CAMPUS/AREA UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Monday, August 24,1992
3A
New bookstore creates increased competition
Kansan staff writer
The University Bookshop, 1116 23rd St., opened last week, creating additional competition for the Jayhawk Bookstore, 1420 Crescent Rd. and the KU Bookstore in the Kansas and Burge Uniones.
The University Bookshop will add a new dimension to the previous 15-year rivalry between the other two stores. All three will vie for customers through new store policies and promotions.
Mike Swain, supply department manager and assistant bookstore manager of the Jayhawk Bookstore, does not see a textbook price war in the future despite the new competition.
"Jayhawk Bookstore, KU Bookstore and the University Bookshop don't have a lot of room to adjust prices," Swain said. "Textbooks don't allow a lot of bicex flexibility."
To counter the possible threat of competition from the University Bookshop, the Jayhawk Bookstore has adopted a number of new policies and programs. Swaim said the bookstore took a long look at its pricing structure on non-textbook school supplies in an effort to lower prices.
Perhaps the most important new policy for students is the bookstore's guarantee to buy back the textbooks it sold throughout the semester, even if the book is not going to be used the next semester.
"As long as the book is intact and in good shape, we will buy it back if you bought it here," Swalm said.
Jayhawk Bookstore also has broadened its product offerings by adding a greater variety of sundries to better serve students. Swalm also said store hours were extended to compete with the University Bookshop.
Swalm said the new competition would benefit the students and faculty.
"They will make us do what we do better," he said. "We will have to work harder and get out of the complacency mode and do what we have to do to serve the University better."
Mike Lammers, manager of the University Bookshop, agreed that competition will bring out the best in the three stores.
"We'll see innovative and creative advertising and window displays," Lammers said. "Competition is great for everyone. It keeps us on our toes."
Lammers said the University Bookshop's advantage was its easy-in, easy-out location and free parking.
"The bookstore doesn't make any money by doing this, but it is a service we provide to the students." Lammers said.
Lammers also said the University Bookshop was
owned by a large wholesale book company, Nebraska Book Company, Inc. That means students can still sell books that are not being used by the University if they are being used by other universities at wholesale value.
The KU Bookstores have adopted a wait-and-see attitude, according to Mike Reid, bookstore manager.
Reid said he believed the on-campus location and the student-rebate program — which gives students up to 7 percent back on all cash purchases at the bookstore — would keep students coming to the store.
Textbooks are now being sold at the Burge Union, although Reid said the change was not a reaction to the opening of the University Bookshop. KU Bookstores also are working to lower prices on some school supply goods.
Custom-made textbooks — textbooks that are a culmination of articles, other textbooks and original writings — are becoming more popular with the faculty. For the past year, KU Bookstores have been working with faculty members to make custom-made textbooks by obtaining the copyrights to previously published material and putting the books together.
Reid said he was not too worried about the opening of the new store.
"We really don't need another bookstore in town," Reid said. "If they want to take the chance, it's up to them."
Picking a bookstore
All three of the bookstores that sell KU textbooks in Lawrence have extended hours for this week, Aug. 24-30. Also, while they all sell many of the same products, they don't all price items the same. The Kansan staff looked at prices for several items at each of the three bookstores. No one store was consistently more expensive or cheaper than another.
Source: Kansan staff research
Sean M. Tevis / KANSAN
Computer system Funding a problem for Haskell to find financial aid
Difficulty finding grants created the need for the new equipment
By Muneera Naseer Kansan staff writer
KU's graduate school has installed a new computer program that will help the University's more than 6,000 graduate students find financial resources such as grants, scholarships and research money.
The Graduate Funding Opportunity Group, an organization of KU graduate school faculty and students will operate the program, said Ruth Hillers, a director in the graduate school.
"We would just keep shuffling them from one office to another trying to help them," she said.
Hillers said the idea for the computer system emerged two years ago when graduate students unsuccessfully tried to find grants and scholarships.
Chris O'Brien, a graduate student and executive coordinator of the Graduate Student Council, said the program would save time for graduate students trying to locate financial aid information.
"I spent almost 40 hours last semester, nearly a week's work, looking for grants through books and wasn't very successful," he said.
"Some students spend even more time."
The University Senate Executive Committee, the executive vice chancellor's office and the Graduate Student Council supported the computer program. About $10,000 was necessary to obtain the equipment, a software program, the financing of a quarterly newsletter and the salaries for two half-time graduate assistants who will operate the computer.
Information from more than 2,600 financial sources has been entered into the system, and graduate school officials say they hope to have about 7,000 entries by January.
Nancy Dahl, SenEx chairperson,
said the financial aid office in Strong Hall mainly served undergraduates
"It does not have the time or the resources to help graduates," she said. "The information that was available in the graduate department was not categorized and you couldn't cross reference it. What we did was to provide administrative support. We asked the University to find resources to support the program."
