THE BEHREND BEACON
College
investing
by Niala Boodhoo
Knight-Ridder Newspapers
October 12, 1999
Praveen Yalamanchi has taken a
stomach-turning ride on the stock
market. After making $20,000 in two
years of steady investing, he lost
$4,000 in his first 48 hours of day
trading.
Paul Hamilton has seen his money
grow steadily, if slowly, over the past
three years in mutual funds.
Both South Floridians, researchers
say, are representative of the
exploding population playing the
market on college campuses
nationwide.
"The biggest increase we've seen
over the past few years, besides
women's investment clubs, is among
younger people," said Jonathan
Strong, who manages membership
for the National Association of
Investors, a nonprofit educational
group for investors across the
country.
Strong said that in the past five
years, the median age of his
membership has dropped 10 years,
reflecting the many 20- and 30-year
olds now in the market, and he
expects that trend to continue.
The seemingly endless bull
market, the explosion of financial
information and ease of making
trades over the Internet. have created
a boom in investing among twenty
somethings. At the extreme: some
students around the nation are even
day-trading their tuition money.
But for the most part, the younger
people who invest are as serious as
their older counterparts, said Mike
Kraft, director of consumer research
for Gornez Advisors, a Boston firm
that studies online finance.
Hamilton, a finance major at
Florida International University, is a
self-described low-risk taker who
has put thousands into long-term
mutual funds.
"I'm 24 and this is a long-term
deal," said Hamilton, who is vice
president of FlU's chapter of Alpha
Kappa Psi, a business fraternity.
He started investing his freshman
year of college when his
grandmother gave him and his
brother some railroad stocks, CSX
Corp and Norfolk Southern Corp. He
put money from that initial
investment into various Prudential
mutual funds.
"Hopefully by the time I'm gray
haired and retired this will let me do
some of the things I want to do later
in life," Hamilton said.
U. Of Colorado President resigns
wake of newspaper investigation
by Terje Langeland
Colorado Daily - University of
Colorado at Boulder
October 14, 1999
BOULDER, Colo. John Buechner,
president of the University of
Colorado at Boulder, resigned
Wednesday following months of
controversy surrounding his hiring of
a personal friend to work as his
executive consultant.
Buechner announced his departure
a day before the university's board of
regents was expected to quiz him
about the controversy, which resulted
from a Colorado Daily investigation
begun in May. Buechner, appointed
to the presidency in 1995, did not
mention the newspaper or its
investigation in his letter of
resignation, but he did refer to a
perceived lack of support from some
members of the board.
"I have not reached this decision in
a hasty manner," Buechner wrote. "...
some members of the Board of
Regents have discussed directly with
the print media their concerns about
my performance as president. It
would be most difficult to continue
to lead this $1.4 billion dollar
NATIONAL CAMPUS NEWS
When Yalamanchi blew the $4,000
-- for him, two summers' worth of
the 26-year-old recent
wages
University of Florida graduate said
he went into the market thinking he
would make fast money.
He had already seen an initial
PHOTO BY NURI VALLBONA - KRT
Like many college
students today,
Augustin Palma,
right, and Carl
Hermeling are avid
investors. They get
information on stocks
from a Bloomberg
News Service
machine located on
the University of
Miami campus.
$5,000 investment soar to $25,000
in two years, through investments in
biotechnology and computer
software compan es. Last summer,
he decided to try day-trading. where
traders buy and sell stocks daily or
even hourly, seeking to capitalize on
small price movements.
"I thought, why bother to he an
engineer when I could just make a
lot more money day-trading?, - said
Yalamanchi, who earned a degree in
engineering at the University of
Florida after he finished his first
degree at the University of Miami in
finance.
"The smartest thing I did ahout
investing in day trading was getting
out early,'' said Yalamanchi, who quit
after his two-day crash, when he held
stocks like Lightpath Technologies.
Yalamanchi has since moved the rest
of his money to an Internet company
he plans to hold long-term.
