Western Front - 2001 December 7

              * vferf* The Western Front Western Washington University Volume 119 Issue 18 Bellingham, Washington
Competition hurting general book sales
By Paul Nicholas Carlson
THE WESTERN FRONT
The Associated Students
Bookstore recently announced
sales of general books and the
annual $200,000 contribution to
the AS may be threatened due to
a difficult fiscal 2001 year.
Dave MacAuley, AS Bookstore
manager, presented the financial
status of the bookstore to the AS
board of directors Nov. 28.
MacAuley told the board the
annual contribution to the AS
•fund and the general book inven­tory
are both at risk in the
future.
MacAuley said the bookstore
is. expected to contribute
$200,000 to the AS every year,
which is intended for the opera­tion
of AS clubs and organiza­tions.
The bookstore generated
the $200,000 contribution from
the interest income, which
comes from the bookstore's
retained earnings.
Retained earnings are similar
to a cumulative savings account
of all earnings saved since the
business' inception. Interest
income is a type of income made
by the interest earned on busi­ness
investments.
But the bookstore's current
retained earnings of $4,480,339
will decrease to about $2.7 mil­lion
to supplement the recent
renovation of the bookstore. The
interest income decreased from
$207,697 in 2000 to $196,254 in
2001.
"If we don't generate (the
Western sophomore Jodi Bernahl browses the general book
Bookstore. Bernahl said she sometimes buys books there.
$200,000) from operating
income, we'll have to dip further
into reserves," MacAuley said.
"The more we dip into the
reserves, the less interest
income."
The general book selection of
the student bookstore is also
threatened, due to competition.
"Sales from the general books
have dropped dramatically
from about $190,000 to
$120,000," MacAuley said.
- MaeAuley^eited increased
competition, namely from
Amazon.com and Barnes and
Noble Booksellers, for the
decreased sales.
"I think (Amazon and Barnes
and Noble) will continue to eat
into our sales," MacAuley said.
Because of the decreased
sales, inventory of the general
book selection may decrease.
"Our inventory is dictated by
sales," MacAuley said. "If peo­ple
aren't buying the books,
we'll have to stop carrying
them."
Although MacAuley present­ed
this information to the AS
board, no immediate action is
planned.
"Right now we haven't even
thought about it," said Brian
Martin, AS vice president for
Business and Operations.
Martin said the board will
deal with the situation some­time
during winter quarter
Two-time VP candidate speaks at Western
Quoc B. Tran/ The Western Front
LaDuke spoke to a nearly packed audience Wednesday.
By Paul Nicholas Carlson
THE WESTERN FRONT
Standing in front of a packed
audience in the Performing
Arts Center Wednesday night,
Winona LaDuke reflected back
on her childhood, thinking of
those she admired as a kid.
"Growing up, *my three
heroes were Batman, Spider-
Man and Ralph Nader,"
LaDuke said to the crowd.
"When people ask why I rah for
vice president of the United
States, I tell them 'because
Ralph asked me.'"
LaDuke is a two-time U.S.
vice presidential candidate and
nationally renowned social jus­tice
activist.
"Educating, engaging in dia­logue
and helping people
understand a little more about
the contemporary issues of the
Native American population is
important to us," Native
American Mentoring program
director Ryan Masters said.
To that end, Masters said
NAMP and the Associated
Students Social Issues club col­laborated
with more than a
dozen other organizations to
bring LaDuke to Western.
These other groups included
the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual
Transgender Alliance, the
Women's Center, the
Environmental Center, the
Northwest Indian College, the
Peace Resource Center, Ethnic
Student's Center, Whatcom
Green Party, political science
and the sociology department.
"Community empowerment,
grassroots democracy, issues of
economic justice, social justice,
environmental justice, fair
trade: those are all things I
believe in," LaDuke said.
Currently, LaDuke said she
is concerned with the return of
federally and publicly held
Indian reservation land.
"We teach our children steal­ing
is wrong, yet the govern­ment
is stealing huge sections
of reservation land from the
Indian tribes," LaDuke said.
"The only compensation for
land is land."
Although she ran on the
Nader-LaDuke Green Party
presidential ticket in 1996 and
2000, LaDuke admits at one
point in her life she was a part
of the largest political party in
the United States. She called it
the "nonvoting party."
LaDuke said she also chose
to run for vice-president to
show people that alternatives
exist to voice their opinions on
the public level.
Joseph Terrell/The Western Front
selection at the AS
2002.
Although general book sales
decreased, textbook sales last
year greatly increased.
"Between 2001 and 2000,
the comparison gap is huge,"
MacAuley said. "The largest
change in sales occurred dur­ing
spring quarter of last
year."
According to the bookstore's
sales figures, spring quarter
2001 sales of new,., textbooks
were up $252^00 from the
previous year, while used book
sales were up by $203,000. For
reference, fall 2000 new book
sales were up from $77,000,
and winter 2001 new book
sales went up by $96,000.
12 Nepalese
students'tuition
may increase
By Laura Harlos
THE WESTERN FRONT
The elimination of the Sann
Research Institute program in
Nepal has left 12 exchange stu­dents
scrambling to stay at
Western, after their tuition
increased to the out-of-state
cost.
Sann Research Institute in
Nepal sent students to Western
in exchange for Western stu­dents
going to Nepal to travel
the backcountry. Although the
institute is not a university, the
program is an exchange pro­gram
and allowed students to
travel to Western paying in­state
tuition.
The 12 students came from
Nepal with an IAP66 that is
good for four years at Western.
The IAP66 is a document an
exchange student needs to get a
student visa. After the elimina­tion
of the program, Western no
longer honored the documenta­tion.
"Before I came here two years
ago, I got my IAP66," exchange
student Robin Shrestha said. "I
came here to study in spring.
See NEPAL, Page 4
Measles scare
forces Western
to cancel waiver
By Sasha Benko
THE WESTERN FRONT
A false alarm had Western
officials and staff scrambling to
figure out a way to inform 3,000
students that they would not be
allowed back on campus until
cleared of measles (rubeola), a
highly contagious viral illness
characterized by a fever, cough
and spreading rash.
Sometime during the past
two weeks (the exact date will
be kept confidential in order to
maintain privacy), a Western
student went to the Student
Health Center with a. "very
measles-like rash and out­break,"
said Dr. Emily Gibson,
Western Student Health Center
medical director.
If it was measles, "the virus
can spread within two hours
and has the potential of killing
adults who are affected with it,"
Gibson said. "The possibility of
whole classrooms being infect­ed,
even entire dorms, had us in
crisis mode."
Gibson and staff had to wait
24 hours to receive news if the
illness was in fact rubeola.
During this time, the depart­ment
of Student Affairs assem­bled
a crisis response team to
contact the 3,000 students who
had chosen to waive the
requirement for rubeola immu­nity
clearance.
The student's test came back
negative for measles (rubeola),
but Kunle Ojiketu, assistant
vice president of Student
Affairs, said we "cannot take
this risk anymore."
"We can't allow this many
people to be waived anymore,"
Gibson said. "We just dodged
the bullet this time.
The students who chose to
waive the requirement will
See MEASLES, Page 4
IN THIS ISSUE
Giesa leads Vikes
toward championship
Senior forward A.J. Giesa is
a fifth-year senior who has
put in his time, leadership
and dedication to the team.
See story, Page 8.
Local band Enders
of Ozone reviewed
The band will play at the
3B Tavern
Friday night.
The band will
record a live
compilation
CD entitled
"Live at the
3B."
See story/Page 7.
For news tips, call (360) 650-3162 or e-mail The Western Front at wfront@cc.wwu.edu http://westernfrontonline.com