<< Front page News February 27, 2004

ISO calls to foreign students

The Oberlin College International Student Organization is struggling to survive as elections for a new ISO chair committee near.

The ISO chairman took a semester off in 2002 and the group was literally frozen. Last year, when a few international students decided to bring it back to life, they found out that everything had been terminated. The e-mail address did not even work.

“We did elections for committee members at the end of the first semester last year,” Ozlem Akcakoca, chairman of the ISO, said.

A budget was presented to SFC in 2003.

“We organized a few general interest meetings and two study breaks during which we showed movies,” Akcakoca said.

Before the beginning of fall semester the ISO organized a grandiose welcome dinner for all international students during one of the first days of international orientation week. Unfortunately, the budget for the dinner was not well calculated and the organizations ended up paying much more than expected.

After that, things started going downhill again. SFC was not willing to give the organization more money for this semester. However, next year the organization can prepare a budget again and present it to the SFC for approval.

“We need a fundraising campaign, especially among the freshmen,” Akcakoca said. “That is why we did the international dinner last semester. We also did a couple of international student breakfasts and a trip for Thanksgiving.”

New elections for ISO chairmen and committee members will happen soon. The Office of the Dean of Studies provides a lot of support for the ISO, even sharing an e-mail address. Ellen Sayles, the Associate Dean of Studies, is also the ISO’s advisor.

Oberlin has about 190 international students at the moment, one of the largest international student populations among liberal arts colleges.


 
 
   

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