Wednesday, January 28, 1998
Community Briefs
BRIEFS
Westwood resident commits suicide
A Westwood man died at the UCLA Medical Center early Tuesday
morning after shooting himself.
John Danelski, 24, shot and killed himself at his home at the
corner of Glenrock and Ophir in Westwood.
Danelski was a former UCLA student who was interested in
international relations.
Witnesses report hearing three gun shots in a row followed by a
pause, and then one more shot at around 12:30 a.m. on Tuesday
morning.
"There were four shots, three in a row and one after," said Vic
Petrossian, who lives near the scene. Danelski fired the first
three shots in the air and fatally wounded himself with the final
shot.
The street was blocked off after the shooting.
The LAPD has not released any further information. There is no
suspicion of foul play.
UCLA applications hit a high
UCLA received a record number of applications for the Fall class
of 1998, which will be the first class admitted under the UC
Regents’ SP-1 resolution – a policy eliminating the use of race,
gender and ethnicity in the admissions process.
Many believed that the SP-1 would reduce minority applications,
however admissions data demonstrates that more American-Indian and
Latino students applied and the percentage of Asian-American and
Caucasian applicants declined.
Nevertheless, other data demonstrates that less
African-Americans applied and 4,202 (compared to 1,334) applicants
chose not to reveal their ethnicity.
In the past it has been Caucasians and Asian Americans who
choose not to reveal their ethnicity or race, which accounts for
the drop in applications from these groups. UCLA will send out
11,000 notices of acceptance on April 1 and 3,850 freshman and
1,950 transfer students will enroll.
Berkeley bucks used book sales
Used textbook sales are growing rapidly, outpacing the demand
for expensive new books, according to UC Berkeley bookstore
employees.
Because of competition, marketing and the need for profit, book
publishers raise the prices of new textbooks each year. As a
result, many college students go to great lengths to avoid buying
new, higher-priced books — especially with ever-increasing housing
and food expenses.
It has even become increasingly common for students to go to
such measures as using books on reserve at campus libraries or
choosing not to buy the required book for class.
Bookstores purchase their used textbooks from wholesalers,
individual book buyers and students and sell them for 25 percent
less than a new book.
"There has definitely been more of an emphasis on used books
with the prices of textbooks going up so high," said Joe Moore, a
manager at Campus Textbook Exchange. "A recent trend in buying
books has been the Internet, where students can buy directly from
the distributor. Sometimes it’s cheaper, and sometimes it
isn’t."
Sometimes students eliminate the costs of buying new books by
sharing or selling their books among each other.
"There is a lot of informal bookselling or book-passing going
around in this campus, more so than I’ve seen at others," said
Walter Day, the ASUC director of books and academic services. "Our
sales in engineering books are relatively low, and that’s because
they are very expensive, so some students buy them together and
share them."
In response to the rising demand for used books, publishers have
found various ways to eliminate used textbooks from the market.
Compiled from Daily Bruin staff reports.