Merced College looks to address exchange student concerns

Merced College leaders soon will implement a plan to improve relationships with international students, a response that comes months after complaints from several foreign students living with host families.

Adding an office space, offering information and hosting get-togethers are all part of the new efforts to make students happier, according to Chris Vitelli, the vice president of student services at the college.

Vitelli was quick to note the international student program, which is called Your English Services, or YES, exists separately from Merced College. “We’ve talked about how important it is – even though we don’t oversee the home-stay program – how important the students are to us,” he said Tuesday. “And we want to make sure their concerns are being addressed.”

Students who come to Merced from Japan began complaining to the board during the spring semester, and spoke to the Sun-Star in May.

One student found her new host mom feeding her food that was moldy and expired, another pair say their host family spied on them through security cameras and two other women say their host mother left on a weekend trip that lasted nearly a month, leaving them without the groceries covered by their monthly fee, according to complaints filed by six students.

Vitelli conducted a survey of dozens of foreign students and contends they generally are happy with the program. The biggest complaint of students was related to cost and food options, according to the survey.

Despite generally high marks from the students, only half said they would recommend the Merced College experience to others back home, Vitelli said. The survey didn’t ask students to explain their answer to that question.

YES works with international students to help them find housing in private homes in Merced and elsewhere. Of the more than 100 international students enrolled at Merced College, about two dozen contract with YES.

The college plans to add meetings with the students to provide information, including training on sexual assault prevention.

In 2013, two Japanese students at Merced College reported they were raped by the man who owned the home where they lived. Juan J. Rocha, now 58, was sentenced to three years in prison in 2014 for raping the two students, who were 18 and 20 at the time.

The college also plans to add an office in its vocational building, which will house all the employees connected to YES.

Trustee Joe Gutierrez said he would like to see the school and the program continue to improve the relationship with foreign students. He pointed to the 50 percent recommendation rating.

“That’ll go up once all this is implemented,” he said.

This story was originally published October 12, 2016 at 4:13 PM with the headline "Merced College looks to address exchange student concerns."