Section A·Page 10
The University Daily Kansan
Tuesday, January 19. 1999
Financial crisis hurts Brazilian students
By Dan Curry
Kansan staff writer
The financial crisis that struck Brazil last week and briefly sent world markets sprawling has left some Brazilian students apprehensive about their ability to make ends meet.
Gustavo Queiroz, Recife, Brazil, junior, said that he waited last Friday for his father's phone call.
The call would tell Queiroz whether he could continue at the University or would need to drop out, pack up and return home to search for a job — something Queiroz said he definitely wanted to avoid.
He said that he wasn't sure what he would do, but that he had begun looking for a job in the mean time.
"Once I talk to my parents, my stress level will go a little higher," he said.
Last Wednesday, Brazil's Central Bank president Gustavo Franco suddenly resigned. His successor, Francisco Lopes, devalued the Brazilian currency by 8 percent.
Joe Potts, director of International Student Services, said that currency devaluations in students' home countries usually put strain on their finances.
"I do anticipate a fairly serious impact on the students," he said.
He said that 29 students from Brazil attend the University of Kansas.
"These students would be dealing with as many issues as East Asia," he said.
Last year, East Asian students saw their nations' currencies devalue by as much as 80 percent during the Asian financial crisis.
Potts said the University's students from East Asia declined by 12 percent between fall 1997 and fall 1998. More than 90 students did not return this year.
Mehrene Larudee, assistant professor of economics, said that she didn't think the Brazilian currency would drop by 80 percent in one year.
"If the budget doesn't get corrected it may drop some more," she said, speaking of Brazil's currency.
Rebecca Magario, Sao Paulo Brazil, freshman, said that a friend from home told her that Brazil's economy was a mess.
"It's your friends and people you know that lose their jobs," Magario said. "The people that are working don't make as much."
Magario said that she was worried how the currency problems would affect her status in the United States.
"My mom called me the day the government made the announcement," she said.
Magaro i said that her father told her that he wouldn't be able to send as much money.
"I'm worried," she said. "I used to work. I have my o w n money."
WASHINGTON — Brazilian Finance Minister Pedro Malan yesterday sought to reassure nervous investors, the International Monetary Fund and the Clinton administration that his country remains committed to economic reform.
Finance Minister seeks to bolster support between IMF, Clinton Administration
Associated Press
Magario went to the
International Student Services office to ask permission to find work off-campus. Instead, she learned that obtaining permission can take up to five months.
Jason Williams/KANSAN
She said that she would try to look for an on-campus job because she needs money now.
International Student Services can show students how to get emergency loans or use the tuition payment plan.
Malan said he spent the weekend explaining to the IMF and the administration how
"We don't have a lot of alternatives," Potts said. "Sometimes the best we can do is help them find jobs on campus."
—The Associated Press contributed to this story
the government of President Fern n ando Hernique Cardoso will implement the decision to stop defending the nation's currency and continue meeting its economic commitments to the
IMF, including a key pledge to reduce a soaring government budget deficit.
"We will undertake all efforts we have submitted to the fund," he said at IMF headquarters. "We know additional measures may be required."
The Cardoso government pledged to boost taxes and slash spending to trim the deficit as part of an agreement in which the IMF assembled a $41.5 billion rescue package intended to keep Brazil from being pulled into the economic maelstrom that has already hit a number of Asian nations and Russia.
However, investors began a renewed rush for the exits last week amid mounting signs
that Cardoso was having trouble meeting his budget goals.
After a temporary decision last week to stop wasting dwindling reserves to defend the currency, the real, the government announced Monday that this decision would be made permanent.
While Brazil had held out hope that the IMF would decide to accelerate its loans to the country, no such announcement was made today.
Malan told reporters he would be in intensive discussions with IMF officials in order to renegotiate whatever targets must be changed in light of the devaluation.
"I see no reason why we will not be able to quickly reestablish the parameters of the program," Malan said.
Malan spent several hours discussing Brazil's situation Sunday with Deputy Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, the Clinton administration's point man on the global currency crisis. Malan was to meet today with Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.
Officials at both the IMF and the Clinton administration expressed unhappiness last week that Brazil had decided suddenly to devalue its currency without having a new, stronger economic reform program in place.
Malan said he had reassured officials during his talks of Brazil's commitments to achieving the necessary economic reforms. Asked specifically about last week's criticism, he said, "I can assure you that what happened last week is water under the bridge. We are looking ahead instead of looking back."
