Daily f§J Trojan
University of Southern California
Volume L 'VIII, No. 17	Los Angeles, California	Thursday, October 9, 1975
New apartment housing to be available next fall
REACHING FOR THE SKY—A construction crane pierces the midday sky as work continues on a parking structure to be located near the Gerontology Center. Both this and another structure are to be completed by next fall. DT photo by Mike Ito.
MADRID SEMESTER
By Peter Fletcher
staff writer
Two new apartment complexes being constructed near campus will provide the university with 1,020 more housing spaces next fall, Hans Reichl, director of residential life, said Wednesday.
Spaces in the garden apartment complexes will be available to students who want to live in university-owned housing.
The complexes are being built on parcel J of the Hoover Redevelopment Project, located at Jefferson Boulevard and McClintock Avenue and on parcel E, located on the University Mall across from the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity house.
Both parcels are owned by the Hoover Redevelopment Corp. and are being developed by private contractors for the university.
The university plans to purchase the apartments upon their completion, said Paula Neve, di-
Students witness political unrest
By Sherie Stark
staff writer
The 14 students participating in the university’s semester program in Madrid, Spain this fall are getting a closer look at political friction than they might have expected, due to the recent unrest centered around Spain’s capital city.
In the past 10 days, the executions of five antigovernment terrorists and the subsequent assassinations of policemen have added to the cycle of violence that began in January, 1974. The violence has been attributed to far-left activists and Basque separatists in northern Spain.
The United States’ agreement with Spain establishing continued American use of Spanish bases is considered a friendly gesture. It contrasts sharply with the European Common Market and Soviet bloc countries’ positions.
As a sign of disapproval of Franco’s regime, most of these countries have recalled their ambassadors from Madrid. In reciprocal action, Spain has recalled its ambassadors from these countries.
The effect of these events on students in the Madrid program is probably minimal, Connie Horak, coordinator of the International Studies Program, said Wednesday.
Although she said she had not
yet heard from the director of the program, Tom Haigh, she said, “No news is good news at this point.
“He’s been very good about calling—in fact, judging from the phone bills, maybe a little too good. Seriously, I’m sure he would have called if there were any problems. Both he and his wife, who is from Madrid, are very aware of what’s happening.”
The university’s center, which was formerly the site of the U.S. Embassy, is located in a suburban area of Madrid. Horak said that the school’s isolation from the city itself is another reason why she is not concerned about the students’ environment.
“It’s like the Watts riots—people living in Santa Monica had to watch TV or read the newspaper to know what was going on. I’m sure that’s the situation in Spain, or we would have heard something long before this,” Horak said.
Citing slow mail delivery, she said some parents have contacted her to ask what the situation is, because they haven’t heard from their sons or daughters since news of the unrest broke.
“I’ve had more contact with the mothers than with the students all along,” she said. “While usually it’s just wanting to know how to get a package de
livered the quickest or something like that, lately there has been some concern expressed over the political situation.
“The thing is, there are so
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rector of administrative controls for the Office of Business Affairs.
The complex on parcel J is a $3.3-million project and will provide spaces for 348 students. It is being built by the Fredricks Construction Co.
Apartments on parcel E will house 672 students and cost $4.6 million to build. Cardinal Development Co. is doing the construction.
The university will finance the complexes with tax-exempt bonds. (See Daily Trojan, Oct. 8.)
Bonds are being sold because of the lower interest rate, Anthony D. Lazzaro, vice-president for business affairs, said.
University officials said the complexes should be completed before next fall.
“This is certainly going to help the housing situation,” Reichl said.
This year almost 1,000 students were on the waiting list for living spaces. There are currently 47 students still in temporary housing, waiting for permanent assignment, he said.
“I anticipate some kind of waiting list for next year,” Reichl added.
The university met this year’s housing crunch by leasing 511 spaces in apartments around campus.
“We hope with the new apartments that we can drop the mass
leasing that we have done this year. But we are still considering leasing as an option for next year,” Reichl said.
“We are trying to analyze what has happened this year—then we wiil make projections for next year.”
Reichl said that he also believes the complexes will be ready for occupancy by next fall, as long as construction isn’t delayed by strikes.
As for changes in residence halls, Reichl said his office will determine if another hall will be coeducational next year. The Diversified Housing Program that set the guidelines for the implementation of coed housing provides for one more step, Reichl said.
“The first step was making Marks Tower and Birnkrant coed—we have one step to go. The program allows us 330 more spaces,” he said.
Reichl and the Residence Halls Coordinating Committee will meet later this year to discuss the question of another residence hall becoming coed.
“This year we filled the men’s spaces in the coed dorms, but we had trouble filling the women’s spaces. Because of this, we have to decide if we should make another dorm coed,” Reichl said.
Nuclear initiative supporters tell about dangers of power plants
Work-study deadline set for Oct. 17
Students who have already qualified for College Work-Study funds have until Oct. 17 to obtain a position.
Students who were not awarded such funding, but wish to be considered, may submit a written request to the College Work-Study Review Committee in the Financial Aid Office. The deadline for these requests is Oct. 31.
By Larry Tuck
staff writer
The Nuclear Safeguards Initiative is designed to make the nuclear industry “put up or shut up” on questions of nuclear power plant safety, its backers say.
Representatives of Project Survival, which is supporting the initiative, spoke at the YWCA and Hillel House Wednesday. They emphasized the many unanswered questions about nuclear power plant safety, particularly in the area of waste disposal.
Pat Weil and Lee Freeman, who spoke at the YWCA, said they believe that students and women would form the core of support for the initiative.
They have been speaking at nearly every college and university in California, and hope to start a Project Survival chapter here, they said.
Freeman explained that the initiative, which will be on the ballot next June, is not designed to immediately shut down nuclear power plants in California.
“The industry keeps telling us that nuclear power is safe. We just want them to prove it,” he said.
The initiative calls for the industry to prove that reactor safety systems will actually work in case of an emergency, that radioactive materials can be
safeguarded against theft or sabotage and that nuclear wastes can be disposed of safely.
Weil and Freeman said that the crucial emergency cooling systems now in use at nuclear power plants have never been adequately tested.
If such a system failed, they said, a “meltdown” could occur. The nuclear material would be-
PAT WEIL
come so hot that it would melt the reactor vessel, releasing radioactive gasses that could kill thousands of people.
Handling nuclear fuel and wastes is an even bigger problem, they said.
Some wastes, such as plutonium, remain dangerous and must be kept out of the envi-
ronment for as long as half a million years.
Plutonium has been called the most toxic material known to man. If industry predictions of nuclear power expansion come true, thousands of pounds of this material will be shipped around the country by train and truck each year.
Even the Atomic Energy Commission admits that present technology offers no adequate way to store such materials for thousands of years, Weil said.
If the industry can't prove that existing plants are safe, it will have to begin phasing out its nuclear plants in five years.
Finally, the initiative asks that power companies be required to take full responsibility for damage done in case of a major nuclear accident. Current laws limit their liability.
“Nuclear power really isn’t necessary,” Freeman said. “We can find other ways to get power. It’s just that there’s a tremendous amount of momentum from 30 years of government-sponsored research and development.”
Speakers from Project Survival will be at Touton Hall Tuesday at 8 p.m. Anyone interested in becoming involved in Project Survival may call Judy Swope at 654-5113.
The YWCA discussion was sponsored by the Women’s Issues Forum.