############################################################################ T h e E l e c t r o n i c N e w s l e t t e r o f I F C S S %=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%= _____________ _____________ ______________ / _____ }} / _________}} / __________}} / // }____}} { {{________ { {{_________ | || _____ \_________ }} \__________ }} \ \\____} }} _________} }} __________} }} _________ \____________// __{_____________// __{______________//____________ ]]]]]]]]] ]]]]]]] ]]]]]]]] ]]]]]]] ]]] ]]] ]]] ]]] ]]] ]]] ]]] ]]] ]]] ]] ]] ]]] ]]] ]]] ]]] ]]] ]]]]]]]]] ]] ]] ]]] ]]] ]]] ]]] ]]] ]]] ]]] ]]] ]]] ]]]]]]] ]]]]]]]] ]]] ]]] ]] %=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%= Press Desk October 18, 1994 No.94002 %=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%=%= IN THIS ISSUE: No of Lines ============================================================================ *** _____ Electronic Press Conference _____ *** 1. IFCSS HQ NR #6014: Open Bidding for the IFCSS Newsletter (Chinese) .. 166 *** __________ In the Community __________ *** 2. President-Net Welcomes You, Presidents of CSS Organizations .......... 64 *** _________ Under the Sunshine _________ *** 3. IFCSS HQ Working Report, 27 July - September 30, 1994 (Part 1 of 2) ..120 ============================================================================ ================= <<<<< Electronic Press Conference >>>>> ================== 1. IFCSS HQ NR #6014: Open Bidding for the IFCSS Newsletter (Chinese) .. 166 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: IFCSS HQ 10/17/94 [CSS Today Editor's Note: In this HQ Newsrelease, the word "Newsletter" refers to the Chinese version "IFCSS Newsletter". The readers shall not be confused with CSS Today, the Electronic Newsletter of IFCSS.] The Newsletter has been one of the major "official" publications of IFCSS for the last few years. Its importance in fostering understanding and cooperation between IFCSS headquarters and CSS organizations in various campuses has been widely recognized. To further explore and develop its potential in facilitating the communication between IFCSS and its grassroots constituents, we have decided to go ahead with a significant and exciting experiment: we would like to see more groups of CSS from different campuses actively involved in the editing of the Newsletter. Now we are accepting biddings from CSS organizations on campus for one (monthly) issue of the newsletter starting from October 1994. As we envision it, the Newsletter will continue to provide an open forum for members of our community to generate and conduct discussions about the enduring issues of democracy and human rights; it is also a carrier of the on-going dialogue between the leadership of IFCSS and its constituents; it shall serve as one of the mechanisms for ensuring the democratic nature of our operation. Each editorial board will be responsible for soliciting and editing contributions as well as the typing, type-setting and cover-design of the issue it takes up, while Cheng Ming, the designated general coordinator of the project will take care of the printing and distribution of all the issues. The general coordinator reserves the right to supplement each issue with additional articles at his discretion, should he judge the content of the package to be too much on the "lean" side. The budget available for a total of twelve (12) issues of newsletter is $26,000, which are allocated to the following functions: Supplies & equipment Communications & postage Contractual services Other direct costs Please refer to the attached "General Guideline" for a breakup of the cost. Bidding Procedures: To be considered for the job, a will-be-editorial-board should submit a proposal in which you (1) explain briefly your interest in the project, (2) designate an editor-in-chief who will be responsible for coordinating all the activities of your group and informing the headquarters of its progress or any unforeseen circumstances for which you need additional assistance, (3) if possible, give a general "preview" of the issue you intend to put together. In addition, we suggest that you send us the latest three issues of the newsletter circulated among your members on campus. This will allow us to make a realistic assessment of your qualifications. This bidding is opening until October 30, 1994. If you are interested, please mail your proposal together with any supporting material you would like us to review to IFCSS headquarters post-marked before October 30, 1994. -- -- -- -- -- ATTACHMENT General Guidelines for the IFCSS Newsletter Sept 1994 - Jan 1995 For the remaining issues of 1994 IFCSS Newsletter, we proposed to "de-centralize" the editorial privileges and responsibilities by inviting local CSS organizations with demonstrable capacity and past experience in editing and distributing their own newsletters to take over the editorship of each individual issue. To ensure that we comply with the agreement IFCSS as a grantee has with NED and fulfill our part of the obligation, so as not to jeopardize our chances of renewing this grant or applying for new grants for other projects in the future, we would like to provide you with the following guidelines. Use these for reference purpose to set a loose boundary for your operation. 