line accepting a 4-year aid plan in exchange for coming to Denison? If they don’t go abroad since you’ve screwed them over and you can’t steal that money from their hands anymore, are you going to start dipping into everyone else’s aid instead? Or will you take it from these screwed over students anyway, since they were planning on leaving campus and you can try to weasel a claim the money isn’t theirs anymore? At least then you won’t piss off somebody whose parents speak English, are in a time zone when they can call and yell at you, and can hire that big, expensive lawyer to stop this all from happening. But, heck, you’ve already shown you don’t care about the consequences to the students anyway, so why not just take all our aid away to fund this school? Oh, wait, then there will be no students and the school disappears; but, problem solved, no more financial difficulties!
Thanks, Denison Powers That Be, for being so considerate of your students, ALL of your students. Next time, though, make sure to read your own recorded policy before attempting to “salvage” the budget through discrimination and dream-shattering. Unless you really, really enjoy screwing over and pissing off the people who are PAYING to go here and the alums who went here and give you endowment money. And when this plan backfires in so many ways and you have to go back to the drawing board, please remember the clients of this school aka the students and the promises you gave them.
~7160