Western Kentucky University - Talisman Yearbook (Bowling Green, KY)

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Christmas break. The set had arrived at the men’s dormitory just a few days before the Christmas vacation started. According to the statistics Wallace quoted, there was an increase in traffic ac- ) cidents from 25 to 45. There were 64 hos- pital runs this year compared with 31 in the 1973-74 period. Wallace cited a drastic decrease in arson and fire alarms from 36 last year to five this year. There were two b threats this year compared to 14 in last school year. Drug cases increased from two to three. Miscellaneous | ased from 18 to 33. a la on camp were abou end. He said si the Operation Ide have been only thre participating in Opera student can get his bicyé other personal items engra Hi and social security number. | Marian Klaes, a student i Ind., said she had her bicyc | Christmas vacation. “I had it Id a combination lock, but it did identification engraving,” she s H not file a complaint with Secu | she did not think her bicycle stealing. : Wallace mentioned that there | of the year that are more prone {) than others. He cited the times holidays and spring break becau are wanting to get money to He said the Security Office print | tributed posters before Christma | students to keep their doors locke Illustrating this holiday crim new television set was stolen fr Campbell residence hall sometim ‘one of the most did to prevent naked,” she said. “I just stood there with my mouth hanging open.” She added that Security personnel had her fill out some forms, and that was it. Two weeks later, signs were put up in the structure saying ‘Not Responsible.’ ” Terry Shaw, a freshman from Caneyville, is one of those people affected by crime on campus. He discovered his 1958 Chevrolet station wagon was missing from Douglas Keen parking lot on the morning of January 16. Shaw said he knew at once that it had been stolen and called Security. Shaw's car was found later that day at the end of the same parking lot, close to the railroad tracks. He said nothing was actually stolen, but the window on the driver's side was broken and the driver's door and right rear fender were dented. Wallace mentioned that most people do not realize that the issuance of parking stickers is another big method of crime pre- vention. He said, “If cars have stickers, we know they belong here and have legitimate business on campus. If they do not, we have no idea what they are up to.” Wallace cited figures showing that 2,962 unregistered cars were on campus in the fall semester, receiving an average of 1.5 cita- tions apiece. Wallace said, “We do not worry about the cars that are here one or two times per semester, because there are a lot of parents bringing their children back to school. We do worry, however, about the cars that are here more than four times.” A total of 137 cars were on campus in the fall semester more than four times, accord- ing to statistics. “If we knew what some of those cars were up to, we might find the source of some of our crimes,’ said Wallace. Wallace said the ultimate goal of the Se- curity Office is “having nothing to do.” Al- : though this goal may be a little too opti- “mistic, the department is doing all it can to cut back on crime. Prevention could be the key to showing people that crime really does -notpay. p= 23 Cri me

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22. Crime Checkpoint Just how safe is a person these days when he’s in his own backyard? Can he afford to walk outside alone at night or leave his car unguarded? Is he even safe when he is inside his home? In the life of a college student, the campus is the student's home environment and in a sense, his “backyard.” The question now becomes how safe is the college student on campus? On the Western campus, crime is paying off for somebody, even though crime is not supposed to pay at all. Marcus Wallace, director of public safety, said, ‘Thef ts and vandalism are the biggest types of crime occurring on campus.” He said the kinds of things being stolen are “purses, billfolds, stereos and just about any kind of personal property.” Statistics quoted by Wallace, however, showed a gen- eral decrease in theft. Figures for a period from September 1973 through January 1974 listed 166 larceny complaints as com- pared with 135 over the same time period in 1974-75. The same set of statistics show- ed an increase in both vandalism and prop- erty damage in the later time period. Vandalisms totaled 19, seven more than in the previous year, and there were three cases of property damage. Wallace mentioned other types of report- ed crimes that occur on campus. He said, “There are rarely personal assaults, but occasionally they do happen.” Again, statis- tics showed an increase of 14 assaults over the nine occurring last year. Possibly in connection with the increase in assaults, security measures were taken in January to permanently lock the side doors of the women’s residence halls. In an inter- view for the College Heights Herald on Jan- uary 24, Charles Keown, dean of student affairs, said the University was trying to “prevent problems other campuses. were having.’ Keown remarked that some of the dormitories had problems with non-students getting in the halls. He added, ‘The girls are vulnerable, very vulnerable, to people walking in.” Wallace also said indecent exposure is not happening in great quantities, but it is happening. There were four incidents of indecent exposure in the 1974-75 school year. An incident such as this happened to Marlene Marks one day in the fall semester as she was walking to her dorm along Nor- mal Drive. Miss Marks said she was ap- proached by a man sitting in a car. The Bardstown sophomore said, ‘| was shocked at first and | could not think about anything except getting away.” Miss Marks said when she got to her

