Florida International University FIU Digital Commons The aP nther Press (formerly The Beacon) Special Collections and University Archives 4-21-2005 The Beacon, April 21, 2005 Florida International University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/student_newspaper Recommended Citation Florida International University, "The Beacon, April 21, 2005" (2005). The Panther Press (formerly The Beacon). 83. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/student_newspaper/83 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the Special Collections and University Archives at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in The aP nther Press (formerly The Beacon) by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Student Newspaper of Florida Baseball takes International out the broom University on NMSU. 16 THE BEACON Vol. 17, Issue 56 WWW.BEACONNEWSPAPER.COM April 21, 2005 B u d g e t p r o p o s a l threatens to eliminate college prep program By C. JOEL MARINO part of the 40-year-old TRIO Senior Staff Writer federal program, aimed at help- ing low income urban students Taking the space formerly pass through high school and get occupied by billiard tables and into college. arcade machines in the Uni- Both programs were targeted versity Park Porter Davis Game for elimination after President Room, Sofia Santiesteban and George W. Bush made a cut in her small staff have filled the his Department of Education limited area with papers, boxes, budget proposal for the 2006 books and a load of material fiscal year. belonging to the Upward Bound “There’s no way of knowing program. exactly why these cuts are being “We’ve been moved around, made,” said George Simms, but that’s not a problem,” said director of pre-collegiate pro- Santiesteban. “It may seem like grams and grants. ROCK THE MIC: Student Programming a mess, but I’m going to miss it Though TRIO has existed Council members dressed up as Disney when it’s all gone.” since the Lyndon Johnson characters on April 19 to promote Pan- According to Santiesteban, administration, Simms believes ther Stock 2005. The event will take director of the pre-collegiate one reason for the cuts may be place on April 23 in Lot 5 at the Uni- Upward Bound Program, Bush’s efforts to redirect funds versity Park Campus. The concert will chances are that the staff won’t and personnel toward the No feature a wide variety of music includ- be working, either at the impro- Child Left Behind initiative, a ing hip-hop, rock, electronic and two vised office or at any other part test-based educational program comedic performances. The highlights of campus much longer. begun in 2002. of the event are G-Unit members Young “The program is in trouble, “I can see the merits of the Buck and Lloyd Banks. General admis- I’m not going to deny that. If new program, but it has only sion is $10 and $5 for FIU students the federal budget proposal is been around for three years. who buy tickets in advance. For more approved, there won’t be much There are many other resources information on the event, turn to page we can do,” Santiesteban said. out there that have been around 11. HARRY COLEMAN/THE BEACON Upward Bound, along with for a while and have proven to the Talent Search initiative based at the Biscayne Bay Campus, is See PROPOSAL, page 2 Mariel refugee embraces freedom 25 years later This is part two of a two-part series high school], we didn’t go to prom, on the 1980 Mariel boatlift and its Grad Nite, none of that,” Moreno said. effects on the South Florida community “There was no money there. Time came 25 years later. for graduation, and we said we couldn’t go. They kept telling us that we had to By GIOVANI BENITEZ go, and [FIU] gave us the cap and gown. Staff Writer It was more like an encouragement, let- ting us know it’s OK; we’ve made it this Yami Moreno was only 13 years old far, and we can keep going. It gave us the in late September 1980, when Mariel, a push, [because] someone knew what we five-month mass exodus from Cuba to were doing was right.” South Florida, was coming to an end. Among those giving Moreno and her Since then, the event has dominated her twin sister that encouragement was Uva thoughts. de Aragón, associate director for FIU’s “The only thing I can think of is that Cuban Research Institute. At the time, 13-year-old girl that got on the boat and she worked at the FIU’s Media Relations saw the sun set on the horizon for the office and was looking for a good story very first time, felt the fear of not know- to tell. ing what was going to happen, being “We came across these twins and we scared, throwing up the entire time [and] found out they were Marielitas, and then not understanding what the people were we found out that they were graduating saying,” said Moreno. with very good grades. They told us they She spent 17 hours on a sea vessel couldn’t go [to graduation] because she compares to slave ships of the early SEARCH FOR FREEDOM: Over 125,000 people came from Cuba on vessels from the they couldn’t afford to rent [the cap and 1800s, traveling to South Florida with gown], so we rented it for them,” said Port of Mariel on the historic five-month exodus. PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL little knowledge of what to expect upon de Aragón. arrival. Moreno, who spent those five months Even with high grades, Moreno and Moreno and her sister had positive Moreno was part of a historic journey in Cuba, arrived in South Florida with her her twin sister didn’t expect to attend experiences as Marielitas in Miami, but that brought some 125,000 Cubans to twin sister, younger sister and parents. the graduation ceremony. Money was others weren’t so lucky. Some reports the United States when Fidel Castro Upon arrival, education was her top con- still an issue, she said, but FIU stepped show the unemployment rate was at opened the Port of Mariel in northern cern. She graduated from FIU in 1987 in to help. a record high after the boatlift, and Cuba, west of Havana, to Cubans who with a bachelors degree in sociology and “It came time for us to graduate, and wanted to leave their homeland. a 3.5 GPA. we didn’t have the means to do it. [In See MARIEL, page 2 Editor in Chief says goodbye, Pg. 6 Alumnus debuts film, Pg. 12 Softball gets swept, Pg. 16 2 The Beacon – April 21, 2005 NEWS www.beaconnewspaper.com NEWSFLASH Mariel boatlift inspired FIU alumna ON CAMPUS MARIEL, from page 1 Frat house in full operation the increase in poverty made Miami one of the After 10 years of fundraising and 10 months five poorest cities in the of construction, the Pi Kappa Alpha house, with nation. its high stairs and four large columns leading to This may have given the main doors, is open and has been running Marielitos a bad reputa- smoothly since January. tion, but for de Aragón According to Bijan Enferadi, international vice and her daughters, it was president and house manager, the house cost $1.7 an insightful learning expe- million dollars. rience. It will take many ways to collect the house “My daughters were costs. young. They started “The house will be supported by the rent the having classmates that had members pay, continued fundraising by the mem- just arrived from Cuba. bers, and the plethora of donations we receive from So Cuba, instead of being our local alumni,” said Enferadi. a faraway memory, became Modeled after their international headquarters, alive by these people – the two story house features 19 bedrooms, a living their variety, their life sto- room with a big screen television, couches and a ries, their courage, their foosball table. dreams. It also taught Out of the 19 bedrooms, 13 are double rooms, me that [despite] the dif- while the other five are single rooms. Double room ferences of having lived TOUGH TIMES!: Many Cubans traveling on the vessels spent over 15 hours with little members pay $2,100 per semester and single room apart, there were many room to move or food to eat. PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL members pay $3,000. common ties,” de Aragón The house features two bathrooms, with one said. ensuring that her students “Even to this day, if trip; it takes me back to located upstairs for women. The brothers have a T o d a y , M o r e n o know the meaning of free- I have to do something what I went through, it bathroom downstairs equipped with five sinks, six embraces those common dom. and it’s hard, I just tell takes me back to that bathrooms stalls (including a handicapped one), ties, and as a social stud- While this chapter in myself, ‘Marielita’,” 13-year-old that said, three urinals, a locker room and a community ies teacher at West Miami history may be closed for Moreno said. “That ‘I’m a Marielita.’ For us, shower, which has six showerheads. Middle School, she spends Moreno, she always takes gives me the courage. Marielita is like [saying] According to Enferadi, the house follows strict hours in the classroom time to look back.