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The perfect season continues Monday, November 30, 2009
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Black Friday sales boost economy
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Proposal decreases language semesters Reduction of required language hours aims to accommodate budget changes
Photos by Caleb Bryant Miller | Daily Texan Staff
Above, Best Buy employee Nate Smith, right, shows customers various TVs on sale during Black Friday in Dallas. Below, Taein Tun, an immigrant from Burma, sits beside his cart at a Best Buy in Dallas. His scarf indicates that he camped out in front of the store since Thanksgiving day.
Holiday profits aid national retailers, some Austin businesses suffer By Jim Pagels and Lena Price Daily Texan Staff The nation’s economy got a boost on Black Friday as sales continued to grow from previous years. Friday’s sales totaled $10.66 billion — up 0.5 percent compared with Black Friday 2008, according to ShopperTrak RCT Corp., a Chicago-based firm that tracks sales at more than 50,000 stores. Last year, sales increased by 3 percent. Erin Hershkowitz, spokeswoman for the International Council of Shopping Centers, said that because most stores placed their orders for Christmas products in the summer, last year’s financial crisis hit the retailers at an unfortunate time, as they were vastly overstocked on products. “This year, retailers were a lot smarter and [did not overstock on goods],” she said. “This helped prevent some of the massive price cuts consumers took advantage of last year.”
The ShopperTrak survey found that sales were strongest in the West and also rose in the Midwest and South. Sales declined in the Northeast. Despite a nationwide increase in Black Friday sales, Austinbased vintage clothing store Blue Velvet typically sees a slump in revenue on the day after Thanksgiving, said assistant manager
Puppet Schroder. This year was no different. “People aren’t really looking to buy vintage as gifts,” Schroder said. “They tend to be more interested in shopping at Wal-Mart or Best Buy so they can get electronics.” The survey also found that while cutthroat bargain hunters hit the stores early Friday morn-
ing, sales declined as the day progressed. “The lines outside the store were crazy at 4 a.m. this morning,” said Mark Pachellio, manager of the Lewisville-based Best Buy. “It kind of tailed off a little later, but that’s always expected.” Pachellio said that while the store did not immediately have any sales numbers, he felt the store made a solid profit. “Black Friday is always one of our [biggest shopping days] of the year, and I didn’t notice any decline today,” he said. “Take a look at all the empty shelves, and tell me we didn’t have a good day.” Many of those who braved the crowded stores were in search of holiday gifts. “I wanted to get my gift shopping done early this year,” said Coppell resident Maggie Loe. “It certainly helps that I can get some amazing deals, too.”
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By Lena Price Daily Texan Staff One month after College of Liberal Arts Dean Randy Diehl eliminated a proposal to restructure the school’s foreign language requirements, several language departments are still considering similar changes. Pending the approval of the registrar and several faculty committees, the Spanish department will reduce the number of required semesters from four to three. Each class will be worth six hours, which actually increases the number of mandatory credit hours to 18. “By reducing the number of semesters required to meet the language requirement from four to three, we reduce the total number of sections and thereby accommodate the budget reductions,” said Spanish department chairman Nicolas Shumway. “But by increasing the number of classroom contact hours, we actually strengthen the program.” Shumway said the new program will not degrade the quality of instruction, which was a concern about earlier suggestions. In the original proposal, the number of required language hours would have dropped from 16 to 12. The requirement could have been fulfilled with two six-hour classes or one six-hour and two three-hour classes. Faculty members overwhelmingly disapproved of the changes at an open forum, and Diehl dropped the plan the next day. The changes were suggested in order to save money to fund targeted merit pay increases for faculty and the new liberal arts building. The college needs to reallocate between $10 and $13 million. Introductory and intermediate Spanish courses will be taught on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and each section will last two hours with a possible break. The department currently offers two-hour class blocks during the summer session. Bilingual education junior Petra Ocampo tested out of the first three levels of Spanish and is currently enrolled in SPN 312L. She said two hours sounded too long for a normal class period, but the increased number of required hours seems like a good idea. “I have a test on Monday, and I’m a little worried that I won’t be able to finish it in 50 minutes,” Ocampo said. “It would definitely be easier with two hours.” Ocampo said it would be better to only have class three days a week because it gives students a chance
