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February 10, 2003 edition

Something toYale about

SUU political science graduate
gets at least 8 law school offers

Franchesca Van Buren, a political science graduate from Cedar City, scored a 173 on the LSAT and is accepted to at least eight prestigious schools. Her advisers say this opens the door for other SUU students.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATIONS BY KEN HANSEN / UNIVERSITY JOURNAL

By KIM PATTERSON
UNIVERSITY JOURNAL

After graduating in December with a 3.99 GPA and earning a 173 on the LSAT, Franchesca Van Buren, a political science graduate from Cedar City, earned a personal invitation from Yale Law School, with financial aid.
Van Buren also was accepted to UCLA, Berkeley, Cornell, USC, Ohio State, Tulane and BYU.
Rod Decker, dean of Humanities and Social Sciences said this is “an achievement we are proud of. Franchesca established priorities and was willing to work for what she wanted.”
Stephen Roberds, assistant professor of political science, taught Van Buren in five or six classes.
“She serves as a model for what a student should be,” Roberds said.

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He said Van Buren is superb in the academic arena, involved in student government and passionate about women’s issues.
A score of 173 on the LSAT put Van Buren in the 99.2 percentile, Decker said.
Van Buren made an unusual effort, he said, to go to Provo twice a week to take a study course for the LSAT.
Roberds said Van Buren always had an open mind.
“Intellectually, she is constantly searching,” he said.
Van Buren said she is debating between Yale and Cornell and wants to visit both campuses before making a decision.
She is also waiting to find out the amount of financial aid she was awarded from Yale. Van Buren was also offered a Cornell Dean’s Scholarship worth $20,000 a year.
Decker said many students receive loans or small portions of financial aid from law schools, but “to get the amount offered to Franchesca is very unusual and only goes to the most qualified.”
Van Buren said up to 10 Cornell Dean’s Scholarships are offered each year.
Roberds said Van Buren receives a lot of support from home, and her family values education.
“I am so proud of my daughter,” said Veronica Van Buren, Franchesca’s mother, who graduated from SUU in 2000 with a 3.77 GPA.
“I am so happy my daughter went to (SUU),” her mother said. “Students receive so much from teachers and so much help.”
More than 90 percent of SUU students who apply are admitted to fully accredited law schools.
Currently, SUU Political Science alumnus Denten Robinson is attending Columbia University.
Xanna Rae Hardman, an SUU Political Science alumnus was accepted to Chicago, Harvard, and Stanford law schools but decided to attend BYU.
Van Buren is the first to break the Yale Law School barrier, Decker said.
Roberds said he gets excited when a student is accepted to a school that no other student from SUU has been accepted to because it opens the door for future students.

Utah universities
could lose $11M

By HEATHER DARATA
UNIVERSITY JOURNAL

Higher education may suffer an additional loss of up to $11 million when the Utah Legislature allocates the money for the 2003 fiscal year budget.
If the 2 percent or $11 million cut is approved, the total cuts since fiscal year 2001 will be approximately $90 million or about 14 percent, said Cecelia Foxley, Utah System of Higher Education commissioner.
On Saturday the new revenue projections will be completed and will indicate the health of the economy in Utah. The final decision will not be made until early March, Foxley said.
Budget cuts are inevitable because the spending is being reduced in all programs, said Boyd Garriott, senior legislative fiscal analyst.
The final decision is unknown right now, but the Legislature is preparing everyone in case it happens, said Dean O’Driscoll, assistant to the president for university relations. The cut to higher education could be devastating if it is approved. This situation is just not good, Foxley said.
SUU’s budget has already been cut and is trimmed as leanly

 

as possible, O’Driscoll said.
SUU will “definitely not raise tuition,” he added. If the budget cuts happen then SUU could consider cutting programs that are already offered.
Foxley said she believes it is unfair to rely on tuition increases from students to help pay for the loss of money in the higher education budget. Additional increases are unrealistic. She said it is actually like taxing students when the state should be able to come up with its fair share of the money for higher education.
A Deseret News/ KSL Dan Jones & Associates poll of 413 Utahns shows a majority of Utahns want schools in the state system to be open to all who want to attend.
The poll shows that 73 percent of those interviewed believed that students should probably or definitely be able to enroll in state schools. Only about 18 percent said they believed that enrollment caps should probably or definitely be used. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent.
However, an “informal” enrollment cap is in effect right now. Students can’t afford to attend classes or they can’t get into the classes that they need, Foxley said.
If enrollment caps are used the colleges and universities will look at losing money from tuition revenues, she said.
The University of Utah administration has talked about using an enrollment cap. If the U of U uses an enrollment cap, SUU could benefit. Students who are turned away from schools like the U of U might consider coming to SUU and that would result in an increase in SUU’s enrollment, O’Driscoll said.