AND ON THE SEVENTH DAY HE RESTED—During Monday's weather brought the first rain of the school an autumn day, one student rests between classes and year. DT photo by Bob Selan. another ponders the future. Unlike this sunny scene,
Battle of the sexes hits campus: women’s halls vs. Men’s West
By Mark Patton
feature editor
University campuses have often doubled as battlegrounds. In the 1950s they featured panty raids, and in the 1960s they were filled with violent protest.
Now, the university is becoming the site of a prank war—and a battle of the sexes at that.
The only offensives so far have been launched by the women of College-University and Birnkrant residence halls—and the victims are the tenants of Men’s Residence West.
But informed sources say a retaliatory strike is being planned by the men—and the women are concerned.
“We’ve been threatened, to put it mildly,” said Linda Deright, a resident adviser at Birnkrant. “I can’t remember exactly the words that the men used, but it was something like ‘our unit is going to mobilize against your clique.’ ”
All sides agree on how it got started. Vimal Duggal, the head resident at Men’s Residence West, explained that the battle stemmed from a day when a few RAs were having lunch together.
“I said that I hadn’t had any breakfast that day, so an RA in one of the women’s dorms said she could serve me breakfast on Friday,” he said.
What the RA actually did, however, was send a bottle of vodka, ingredients to make Bloody Marys, a raw egg and book of prayers to Duggal’s room. Duggal does notdrink and, as he puts it, is “a devout atheist.”
It seemed harmless enough. But nonetheless, Duggal became irritated.
“I threw the book across the room and called them something like illogical, emotional psy-chotics,” Duggal said.
His reaction was reported to the women, who then planned a new strike. Last Wednesday, at 1 a.m., it was executed.
The women printed up a message to all residents of Men’s Residence West proclaiming October as “Women’s Rights Month.”
The message, printed on official campus memo stationary, said that all residents were required to attend women’s consciousness-raising sessions as well as special classes on cooking, child rearing, home-making, cleaning and sewing.
It also announced that there would be a mandatory exchange program with the women RAs and tryouts for a Men’s Residence West cheerleading squad to support the women’s athletic program.
The memo was signed with Duggal’s name.
“A large majority of the guys at Men’s West took the memo seriously, and many were angry at Vimal,” said Barb Tracy, head resident at College-University Residence Hall.
“A lot of them thought that it was mandatory for them to do those things.” added Deright.
Both Tracy and Deright called Duggal a definite anti-feminist. They said they simply decided over the dinner table that they
Exposition Park public library opened Monday
The new Exposition Park branch of the Los Angeles Public Library opened Monday, featuring an extensive fiction book section.
Located at 3665 S. Vermont Ave., across the street from the Gerontology Center, the
would “take a poke at his sexist nature.”
Duggal called the women’s actions “child’s play” and said he is their only real target. But he denied being a sexist.
“I’d never consider myself one. but I will tell you that I don’t buy all this women’s lib,” he said. “I think it’s just a lot of bunk.”
The women insist that their pranks were done in good fun and weren’t meant to antagonize anyone. Tracy said she thought it would be good for the morale of Men’s Residence West. But the women admit they are worried about what the men might do in retaliation.
“It could happen very late in the year when we all have forgotten about it,” Deright said. “It might turn out to be such a good prank that we won’t realize they were the ones who did it.
“Or else, it could just turn into a dead issue. But I don’t think so with what some of the guys have said.”
And what does Duggal say about plans for a retaliation against the women?
"There might be. But if there will be. I certainly won’t tell you.”
library is now open for research and studying.
Dedication ceremonies for the new library will beheld at 1:30 p.m. Friday.
Hours for the library will be 19 Monday through Thursday and 10-5:30 on Friday and Saturday. The library will be closed on Sunday.
The library was originally located across from the Education Library on University Avenue by the university in 1964-65, and then in temporary buildings until the new structure was completed.
_J
Daily HI Trojan
University of Southern California
Volume LXVIII, No. 15	Los Angeles, California	Tuesday, October 7, 1975
University undertakes emergency loan fund
By Sherie Stark
staff writer
The university is acting as a direct lending institution for the first time this year, with an experimental emergency loan program known as the “University Federally Insured Student Loan Program.”
The term is one of convenience, rather than literal definition, William G. Wagner, special assistant for academic record services, said Monday. He explained that the program is not federally funded, but a fund largely provided for by endowments.
The reference to the Federally Insured Student Loan (FISL) program is because the terms adopted for the loan program are the same as for the FISL program, he said.
The terms of the loan provide that the student can borrow money at an interest rate of 7%. In most cases, the interest is paid by the university while the student is attending school, depending on the financial situation of the student.
For all of the loans, payment does not begin until nine months after the student has graduated.
‘Unusual circumstances’
“This is a very small program designed for very unusual circumstances, Wagner said. “It is in no way a substitution for the bank loans (FISL), but is being used only to assist in meeting unusual needs.”
He estimated that one in 100 students would be helped by the program.
Richard Dolen, assistant director of Student Administrative Services, said the office is being careful not to take bad credit risks, especially in the early stages of the program, in order to ensure success.
“This program cannot be used for people who were unable to qualify for bank loans, if we’re to maintain a level of success,” he said.
Dolen said that one reason the
university took steps to become a lending institution was that out-of-state students were having trouble getting federal loans last year.
While those students ended up receiving grants to make up for the loan funds, steps were taken to lend them money directly through the university—steps that led to the implementation of the new program, Dolen said.
Last resort
Wagner said that the program was used this year by students who had failed to carry out some step of the various other available programs, or in cases where all other possibilities had been exhausted.
Terms of the university loans are the same as the FISL loans, Wagner said, because those terms are expected to be applied to all government-student lending in the near future.
“It would certainly be more ideal, to have all the resources for financial aid in one place—namely through the university directly,” Wagner said.
“Blit the practical matter is that the FISL program is designed to attract the capital of private sources into financing higher education. There is no way that the university loans could ever hope to be a substitute for this process, and even if it were possible it would not be fruitful.”
He said that while some schools do have loan programs on a larger scale, this was in proportion to their endowment resources. No meaningful comparison could be made with schools such as Harvard or Yale to predict what future the program might have for the university, he said.
“With so many changes being made, things are in a constant state of flux,” said Wagner. “It’s premature to say even if the program will be used next year. We’ll just have to see how things develop between now and then.”
FOURSOME—Crowds gathered at the Student Activities Center patio Monday to hear the sounds of Daniel Amos, a foursome made up of stringed instruments. DT photo by Bob Selan.