Edwardian (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 4, Ed. 1 Monday, April 15, 1985 Page: 4 of 9
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Page 4
Edwardian
Page 5
Monday, April 15, 1985
In-Depth
Our International Experience
International week at SEU April 15-20
Indonesia
— President Patricia Haves
-Fr. Pascal Rwija
Panama
Kuwait
Republic of China
Countries with less than 2%
Jordan
29.3%
Saudia Arabia
5%
Hong Kong
Mexico
Bahrain
11.3%
9.4%
Venezuela
Cover By: Linda Ervin
Graphics by: Linda Ervin
because they could not enter one of
the universities in their home coun-
tries (just as students from the
United States enroll in medical
schools in, say, Grenada). All are in
the United States for an education.
Telephone requirements for inter-
national students: According to
the memorandum, “Any interna-
tional student who does not have
access to a telephone in order to
make calls to home can contact
Brother John Thornton’s office.
Brother John will make ar-
rangements for a place to call.
Upon completing the conversa-
tion, the international student
should ask the operator for the
cost of the call and make payment
at that time to Brother John.”
ment, personal attention from in-
structors. In short, foreign students
are at St. Edward’s for the very same
reasons as we are. And they feel the
same pride when they walk across
that stage to receive their diplomas.
The second question, Why are
they here?, is a little more com-
plicated to answer: Actually, this
question should be broken into two
separate questions. First, Why are
foreign students in the United States?
Some of these foreign students are
in the United States because they are
looking to experience another way of
life. Some are here because they
believe this country offers something
to them that they could not receive
in their own countries. Some are here
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“At first, they (the French
students) kept to themselves, but
once I got to know them and to ac-
cept their differences I found out
that they’re great to be around and
a barrel of laughs”, commented
David Williams, a freshman at St.
Edward’s who has learned about the
French culture through the students
at BRIS. The cultural exchange has
exceeded beyond academics and in-
to language, music and general at-
titudes about life. Katherine Walker,
a St. Edward’s freshman agreed that
she has learned “more about the
French culture through being friends
The graph shows a percentage breakdown by country of the 413
internationals at SEU. Approximately 1 in 4 undergraduate students
hail from another land.
The answer, however, is obvious
to one who looks: They are people
who laugh, who cry, who struggle,
who succeed. They are people who
value friendship, yearn for love.
They are ourselves.
The critical international student
who reads some of these responses
will probably feel a chill of being
labeled and want to dismiss such
comments as products of prejudice,
misconceptions or generalizations.
Okay. Maybe they are. The point
here is not to label them but to
realize who we are in the eyes of
some people. I think it is good to
know the surrounding so that when
favorable or unfavorable situations
arise, we may be able to handle them
in a mature, reasonable and respon-
sible manner.
We, international students, those
who have been here before us, and
those that are still here, have pro-
jected a certain social picture to this
community. That picture has been
perceived, retained and can be
described by the members of the
community who are not interna-
tional students. This is very natural.
It is that image or reputation that I
will try to develop here.
I asked some American Edwar-
dians what they thought of their
fellow students. These were their
responses:
Finally we come to the third ques-
tion: Why does St. Edward’s admit
these foreign students? The answer
to this question is painfully simple.
St. Edward’s admits foreign students
out of selfishness.
One can easily think of the selfish
reasons we admit foreign students.
They pay hard-cash tuition, they fill
our dormitory rooms, and add to
class rosters (and I do leave out
myself—they justify my existence
here!)
Foreign students can be used as in-
You will notice that I have not
given the responses of international
students. My purpose is not to create
a debate or a verbal battlefield but
an awareness that we international
students have portrayed a beautiful
picture out there, but at the same
time there are some areas which need
some improvement.
BRIS student. The majority of the
BRIS students live in Doyle Hall on
St. Edward’s campus, and take part
in most campus activities such as
basketball games, dances, and par-
ties. “We try to fit in, have fun, and
show people that we’re not so dif-
ferent from everybody else-but there
are times when we feel like somebody
is on the outside looking through the
window”, stated Florent Cebron
about the struggle for acceptance in
the American culture.
students are strictly with Bois-
Robert.
While academics is the key pur-
pose for their presence at St. Ed-
ward’s, most French students are en-
joying the experience of living in a
“foreign” country. Adapting to the
American lifestyle is a task that most
of the French students have been
striving for since their arrival. “I
want (to be able) to say that in the
year I have spent in the United States
I have learned the American way of
life-whether or not I accept it com-
pletely.” said Jean-Juc Richard,
By VINCENT CHEEVES
Staff Reporter
with (the BRIS students) than an en-
tire semester of French history could
have ever taught me.” The French
students have in turn, learned “When
in America ... do as the Americans
do!” Williams exclaimed.
