Parking fines contribute to scholarship fund
By Don LaPlante
Associate Editor
Do you remember that time your car was towed away for being parked illegally on campus? What about that parking ticket you received from Campus Security?
Well, that fine of $5 you paid, or the $8 you paid to get your car back after it was towed away was actually a donation to the university. In fact, it was a donation to the university’s Parking Fines’ Scholarship Fund.
If the university had taken your car off campus, it would have been in violation of section 487.3 ofthe California Penal Code. That section deals with grand theft auto. The university is not violating that section, as some people believe, because the university in its towing operations does not remove the cars from university property.
John Lechner, director of Campus Security and Parking Operations, said the situation could be compared to one where
if a person parked his car in your back yard and you then moved it to your front yard.
Lechner said that the authority to move cars in that manner comes from the Los Angeles Municipal Code section 8071.4.
According to a representative ofthe Los Angeles Police Commission, the university has a permit for an auto parking facility, but not a towing permit. The spokeswoman said that the university would violate the law if cars were towed off campus, but not if they only moved them on campus.
She said that requiring payment of fines or other changes to get the car back would probably be a violation of law.
Lechner said that the university cannot actually demand payment to return the cars to the owners. He said that is why the money paid is actually a donation.
“We can’t actually make people pay, and sometime people refuse to,” Lechner said.
The university does have its ways to get the money from people who do violate the parking regulations.
If the person is a student, the filing of a parking violation with the bursar’s office results in a hold being placed on a student’s records. That means that the student cannot get a copy of his transcript or his diploma until the parking fine is paid.
Lyle Jamison, bursar, said that the university would hold the student’s records until the fines are paid.
“We expect that people will pay their obligations to the university. If a person wants a service from the university, like a transcript, we expect them to have paid their obligations. It’s just like the Daily Trojan, if people don’t pay the bills, you don’t accept their advertising very long,” Jaimson said.
WThile it is easier to hold up student’s records, there are ways to make faculty and staff pay their fines also.
Gerald Kenney, director of collections, said that the university would give notices with the paycheck to the employees who have parking fines outstanding.
“We can’t take it out of their checks. It takes a court order to garnish wages. We do send statements out and if a person had, say 5 parking violations we would call his supervisor and ask him to discuss the matter with his employee. We can bring pressure on the person, though,” Kenney said.
People who receive parking violations can appeal their citations and the decisions are made by Lechner, with regard to the circumstances in each case.
The university has at least done fairly well in collecting its parking fines. Last fiscal yar, $6,338 was collected, and the latest report for the fiscal year ending in June shows 150 collected, so those parking fines may be helping to put someone through school.
Daily fit Trojan
University of Southern California
Coffeehouse planners seek encore showing of opening success
Volume LXVH, No. 130
Los Angeles, California
Friday, May 14, 1976
Senate plans summer action on housing inquiry, trustee proposal
By Marc Grossman
In September, when most students are just starting to get back into school, the Student Senate will already be working.
Glenn Sonnenberg, Student Senate chairman, said the senate will be investigating the Office for Residential Life, discussing a proposal with the Board of Trustees for a student representative on the board and rewriting the senate bylaws during the summer.
Sonnenberg said, “This is our opportunity to jump the gun for once. During the summer we can evaluate the things that we have done, and get new things started. We want things to begin happening as soon as school starts in September.”
The office of Residential Life
is being investigated by a task force of seven students, three of whom are senators. These are representatives from the Row and residence halls, and commuter representatives.
The issues to be addressed by this task force include the hiring and firing practices in staffing the residence halls. Sonnenberg said, “Recent developments regarding the head resident of Men’s Residence West amplify the issue of student involvement in staffing decisions.”
The issue of individual housing priorities will also be investigated. Sonnenberg said a lottery system is not the best answer.
“If there is a choice between a student who lives in Anaheim and one who lives in New Jersey, obviously the New Jersey stu-
Residents await judicial action on dorm damages
A complaint filed by the university against 28 Marks Tower residents for damages done to their hall is awaiting action by the Residence Hall Judicial Council.
The council did not reach a decision at its hearing Wednesday, buy may report a ruling on the case Tuesday.