Yalamanchi is open about the
university without the complete 100
percent commitment and confidence
from each hoard member in my role
as president."
Buechner wrote that he would leave
office "no later than June 1, 2000,"
although it was unclear if he intended
"I have not reached
this decision in a hasty
manner:"
to continue working until that date.
Regents said they were surprised by
the president's decision.
"I would have appreciated John
contacting me personally with his
concerns," Regent Jim Martin said.
"Maybe the word 'betrayal' is a little
harsh, but I feel betrayed."
At the heart of the controversy was
Buechner's decision to hire his friend,
Fran Raudenbush, a former lobbyist,
students
online
John Buechner,
president of the University
of Colorado at Boulder
mistakes he's made in investing,
which is unusual, says University of
Miami Professor Adam Schwartz.
"It's like Las Vegas," said
Schwartz, who has taught investing
and finance at the University of
Miami for four years. "Nobody says,
'I had a crappy time, I lost $9,000.'
It's the same thing with day trading.
Nobody says, '1 lost $12,000 on
Amazon.com and I really don't know
what I'm doing."'
Schwartz says he sees students
lured by the idea of fast money by
delving into complex market
practices like selling short or writing
calls without security. Students who
think they can make fast money in
the market should look to
professional fund managers as a
litmus test, Schwartz said, Even the
most well-informed, highly paid
managers struggle to keep up with
the Standard & Poor's and Wilshire
5000 indices, traditional benchmarks
of strong companies.
Gomez Advisors has four
categories of investor profiles: the
hyperactive trader, market junkies
who use low-cost methods and trade
frequently; the serious investor, who
is active, equity-oriented and values
research; the life goal planner, who
trades mutual funds for long-term
growth and is more concerned with
financial planning; and the one-stop
shopper, who values a combination
of stock trading, funds and other
financial services rolled into one.
In a survey conducted in June,
"The State of Online Investing,"
Gomez Advisors and Harris
Interactive found just 17 percent of
online investors under age 25 fell
into the life-goal planner profile, as
opposed to 40 percent of investors
over the age of 25. In a twist, though,
data also showed that 69 percent of
online investors surveyed under the
age of 25 were serious investors, as
opposed to 46 percent of individuals
over age 25. Individuals are placed
into a category based on a
combination of their stated intentions
and investing behavior.
"So investors under 25 aren't just
playing the market, they're trying to
make money," said Gomez's
research director Kraft, who led the
study. "They're smart, and using
online information to make wise
investing decisions."
The Gomez study also found that
22 percent of online investors
surveyed under age 25 said they
invested "primarily for the fun/
challenge," of it, compared to 13
percent of people over age 25.
to oversee the university's "Total
Learning Environment," an initiative
touted as a "blueprint" for CU's
future. Raudenbush, who had no
formal background in higher
education administration before
landing the job, was placed on the
payroll of the CU Foundation, a
private organization that raises money
for the university. She was initially
paid $115,000 annually to work 30
hours per week. Her workload
eventually grew to 40 hours per week,
for which she was being paid
$141,000 a year more than most
of CU's deans.
In May, the university refused to let
the Daily view Raudenbush's
contract, claiming the document was
not open to the public because it fell
under the auspices of the Foundation,
which is a private organization. The
Daily filed suit against the
Foundation, which agreed to settle the
case in June by turning over more than
7,000 pages of documents pertaining
to Raudenbush's hiring and work for
the university. The paperwork showed
Raudenbush was extensively
involved in the university's day-to
day administration and was given the
title "executive consultant to the
OCTOBER 22, 1999
University of Miami student Carl
Hennal in said he was drawn to invest
by what he calls "the game."
"I'm competitive, and I thought
this was really interesting, to he able
to make so much money in a short
period of time," said the 24-year-old
computer science and finance major.
So he got some start-up money from
his father.
In the first six months, he lost 20
percent of his investment, chalking
it up to inexperience and a bad
broker.
