University ranked 24th in federal funding
By Sherie Stark
staff writer
The university has been ranked 24th in the nation in the amount of federal support it received last year in research grants and contracts.
The report was prepared by the National Science Foundation, the basic research agency of the federal government.
While the ranking appears to compare unfavorably with other West Coast universities—
notably UCLA’s second-place ranking —the comparisons cannot be meaningful unless viewed proportionately, said John Thurgood, deputy director of the Department of Contracts and Grants.
Before coming to the university this year, Thurgood served as the contracting officer of UCLA’s School of Medicine, responsible for securing federal and private research funds.
“You have to take the size of
the schools into consideration to keep from being misled by the report,” Thurgood said.
“UCLA’s operatingbudgetlast year was three times that of USC and its student population and faculty size far outweight those of this university.
“Looking at it proportionately, USC is certainly as successful, if not more successful, than UCLA in attracting funding dollars.” He said that UCLA’s funding monies total a little less than $80
Daily p) Trojan
Volume LXVIII, No. 30
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California Tuesday, October 28, 1975
Student Senate considers tuition, salary increases
By Wayne Walley
associate city editor
A recommendation concerning tuition and faculty compensation increases must be completed by mid-November by the Student Senate.
In a preliminary discussion of tuition at Thursday’s senate meeting, Dave Blackmar, chairman of the senate, said a Faculty Senate committee has recommended a 15% compensation increase.
He said if faculty compensation were to be raised by 15% tuition might then be increased by as much as 20%, but there are no facts to support his estimate.
Most Student Senate members said they favored raises in faculty compensation, but felt it should not be at the cost of a massive increase in tuition, but rather through budget revisions.
“Faculty pay is of high priority and should be increased, but that does not mean income must be increased. The budget can be revised and money allocated much more efficiently,” Blackmar said.
“What we have begun to prepare is a student view as to what the rate of tuition and the rate of faculty pay raise should be.
“Maybe it is unintentional, but the administration seems to try and tie the two together and, in that way, the faculty and students start fighting each other, but they should be working together,” Blackmar said.
He also said the tuition recommendation would now be the major topic ofthe Student Senate for the next month.
William Harris, chairman of the Faculty Senate Employment and Remuneration Committee and a professor of mathematics, said the recommendation of a 15% compensation increase did not concern a recommendation on tuition.
“The recommendation was based on what was needed to have a quality faculty and a quality education,” Harris said.
The 15% recommendation includes a 7% cost-of-living increase, a 2% raise to maintain fringe benefits and a 6% merit increase.
Harris said the merit increase was warranted because the university is an emerging school getting better and the faculty should be paid accordingly.
“You need money to keep a quality product,” he said.
In other action, the senate approved a compromise plan for an interim Campus Activities Allocations Board of five members after nearly two hours of discussion.
The interim board was approved by an 11-5 vote after the senate rejected the original nine nominees at an earlier meeting.
The rejection of the nominees was based on the lack of graduate and minority representation on the selection committee.
Representatives from the Associated Black Students and MECHA voiced their dissatisfaction at the earlier meeting saying that minority underrepresentation on the board stemmed from the lack of minority representation on the selection committee reviewing the applicants.
To achieve the compromise, the senate also revised the selection committee to include another graduate member and representatives of the Associated Black Students and MECHA.
The new selection committee will choose the other four members of the board after new applications are solicited, especially from minority groups.
The senate also passed a resolution to strongly suggest a minimum of 40% student representation in the revision of the total representation for the President’s Advisory Council.
The senate suggested the remaining 60% of the council be comprised of 40% faculty and 20% deans and administrators.
The next senate meeting is scheduled for Monday.
million last year, while USC’s were $40 million.
He also said that the university will probably see an improvement in ranking in next year’s report, because the university has received $48 million this year, compared with last year’s $40 million. The reviews begin from the start of the fiscal year, which currently is set at June 3.
Clark A. McCartney, director of contracts and grants, said the university has been experiencing an upward trend in federal funding, which has been reflected in the National Science Foundation’s reports since it began reviewing universities about 20 years ago.
