Daily Ip Trojan
University of Southern California
Volume IXVIII, No. 102	Los Angeles# California	Friday, March 26, 1976
Law Center votes to end gay prejudice
By Peter Fletcher
Staff Writer
The Law Center officially changed the wording of its nondiscrimination policy concerning sexual orientation Wednesday, said Donald Knutson, professor of law.
“The center added the words “sexual orientation” to its nondiscrimination policy, used in the selection of students and in the employment and retention of its faculty and staff,” Knutson said in an interview Thursday.
The original policy included the words “race, creed and national origin.”
The result of this action is that “the Law Center will not make available its placement facilities to prospective employers whose hiring practices are inconsistent with the Law School’s policy ” Knutson said.
Restricts military
The decision by the school “effectively means that the < military is not free to use the placement facilities of the Law Center as long as it adheres to its policy of not recruiting gays,” he said.
The same proposal has been given to the Affirmative Action and Personnel Policies Committee ofthe President’s Advisory Council (PAC).
Barbara Solomon, chairman of the committee, said it will consider whether or not to recommend to the Executive Committee of the PAC that the university also change the language in its nondiscrimination policy to include nondiscrimination against people of different sexual orientation.
Recommendation due
“I’m not sure how the other members of the committee will vote. If they feel that there is not enough evidence, they can ask for more.
“If they feel the data given by professor Knutson is perfectly adequate, I'm sure they will
make a recommendation Tuesday,” Solomon said.
She said that President John R. Hubbard will make the final decision if all the committees pass it on to him.
The center's decision will be part ofthe documentation given to the committee for consideration.
Solomon said the Law Center’s decision shows that the language change is not that radical.
Called dramatic action
Knutson said, “This is a rather dramatic action. To my knowledge, this is the first such action by any major educational institute throughout the nation.
“Stanford’s president is considering a similar recommendation.”
The decision affects only the Law Center’s policy, but Knutson believes the decision will have an effect on the university-wide decision.
“I’m confident that they will take this courageous action and set an example for academic institutions throughout the country,” he said.
Gays overjoyed
“We are overjoyed by the news. We regard this as a major breakthrough in penetrating the barrier of institutional prejudice against persons of different sexual preference. We hope that the affirmative action committee will take note of the Law Center’s position and act accordingly,” said Matt St. George, cochairman of the Gay Student Union.
Knutson said he was hopeful that the affirmative action committee would have open hearings.
Solomon said the committee, like any other committee of the advisory council, would not have open hearings, but would consider all ofthe evidence.
Study chairman indicates reaccreditation likely
Subcommission approaches profs in an effort to solve grade inflation
By Bob McLoud
Staff Writer
The subcommission on grade inflation of the Academic Standards Commission is in the process of formulating solutions to the problem of grade inflation and lower academic standards at the university.
The subcommission, formed in mid-January, looked at the grades for the spring semester last year and brought this information *to the attention of the class professors whose classes possessed an “excessive number of‘A’s and ‘B’s.”
The subcommission worked just with the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences classes and sent memorandums to instructors with abnormally high or low grade distributions.
The response was mixed, but most were favorable, said Don La Plante, a senior in jour-
nalism and political science and a member of the commission.
“Many professors were angry and said it was none of our business. They claimed it was their class and they’d do as they pleased,” said La Plante.
Others were very glad that the subcommission delved into the issue and said they were happy they were made aware of the problem. The professors said they would examine their grading practices and make changes.
Others gave simple explanations as to why there was such a high percentage of “A”s. The class could have been an honors group or, the professors said, the group was exceptionally intelligent.
The subcommission found a major problem in the social sciences and humanities divis-
ions. As opposed to the natural sciences, the grading was significantly inflated, La Plante
said.
“Grading systems between the two are inherently different,” he said. “In the natural scieL. to you’re either right or wrong, but in the social sciences there’s a vein of objectivity but the grading is mostly subjective, based mostly on the professor’s evaluation,” said La Plante.
“A lot has to do with the , professor’s personality too. Many professors suffer from inferiority complexes and want to be liked by their students. They’re afraid to give lower grades and someone ends up suffering.”
La Plante said the problem may have begun during the Vietnam War when there was more
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USC GETS A CHECK-UP—Three members of the John Straus, Jack Peltason and Milton Stern. The 16-member reaccreditation team that is studying the study will be concluded today, university look ove/ information. They are, from left,
By Marcus Oviatt
Staff Writer
A 16-member reaccreditation team concludes its study of the university today and its chairman has indicated that reaccreditation is likely.
Jack Peltason, chancellor of the University of Illinois and the team’s chairman, said Thursday that he could not comment specifically on USC’s chances of reaccreditation.
But he said “it would be very surprising for an institution with the size and calibre and history of USC, or UCLA or Berkeley to fail to be reaccredited.”
The study ends today with the compilation of a report on the team’s findings. A decision on the university’s reaccreditation is expected in late spring.
The team, which is made up of administrators and faculty members from other colleges and universities who have volunteered their time, has been on campus since Tuesday.
Its members were selected because they are specialists in their fields, Peltason said.
“The team is divided up each day to examine various areas,” he said. “We meet with faculty, staff and students to get impressions from them. By the time we’re finished we will have talked to several hundred people.
“We will also sit down with a roomful of documents—reports of staff, the faculty senate and so on.”
John W. Straus, vice-president for visual and performing arts at the State University of New York and a member of the team, said the purpose ofthe team is to compare a schools’ actual state of affairs with its desired state.
“We try to see how close a school is coming to being what it wants
to be,” he said.	(ccnliou^ on pog. 5)
SONGS AND SMILES—Members of the Delta Gamma sorority and Beta Theta Pi fraternity sang their hearts out at the Songfest '76 preliminaries Thursday. Groups from the Row, the residence halls
and independent groups competed. Results were announced Thursday night. The theme of Songfest '76 is "Welcome to Our World'' and it will be presented in the Greek Theatre May 1. DT photo by Mike Ito.