1. As the primary mission of this publication is to promote and enhance awareness and understanding of democracy and human rights among the CSS community in the U.S. (see attachment #1, the "Program Description" of IFCSS Newsletter), you are to devote a certain amount of space, at the editor-in-chief's discretion, in each issue to this theme. It can range from theoretical discussions on the concept of democracy and human rights, the feasibility, or the impediments to the practice, of democracy in current China, essays, poetry or narrative stories that explore the questions that arise in the pursuit of the ideals of democracy and human rights. 2. The newsletter is also to serve as a vehicle to facilitate the communication between the IFCSS headquarters and local CSS organizations. While you are welcome to report any important decisions or plans made by the headquarters, you may also consider collecting the readers' comments, observations or criticism on the performance of the HQ on various issues or areas. 3. You can use up to one fourth of the space in each issue to register, analyze or discuss issues or topics concerning students and scholars living, studying or working in the U.S. Some ads pertinent to students' needs in life are acceptable. 4. With the permission of their original authors and publishers, you may reprint any articles having appeared in some local publications that is of interest to the CSS community in general. 5. The format of each issue can be flexible as long as it looks attractive, interesting, refreshing and respectable. However the font of the name of this publication on the cover page shall remain consistently the same in all issues. 6. Deadlines for publication: (a) With the exception of the October issue, as a safeguard against the unexpected in such matter, all the following issues must have a camera-ready copy sent to the Cheng Ming ONE (1) MONTH in advance, which would give him some leverage should one group fail to deliver the product in time. (b) Each issue should preferrably come out before the end of the second week of each month. 8. The editor-in-chief for each issue is responsible for writing a narrative report about the contributions received or solicited, the principle for selection, the intention of the editorial board and what you have accomplished at the end, in addition to any actual activities carried out during this period. We ask for your full cooperation in this regard because the HQ has to submit reports to NED periodically about the operation and progress of this newsletter. The due date for the next two reports are October 30, 1994 and January 31, 1995 respectively. 9. To receive full reimbursement of all the expenses you incur for each issue, (a) please keep all your receipts (with clearly recognizable name of vendor, items purchased or services, date of purchase, date of delivery, and amount paid; (b) the receipts must be accompanied by a copy of all the checks used to pay off the bills; (c) a log showing the check number, date check was written, vendor's name, and amount paid should also be submitted. For your reference, we are enclosing a sample of such a log (see attachment #2). Please note that the expenditure allowed by NED grant No. 94-28.0 are divided into the following categories: Subtotal Average for each issue Supplies & equipment (i.e. office supplies) 1,120 93 Communications & postage (i.e. telephone & facsimile, postage) 4,600 383 Contractual Services (i.e. typing fees) 11,880 990 Other direct costs (i.e. printing costs) 8,400 700 To be reimbursed, all your expenses must fit into one of the above categories. Please limit the total expenditure for each issue to $2000.00. ====================== <<<<< In the Community >>>>> ======================== 2. President-Net Welcomes You, Presidents of CSS Organizations .......... 64 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- By: Dongsheng Zhou Abridged and Sent by: Yegang Wu 10/18/94 This is a call for you, the president, to join the president net (pnet) for all Chinese Students and Scholars Associations (CSSAs) across the United State. Since August 1993, the president net has been used by CSSA presidents from over 30 universities to share ideas on how to serve the local Chinese community, to achieve better understanding and to look for possible cooperations among various campus. With the advance of electronic mail on computer network, on August 23,1993, the CSSA presidents from seven universities, American University, Purdue University, Oregon State University, Texas A&M University, University of Arizona, University of California at Berkeley and University of Rochester set up the president net address as pre@thetis.oce.orst.edu. Any mail sent to this address will be automatically distributed to the presidents on the net. The net