by Mark Ohrtman, News Writer

Thirty graduate students at the University of California-Berkeley breathed a sigh of relief Tuesday when they learned the U.S. Department of Education would consider their late applications for the prestigious Fulbright Awards.

The confusion started when a FedEx courier missed a pickup that contained the students’ applications, thus disqualifying them for consideration. At stake for the students were not only the awards but also thousands of dollars for dissertation research.

Celso Castilho was among the hopefuls whose application was late.

“The fact that we missed out on an opportunity to compete was very, very frustrating,” he said.

Despite student and faculty pleas with the Department of Education, the Fulbright Award committee initially refused to honor the late applications.

“There is a reason for deadlines. Fair and equitable treatment is essential in a competitive grant competition to avoid the appearance of favoritism,” explained Eugene Hickok, acting deputy of the U.S. Department of Education. A

University officials and the Fulbright Award committee met on various occasions to determine a solution.

The dispute was resolved Tuesday when the Department of Education agreed to make the students eligible for the Fulbright Award under the condition that UC-Berkeley fund the students’ research.

“The school met individually with us and promised a research grant for us to conduct our dissertation research,” Castilho said.

Mary Ann Mason, dean of the graduate division, was pleased with the committee’s decision.

“The students are really appreciative that the board has taken this very assertive role in righting this situation,” she said in a written release. “They have acted in a way a Fulbright board should.”