Janine Fansher summed up the
general feeling towards the students
of BRIS. “I respect their courage and
their tolerance for living in this com-
pletely different world. They are
wonderfully open and free and are
good students as well as loyal
friends.”
By TIM ROBINSON
Contributor
By HEATHER McKISSICK
Contributor
By FR. PASCAL RWIJA
Contributor
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“You are good and you have talents. There is alot
you can offer.”
“They are wonderfully open and free and are good
students as well as loyal friends.”
— Janine Fansher
“In one sense, we are all foreigners to each other; we are exiled, by our
physical shells, from the hearts and souls of even our closest companions.”
— Tim Robinson
“The fundamental need is for a positive program of communication and
mutual understanding.”
formants and discussants in those
classes that have an international
perspective. They can be used as
language “teachers.” They are used
everyday to help tutor students hav-
ing difficulties in different subjects
(even English!). And, lest we forget,
they help us field winning athletic
teams.
But these acts of selfishness pale
in the face of the main reason foreign
students are admitted to St. Ed-
ward’s. In enrolling these students,
I submit, the SEU community —
faculty, staff, administration,
students —grows immeasurably
through the awareness of our com-
mon humanity. We give to foreign
students, doubtlessly, but we receive
much more.
“Lofty’!! (he snickers). “Noble!”
(she smirks).
“Partake!” (offers the University).
In one sense, we are all foreigners
to each other; we are exiled, by our
physical shells, from the hearts and
souls of even our closest compa-
international students add a
cosmopolitan flavor to the St. Ed-
ward’s experience, enriching our
American-oriented outlook with a
global perspective. Exposure to their
various cultures and values provides
St. Ed’s students with invaluable
firsthand familiarity with the world
around them. Neither classes, books
nor films could hope to yield the
same intimate knowledge of foreign
countries, cultures and peoples.
However, many students miss out
on this educationally and personal-
ly broadening experience with inter-
national students. As the interna-
tional student advisor, Jim Sage,
remarks, international students
usually account for around 10% of
the student population, yet they are
And why are foreign students at
St. Edward’s? They are enrolled at
St. Edward’s, as they have come to
the United States, for diverse
reasons. Some foreign students are
in our classrooms because they have
relatives or friends here (or who have
been here). Some are here because we
are located in Austin. Others are here
because they enjoy the benefits that
a small university provides —a
chance to make friends fairly easily,
a pleasant study and living environ-
Few people are aware that St. Ed-
ward’s University has shared its
culturally diverse campus with the
Bois-Robert International School
(BRIS) for French students during
the past three years. Bois-Robert is
a small private academy that enrolls
approximately forty students. These
students are offered a concentrated
curriculum that includes Computer
Science, Business, Mathmatics,
French and English.
Most of the BRIS students have
come to the United States to work
towards their baccularuate degree-
which is the French equivalent to a
high school diploma. They study
from 9 to 5 daily preparing
themselves for the exam that will put
them on a Junior College level by
American standards. Although there
are a selected few who attend St. Ed-
ward’s classes, three fourths of these
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Orientation testing: Interna-
tional students have experienced
some confusion and difficulty
during the initial orientation and
testing period. For many of them
it is not only their first experience
in America, but also their first
time away from home at all. Ac-
cording to the memorandum,
“Dr. Virginia Dailey has indicated
that international students whose
native language is English or who
for whatever reason have strong
language facility are welcome to
follow the testing and placement
basketball, softball, tennis, soccer
and intramural games. Go go the
dances and shake those bone, but
don’t break them. Go to the plays.
Come to the mosque at St. Joseph’s
Hall and pray to Allah to bless your
mom and dad. Come to our Queen
of Peace chapel, Jesus is watching us
as we pass by. There are many things
we can do. You are good and you
have talents. There is a lot you can
offer.
And to the U.S.A, members on
campus. All I can say is that you are
lucky to be living in this great coun-
try. If if weren’t full of opportunities
we would not be here. However,
adapting to new situations no mat-
ter how good they are is not an easy
process. We, international students,
need to be given a chance through
receiving your appreciation,
understanding and encouragement.
some covers “indirect costs such
as the proportionate share of bad
debts.” President Hayes hopes to
“reduce the international student
fee over a period of years in order
to make fee income commen-
surate with the direct costs.” As
a beginning step the fee will be
reduced to $140 in the Fall 1985
semester. The SEU administra-
tion is very concerned that inter-
national students understand that
the fee reduction must, by
necessity, be gradual, and that the
$10 reduction in the Fall is not
some insignificant, token
decrease.
Emergency Money: Due to their
distance from home international
students feel the strain of finan-
cial difficulties more than
American students. As President
Hayes states, international
We are honored by being called in-
ternational students as opposed to
foreign. Well, then, let us have that
international spirit: loving,
understanding, families, friends and
even “stomachs.” I understand the
socializing with people who come
from our own countries. But aren’t
we sometimes building African,
Asian, South American and Euro-
pean ghettos here in the United
States. Ghettos that inhibit our social
growth. Maybe this saying describes
it better, “A child whoh does not visit
says, my mother is the best cook in
the entire world.”