"I didn't have enough
information," said Hermalin, who
now keeps his money in big
multinational companies, like
Swedish telecommunications giant
Ericsson and Finnish-based Nokia.
In a year and a half since he's started
investing, Hermalin now researches
companies thoroughly before
investing. And while he still said he
plays the market for the challenge,
the more cautious -- and wise --
Hermalin has converted his losses
into a $70,000 portfolio.
"Multinational companies are the
most secure," said Hermalin, who is
Swedish. "With small companies,
you can make big bucks hut lose
them, too."
Fellow University of Miami
student Augustin Palma, an active
trader who splits start-up costs and
profits 50/50 with his father, has
ridden the extreme highs and lows
of active trading. He trades the techs
-- among them E-trade, and Compaq
as a turnaround play -- and in his
first three weeks last fall made
$5,000, hut by the end of the year,
he was down.
Palma feeds financial statistics
about a company into a program he
designed on his computer that tracks
highs, lows, volume and other
information about the company's
stock. While he said he originally
thought he had a "system - that
worked, now he realizes he has a
model that needs continuous
tweaking.
And there's nu one system, said
Palma. "Everybody comes out and
says THIS is going to happen. But
the market moves on its own.'
After his wildly successful start,
then a slow downturn, Palma said
he's made up the lost money.
"I'm finally even now," said the
19-year-old, who will he interning at
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co.
next year. "But I' in smarter, and
that's what counts.-
president."
For months, Buechner refused to
answer the Daily's questions
regarding his professional and
personal relationship with Buechner.
On Sept. 28, the newspaper posed its
questions in the form of a front-page
editorial. When Raudenbush's
contract with CU expired three days
later, it was not renewed.
The mounting controversy
prompted some regents including
Martin to push Buechner to
publicly address issues raised by the
newspaper.
"I plan to bring up not only what is
in the best interest of the university
and the board, but what is the proper
role that a regent should play in its
support of university administration,"
Martin wrote in a letter to Buechner
dated Oct. 11. "I have not nor do I
ever plan to be a 'cheerleader' for this
university. We are all elected to be
fiduciaries for the citizens of the state
of Colorado. I personally feel we have
not been doing our job."
Buechner, who has refused to speak
with the Daily since May, did not
return phone calls Wednesday or
Thursday.
now
Homecoming '99? Make
that no homecoming at
many schools
by Tania Mejer
Campus Correspondent - Emerson
College
October 15, 1999
BOSTON (TMS) That old familiar
nip is in the air, bringing with it those
stereotypical notions of bonfires and
homecoming celebrations that
students across the country
supposedly look forward to each fall.
You know the ones. Images of
cheery students dressed in pristine
clothes bearing their school's name
and logo, eager to show their school
spirit. Images of big football games
and well-to-do alumni strutting around
campus, remembering the days when
they, too, were young and beautiful.
In real life, a lot of colleges don't
even have a homecoming, let alone a
football team. The concept of getting
all wound up about a particular
weekend especially one that
revolves around a sporting event
is lost on many students, who say they
don't need a traditional homecoming
to create campus unity.
Take those at Emerson College in
Boston for example. Acting, art, audio
and video, film, and journalism majors
run around the city often in teams
focused only on their latest film
project or news story. Many sport
piercings, tattoos and various colors
of hair. Students crack the old stand
by joke, "We have sports here?" when
they, by chance, open the campus
paper to the sports section rather than
the arts and entertainment pages.
Warm and fuzzy interaction with
alumni is kept to a minimum at
Emerson especially given the
school's alumni office holds most of
its programs in June after most
enrolled students have left for the
summer. Emerson holds a Family
Weekend, when students' parents and
relatives can hang out with them
hut homecoming it is not.
"Dances are not even a part of the
student culture here," said James
Jacquart, Emerson's director of
student activities, quickly adding that
that's not an administrative decision;
turns out that not even the college's
80-plus student organizations hold
dances of their own.
