NOTE: This is an intermittent feature highlighting CSUSB faculty who are mentioned in the news. Faculty, if you are interviewed and quoted by news media, or if your work has been cited, and you have an online link to the article or video, please let us know. Contact us at news@csusb.edu.
Barbara Sirotnik, director of Cal State San Bernardino’s Institute of Applied Research, which produces a monthly report on the Inland Empire Purchasing Managers’ Index, said not to jump to “easy conclusions” despite an apparent slowdown in the index.
In an interview with The Press-Enterprise, which reported that the index had dipped below 50 for the third consecutive month indicating no growth, Sirotnik said two key components – the production and new-orders indexes – both showed “slightly positive signs.”
“At this point we project that the local economy will remain in growth mode for at least the next three months,” said Sirotnik, a professor of statistics and supply chain management in CSUSB’s Jack H. Brown College of Business and Public Adminstration.
She explained the area’s overall economy – manufacturing plus all other components of economic activity – is staying above its baseline, 43.2, and has been above that benchmark during the economic recovery.
“In 2008, we saw the economy tanking but we’re not seeing that now,” she said.
The article, published Jan.4, 2016, may be read at “Inland manufacturing contracting; overall regional economy growing.”
Brian Levin, criminal justice professor and director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism housed in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, continues to be a go-to expert for news media reporting on hate crimes.
Abdus Sattar Ghazali, chief editor of the Journal of America, wrote an opinion column in Al-Jazeerah about anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S., and turned to Levin for his input, as well as citing the center’s study, “Hate Crime in the United States,” that showed hate-inspired incidents against Muslims were on the rise.
“We’re seeing these stereotypes and derogative statements become part of the political discourse,” said Levin. “The bottom line is we’re talking about a significant increase in these types of hate crimes.”
The article , published Jan. 4, 2016, can be read at “2016 was the worst year for American Muslims since 2001.”
BuzzFeed talked to Levin about some hate crime reports turning out to be hoaxes in an article that re-examined 28 hate incidents it recorded since the Nov. 8 election that put Donald Trump in the White House. The revelation that some hate crime reports turned out to be hoaxes, which were at the center of the conversation in late December, didn’t surprise academics and journalists who study extremism and hate crimes, BuzzFeed reported.
“People will do things when there’s a lot of attention paid to it, and hate crimes aren’t any different. What I find interesting is how that is being politicized now,” Levin BuzzFeed. Hate crimes, he said, spike after a catalytic event, and in that “cycle of publicity and retaliatory violence” there will be false reports.
The article was published Jan. 4, 2016, and can be read at “We reviewed 28 of the alleged hateful incidents after Trump’s win. Here’s what we found.”