He said that the slight ranking drop the university saw this year over last year (23rd place to 24th) was not particularly significant because the actual volume of funding monies had in-
creased. Because the ranking is based on a comparison with other universities, this increase had not been reflected in the report, he said.
He added that the monetary difference between USC and the school that moved past it to 23rd place was less than $1,000.
“We’re not really in competition with our sister universities, so the ranking isn’t all that important to us in that respect,” he said.
“It’s significance to us is mainly that we’re maintaining an important role in the nation's research projects—a role that we’ve always held to a large extent.”
Federal grants and contracts are not the only source of research support used by the university, although Thurgood estimated that about 80% of the research projects are supported by federal funds.
RELAXIN' AND STRUMMIN'—While some students pack notebooks and texts to classes, this one sports a guitar at Alumni Park. In an inviting scene of shadowing trees and winter grass, this student takes time out to pluck a song. DT photo by Bob Selan.
Cadaver stolen, recovered off campus
By Mark Patton
feature editor
Los Angeles police have recovered a human cadaver that was stolen from a third-floor laboratory in Science Hall early Friday morning.
The cadaver, used for study by premed students, was recovered in a parking stall at the Troyland Apartments near the corner of Hoover Street and Adams Boulevard Friday evening.
It had been missing for 18 hours.
C. Oakley, the Los Angeles Police Department detective handling the case, said an investigation is being held but no suspects have been found.
A high-ranking university official confirmed that the body has been returned to Science Hall laboratory undamaged. He pointed out that robbery of a cadaver is a felony under the California Penal Code.
Security beefed up
The official also said security has been “beefed up” in Science Hall and that Campus Security is assisting LAPD in the investigation.
The theft was reported by two students, David Blackmar and Jim Lamb, who were walking north on University Avenue at approximately 12:15 a.m. Friday morning
Blackmar, chairman of the Student Senate, said they were approaching the Science Hall when they heard “something plop” a few yards ahead of them.
“We really didn’t think too much about it,” he said. “But
when we walked a few feet further, we could see the body lying near the edge of the sidewalk toward the bushes.
Looked like mannequin
“It looked like a mannequin, but I realized from its features that it couldn’t be a mannequin.”
Blackmar said he immediately assumed it was a cadaver that had been thrown out of the third-floor laboratory, because it w-as partially contained in a plastic bag.
“We were really shocked—Jim and I just couldn’t believe it,” he said.
He said they went to the emergency phone at the intersection of University Avenue and Childs Way to call Campus Security.
No one answered
“We let it ring for about 30 times, but we didn’t get an answer,” Blackmarsaid. “There were no security officers in sight, and it took about 10 to 15 minutes before one came by.”
One source explained that the phone was out of order on Friday night.
Before an officer arrived, Blackmar and Lamb said they saw two men come out of Science Hall and walk “deliberately” toward the body. They said they could not tell what they did after that because of the distance and dark.
‘A fewr people have wondered why one of us didn’t stay
with the body, or why we didn’t prevent its being removed,” Lamb said. “I just ask them if they would have.
Body disappeared
“We weren’t really sure what was going on—I just didn’t want to go off alone and return to find two bodies,” Blackmar added.
When the security officer did arrive, the body was gone.
Blackmar and Lamb were interviewed by Oakley and his partner Friday at 6 p.m. But during their interview, Oakley was informed that the body had been found at the Troyland Apartment.
Joe Wisniewski, manager of the apartments, said he saw two men he did not know in the below-street-level parking area early Friday evening.
“I went toward them, but they ran off,” he said.
The body was found approximately an hour later under a clutter of newspapers in one of the stalls.
Prank?
Oakley and others guessed that the incident was a prank.
“I’m from the East, and back there fraternities pull these kind of pranks all the time,” Wisniewski said.
A university official said he could not remember a cadaver being stolen here before. He recalled, however, numerous cadaver thefts at other university medical schools.
Although polio*' officials assume it was a prank, they promise an “intens' investigation.”