By Laura Lothian, On-line Forty-Niner May 14, 1997
Last semester, Cal State Long Beach student Wendy Garfinkle found herself in the not-so-unique position of having a required class canceled last minute.
What put Garfinkle, 23, in a tough spot was she was graduating, so she could not postpone taking the class, JOUR 382A. The only solution was taking the class through extension services.
"After having paid $923 to go to school," she said. "It really didn't seem fair to have to pay an extra $378 to take a class that should have been covered by my regular tuition."
Her father agreed. Ben Garfinkle sent a 2-page letter to CSULB President Robert Maxson that said he felt his daughter was entitled to a reimbursement for several reasons: her being mislead by the university catalog that stated the course is offered every semester; that canceling a spring class in December did not allow Wendy enough time to reschedule adequately; and that as a full-time student paying full-time fees, she should not have to pay an extra $378.
The final argument used to persuade administration to reimburse the $378 may have been the father's delicate threat that concluded his letter: "Finally, it is probably not a good practice to create a feeling of bitterness in your future alumnus and her parents; the fundraising letters have already hit my doorstep."
Garfinkle's letter was dated March 19, 1997 and copied to Dr. Karl Anatol, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. Anatol responded by mail one month later. He agreed with the Garfinkles and promised a reimbursement.
"We got the check last week," Wendy Garfinkle said. "I was impressed that someone as high up as a provost would take care of a single student's problem."
Her praise of the administration stopped after Anatol.
"I got a letter from Associate Dean Frank Fata," she said. "I've read it over and over and still don't understand what he said."
Fata responded to Garfinkles letter with one of his own dated April 14. Fata never indicated if he was going to reimburse the Garfinkles. He never indicated that he was not going to reimburse the Garfinkles.
Instead he described student-faculty ratio, the difficulties that public higher education has faced since the recession of the '80s, and that as a "citizen and parent" he shared Ben Garfinkle's frustrations.
"No one who has read this letter gets what he's saying," Wendy Garfinkle said. "What does being a parent have to do with my situation?"
Fata finished his letter by writing "When she officially does become an alumna, I hope that memory of this unfortunate situation will fade and that she will remember instead the quality achieved despite adversity."
"Dean Fata does not give a rip about us students," Wendy Garfinkle said. "I honestly wonder if he even looked into any solutions to my problem."
Despite her dissatisfaction with Fata, Wendy Garfinkle said she is going to join the alumni association.
"When I am rich and famous, they can suck up to me."