CAMPUS/AREA
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, September 30, 1993
3
Report predicts slow growth
Boeing layoffs signal sluggish Kansas economy
By Brian James Kansan staff writer
Economic growth in Kansas will be slow in the next two years, according to an economic forecast released by a KU research group.
"It will be sluggish," said Norman Clifford, director of KU's Institute for Public Policy and Business Research. "Compared to what it has been, it is not the kind of growth we had expected, relative to the rest of the United States."
Contributing to the slow economic growth rate will be increasing
employment. Clifford said.
Although the number of jobs will increase, the labor force is increasing at a greater rate in Kansas. The unemployment rate in Kansas was 4.2 percent in 1992, compared to the national rate of 7.2 percent. Kansas' unemployment rate is expected to grow to 5.1 percent in 1993 and 5.4 percent in 1994, according to the institute's forecast released last week.
Layoffs at Boeing Corp. in Wichita and other corporations have had significant effects on the Kansas economy, Clifford said.
"You're talking about 6,000 workers in little over a year being laid off at Boeing," he said. "The total employment in Kansas is about 1.2 million. That would be about one-half percent off the growth chart right there, without even considering the indirect effects. It is significant, but I'm not saying it is the only reason for the
Personal income growth, adjusted for inflation, also would be sluggish over the next two years, Clifford said. In Kansas, the income growth rate will be only 1.1 percent, compared with 2.1 nationally.
decrease."
The Institute for Public Policy and Business Research analyzed information from the Kansas Department of Human Resources, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Lindy Eakin, associate vice chancellor for administration and finance, said a slow-growing economy affected KU in several ways.
Tight state budgets probably would not allow for increased funding for KU, he said.
"When the pie doesn't get any larger, it's tough to get a larger piece of that pie."
Eakin said a sluggish economy also made it hard on KU students.
"Parents may not be able to afford to send their kids to school or some students may not find summer jobs that help them through school," he said.
But Eakin said a sluggish economy was not all bad for KU.
Endowments made to the University potentially could decrease if the economy worsened, he said.
He said that in a slow economy, construction companies offered lower bids for University construction projects.
"With construction jobs we're working on, we can keep wages and costs down," he said. "It is really a buyer's market in construction right now."
Eakin said universities were typically considered good places for job security when the economy is weak.
William Alix / KANSAN
Taking a stand
Brad Barish, Overland Park freshman and public relations officer for NORMAL, National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, speaks to 200 people yesterday during JKHK's Soap Box. Every Wednesday from 12:30 to 13:00 p.m., people are invited to voice opinions on any subject.
CAMPUS BRIEFS
Dog repels attacker
The man fled on foot after a dog started barking at him, police said.
A party Tuesday night in the 900 block of Louisiana Street was disrupted when a man began threatening people with a hammer, Lawrence police reported.
The party had been thrown on behalf of the dog's birthday.
School vandalized
No one was injured, police said.
Officers were dispatched to the scene shortly after 8 p.m., police said, and the suspect was found and arrested near the corner of 11th and Kentucky streets.
Two red swastikas were spray painted Friday night or Saturday morning on the southwest side of Centennial Elementary School, 2145 Louisiana St., Lawrence police reported.
Police said they had no suspects. Damage was estimated at $20.
Police said they did not know whether the incident was related to Semitic vandalism found Sept. 6 on the Jewish Community Center. Police said they had no suspects in that case, either.
Canterbury House will hold Holy Eucharist at noon today in Danforth Chapel.
Anthropology Club will give a study abroad presentation at 5 p.m. today in 633 Fraser Hall. For more information, call Destiny Crider at 832-1469.
Center of Latin American Studies will sponsor a brown bag luncheon and lecture at noon today at Alcove D in the Kansas Union. For more information, call Nancy Chaison at 864-4213.
OAKS-Non-Traditional Student Organization will meet at 6 p.m. today at Alcove I in the Kansas Union. For more information, call Gerry Vernon at 864-7317.
KU Champions club will meet at 6:30 p.m. today at Parlors A, B and C in the Kansas Union. For more information, call Erik Lindsley at 841-4585.
- Latin American Solidarity will sponsor a rice and beans dinner and a lecture at 6:30 p.m. today
ON CAMPUS
at Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 1204 Oread Ave.
The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers will elect its remaining officers at 7 tonight at Pizza Hut, 1606 W. 23rd St. Anyone can attend the meeting. Free pizza and pop will be served. For more information, call Pedro Echeverria at 864-5810.
The Association for Women Geoscientists will sponsor "Earth Science Undergraduate Night" at 7 tonight in 302 Lindley Hall. For more information, call Lynne, Tracey or Kathy at 864-2733.
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship will meet at 7 tonight at the International Room in the Kansas Union. For more information, call David Zimmerman at 864-7117.
University Chess Society will meet at 7 tonight at the Hawk's Nest in the Kansas Union. For more information, call Nathan at 842-0049.
St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center will conduct a scripture study at 7:30 tonight in the center, 1631 Crescent Road. For more information, call 843-0357.
Jayhawkier Campus Fellowship will meet at 8 tonight at the Pioneer Room in the Burge Union. For more information, call John Dale at 864-1115.