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Research details Democratic hopefuls threaten Perry’s prospects loss of land mass UT employee-led report reveals reasons behind diminishing Antarctica By Israel Perez Daily Texan Staff The fifth-largest continent on Earth is shrinking, according to UT researchers. A report published in the Nature Geoscience journal concludes that Antarctica is losing large quantities of ice due to rising temperatures caused by global warming. “As a whole, Antarctica may soon be contributing significantly more to global sea level rise,” the researchers wrote in the study. Jianli Chen, the study’s lead author and senior research scientist at the UT Center for Space Research, said the study proves that both the eastern and western part of the continent are losing mass. But he said the loss of the eastern ice is small in terms of its effect on current sea levels. East Antarctica, which is 10 times larger than West Antarctica, lost about 57 billion metric tons of ice each year from 2002
to 2007, according to the report. Previous research from 2007 showed most of the continent’s lost ice came from the western part and that ice on the eastern side of the continent might actually be increasing. The new report, published this month, shows a net loss of ice throughout the entire region. However, the long-term effects of ice loss might be significant, Chen said. “Antarctica is the largest piece of ice on Earth,” he said. “If the entire ice sheet were to melt, sea levels worldwide would rise by 60 to 70 meters.” Chen said the effects of rising sea levels wouldn’t be seen for many years. Currently, global ice losses contribute 1.8 millimeters a year to sea level, Chan said. The amount is about double what was predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in a 2007 report. The IPCC is a scientific intergovernmental body that assesses the consequences of
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By Alex Geiser Daily Texan Staff A new face may enter the democratic gubernatorial primary and give incumbent Gov. Rick Perry a run for his money in 2010, according to some professors of politics. Days after Tom Schieffer dropped out of the race due to a lack of funding and support, Houston Mayor Bill White announced he may enter the gubernatorial race at a Nov. 23 press conference. White, who is currently running to replace Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the U.S. Senate, said at the conference that he will make a decision by Friday. White spokeswoman Katy Bacon said his decision will be made based on what he believes will be better for the state. If he enters the race, White will compete with Texas musician Kinky Friedman, haircare magnate Farouk Shami and Hank Gilbert for the Democratic nomination. Although some people think White’s potential candidacy would curb Gilbert’s chances of winning the nomination, Gilbert campaign spokesman Vince Leibowitz said that isn’t the case. “We believe that we’ll have the support necessary to win the democratic primary,” Leibowitz
said. “Outside of Houston, White is a relatively unknown commodity in Texas.” Leibowitz said the primary race will likely end in a runoff election between Gilbert and White, if he enters the race. He said the widespread rural and urban support Gilbert has acquired will push him to the top. “We’re going to end up at the end of the day with more votes than he will,” Leibowitz said. Sherri Greenberg, a fellow for the Center of Politics and Governance and a professor in the LBJ school at UT, said democrats, including Schieffer, have been urging White to enter the bid. “This completely changes the make-up of the race,” Greenberg said. “With Tom Schieffer in the race, the Democrats had no strong candidate to rally behind. The other individuals who are running do not seem to have the wherewithal to make this happen.” Greenberg said White has already developed strong support in Houston after being mayor for three terms, so entering the race at this point would make him the expected Democratic nominee in Courtesy of Hank Gilbert the general election. Cal Jillson, professor of Gov. Rick Perry could face another contender for the gubernatorial political science at Southern race with Houston Mayor Bill White announcing that he may run. If he runs, White will compete against Kinky Friedman, Farouk Shami and Hank Gilbert, pictured above, for the Democratic nomination. RACE continues on page 2