Scholarship Hopes Die at Berkeley

The U.S. Department of Education says UC Berkeley missed the application deadline for prestigious Fulbright scholarships, knocking 30 ambitious doctoral students out of contention for this year’s awards.

The University of California campus blamed computer problems and Federal Express. But the Education Department insisted there was no excuse for not turning in work on time.

“The facts are indisputable: UC Berkeley was negligent in failing to mail its application in on time,” Assistant Secretary of Education Sally L. Stroup said Wednesday in a statement.

Stroup said 60 other schools managed to meet the deadline and Berkeley -- one of the nation’s most accomplished public universities -- should have made “a simple trip to the post office.”

The decision infuriated UC Berkeley officials, who had dispatched lobbyists, Washington lawyers, California members of Congress and political insiders to press the department to reverse its position.

In January, even UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl made a special trip to Washington to push the university’s case.

“UC brought as much political and legal muscle to this as it had for any other issue,” said Scott Sudduth, the University of California’s Washington-based assistant vice president for federal relations.

The program, named for the late Sen. J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, is the premier international educational program of the federal government. It offers American scholars the opportunity to do research abroad, and foreign scholars the chance to study in this country.

The scholarships managed by the U.S. Department of Education -- which for Berkeley winners last year ranged from $19,500 to $63,950 -- fund doctoral research. Other Fulbright grants run by the Institute for International Education and the U.S. State Department were not affected by UC Berkeley’s predicament.

The troubles began last fall, when UC Berkeley officials learned that students were having difficulties using the Education Department’s online application system. The university, which compiles Fulbright applications on students’ behalf, received special permission to file paper applications.

Campus officials said the switch was time-consuming, and kept them from finishing the process until Oct. 20, when the applications were required to be postmarked.

An employee called twice to order a Federal Express pickup, but no one came to pick up the package, officials said.

At the end of the day, the employee sent an e-mail to the Department of Education notifying officials of the missed pickup, and promising that the package would be sent the next day.

In fact, the FedEx invoice is dated Oct. 20 even though the applications were picked up a day later.

Berkeley officials said they believed Education Department officials made an issue of the deadline only because the university told them about the missed pickup in the e-mail.

According to the school’s prepared statement, “If an employee in the Graduate Division had not taken the extra step to contact the Department of Education informing it of the missed pickup, department officials acknowledged that they might never have known that the applications were late.”

Education Department officials did not respond to the university’s account.

Anthony Hicks, a spokesman for FedEx, acknowledged the failed pickup, and said the company had written letters confirming the university’s account.

“You’re talking about a company that has built its reputation on being absolutely the most reliable transportation company in the world. Sometimes things like this can happen, but we are working with the university to remedy it.”

In a prepared statement, Berdahl called the Education Department’s actions “outrageous.”

But the university’s outrage was delayed until December -- because the Education Department’s letter rejecting Berkeley’s applications apparently was delayed for weeks in the mail, Sudduth said.

Lobbyists and lawyers from the prominent Covington & Burling law firm tried -- with no success -- to persuade federal officials to relent. Also called into action were Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Santa Clarita), who heads a House subcommittee on higher education; California Education Secretary Richard Riordan; and UC Regent Gerald Parsky.

The Education Department’s response was “... intransigence. It is senseless bureaucracy at its worst,” said Mary Ann Mason, dean of UC Berkeley’s Graduate Division.

Based on past experience, Berkeley candidates would have fared well in the competition. Last year, of the 30 campus doctoral students who applied for Fulbrights, 15 won them.

Carl Freire, a doctoral student in history, was one of this year’s disappointed applicants.

He had hoped to study religion in Japan. He said he now would seek other support for his research, through other fellowships as well as grants from the university.

“I don’t want to second-guess anyone,” Freire said of the application debacle, but he said it was unfortunate that students were being penalized.

“We did everything required of us. We got our applications in on time.”

Times staff writer Rebecca Trounson contributed to this report.