Therefore, while it is natural to
cling to what is familiar, it is better
if we get involved in the school ac-
tivities. We are not asked to do the
impossible or put on spectacular
shows. There are some simple moves
we can make. Let us go to the
students often find themselves in
emergency financial situations as
a result of upheavals in either
their countries of families, or
more rarely, as a result of “their
personal situations in this coun-
try.” Emergency student aid can
be procured through the Finan-
cial Aid Office by “current
students who have been here in
most cases for several semesters
and lack only one to three
semesters to graduate. The Finan-
cial Aid Office first counsels them
on pay resources they could use
to solve their own financial pro-
blems and then provides any
assistance it can within the
available budget allocation.
When that budget allocation is
gone during the school year,
emergency money is no longer
available.
Alumni Newsletter: The
memorandum states, “The alum-
ni staff has indicated that they
would be happy to initiate a two
year mailing of the alumni
newsletter to 1985 graduates who
can give us a mailing address for
the newsletter ... As this pro-
cedure is refined, it would essen-
tially allow all international
students to receive the alumni
newsletter as long as they kept the
University updated on their mail-
ing address.”
Clearly the Univesity is concern-
ed with the problems of international
students, and has some concrete
plans for alleviating those problems.
SEU students can play their role in
bringing these plans to reality by
continuing to be open and friendly
toward international students, mak-
ing them feel at home in a land far
away, both in distance and culture,
from their native lands.
• It is great to have them around.
Their presence makes St. Edward’s
a mini-world.
• It is wonderful that they are here.
They enrich our lives in many way.
• Most of them are computer
sciences, business, chemistry and
biology majors.
• I don’t know much about them, I
only see them in class and in the
Reunion.
•No comment.
• Boy, they are rich.
• They come from Saudi Arabia and
Nigeria.
• Gee, they complain too much.
• Ohhh, they are too pushy (on
grades and women).
• Most of them socialize only with
their own country men and
women.
• I don’t understand some of them
when they speak English.
nions. Nevertheless, as Francis
Bacon and John Donne pointed out
four hundred years ago, we are not
islands unto ourselves. And as
Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie
point out to us today: “We are the
world/We are the children.”
often virtually invisible on the SEU
campus.
Why is SEU not making more of
its international student population
as the rich resource that it is? And
what does this situation imply about
SEU administrative/faculty/student
attitudes toward international
students?
Fortunately SEU shares the con-
cerns of international students, and
believers, in the words of President
Hayes, “that the fundamental need
is for a positive program of com-
munication and mutual understan-
ding for our entire multi-cultural
community and we will be initiating
such a program in the revised student
services organization.” The committ-
ment to international students seems
to be one of more than just words —
this “philosophical” student is back-
ed by plans for immediate and long-
term practical improvements over
the current situation. The following
is a list of the planned im-
provements, in an order loosely
prioritized according to Mr. Sage’s
analysis of what concerns inter-
national students the most:
International Student Fee: Inter-
national students are currently re-
quired to pay an additional $150
per semester, above and beyond
the costs to other types of
students. Some of this money
covers “direct costs associated
with international students” and
track for U.S. students . . . Dr.
Dailey also indicated that in plan-
ning for orientation she would en-
courage participation by interna-
tional students so that new inter-
national students could access
some of their peers during the
process.”
Foreign Students, International
Student Advisor: At present the
only support service specifically
targeted for international
students is the International
Students Advisor, currently a
half-time position. The
memorandum states that SEU is
“still working on systems to pro-
vide full time access to special ad-
visement for international
students.”
Foreign students are our brothers
and sisters, daughters and sons. If we
forget or deny this truth, we have
lost our own humanity.
“But, they’re, . . . .”
“But, They’re, You Know, Like
. . . Foreign!”
Last year the United States had
almost 340,000 foreign students
enrolled in its universities. St. Ed-
ward’s has about four hundred of
these students. A short strool
through Moody or Fleck Halls, the
Reunion, or the Scarborough-
Phillips Library forces this reality
upon anyone’s attention. But who
are these foreign students? Why are
they here? Why does St. Edward’s
admit these students?
The easiest question to answer is
the first: Who are these foreign
students? A computer printout from
the Registrar’s Office gives us
demographic information, a
breakdown of these students’ sex,
age, religion, nationality, major.
Burt does this tell us very much? We
are still left wondering who those
people chattering away in some
weird language really are.
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Edwardian (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 4, Ed. 1 Monday, April 15, 1985, newspaper, April 15, 1985; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1519106/m1/4/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting St. Edward’s University.