4 ?age A-2- The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 6, 1984 Studentse good educa cultures. S Forei nfrom foreigr the Univers assets-div Foreign s cent of the U last year, b s graduate p WHILE N the Univers vironment, enormousd struge any higher native land: "Mostc dergraduat tor of the' "Once yous to s is veyou need a celerator, people in a1 the richest schools," he By DAVID VANKER come to Ann Arbor not only to get a ation but to experience differing tudents who have travelled here n countries to attend classes, endow sity with one of its most valuable ersity. students accounted for only 7.1 per- University's total student population but they were a majority in several programs-especially programs in ring school. MANY American students come to sity to mature as adults in a new en- most foreign students travel the distances because there just aren't educational opportunities in their Is. countries have their own un- e schools," said John Heiss, direc- University's international center. start getting into graduate schools, computer center, an atomic ac- a research library. Instead of 500 lecture you have six per class. Only t countries can afford graduate e said. In the United States however, Heise said American students seldom need PhDs in order to find work. "AN AMERICAN engineering student earns, $28,000-30,000 right out of school," he said. "If he goes on for another five years, do.you think he's going to get that same offer? Companies don't want PhDs building their bridges. "A PhD basically qualifies you for teaching; you make $20,000 or $22,000 a year when you get out of school. There you run into the strange phenomenon that the more education you have, the lower your salary," Heise said. But things are different for PhDs outside the U.S., Heise added. "THE AMERICAN student says, 'It's not going to pay to continue in school,' " Heise said. "For the foreign student, it pays." Heise estimates that "somewhere around 90 percent" of all foreign students return to their home outside the U.S. upon graduation and assume the positions for which they were trained at the University. "These people are 27 to 30 years old in most cases," he remarked. "They already know what they want to do by the time they come here." THIS MAY account for the incredible study discipline that seems typical of foreign studen- ts, most of whom come several thousand miles to attend the University, Heise said. The cost of an education at the University is likely another incentive for foreign students to take school seriously. The recently-approved tuition hike for out-of- state and graduate students means that foreign graduate students will pay at least $3,666 per term to attend the University. When travel ex- penses and the cost of household items which they cannot afford to bring from home are ad- ded, the annual cost to foreign students at the University tops $17,000, according to Heise. SLIGHTLY MORE than half of the 2,445 foreign students enrolled at the University last year were from Asian nations; almost 80 per- cent were male; and nearly three-quarters of them were seeking graduate or professional degrees. Although foreign students dominated a few graduate programs within the University, they were only sparsely represented on the un- dergraduate level. Last year, 47.8 percent of all graduate engineering students and 18.6 percent of all graduate students were foreign, but only 5.1 percent of the University's un- dergraduate engineering students and 1.8:per- cent of its LSA undergraduates came t1 tie University from outside the U.S. In those departments where many of: the graduate students are foreign, however-inath and science programs in particularrun- dergraduates have traditionally encount"r language barriers between themselves anU teaching assistants unaccustomed to speaking English. In an attempt to deal with this problem, LSA administrators last year began to require TAs within LSA who were not native speakers of English to demonstrate their 'oral proficiency before they could teach. WHILE THE plan originally called for the testing of both graduate students who had taught before and those hadn't, instructor Mary Spaan of the University's Engli Language Institute (ELI) said that, in the en , only new TAs were tested. However, language barriers are not the only problems foreign students face at the Univer- sity. "I'm worried that University officials aremot directly concerned about our welfare, except See FOREIGN, Page 7 NEED A IBM * APPLE * COMPAQ COMPUTER? RENT NOW WHILE SUPPLIES LAST! We rent and sell several kinds of terminals, printers, modems, and personal computers. Come and visit our office at 749 Airport Blvd., Suite 2 We will show you how economical and efficient our equipment can be for you. NOBODY CAN DO IT LIKE: RENT-A-BYTE, INC. " 749 Airport Blvd., Suite 2 Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104 Tel. (313),161-BYTE . Policy backs gays on campus By MARLA GOLD After Diag rallies, marches in the streets and protests in University President Harold Shapiro's office, gay rights activists who united for battle finally got what they wanted: a Univer- sity-wide policy outlawing discrimination against campus homosexuals. 