Lesbian, Bisexual and Gay Services of Kansas will meet at 7:30 tonight at the Frontier Room in the Burge Union.
Amnesty International will meet for a letter writing session at 8 tonight in the Glass Onion, 624 W.12th St.
Icthus Christian Outreach will meet at 8:30 tonight at the Big Eight Room in the Kansas Union. For more information, call Mark Winton at 843-2630 or Noel Storey at 749-5848.
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"NO COUPON SPECIALS"EVERYDAY
In 1986, Nicolas Shump, Lawrence senior, left Leed College in Portland, Ore., for the University of Kansas.
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"The only reason I left was so I could study Italian literature and culture," he said.
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Shump is one of 211 students in the Italian bachelor of arts degree program that possibly could lose its degree if the Academic Procedures and Policies committee recommends that the program be eliminated.
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"Because it's performed in the same way by all members of species, it's likely to have a strong genetic basis and is produced by specific neurocircuits."
By Christoph Fuhrmans Kansan staff writer
1992 report picked language program for discontinuance
When the University's academic program review was completed in 1992, the review recommended the B.A. in Italian for elimination because there was not enough student demand and lack of full-time faculty members for the program.
Shump and about 50 other people defended the degree program last night at the Centennial Room in the Kansas Union during the discontinuance hearing for KU's only Italian degree.
"We have never canceled a section for lack of enrollment," she said. "The Italian B.A. is the only one in the state and in the Midwest area. The quality
Jan Kozma, the only full-time professor in the program and head of the department of French and Italian, spoke first at the hearing and gave a 20-minute presentation, complete with graphs.
"The striking thing about yawning is its stereotyped nature," he said. "Everyone yawns in pretty much the same wav.
PRIMETIME
Women's studies had the most awarded degrees with 49. American studies had 42, classical antiquity had 32, African studies had 23, and classical languages had 18.
"Itian and French are very different languages." she said.
CARRY-OUT
The contagiousness of yawns is a topic of great but overlooked significance to both the social and neurological sciences," Provine said. "You don't see someone else yawn and say, 'I think I'll do what they did.'"
In his study, Provine found that people had "yawn detectors."
"I can't see attending University without an American program," she said.
Jean Winter, Lawrence senior, said eliminating the program would harm KU.
"Why was it plucked out?" she said. If the degree is eliminated, an Italian concentration will be provided in the French degree program, which Kozma said she did not understand.
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Provine said yawning research provided insight into problems in the behavioral sciences and neurosciences.
"I didn't just study this as a diversion," he said. "Yawning can make some important contributions."
Robert Provine still is not tired of yawning.
Kansan staff writer
at an Italian program," she said. After the hearing, Kozma said she hoped the committee would not recommend the degree for elimination, but did not want to anticipate the committee's recommendation.
Kozma said it puzzled her that program review findings called for the elimination of the Italian degree, which was the second largest of the smaller humanities programs in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Forty-four Italian degrees were awarded from 1987 to 1991.
University debates Italian degree's fate
Provine has written eight papers on yawning since 1986.
Provine's interest in yawning was sparked when he studied the nervous systems of a variety of animals. Any animal that has a vertebra yawns, he said.
"It's a behavior that most people perform every day," said Provine, a professor of psychology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, who has been studying yawning for 10 years.
Yawns don't bore, tire researcher of behavior
By Liz Klinger
Theories about yawning at the University of Kansas have not been researched as thoroughly.
"I'm so beyond predicting," she said. "I'm not surprised by anything the University does, but I will remain optimistic."
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of the B.A. in Italian is there and is recognized across the nation."
11 am-2 am
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11 am-1 am
Kara Wittman, a Topeka freshman who yawns at the mention of the word, said, "I think it's a little warning bell that goes off when you're about to fall asleep in class so you can smack yourself to stay awake, I guess I'm just
Southern Hills Center
Provine, who now is studying laughter, said that yawning research would offer new information about the nervous system and human social behavior.
Facts on vawns
"I think I do it so unconciously that I don't even notice it," he said.
There is no indication that yawning increases alertness.
In studies of at least 800 people, yawn researcher Robert Provine found:
The typical yawn lasts about six seconds.
"I'm afraid if they're yawning it's because they were up too late the night before or are finding that part of the lecture boring." Prosser said.
Claude Howard, Kaiserslautern,
Germany, freshman, said he yawned
the most after classes and lunch.
"I see this as a beginning of a whole neglected class of human behavior," he said.
Videotapes of people yawning, with their mouths edited out, triggered as many yawns from viewers as tapes of faces with vavinng mouths.
People tend to yawn the most during the hour after waking and the hour before going to bed.
■ Anything associated with yawning,
even thinking or reading about it, will
trigger yawning.
People who are bored yawn more often than those who are not.
Yawning is not a response to a shortage of oxygen or a build-up of carbon dioxide.
Yawning is contagious among humans — an observation of someone yawning triggers an urge to yawn in the observer.
Francis Prosser, professor of physics and astronomy, said yawners tended to sit in the backs of classrooms and generally were not as involved as other students.
Source: The Associated Press KANBAN
not a very alert person."
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