************************************************************** IFCSS Headquarters News Release No. 5045 Aug 26, 1993 ************************************************************** Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars (IFCSS) 733 15th Street, N.W., Suite 440, Washington, D.C.20005 Tel. (202)347-0017 Fax: (202)347-0018 Email: ifcss@wam.umd.edu A Fellow Student Needs Support in Her Fight Against Discrimination =========================================== In March this year, Ms. Liqun Hu, a Chinese student at Ball State University (BSU), Indiana, was denied admission to the university's Clinical Psychology program, the reason being that her undergraduate GPA was "low." The fact is, Ms. Hu had a GPA of 90.3 at Fu-Dan University, but it was converted into 2.8 by the university's International Student Program (for students from Taiwan, the same score would be converted into 3.8). During the past months, Ms. Liqun Hu fought an extremely tough battle to seek justice, but the university authorities would not admit the injustice of the conversion system. In stead, she and her husband were subjected to great pressure. IFCSS HQ hereby calls on all the Chinese students in this country to show their support for Ms. Liqun Hu. Only when we stand together can we successfully fight discrimination. If you want to help, please help collect signatures to the following letter, which is to be sent to the president of BSU and the related government agencies. *** *** *** Dear We are writing you in support of Ms. Liqun Hu's complaint against the discrimination she suffered at Ball State University. As students from China's Mainland, we can testify that Fu-Dan University is one of the best universities in China and that to convert a GPA of 90.3 at Fu-Dan University into 2.8 is utterly unjustified. Therefore, we demand that proper measures be taken immediately to revoke such an unfair conversion system. We also demand that Ms. Hu's applicatin to the Clinical Psychology Department at Ball State University be reconsidered. Your prompt attention to the case will be deeply appreciated. (Signatures) ================================================================= Please send your Signatures to the following e-mail account: huliqun@ifcss.org Thank you for your support. ================================================================= *** *** *** A Letter From IFCSS HQ in Support of Ms. Liqun Hu 08/26/93 Dr. Mary Frances O'Shea Director Postsecondary Education Division Office for Civil Rights-Region V 401 South State Street 7th Floor Chicago, IL 60605-1202 Dear Dr. O'Shea: As president and vice president of the Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars in the U.S.A. (IFCSS), we are writing to request that serious attention be given to the case of Ms. Liqun Hu, who has filed a complaint with you about the discrimination she suffered in a letter to you dated July 30, 1993. Ms. Hu studied clinical psychology at Ball State University from August 1992 to May 1993 as a special student and applied for 1993's admission. Her graduate GPA at BSU is 3.71. In addition, her GRE is 1750, which is far above the average of those who have been admitted. In March, she was told that she was not admitted because her undergraduate grade from China was too low. Ms. Hu did her undergraduate study in Fu-Dan University, China's Stanford. Her GPA was 90.3 on the 100 scale, which is equivalent to American letter grade "A" according to published conversion criteria provided by American international education professionals (NAFSA). However, BSU converted her score to 2.8, which is below "B." The immediate result was the denial of her application. Ms. Hu took issue with such conversion and tried to obtain a more reasonable result. In the past months, she made numerous efforts to make the university officials see the fallacy of the conversion system used, but to no avail. Instead, great pressure was brought to bear on her and her husband to keep silent. Although Ms. Hu won extensive support from students at BSU, the university authorities remain adamant. There are currently over 40,000 Chinese students studying in the U.S., the overwhelming majority being graduate students. Their academic records compare favorably with those of any other groups, including American students. Despite that English is not their native language, their GRE scores and GPA are in general considerably higher than native speakers. We strongly believe that the GPA conversion system used by BSU is biased against students from China's mainland (Ms. Hu's score would have been converted into 3.8 instead of 2.8 had she come from Taiwan). Our organization has decided to help Ms. Hu to seek justice, because BSU's GPA conversion system has affected not only Ms. Hu, but all the Chinese students at BSU. Moreover, it will affect all the Chinese students who will come to study at BSU in the future. We will be providing you with further information. Thank you. Changsheng Lin, IFCSS President Heping Shi, IFCSS Vice President