Students wait to receive checks

Senior Laura Hammer was counting on the $800 promised to her by StudentU.com, an academic Web site that offers class notes to about 150 colleges nationwide and money for those who provide the site with notes.\nHammer, a business and Spanish major, joined the company as a campus notetaker. For the 2000 spring semester she submitted notes for molecular biology and physics and said she regularly received positive feedback via e-mail from an online supervisor.\nHammer said she heard about the opportunity from a friend and planned to use the money to help fund a studying trip to Madrid.\nBut months after the company's guaranteed payment date, and after several e-mails from Hammer, the company's CEO Oran Wolf wrote back, suggesting he was not as optimistic about the reimbursements as he had previously been.\n"I apologize for what the non-payment has caused you -- I know as a student staying on a schedule is vital to success -- our company is trying to raise money so that we can pay you and the other notetakers -- but so far, we have had no luck securing funds -- I am not as optimistic as I once was -- meaning I would recommend finding a job in the meantime -- that being said we are still working very hard to raise money and I hope that we will be successful in the end," Wolf wrote Hammer.\nWolf runs the UZONE Network in Houston, Texas. StudentU.com is a branch of the network and, according to its contract, all lawsuits and arbitration are bound through and must occur in Texas.\nWolf said Thursday there are no pending lawsuits and that he's made great efforts in trying to pay the debt gained from a company merger with the Internet consulting group NetStrategy.\n"We have recently required a lot of unanticipated debt," Wolf said. "It has left us with basically no money to pay Laura or other note takers. In five years, I've never faltered, and I'm trying my best to resolve the situation."\nHammer's neighbor Amber Stafford, a junior and marketing major, also did not receive money for her work for StudentU.com. Stafford had worked for the company during the 1999 fall semester and was paid within two weeks. But like Hammer, has yet to see any subsidy for her work in the spring of 2000.\nStafford still has some confidence in the company, and regardless of the outcome is pleased that she has helped others despite being out $1,200.\n"I am worried about how I am going to pay my bills, but I am still giving them the benefit of the doubt," Stafford said. "I've come to the reality that I've lost some money, but if I helped someone else with their classes, then I'm glad I helped in that way."\nHammer speculated that more than 30 students share her losses from the 2000 spring semester, and said she hopes there is a way to receive her share of the money.\n"Because of the terms of the contract, there's really nothing we can do about it, because arbitration is binding in Texas," Hammer said.\nBut Skipper Miroglu, a representative from the Texas Department of Labor, said according to Texas labor laws, there is power in numbers, and a mass lawsuit is possible.\n"They are all independent contractors because they are likely not being charged taxes, nor did they sign a W-4 form and here in Texas the labor laws don't cover them," Miroglu said. "Also, individually, this would be dealt with in a small claims court. But if they can organize, a lawyer would quickly jump on it, and then you have a solid case."\nWolf insists that everything is being done within his realm of capabilities. He said the key is keeping his notetakers well informed.\n"Many students have asked once or twice a week to get updates," Wolf said. "My main thing is that I work hand-in-hand with my note takers. I know what it means to not have the money. I want to make sure they get this money."\nHammer said a handful of ambiguous and procrastinating e-mails are not what she would deem working hand-in-hand and said communication regarding the problem is not her main concern.\n"The point of the matter," Hammer said, "is I'm going abroad and I don't have my money"