Summer
Trojan
Volume LXVIV, Number 8
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California
Tuesday, July 13, 1976
IV
«r . v . '
9
JUST WAITING—It looks like there are two creatures eyeing that lunch. When she gets done with lunch, it looks like man's (woman's) best friend will be ready to
take what is left over. Summer Trojan photo by Teferi Nessibon.
Office space allocations called inadequate in report to Senat
By Don La Plante
Editor
A report to the Faculty Senate by a subcommittee on the Faculty Environment has found that a number of the university offices are substandard and has called for immediate action to rectify the situation.
The report was approved by the Faculty Senate at its final meeting of the year in May.
It found that a number of em-, ployees were in offices where there was less than 80 square feet per full-time person. The report called the situation intolerable.
It said the conditions prevented staff and faculty from doing their best work, often made conferences impossible and sent faculty home in search of a place to do their work.
The committee, chaired by Barbara Gardner, director ofthe Joint Educational Project, called for the university to establish minimum standards and minimum and maximum temperatures and to identify all offices that do not measure up to the standards.
It also called for temporary reallocations of space and obtaining new office areas, along with air conditioning the offices that have intolerably hot sum-
mer temperatures.
The committee said it was not suggesting these be done to achieve desirable levels or improve comfort gradually, but that steps be taken to alleviate substandard conditions. It said .. these steps take priority over other more cosmetic improvements in the campus environment.”
In surveys taken by the committee, it received reports of dirty stairwells and restrooms in Founders Hall, the Physical Education building, Stauffer Hall, the Research Annex, the Gerontology Center and the Parkview Building. In response to the reports, it called for regular, random inspections to insure that the sanitary conditions of buildings is proper.
To provide new space in buildings, it suggested using underutilized rooms and public areas, such as lobbies, for offices until long-term solutions could be found.
Problems were also found in new buildings. While there is crowding in the new buildings, there is also lack of storage spaces, high noise levels, little privacy, and the committee noted, a lack of openable windows.
It cited the statements that in
many buildings the potential users had been consulted in advance, and had requested that the windows be openable. Then the planners had gone right ahead and made them unopen-able. The committee said that if people are to be surveyed, their recommendations should be taken into account.
A suggestion was made that for all future buildings and remodelings that users be consulted and that any changes in design be brought to the attention of the potential users.
In the university space allocation process, it found a problem in the system, where deans and directors had control of space and were accountable to no one.
It suggested that a university-wide system define space standards, require periodic reporting on use and a central inventory of space to provide a data base for decision making.
It also proposed that clear lines of responsibility be set up for decision making relative to space allocations, procedures for periodic reallocation of space be made to compensate for changing levels of utilization and provide a procedure to handle appeals from space allocation decisions.
The circus is in town; special clown comes to campus today
In class there are often people who act like clowns, but today there will bea real clown inclass.
The official goodwill ambassador ofthe Ftingling Bros, and Barnum & Bailey Circus will be performing in the class of William White, associate professor of drama.
The ambassador. Gale LaJoye, will be putting on a demonstration of mime as related to the techniques of the clown and how it applies to the art of acting.
The demonstration, which is open to the public, v ill be held from 10:15 to 11:45 this morning in the Stop Gap Theatre. LaJoye will be performing before White’s Theatre I class.
LaJoye attended the clown college put on by the circus in 1973. He toured with the blue unit of the
circus and headed up the clown contingent at the Ringling Bros, and Barnum & Bailey Circus World in 1974.
He is a former bulldozer operator, who also studied both prelaw and design at Northwestern University before he found his niche as a circus clown.
His major concentration recently has been the production of a mime show for public schools across the country that is capped with a special audiovisual presentation entitled, “What Is A Clown?”
He has a special interest in mime and his efforts to improve his skills in that area were put to use when he taught at the eighth annual Clown College sponsored by the circus last year.
Continuing student award letters mailed
The first batch of 2,800 financial aid award letters for continuing students was mailed on Friday.
The work was completed on the letters late Thursday night, said Clarke Howatt, acting associate director of student administrative
services.
There are about 1,500 award letters still to be sent. The letters that remain have some sort of errors that need to be corrected, he said.
“Very few independent students are among the first batch. There is a problem with need analysis that still needs to be corrected for most of them.” he said.
There were no letters for continuing graduate students in the first batch. The office only administers loans for graduate students.
Howatt had hoped to have the letters in the mail by July 2, but the extra week allowed a refinement of the award letter program that was needed. The delay also allowed about 250 awards to be processed that had been held up for decisions because of problems with the previous year’s award.
He said he expects to have another batch ready by the end of this week, and then send out aw.ard letters regularly thereafter.
The process is being coordinated with the office of student accounting services to insure that tuition credits, and checks will be ready for the beginning of the registration period in September.
Howatt said the office was working actively on the processing of Guaranteed Student Loan application forms so that students could get them to the banks and get the loans soon after the start of school.
Students who believe that an error has been made in the awarding of their aid may request a review of their award. A special form has been prepared for the student to fill out on which he will make his request and give the reasons for the request.
These forms are available either by mail from the Financial Aid Office, Student Administrative Services 316, or in person at the counter in the lobby of the building.
The Student Administrative Services Commission will make decisions on the requests, after a review by the financial aid office staff. Depending on the case, the commission will either make individual decisions or general policy recommendations if the case involves a number of students.
One problem Howatt noted was that all entering students within the twenty-mile radius of the university were packaged as commuter students. even though some of them may be in the residence halls. Those students, and ones living in apartments or on the Row, should request a review to have their aid adjusted to account for the increased costs.
SHADE OF KING KONG—Will the animal take our hero to the top of the Empire State building? We doubt it. The clown has been released from the beast's clutches long enough to perform today in the Stop Gap Theatre from 10:15 to 11:45 a.m.