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Show THE CAMPUS Mahmoody asks students to make changes for better By TIANA TEW OF THE JOURNAL STAFF "Take a break and think about all your complaints, and everything that you think is not £air." That was how Betty Mahmoody, speaker a:t yesterday's Convocation opened h er lecture "For the Love of a Child." Mahmoody, author of Not Without My Daughter and For the love of a Child, recounted the details of her experience with her daughter of being held hostage by her husband in Iran for nearly two years. The ordeal began, said Mahmoody, as a two-week vacation to visit her husband's relatives in Iran, but ended with her husband saying, "You're not going home agrun. You're in my country now, and you'll go by my rules. " After that, Mahmoody srud she and her four-year-old daughter were beaten and held hostage by her husband's fami ly. The chance to escape for the two came after nearly 18 months of being held prisoner. Mahmoody said she had finally gained the trust of her husband's family and was allowed to stand in line to buy food. It was there that she said she pleaded with strangers to help her. "From the moment my husband said we weren't leaving, I set a goal. I would get out of Iran with my daughter," said Mahrnoody. "On Jan. 29, 1986, God opened a door and gave m e the courage to walk through it." On that date, Mahrnoody and her daughter had an opportunity to escape the house where th ey were held captive and seek belp from an Iranian contact. They were forced to escape through T urkey, which Mah moody said was the most difficult route during the winter months. " We didn' t have the necessary travel papers required by Islamic law," she said. "We were stopped along the way, but never asked to show our papers until we were across the street from the American Embassy in Ankara. Do I believe in miracles? There is no other way we could have gotten out of Iran alive." But coming back to her h ome in Michigan was just the beginning for Mahmoody. It was after returning home that she began her work to instigate legislat ion involving international parental child abduction. Upon retu.rning home, Mah moody said she cried t-0 get a custody order placed on her husband so that her daughter would be safe. She said the judge told her he had no sympathy for adults who get themselves into awkward situations. "That reaction was n ot at all uncommon," said Mahmoody. "There were a number of other parents in exactly the same situation, but they were made to feel gui lty and that they should have known better than to marry a foreigner." It was this reaction by the court system; that Mahmoody said made her determined to make changes. "I felt betrayed by t he system, but I couldn' t let that stop me, she said. Due to her efforts, Mahrnoody's home state of Michigan became the first state to pass legislation concerning international divorce and in 1993, President Clinton passed legislation making international kidnapping a federal felony. " Each of us are faced with situations we don't like, but we can only choose how we react to them," said Mah moody. "My daughter has been an amazing example of that." Mahmoody's daughter, n ow a senior attending a private boarding school, has had much more t0 overcome than just her Iranian experience. Several years ago, she was diagnosed with a severe case of lupus. After years of agony, Mahmoody srud she beard about an experimental treatment being tested in Germany. When the doctor heard that her daughter was sick, Mahmoody said he immediately wanted to treat her. Malm1oody srud the treatment worked miracles and today her daughter is healthy and "has no lupus look to ber." "Since that there have been hundreds of patients ';;! successfully treated for lupus," said Mahmoody. "My ~ daughter believes that everything happens for a 5 reason. She believes she got lupus so that this drug ~ could be approved and help others." ~ "Now I ask you to re-think that list of complaints I ;.; told you to think about earlier," said Mahmoody in :; closing. "T hink about what can I do to make changes ~ for the better? Am I making choices in a positive ~ direction?" 11 Legislature provides some campus expansion funds By GLENN HALTERMAN SEN IOR STAFF WRITER The 1998 session of the 52nd Utah State Legislature came to a close on Wednesday evening in Salt Lake City, two hours before the midnight deadline. But though the 45-day-long stint by Utah's policymakers was heralded as one of the best managed in recent history, lawmakers didn't manage to find the funds in the state's record $6.4 biJlion budget for a new P.E. Building at suu. Although the slight caused a least a modicum of frustration to university officials, SUU nevertheless came away with some much needed money which, in the long run, should serve the school well. "T he university received an appropriation for $4.6 million toward the purchase of the Iron County School District property," srud Michael D. Richards, vice president for planning and technology. Those funds, he sai d, coupled with private donations, will go toward the purchase of the Middle School property, the site SUU's future P.E. Building. However, before the university can purchase the property, the Iron County School District mus t gain approval from the voters to bond for construction of another middle school . That bond election is slated for later this year. Then, of course, SUU must obtain matching private funding of some $5 million, and hope that the Legislature funds the construction of the P.E. Building. Last year, that body set aside $1.1 million for the design of the building. It would seem that a new P.E. Building is at least three years away for SUUans. In total, the legislature spent $47 million in cash on capital facilities and well as bonding for an additional $47 million in building. A large portion of the building bond, $11.5 million, will go toward a classroom building to be built at Salt Lake Community College's Jordan campus. " We were disappointed that the Regents' number one priority and the Building Board's number two priority was not funded, 11 srud Richards, who also added his approval of the legislature's recognition of the importance of the school's future needs. Richards srud there is quite a bit of support for the P.E. Building in the legislature including those in leadership positions, though it is unclear whether that support base will be intact come next year given the upcoming general election. He recognized the "yeoman" service of Rep. Bud Bowman, who, as a member of the Capital Facilities Appropriations Subcommittee, worked nearly all day the entire session for the P.E. Building project. "His effort really made a difference in cultivating what support we do have," srud Richards. "He has been persistent on our behalf." On the whole, Higher Education received a 4.8 percent increase in ongoing funds from lawmakers. In comparison, SUU fared even better, receiving an 8 percent boost. "It's primarily because of our growth," said Richards. State lawmakers also accepted the Board of Regents' 2. 7 percent tuition rate increase to help build the budget for higher education next year, according to Richards. Enrollment growth, he also said, was funded at almost the same rate as the Board of Regents requested. The allocated monies will be sufficient, he said, to fund 376 full-time equivalent (F.T.E.) students, adding to SUU's faculty size. Exactly how many new hires will be made is being discussed by the deans, department heads, and the president's staff, Richards srud. Part of the enrollment growtb money will go to the lmiversity's St. George Center, he said, which is located on the campus of Dixie College. Members of the legislature also approved a 3.5 percent compensation hike for faculty and staff members, which is fairly typical for an annual increase. Additionally, House and Senate members passed HB l35 High er Education Tuition Assistance Program, appr0priating $100, 000 to match grants for scholarships to community colleges for financially needy s tudents. Lawmakers spent more than $1 billion on transportation, with nearly $560 million going into the Centennial Highway Fund, which includes the massive $1.6 billion 1-15 overhaul. "We did better than last year," said Richards, "but not as good as some. It was a moderately good year." |