'During the two-year policy quest which ended last spring, campus gays maintained that such a statement would buffer some of the harassment they say they face every day. ACCORDING TO the statement: "The University of Michigan believes that educational and employment decisions should be based on in- dividuals' abilities and qualifications and should not be based on irrelevant factors or personal characteristics which have no connection with academic abilities or job performance. Among the traditional factors which are generally 'irrevelant' are race, sex, religion, and national origin. It is the policy of the University of Michigan that an individual's sexual orientation be treated in the same manner." No one was searching for a miracle solution and so far, no miracle solutions have occurred since the policy was signed into effect by Shapiro. NEXT MONTH the University's af- firmative action office will assemble a task force to deal with gay-oriented complaints. It will also study methods of educating the campus community on discriminatidn>.$ Today, however, gays on campus say. they are often harassedandpppressed. "The thing about being gay is that you don't have to say anything," said Naomi Braine, a residential college senior and member of a gay activist group called Queers' Action Committee (QuAC). "But not being able to come out (of the closet) is oppressive," she said. ACCORDING to Braine and other gay students at the University, coming out - admitting to yourself and your frien- ds that you are gay - can leave a gay I a a Doily Photo by ELIZABETH SCOTT Members of Ann Arbor's gay community rally outside of the Federal Building on Liberty Street during Gay Pride week. student wide open for harassment. And as a result, some students on campus simply refuse to come out. Even though statistics say 10 percent of the population is gay, few University stu- dents are vocal about beng gay. "You don't get horror stories because people don't have to come out," she said. SOME ARE afraid to come out and others are encouraged not to publicly display their homosexuality. During a dance celebrating gay pride BIOLOGICAL/PHYSICAL SCIENCES ... You're Needed All Over the World.. Ask Peace Corps volunteers why they are using their Science major, minor, or aptitude in health clinics and classrooms in Malaysia. Why do they use them in fish pond culture projects and experimental farms in Western Samoa? They'll tell you their ingenuity and flexibility are as important as their degrees. Ask them why Peace Corps is the toughest job you'll ever love. PIECE CORPS week in the Michigan Union last July, a security officer asked gays to "not be affectionate in the halls to avoid trouble with a fraternity that was having a party in the next room," said one gay male student who did not want to be identified. Other gay students recall similar situations when they've been asked subtly - and sometimes not so subtly - to closet their homosexuality. HOMOSEXUALS have complained of being bombarded with snowballs while walking hand in hand through the Diag and of having pro-gay posters and signs ripped - and even burned - off dorm room doors. Perhaps the policy statement will change this, but it more than likely won't. The policy statement does, however, recognize gays. According to Jim Toy, a worker in the University's Human Sexuality Office, the policy statement is important because it lets gays know that the University is behind them, not against them. AND ACCORDING to Toy, "People have said that it needs to be proven to them that the University is backing them if they complain." If the Univer- sity backs gays, he thinks more people will go to the Affirmative Action office with complaints. "There is a greater feeling among people that they aren't going to let things slide anymore," said Greg Prokopowitz, a gay LSA senior. The, mentality of some people is that we gays should avoid offending people. If there's a problem we shouldn't have to hide," he said. Even though the policy statement recognizes gays, most homosexualson campus believe that a change in the regental by-lays would've been muck stronger. Under a plan first proposed by the group Lesbian and Gay Rights on Cam- pus (LaGROC) in 1982, sexual preference would have been added to the regental by-law which now prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, sex, color, religion, national origin or an- cestry, age, marital status or vietnam- era veteran status. However, the University didn't ap- prove the by-law change and as a result, it enacted the policy statement. But gay groups say they may consider pushing for a by-law change once again. Gays on campus waited 15 months for the University to enact the policy. And now they're playing a waiting game again. This time, they're waiting to see if it will work. GREAT LAKES 24 OPEN 24_HOURS, 7 DAYS A WEEK, 365 DAYS PER YEAR AVOID LONG LINES Automatic Banking Center CENTRAL CAMPUS LOCA TION : 401 E. Liberty stafevideat Division SW d -769-8300 NORTH CAMPUS LOCATION: 2701 Plymouth Rd. near Nixon 769-7818 IS f I