Although they were promised scholarship money, they said that most of their time was eaten by work that university leaders required them to perform to pay for their education.
With monetary help from their families, they said they loaned hundreds of thousands of dollars to the university in 2019. Years later, they awaited reimbursement, but said they received pushback from the university and didn’t get repaid until this year.
Cao said the university still owes thousands of dollars in interest accruing on the loan. The husband and wife said they have spoken to law enforcement about their experience.
Park said that the university has not received loans from students.
“This is simply not true,” he said.
The couple left the university this year with their young daughters. Zhou said that she and her husband decided to come forward because they believe they “will be safe” from possible intimidation or retaliation from the Olivet community if their story is public.
Zhou said that as a graphic design student at Olivet, she often spent more than 50 hours a week creating graphics and selling products such as crystals and T-shirts via online storefronts on Amazon and Etsy. She said she typically purchased the materials from China, but never saw money from the sales and was never fully compensated for her hours of work, which she had to do in addition to classes and a mandatory 5 a.m. daily prayer service. She said that her parents sent money, clothes and other resources the family couldn’t afford.
Money she did receive from Olivet typically went back to the university amid near-constant pressure to donate, she said.
Cao did similar work while studying for his degree. During the pandemic, for example, he said he spent 70 hours a week selling masks on Etsy on top of school work. He had only a few hours to sleep.
He said his stress was compounded by a growing concern that money he lent to the school in 2019, pulled from funds he received from his parents, wouldn’t be paid back. In 2022, he said that he had a stroke due in part to stress.
“I was overwhelmed,” he said.
Another former student said she spent most of her time selling products like toenail fungus cream on Amazon storefronts, but wasn’t paid in full for the hours she worked. When her family raised concerns about the time spent on work, she researched the legality of what she had been tasked with and started to ask questions. After bringing her frustrations to a university leader, she said community students and faculty isolated her and that university leaders called her family and told them she had been “brainwashed” by outsiders.
“Suddenly, they were really aggressive,” she said. “I (thought): ‘I’m not safe.’”
She left this year after nearly a year at the Marin campus. She said she continues to fear retaliation.
Rep. Ken Calvert, a Republican from Corona, in Riverside County, whose district includes Anza, recently called for an investigation into the university system.
“All colleges and institutions of higher learning must be safe environments for students, including those coming to America from abroad,” Calvert said in a statement. “In any situation where there are accusations of wrongdoing and mistreatment of students our local, state and federal law enforcement agencies must fully investigate.”
The Department of Justice has not provided Calvert’s office with substantive information about the investigation into Olivet.
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Publish date : 2024-10-09 09:44:00
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