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ROLOGNA A LA KING “ Checkpoint Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a week, water and crackers for the Saturday evening meal and bologna a la king for Sunday dinner were impacts of the all- mighty power which seeks to destroy a stu- dent’s income — inflation. For most of this year, cash registers in the supermarkets jingled and jangled, herald- ing the arrival of a few cents raise on items too numerous to mention. The almost insurmountable increases in sugar led to shying away from packages marked “pre-sweetened” in grocery stores. Countless arguments occurred in restaurants between waitresses and customers over how many sugar packets it takes to sweeten a glass of iced tea. And, when possible, stu- dents “claimed” the extra sugar lying on the table because they felt they had paid for it. A slight boycott of sugar products made Christmas parties heavier on the expense side and lighter on the goodie side. Boycot- ting sweets also shot an arrow. of disap- pointment into the hearts of ever so many valentines later on in the year. All this time, while the student was re- laxing in the warmth of his room contem- plating and figuring on how to cope with a tighter food budget, the coziness he was experiencing and the power running his electric calculator were becoming costlier by the minute. The contempt for increases orig- inated at home, but the buck literally passed through the ranks and stopped at the wealthy Arab oil tycoons. Meanwhile, the cost of fuel and related products soared and that piece of green paper with George Washington on the front became worth less and less. Caught between a dilemma of going home more often on weekends to save money on food, and staying near campus to save fuel, most students chose to hit the road. The reasoning behind th is could have been that by creating delicious concoctions in the dormitories throughout the week and not eating out, the money saved could be poured into the gas tank come Friday. Whatever the reasoning, food was almost too expensive to merely eat; gas was costly, too, and nowhere was there a happy medium. This dilemma was not just something dreamed up by someone who wanted an excuse to get home. The November 1974 Consumer Price Index showed that students last fall paid 42 percent more for food than students did three years ago. In other words, what a student could buy in a grocery store for $10 in 1971, this year cost him $14.20. Gasoline prices went up 35 percent. Partly because of the increased fuel costs, an announcement was made by the Hous- ing Office that the cost of renting four walls, two beds, two desks and a telephone (more commonly known as a room in a dormitory) would be increased 15 more dollars by the fall of 1975. Hence, another big squeeze on the student's pocketbook made him wonder if it would really do any good to figure out a budget. By all indications prices would continue to climb. Private housing did not offer any relief most of the time, unless drippy faucets, drafty old rooms and increasing utilities bills could be considered worth the price. Gen- erally, hassles with landlords who were also pressured by expenses were avoided, but every dissatisfied student made arrange- ments in the back of his mind for improve- ments. That was providing, of course, there was any hope for improvement. The Con- sumer Price Index indicated a 15.5 percent increase in rent since 1971. Although a dollar was becoming more worthless in a monetary sense, as a piece of paper it was pretty valuable. The student soon found out the worth of paper when he went to buy textbooks for classes. A few people short on cash may have decided to skip the book buying session and tough out a course with only a set of class notes. Others fought the lines, bought the books and found out later that they would only gather dust. Increasing paper costs also affected the College Heights Herald because newsprint was not exempt from the rise. Starting with the October 22 issue, the Herald came back from the printers one full inch shorter than usual, much to the surprise of the staff. It cut back the regular 15-inch page to a point which allowed less room for stories and ads. David B. Whitaker, director of university publications, said, “Newsprint now costs $285 a ton, compared to $55 a ton in 1948.” Whitaker predicted it would rise to over $300 a ton by January, 1976. Monstrous inflation left almost no aspect of campus expenditures untouched. Burch Oglesby, head of the physical education and recreation department, feared that the traditional WKU red towel would soon be just a memory because the price of red towels almost doubled since last year. Oglesby said, “The University might be forced to change to white ones.” A student who wanted to stay on top of the changing styles in clothes was also a victim of inflation. A crisis came when fashion designers decided that the worn blue jean look of last year was going to be re- placed by neater styles. Naturally, it was pretty difficult to make a pair of mutilated jeans look crisp after they were coaxed to the precise shade of fade, so students be- gan experiencing new clothes and the worn- wallet look. On the average, clothing increased 19 percent since the fall of 1971, and this sent many students scramb- ling to the sale tables. The story of money spent on recreation had a happier ending than most aspects of spending. According to the Consumer Price Index, recreation prices went up very little. Increased costs in other areas, however, de- manded that funds designated for enter- tainment be re-applied to more necessary things. It was hard, however, for a student to adjust to using his movie money to buy a loaf of bread or a tube of toothpaste, or give up concerts to make the budget stretch a little. Many students found themselves taking advantage of free or virtually inexpensive activities offered on campus. For instance, in suitable weather, it was almost impossible to capture a vacant tennis court without stooping to harassing people to make them leave. Even some people who could barely tip one of those over-sized ping pong balls back over the net came out and faced the ridicule of slightly better players. People who could not keep up with the outdoor freaks turned to an indoor alterna- tive such as bowling. League activity offered a little more old-fashioned competition at a cheaper rate. Actually, it was very possible to have a good time inexpensively. Several students tended to limit their dat- ing activities to study sessions or walks around the campus. As the weather turned colder, and people remained indoors more, some of the dormitories had new coed lounges complete with televisions and ping pong tables designed to meet the problem of an expensive date. Dr. Charles Van Eaton of the economics department said, “‘Inflation hits hardest on fixed income recipients.” Van Eaton pointed out that unless the student income went up more than the 28.6 percent increase of the entire ‘purchase basket,’ (which includes cost of food, rent, clothing, transportation and recreation) the student is much worse off than three years ago. Van Eaton also said inflation strikes hard at the student in the declining job market. “It's better to have a decline in the purchasing power of your money than to have no money at all,” he said. At any rate, it is apparent that inflation this year made a deeper dent in students’ buying power than in any other year in recent history. Whether or not it gets to the point where a student will consider crackers. and water a luxury, or a trip home on a skate- board commonplace, it’s certain that the Western student will hope and pray that prices cease their upward flight. “A Dh, Inflation