Columbia College in Chicago,
another institution focused on
communications and the arts, also
doesn't get into the homecoming
swing of things. The annual "Welcome
Back Dance" administrators plan each
year draws ire from students, who
complain that the event is a waste of
money while their tuition continues to
climb.
"So, when the students start
College students' challenging
questions posed to screen
blood donors
by Christine Tatum
TMS Campus
October 14, 1999
LAWRENCE, Kan. (TMS)
Students at the University of Kansas
are trying to decide whether some
questions asked to screen blood
donors are biased against
homosexuals.
The university's student body
president, Korh Maxwell, assigned
a committee to explore the issue and
make recommendations before the
university's next blood drive, slated
for the spring.
"We felt like we needed to do
something," committee chairman
Jason Thompson, a UK student, told
the Daily Kansan. "This is very
much an issue of students' rights."
During the screening process,
health care workers ask about
donors' medical histories and any
personal behavior that may put them
at higher risk for HIV, the virus that
causes AIDS. Potential donors
reporting they have engaged in high
risk behavior often are turned away.
Students are troubled by how some
of the questions are worded
particularly those inquiring whether
potential male donors have had sex
demonstrating on the sth floor of the
main building and signing petitions, I
guess that's when homecoming at
Columbia really begins," said student
Billy O'Keefe.
Georgetown University also lacks
homecoming festivities. Like Emerson
and Columbia, its athletics aren't big
attention-getters. Students and alumni
used to get together for school
sponsored barbecues and tailgating
parties, but administrators, concerned
about alcohol consumption among
minors, have discouraged and tried to
prevent those gatherings in recent
years.
At Brown University, students
began homecoming celebrations only
this past year. Junior Michael
DiPasquale was one student who
wholeheartedly approved of the
decision.
"I definitely prefer having a
homecoming," DiPasquale said. "I
came from a high school where school
spirit really existed, and that led to a
great homecoming. I think there's just
as much spirit here at Brown, and
therefore homecoming is a necessary
forum to put that spirit on display."
But at the all-women Agnes Scott
College (ASC) in Georgia, students
say they're just as happy with their
very intentional non-homecoming
celebration, which they call Black Cat.
"At a traditional homecoming, if
you lose the games, the homecoming
usually turns sour," Agnes Scott senior
Cara Carroll explained. "At ASC,
Black Cat is about celebrating our
community."
During the week of Black Cat,
students don their particular class'
color and mascot and decorate the
school to match. The freshmen choose
their mascot during this time and leave
hints around campus, revealing the
mascot at the week's culmination.
Classes grease doorknob handles
and steal cafeteria tables as jokes, and
on the serious side, there are dress-up
days and community activities. Juniors
take the spotlight during Black Cat,
producing a full-length musical satire
of ASC and the various classes. And
the class that scores the most points
for decorations, pranks, spirit, and
songs gets to hold on to the prized
Black Kitty a black cat doll for
the year.
"While we do have the usual games
and competitions, it is all in a
competitive, yet fun, supportive
spirit," sophomore Amanda Linaberg
said. "Rather than bringing us together
to cheer on a team of people we are
unfamiliar with in a game we may not
win, we cheer for ourselves and our
sisters, knowing that we will all win
because we have each other."
with other men
"Ideologically they're [the blood
collection agencies] targeting
dangerous behavior, but it's no longer
just a gay disease," said Matthew
Skinta, president of Queers and Allies,
a group supporting homosexuality on
the UK campus. "Now, it would be
more appropriate to ask behavior
oriented questions in the general
populace."
Those questions, Skinta said,
should include references to condom
usage and anal sex.
While the students' concerns are
understandable, screening procedures
for potential blood donors is strict for
good reason, Dr. William Doxin, a
campus physician, told the Kansan.
"I can see their point, but blood
donation is not a matter of equal
opportunity," he said. "We're talking
about a public health issue. It may
appear individuals' interests are
shortchanged, but they (collection
agencies) have an obligation to
provide a blood stockpile that is as free
of disease as they can possibly make
"You could say they're
discriminating against IV drug users,
too," he added.
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