The program, which is in the graduate school office, 222 Strong Hall, is available on a first come, first serve basis. Juniors and seniors inquiring about graduate school programs can also use the program.
Graduate school officials also said they hoped to have the program connected to Watson Library's computer system to provide easy access for students from library terminals.
Although the federal government funds Haskell and currently charges no tuition to the 800 American Indian students, congressional consideration of budget cuts for Haskell and the possibility of charging tuition worries students.
Haskell Indian Junior College students returned to school last week with growing concern about the future of their school.
"Charging tuition here would be devastating to most of these students," said Chuck Haines, biology professor at Haskell. "Many of these kids are from disadvantaged backgrounds, and they wouldn't be able to come to school if you was tuition."
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By Mark Martin
Kansan staff writer
Currently, Haskell's budget bill has been sent to a joint congressional committee, which will make recommendations sometime in September. Hannes Combes, executive assistant to the president at Haskell, said the House of Representatives and the Senate had different proposals.
According to a survey of Haskell students taken by the Haskell Student Senate last spring, 75 percent of the students would not come to Haskell if the school charged tuition.
"Initially, the Office of Management and Budget recommended the budget cut and recommended that tuition be charged to make up the difference," she said. "But the House of Representatives voted to increase our budget, and they added wording to discourage any tuition charge. The Senate
The House bill would add $3 million to Haskell's budget to build a new residence hall on campus and $160,000 to help start the four-year program, slated to begin in Fall 1993, which would allow Haskell students to graduate with a bachelor's degree in education, Combest said.
Many Haskell students expressed concern about the possibility of paying tuition and said that Haskell was very important to American Indians.
disagreed with the wording, so it's in a joint committee now."
"Haskell is great because it's a chance for so many Indians from different tribes to meet. It's a great opportunity," said Darryl Billy, Gallup, New Mexico, freshman. Billy said he planned to attend Haskell for two years and then transfer to a four-
year university and major in architecture.
Of the 800 American Indians that attend Haskell each year, 20 to 30 transfer to KU, said David Skeeter, president of KU's Native American Student Association. Skeeter said that charging tuition at Haskell would decrease the number of American Indians at KU.
"Most of the Native Americans that go to KU started at Haskell. Without Haskell, there would be far (fewer) Indians at KU." he said. Skeeter graduated from KU last spring and is beginning graduate studies in linguistics this fall. He attended Haskell for two years before transferring to KU.
Last spring, 150 American Indians, less than 1 percent of the student population, attended KU.
Study abroad offers education, adventure
By Christina Slape Special to the Kansan
Nearly 200 University of Kansas students will be studying abroad this fall. KU students will be studying in 24 countries. Some will be away only for the fall semester and others for the entire academic year.
Those who have not yet departed are busy with last-minute preparations and feeling the butterflies of their impending immersion in a foreign culture.
Mary Elizabeth Debicki, director of the Office of Study Abroad, said the staff at the office would try to answer any questions students might have about the countries they will visit.
"We try to make sure students have thought through the whole process of traveling and living abroad," Debicki said. "It is in many ways a voyage of self-discovery."
This fall, students are leaving for
countries in Europe, Asia, South America, Africa and Australia. Hundreds of summer, semester and academic-year programs in 59 countries, are offered by the office every year.
Students are not limited to studying a language. Most programs offer classes in other fields as well. For example, students can study international business in Denmark, art history in Australia or Europe, ancient literature and theater in Greece, engineering in Scotland, or art and design in Japan. Some of these programs even offer classes taught in English.
Debicki said that most students studied abroad for a semester rather than a year, but she wished it were not that way.
"Students usually return and say, 'I wish I would have stayed longer,' she said. "They are just getting familiar with the country and language when it's time to come back."
Simone Weheb, Omaha, Neb., junior, will leave Aug. 27 to study Middle Eastern history and international political science in Cairo, Egypt. She will live there for a year and plans to live with either an Egyptian or American student in an apartment off campus.
"I've been reading a few books on the Middle East," she said. "Last fall I took his history course, and my family is from Lebanon so I've been talked to them."
Carl Arvidson, Eudora senior, will leave Sept. 1 for 10 months in Kobe, Japan. He said he became interested in studying in Japan after he took Japanese language classes and then visited Japan last Christmas.
"Certainly I hope to gain a knowledge of the language, and I also want to have a good time and learn about its culture," Avidson said.
But many students still have a few worries about the countries they will
be visiting. These worries can be about communicating in a foreign language, living arrangements, traveling, food, cultural differences or anything that may be different in another country.
Arvidson said he was nervous about living with a family because he had been on his own for four years. He said he wondered if he would get along with them and if they would have any restrictions for him.
Wehbe, on the other hand, said she worried about living in a country with so many restrictions on women.
"I think it will be hard to adjust to one way women are treated in that culture," she said. "That's why I'm not living in a dorm because there are so many rules for women in the women's room."
Debicki said students should also consider travel while abroad. "Students should not be overwhelmed by the additional costs" she said.
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