In addition to meeting with Greenspan, Malan said he intended to travel to New York either today or tomorrow to explain Brazil's devaluation to investors on Wall Street.
Crimes in Lawrence down not out during semester break
By T.J. Johnson Kansan staff writer
As students leave town, the burglaries and DUIs, to some extent, leave with them, say officials from the Lawrence and KU police departments.
This year's winter break brought an end to semester classes for KU students and a lull in student-related crime for local law enforcement officials.
"Normally, student-related reported crime tends to drop off during the break," said George Wheeler, Lawrence Police sergeant.
Wheeler also said that when students came back to the University, crimes that had happened over the break were noticed and reported, leading to a quick rise in reported crime that leveled off after the semester began.
Wheeler said that this break seemed quiet because there were no major accidents or violent crimes that stuck out in his mind. Even without KU students in town, some crimes still occurred in Lawrence during the break. Here is a rundown of some of the events that happened in the city during the final days of the break:
Taco Grande, 534 Frontier Rd., was held up Jan. 14, and two employees were threatened with a gun. No shots were
fired and no one was injured in the robbery.
Several counterfeit $10 and $20 bills were used at the Granada, 1020 Massachusetts St., and the Super 8 Motel, 515 McDonald Drive About $370 in counterfeit bills was used between Nov. 11 and Jan. 13.
Someone broke into the patio area of Fatso's, 1016 Massachusetts St. Jan. 7 and stole a bar stool. They then used the stool to vandalize a green 1993 Mazda MX6, causing about $1,900 in damage to the car.
A man driving a stolen, gold 4-door Honda Civic held up a woman at the Emprise Bank drive-through ATM, 2435 Iowa, Jan. 14. The man had a gun but nothing was taken.
A "quick-charge artist" tried to take money from American Pie Pizzieria, 1741 Massachusetts St., Zarco Phillips 66, 900 Iowa St. and The Village Inn. 821 Iowa St.
Tara Laird, Leawood junior, was required to take rabies shots after the incident, which occurred as she was trying to help the dog. Laird was able to stop taking rabies vaccinations after the dog. Cobi, was found and determined to not be infected with the potentially fatal illness.
A KU student was bitten by a wounded dog that had been hit by a car at 15th and Iowa streets on New Year's Eve.
You can't catch me
J. B. Harris (right), Arlington, Neb., freshman, blows past Peter Schenk, New Orleans senior, on his way to a makeshift end zone in front of Fraser Hall. The two were enjoying one final game of touch football with their friends yesterday before school started. Photo by Graham K. Johnson/KANSAN
Weather over break ices pipes in two KU buildings
By Jamie Knodel
Kansan staff writer
Cold weather caused the flooding of one campus building and one fraternity house during winter break.
The Horei§ Family Athletic Center, which is still under construction, and the Beta Theta Pi fraternity house each had sprinkler heads freeze and break, causing water damage.
A sprinkler head in the ticket office of the athletic center froze and broke late the night of Dec. 22, said Darren Cook, director of facilities for the Athletics Department.
Once the sprinkler broke, the fire alarm was activated and the Lawrence Fire Department came to the center, he said.
"The area was not heated or ventilated as well as it should have been, which is likely what caused the sprinkler to freeze." Cook said.
He said that since the incident, preventative measures had been taken and that the heating and ventilation systems had been improved.
Standing water from the flood largely was confined to the lobby, but some water did reach the gymnasium. Cook said.
Most of that water fell into an aluminum transition strip that acted as a trough to collect water around the perimeter of the court, Cook said, but some water leached out underneath the court.
"The majority of the moisture was confined to the subflooring system." Cook said.
Final repair costs were not available, but Cook said the main cost of the flood would be cleanup. It took several weeks and special equipment to dry out the area.
A frozen sprinkler head in the third floor of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity house caused damage to two bedrooms, a living room and an architecture room on Jan. 5, house manager Michael Goff said.
There were not any students in the house during winter break, but fire officials notified them of the incident after responding to an alarm caused by the broken sprinkler.
Two ceilings will be replaced, as well as computers and televisions that were in the bedrooms, Goff said.
Goff said that all damages would be covered by insurance but that the amount of damages had not been determined.
"The house insurance will cover all the structural damage, and the individual's family's insurance will cover replacing the computers and televisions." he said.
In an effort to prevent future flooding, Goff said the pipes would be insulated and the temperature in the house would be kept warmer during future winter breaks.
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