Daily m Trojan
University of Southern California
Volume LXX, Number 26
Los Angeles, California
Tuesday, October 25, 1976
More grade failures found among off-campus dwellers
BY STEPHEN SASS
Staff writer
Students who live off campus are more likely to be found on academic warning and probation lists, a university study has concluded.
Poor study skills and lack of interest or motivation in college are also a major cause for problems with grades, indicated the report, which was released Friday by the Office of Institutional Studies.
The study, presents an analysis of USC students who went on probation or warning status in the fall of 1974. A case-by-case records check and the response to a questionnaire were used to determine possible causes of poor academic performance.
Study skills problems and lack of motivation were found to be most characteristic of a student on a warning or probation list, results of the survey show.Other factors affecting a student’s grades included living arrangements, financial aid, personal or family problems, employment during school term, goals and academic planning, involvement with other students and campus activities, boredom and distraction and conflicts with instructors and grading practices.
Steve Hirsch, a probation counselor, initiated the survey “after hours, with my own money,” to find out why students were having problems, he said.
Anita Siegman, director of the Counseling Center, said the
Search for missing alumnus suspended
The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended its search for a plane carrying the president of the Journalism Alumni Assn. that has been missing near Newport News, Va., since Wednesday night.
Russ Ward, 57, and his wife Vivian were vacationing at the time, said officials of Southern California Gas Co., where Ward was supervisor of employee communications. He was to have attended a business conference in Washington Monday, company officials said.
The Navy will make a final attempt at locating the plane W'ednesday using sonar equipment, according to a business associate.
The search was halted at 5 p.m. (EDT) Sunday, nearly four days after it had begun, said Fred Simpson, a lieutenant in the Coast Guard’s Search and Rescue Division in Portsmouth.
Nine planes and several small boats participated in the search, which covered nearly 2,000 square miles. Rescue units from the Air Force. Navy and Army as well as the Coast Guard were involved, the lieutenant said.
The plane, a twin-engine Piper Cherokee, carried Ward, his wife and two others.
The craft was on its final approach to the Patrick Henry Airport when it disappeared from radar screens at 8:08 p.m. (EDT) Wednesday while over the Chesapeake Bay.
Officials described the weather at the time as being clear in the area, about six miles from the airport.
The others aboard were Bruce Fourney, the pilot, and David D’Arca, the copilot. Officials did not know where the two were from.
Ward, who lived in Redondo Beach, joined the company in October, 1955. He was elected president of the alumni association last year.
A special meeting ofthe association’s board will be held Wednesday night to name a successor for the remainder of Ward’s term, which expires this spring.
Nita Whaley, first vice-president, is expected to be named as Ward’s replacement.
Memorial services for Ward and his wife are pending.
study’s findings will be considered by a task force on probation, of which she is chairman. It is working on an ad-hoc basis at the request of John H. Marburger, interim dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Science.
Veronica Tincher, a research associate in the Office of Institutional Studies, followed up Hirsch’s collection of survey date with analysis and proposed various courses of action on the part of the university.
About 10% of the total undergraduate and School of Pharmacy enrollment, or 1,247 students were informed that they w'ere on warning or probation at the end ofthe fall, 1974 semester. A case-by-case records check was made of these students.
The questionnaire was sent to 1,239 students. About 213 students, or 17% of the records-check group responded. The majority of survey participants were students who were continuing their studies at the university.
Three classifications and actions are possible for students who have earned poor grades. Academic warning is given to . any undergraduate student whose grade-point average for a specific semester falls below 2.0 while the overall grade-point ayerage is still at or above 2.0. Warning status students are sent a-notification of warning, but no other action is taken.
Probation status is designated for a student when his cumulative grade-point avarage is below 2.0. Such students must see Hirsch in order to continue
r
-Mi
, I
iiiiMniir riiiiitii iiir niinnmit
ART EXHIBITION—These lithographs from the Esmark Collection of Currier and Ives prints will be on display in Fisher Gallery until Nov. 12. The collection includes 123 lithographs by the 19th century artists.
registration in classes here. Students are disqualified from enrollment if they have already been on probation for one or more semesters and have a shortage of 13 or more grade points. Reinstatement is possible at a ruture time if specific requirements are met.
Of the records-check group, 80% of the students on the warning list improved their grades and returned to an acceptable academic level. The remaining warning students entered probation status. Approximately 40% of the students in the probation classification dropped out ofthe university, with 30% improving their grade-point average and returning to regular status and 30% staying on probation for the rest of the year.
Business and engineering students were slightly overrepresented among those whose records were checked. No break-
down of majors within the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences were available, but “It appears likely that (majors in) biological science and pre-health professions have a disproportionate share of probation and warning students compared to the humanities,” the report noted.
Men made up about 70% of the students on probation or warning, while the total undergraduate enrollment is 61% men and 39% women.
The class distribution was more than one-half lower division (freshmen, 27%, and sophomores, 25%). Juniors and seniors made up 19% and 12% of the group, respectively. Of the remaining students, 4% were from the School of Pharmacy and 13% were % were “special” or unclassified,
(continued from poge 2)
Suspect in coed rape still sought
Police are looking for a 17-year-old black suspected in the rape of a coed in her 30th Street apartment Friday.
Processing ofthe case was delayed because ofthe weekend, said Dorothy Pettigrew, a detective in the Special Investigation Division of the Los Angeles Police Department. After being examined at a hospital, where doctors found no other injuries, the victim identified a man she believed was her assailant in a police photo book.
Pettigrew said the incident took place at 11:30 a.m. Friday. The victim, who was alone in the
apartment and in bed, was awakened by a noise. “She looked up to find an intruder peering at her,” Pettigrew said.
During the attack the coed managed to get away. She ran into a bathroom and locked the door. She banged on the walls and the manager, who lives next door, came to her apartment. By that time the attacker had left, Pettigrew said.
The victim described the assailant as a 17:year-old black male, about 5’9” tall and weighing about 150 pounds. He wore blue jeans, a short trench coat and a knitted Los Angeles Rams hat.
Dryer may have sparked fires in Campus Shops
A short circuit in a dryer may have caused the fire that completely destroyed the laundromat and extensively damaged the Radio Shack store in the Campus Shops complex, said Lewis Starks, owner of the Campus Shop across the street from the university on Vermont Avenue.
The cause ofthe fire is still unknown, Lewis said. Fire department officials said no arson investigation is being conducted.
At 2:32 a.m. firemen from station 15 responded to a call that there was a fire at the Campus Shops.
Smoke damage affected most of the stores.
All of the cakes and baked goods at Howell’s Bakery were destroyed by smoke a bakery’ employee said. The bakery was closed but planned to reopen today, the employee said.
The Campus Pharmacy was damaged by smoke and water. The entire cost of the damage is unknown because insurance companies have not even begun to make their estimates, said VValt Ming, the pharmacy’s owner.
Sorbonne Market, the coffee shop and the medical center are the only businesses that remained open.