FedEx error bars Berkeley students from Fulbright

University of California, Berkeley graduate students who had their Fulbright Scholarship applications disqualified due to an error involving a Federal Express pick-up received a small measure of hope on Friday.

The 30 students were informed of a tentatively scheduled teleconference between the five-member executive committee of the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, set for Tuesday.

The furor arose last fall when the students missed the application deadline for the scholarships after FedEx failed to make a scheduled pick-up on the day of the deadline. The courier did not arrive until the next morning -- despite repeated calls of confirmation from a university employee -- at which point the applications were considered late.

Steven Uhlfelder, chairman of the Fulbright board, announced the teleconference last week for the purpose of gathering information from both parties.

"It is still a tentatively scheduled telephone meeting," said Marie Felde, director of media relations for Berkeley. "It really is an opportunity for the Fulbright board to hear each side's argument."

Immediately following the fall incident, Berkeley officials were in contact with the Fulbright board and the U.S. Department of Education -- the agency that administers the grants -- to let them know about the problem.

FedEx has assumed full responsibility for missing the scheduled pick-up. The company cited a problem with a new software system. But on Jan. 30, the students were informed that the Department of Education had decided not to consider their applications due to the missed deadline.

The university is still in a state of discussions with the company, but no plans for legal action have been disclosed.

Berkeley officials made a series of appeals to the Department of Education, with Chancellor Robert Berdahl even traveling to Washington in January to meet with officials.

"For those students to lose out on the opportunity to compete for the Fulbright award in this way is outrageous," said Berdahl in a Berkeley press release. "These awards are among the most prestigious research abroad fellowships available and are crucial to many students' ability to complete their dissertations."

Berdahl will be involved if the teleconference takes place as tentatively scheduled on Feb. 9, but the outcome of such a meeting is unclear.

"I don't want to give false hopes," said Uhlfelder in The New York Times. "I am not sure if we can do anything.

The university has promised to do everything possible to help the 30 graduate students achieve their dissertation goals.

"Nothing has been decided yet, and we are taking things one step at a time," Felde said. "But we are looking into all sorts of alternative funding, and the students are the number one issue."

Last year, 30 Berkeley advanced graduate students applied for Fulbright scholarships, and 15 grants were approved by the Department of Education.

The Fulbright Scholarship program is named for the late Sen. William Fulbright (D-Ark.). As the premier international educational program of the U.S government, it provides grants for graduate students to undertake full-time research towards their dissertation abroad.

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