Subject: CSS Today - The Electronic Newsletter of IFCSS, October 18, 1994

From: hq (IFCSS Headquarter)
Date: Wed, 19 Oct 94 00:13:07 CDT

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     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
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Press Desk <[email-masked]>             October 18, 1994           No.94002
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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 <[email-masked]> 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 <[email-masked]> 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 [email-masked]. 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 
[email-masked], you will be added to the net ASAP.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Any mail sent to the net address: [email-masked], 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:[email-masked]

===================== <<<<< Under the Sunshine >>>>> =======================
3. IFCSS HQ Working Report, 27 July - September 30, 1994 (Part 1 of 2) ..120
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>From: IFCSS HQ <[email-masked]> 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]

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|                 Editor of this issue: DING Yungui                       |
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