manager is Dr. Luan Shusheng. Presidents shared a lot of topics which are the common interests of all CSSAs, such as how to raise money for our local CSSA activities, different ways in getting our local students and scholars directories printed. When local CSSAs schedule their events, the presidents also post their bulletins on the net. In this way, the other presidents on other campuses can benefit from knowing how other CSSAs serve their local members. The main purpose for the net is better understanding, better serving our local members. After you join the net, you can: 1. Talk about different issues and share ideas with the other presidents 2. Post your local activities and learn from the other presidents' posting 3. Look for help from the other schools 4. Push some kind of nation-wide actions By sending an e-mail consenting to join and give your association name, university name, title(president or vice president) and in which year you are the presidents, to the net manager Mr. Xu Zhongkai at xuz@conie.ie.orst.edu, you will be added to the net ASAP. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Any mail sent to the net address: pnet@engr.orst.edu, by any presidents will be automatically sent to every presidents on net. All information in previous paragraph will be attached to your mail. In order to maintain consistency, unless requesting quitting from the net directly from the net manager, presidents for the last academic years will stay on the net for one year. These presidents can help the current ones familiarize with works they have done. Still, every CSSA can give two addresses to the net. Any e-mail from address other than these two addresses will be rejected to be broadcasted to the net. The net welcomes any message in how to serve our local Chinese community better. Combined, we can make a difference. Please join us! And remember, once you join the net, you are the host of the net. Every current CSSA president is the host of the net. Dongsheng Zhou Dept of Elec & Comp Engr Tel: (503)-737-2630 Oregon State University (503)-737-3254 Corvallis, OR97331-3211 E-mail:zhoud@ece.orst.edu ===================== <<<<< Under the Sunshine >>>>> ======================= 3. IFCSS HQ Working Report, 27 July - September 30, 1994 (Part 1 of 2) ..120 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: IFCSS HQ 10/17/94 For the first quarter of this term, we concentrated our effort on promoting the IFCSS medical insurance program, ensuring a smooth transition, professionalizing the setup of our office and renewing or establishing contacts with sectors of U.S. government and other interest groups or organizations. At the same time, in collaboration with members of financial committee of the Council and all the working committees, we also worked on the itemized budget proposal for the fiscal year of 1994-1995, which, turned out to be quite a formidable task. On the whole though, in spite of occasional setback or slowdown, the progress and outcome of the first quarter's work have been gratifying. (1) Insurance Promotion For the last three years, the IFCSS medical insurance has been one of the most well-received service programs we offer our members. Its success is attested by the growth of enrollments from the original 700 in the first year to the 6,500 plus at present. Besides bringing in some the revenue for IFCSS to cover part of its administrative and operational cost, it also allocated to participating local CSS organizations their much needed activity fund, which is consist of 40% of the total revenue thus generated. In short it has become the most vital life-line for IFCSS and its constituency. For this reason, since we took office we have held frequent talks or meetings with the heads of IGS to discuss ways of maintaining and improving the quality of the services offered by the plan while keeping the cost of our program at a minimum, or even reducing the rate for the last three years even further, as well as the possibility of revising the eligibility clause to enable more people to take advantage of our low-premium comprehensive coverage. Right now we are looking for a compatible plan at a reasonable rate for those post-graduate PR holders not covered by the present program. Meanwhile we devoted a significant portion of our time in handling insurance related phone calls and e-mail messages each day. The popularity of our program has prompted at least four imitators to emerge in the market this year. While we knew that their existence means that people in our community have more options to pick and choose, we had to admit that our competitors also poses a challenge to us, real or potential. At the same time we were confident that because we had the best interest of the CSS in mind we would be able to guarantee quality and satisfaction, and continue to strive to meet their demands. After repeated negotiations, in which we tried to convince IGS of the imperative of reducing the premium of our plan to make it more appealing, even if that means a cut in our own income, IGS finally agreed to a $24.00 annual reduction without curtailing its coverage or quality. During this time, part of our energy was consumed in providing personalized service to the will-be-insured. Every day we received calls from students both from Mainland China and from Hong Kong and Taiwan requesting for the brochure. In a few unusual instances, we answered phone calls dictated to the operator by deaf students. Besides sending out brochures and application forms, we went all the way out to help students beat the deadline for waiving the insurance plan mandated by their own schools. When the regular mail was not fast enough, we would fax the form to the perspective applicant and contact the IGS enrollment department to request that they process it immediately and, whenever possible, fax the applicant the proof of his or her enrollment on the same day. We've been equally enthusiastic about our after-sell service, a unique aspect of our program. Upon receiving a call, fax or e-mail message which reported of an application or claim that the insured believed was not processed properly or in a timely manner, we would contact IGS right away to find out what went wrong or whether there has been some misunderstanding involved. All the "abnormal" cases we received so far, which were indeed few in number, were resolved in one or two days. We are proud of our efficiency in this regard. To give credit to where it is due, the staff in IGS have been very helpful and cooperative to us. (2) Term transition Thanks to the generous and gracious cooperation of the last term leaders and staff members, we've been able to conclude our transition in a relatively upbeat mood. We appreciate all the support and assistance they have given us during this period. We are pleased to announce that toward the end of August, an office routine has been established and the responsibilities and duties of everyone working in the headquarters has been clearly specified. In particular, as the first step toward professionalizing the headquarters' financial management, we tried to follow the professional guidelines suggested by Jeff Lin, a CPA, in all our financial procedures; Yang Jie, our new office manager, underwent some training in Jeff Lin's office to familiarize himself with the general accounting practice, especially computerized check issuance, and some computer software available for bookkeeping purposes. Most of the time members of the last HQ team were available by phone to answer our minute questions about the whereabouts of certain documents, the person to contact for a specific bill, or the purpose of an unspecified expense, etc. However some problems did occur that were usually time consuming as well as frustrating to those involved. Because of the lack of a filing system that is immediately accessible to anyone new from "outside" of the office, and that is not set up on the basis of purely personal preference, habit or idiosyncrasy, most of the existing "hard copy" cabinets are in virtual disarray and therefore resist access; sometimes the new staff members have had to spend hours in futile attempt to dig up a document or case file for purpose of cross-reference or verification. Take for instance the legal documents related to the insurance program, We knew they were no doubt somewhere in the office, but paradoxically were no where to be found, we had to request for copies of them from IGS, embarrassing though it may feel. At the beginning of this term, with the travel expenses of the delegates to the 6th Congress and that incurred by various working committees during last term not yet reimbursed, with the bills due IRS and other institutions unpaid, we had to handle what turned out to be an exhausting amount of bookkeeping and financial transaction left over from last term (Please see a separate report about the 6th Congress travel reimbursement). After writing out hundreds of checks, we find ourselves facing a stringent financial prospect. [Topics to be continued: (3) Visit and Meeting with Local CSS Organizations (4) Out-reaching Efforts (*) Concluding remarks] ########################################################################### | Editor of this issue: DING Yungui | | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - | | IFCSS, 733 15th St. N.W., Suite 440, Washington, DC 20005. | | Phone: (202)347-0017; Fax: (202)347-0018 | | _______________________________________________________________________ | | The Press_Desk serves for multichannal communications among CSS & IFCSS.| | Please send your comments, questions, criticisms and anything concerning| | a healthy establishment of IFCSS to: | | | | To subscribe to IFCSS Press_Desk publications, please send mail to | | listserv@ifcss.org | | with the mail body: sub PBS-L last_name first_name (for signing on) | | or: unsub PBS-L last_name first_name (for signing off) | | For more information about IFCSS, its Service Program and publications, | | ftp/gopher to or use mosaic (www) to: http://ifcss.org:8001/| ###########################################################################