A judicial complaint form, signed by Robert L. Mannes, dean for student life, and Pat Danylyshyn-Adams, head resident of Marks Tower, alleged that “excessive damage to the doors and walls” ofthe third floor had resulted from “numerous incidents of horseplay throughout the entire year.”
The cost of repairs was estimated at $165.
All 28 residents of the floor were named in the complaint. Some residents complained that all of them should not have been named because only a small group of individuals were responsible for the damage.
Several residents said they didn’t like the atmosphere at the hearing. They said it was already assumed they were guilty and that the council wanted the guilty individuals to admit their guilt.
One third floor resident said the council’s suggestion that the men on th floor cooperate to prevent such damage was unreasonable. “There are so many diverse individuals on the floor. Even though we get along, that doesn’t necessarily mean that we can control each other,” he said.
Several third-floor residents also said the judicial council is using this case as an example for other dorm residents. They claimed that their floor is in better condition than floors in other residence halls.
They also said that only $165 worth of damage did not justify such harsh procedures by the council.
Danylyshyn-Adams said she hoped the judicial hearing would be an educational process for residents ofthe third floor and would encourage respect for university property.
Del Weston, associate director of residential life, said the main issue was whether all the residents of the floor should share the responsibility for the damage.
He said floor members who know which individuals are guilty and do not disclose their names should be willing to share the responsibility.
dent should have priority,” he said.
The investigation has the full approval of Hans G. Reichl, director of Residential Life. “We didn’t expect to get his support. We were pleasantly surprised,” Sonnenberg said.
Regarding the Board of Trustees proposal, Sonnenberg points to the success of Proposition 4, which authorized the appointment of a student member to the Board of Regents for the University of California system.
He said, “We feel that a student representative will give the board a perspective that it does not currently have.”
Sonnenberg said the student will be able to provide and disseminate information to the board.
He said, “if a question of financing comes up, and the student does not know too much about it, he can always find someone in our office who does.”
The senate bylaws are being rewritten, Sonnenberg said, “to make the Student Senate a more (continued on page 17)
By Peter Fletcher
Staff Writer
Wednesday night was the culmination of many months of work for the staff ofthe New Activities and Services Agency a they finally launched their main project: the coffeehouse.
The results were well worth the rhetoric and waiting, said Glenn Sonnenberg, chairman of the Student Senate, which is the overseeing body of the agency.
The event, which ran from 8:30 p.m. to midnight, was filled to capacity. The audience was treated to the mellow strains of folk music performed by Shiels and Clark.
Liz Jimenez, a member of the agency, summed up the evening, “I’m just thrilled.”
Sonnenberg said there were no problems whatsoever.
About 120 people took advantage of the food and coffee, and many other people just came in to enjoy the atmosphere. During the breaks of the band, several students spontaneously came up and entertained the crowd.
Sonnenberg said the coffeehouses that are being presented are experiments to see how students accept them.
What the agency learns this semester will be used to improve the program in the Fall, when it becomes a regular event.
The coffeehouse will be presented again today and Wednes-
day from 8:30 p.m. to midnight. Shiels and Clark will perform tonight and Peter Noah, a folk-singer, will perform Wednesday.
“People said the cappuccino and espresso prices were high so they will be substantially cut down for tonight,” Sonnenberg said.
The coffeehouse lost money but the activities agency picked up the bill, he said.
“This is what we sei up NASA for, to provide new programming and to be responsive to the needs of the students,” he said. “It’s the type of programming that we desperately need more of.
“It will be bigger and better in the fall. The commons restaurant will be remodeled.”
Sonnenberg, speaking of the crepes and ice cream that were served, said, “the food was incredibly good.”
Sonnenberg said that Tom Be van, manager ofthe Commons Complex, and Guy Hubbard, director of Auxiliary Services, were instrumental in establishing the program.
For the last two coffeehouses of the year, the setup of the restaurant will be changed. Instead of having the band at one end of the room, it will be situated in the center of the room so that everyone will be able to enjoy it, Sonnenberg said.
A STREETCAR NAMED RETIRE—Daily Trojan staff members took time out from their deadline-pressured, last day of publication activities for a whirlwind ride around campus on the Tinker Town Railroad, driven by
Engineer Sherry Stem, late of Daily Trojan editorship fame. The nonstop trip featured a view of Wild West Day events. DT photo by Jim Carr.