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| Aftermath in Iraq | Financial job market cools off | Welcoming an expert on human sexuality | Kwanzaa quandary | Spillover crime | Political lag? | |
Called upon to predict the impact of the first missile strike against Iraq in December, Middle East expert Dwight Simpson, International Relations, reported that he expects that "the impact on Iraq will be another devastation of their infrastructure…and they had just gotten back to about 80 or 85 percent normal after earlier attacks." Simpson, in the Dec. 17 edition of the San Francisco Examiner, also addressed the effect of the strike on Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. "Though the attack will most likely damage his military might, it could also strengthen [his] grip on the country."Financial job market cools off
The local market for financial jobs has taken a hit lately due to corporate mergers and global markets affected by the financial collapse in Asia, according to a Dec. 18 article in the San Francisco Chronicle. While new jobs created by a boom in electronic commerce may offset the numbers a bit, Michael Potepan, Economics, predicts that "local financial sector employment will grow slightly in 1999, but at a much slower rate than the annual gains of 4.75 percent or more registered over the last three years."Welcoming an expert on human sexuality
The growing popularity of Kwanzaa among African Americans is welcomed by long time supporters of the holiday, but there are concerns that wider acceptance will bring greater commercialization, reports the San Francisco Examiner in a Dec. 24 article. Oba T'Shaka, Black Studies, is among those expressing concern. He says, "It's clear that a number of major corporations have started to take notice and try to profit from Kwanzaa. That's not g ood. With money comes corruption." Kwanzaa was originally developed, in part, as an alternative to consumerism.Spillover crime
The Oct. 20 Daily Breeze reports that three gang-related shootings in one week in Santa Monica have renewed residents' fears of crime spreading from neighboring Los Angeles into their relatively quiet city. According to Dennis Bianchi, Criminal Justice, such problems are unavoidable, noting that within the time that Cal ifornia has built 10 prisons, only one university was constructed. He says, "You can lock up even a greater percentage of criminals, but as long as you don't address the root problem, crime is going to spill over. It's not just a big city ugly element."Political lag?
The results of a poll conducted by SF State's Public Research Institute appeared in the Dec. 6 San Francisco Examiner as part of its series "The New City." The poll found that despite gains, the City's Asian Americans have less interest in politics than other groups. But Rufus Browning, director of PRI, was quick to point out that "one of the biggest predictors of political interest and voting is how long you've been here. . . on the average, it takes 10 to 15 years for people to get involved." By far, Asian Americans polled were the most likely to be recent immigrants.Return to top
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