Daily (gp Trojan
University of Southern California
Volume LXVII, Number 99	Los Angeles, California	Tuesday, March 23, 1976
Poll says aid staff upset over director’s resignation
By Justin Fox
Staff Writer
A survey distributed by the Student Senate to the Financial Aid and Admissions Offices showed that 88% ofthe staff asked was strongly dissatisfied with the resignation of Michael J. Scarpelli, the former director of financial aid.
The survey also showed 90% ofthe staff polled said that Scarpelli’s resignation affected the morale of other staff members. In addition, 96% felt that a reorganization in Student Administrative Services is necessary, and that a Student Senate investigation into Scarpelli’s resignation is in order.
. David Blackmar, chairman of the senate, said that these figures were purely objective results, and that the senate does not want to draw any conclusions from them.
Glenn Sonnenberg, coordinator of the financial affairs unit for the Student Senate, who drew up the survey, said that its purpose was to show that the staff of the Financial Aid Office was dissatisfied.
“The purpose of the survey was not to indict any one person or any one office,” Sonnenberg said. “It was meant just to get the facts coming in, so we get some tangible evidence that can be used.”
Sonnenberg, Blackmar and Terry Hillis, also a member ofthe senate, said the poll is just one part of the senate’s investigation into the reasons people were dissatisfied.
Sonnenberg said that many people are dissatisfied with Student Administrative Services, and particularly with the Financial Aid Office.
He said that the midwestern alumni have communicated by letter their displeasure over Scarpelli’s resignation. So have groups of administrators, student groups like MECHA, the Residence Halls Coordinating Council, and now the administrative staff.
Blackmar, Hillis and Sonnenberg said that having the dissatisfaction clearly expressed and the need for an investigation recognized, the Student Senate and the
President’s Advisory Council have a basis to delve into the reasons why.
Bjackmar said that the senate is trying to get information together from many sides. In this sense, then, the survey covers the opinion of just one area.
However, Blackmar said thesurvey also tried to show the state of the Financial Aid Office staffs morale since the resignation of the former director.
The survey showed that 67% ofthe staff asked were strongly upset and 19% were not pleased with the interim operation of the Financial Aid Office under Richard Dolen, director of Student Administrative Services and William Wagner, special assistant to the president.
Blackmar said that it was the senate’s intention to pinpoint whether the morale, high or low, was due to Scarpelli or Wagner and Dolen.-
Sonnenberg said that the Financial Aid Office has had a history of problems and the resignation of Scarpelli presents another. There are a lot of questions surrounding the resignation and subsequent dismissal, and the senate’s investigation is trying to avoid affecting the operation of the office.
However, it seems that the reasons foi Scarpelli’s resignation were other than personal as the administration first announced, and it is the purpose of the investigation to find out exactly what they were, Sonnenberg said.
Under Scarpelli, who was brought in as a financial aid expert to iron out the office’s problems, the efficiency and morale was up, he said. According to the survey, 65% of the staff polled said that there was a strong improvement under Scarpelli’s direction, and 13% said that there was a marked improvement.
But Scarpelli met with a lot of resistance trying to push his programs through the administration, Sonnenberg said.
How willing the administration is to let the Financial Aid Office make its own de cisions, and why someone from the office was not appointed to be the director, remain unanswered questions. Sonnenberg said.
Faculty member appointed as news bureau associate director
Charles M. Weisenberg has been appointed associate director of the USC News Bureau, succeeding Russell Leadabrand, who had served for nine months.
Leonard Wines, associate vice-president for university affairs, said Weisenberg began working in the bureau Feb. 25 and had assumed his official duties March 19.
Wines said Weisenberg will have major responsibilities in all areas of the university’s media relations effort.
Weisenberg has been the public information officer for such cultural and educational institutions as the Los Angeles Public Library, Los Angeles County
Museum of Art and the California Institute of the Arts.
A part-time faculty member in the School of Journalism, Weisenberg has also been a freelance writer for local and national publications, and has spent about 15 years in public relations.
John Reynolds, director of the News Bureau and National News Director for University Affairs, said Leadabrand decided to leave the bureau because of his commitment to his own writing.
“He has written a number of books,” said Reynolds. “He plans on working on a new book that is large and needs a lot of research and time.”
CENTER OF ATTENTION—New techniques in photography made this dreamy scene of students studying in Alumni Park possible. Through the use of a time exposure procedure
and a zoom lens, photography Gary Kir-korian captured the essence of a surmy Friday afternoon in March.
Oscar to meet redcoats when band invades annual awards
By Bob McLoud
Staff Writer
One must admit that the states have built up a reasonably good rapport with the mother country of England since those first shots were heard at Lexington and Concord 200 years ago.
As evidence ofthat rapport, “British redcoats” (actually the Trojan Marching Band), will make an appearance at the Academy Awards ceremony, to be televised nationally on March 29, in a Bicentennial tribute to the good ol’ USA.
When all ofthe awards have been presented and all of the speeches have been given, Gene Kelly, a host for the evening, will tell everyone that they’re all winners in their own right. A drum roll will slowly build to a climax as all of the doors to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion are thrown open.
The drummers will pound out a roll-off and an army of redcoats will enter the building, encouraging the audience to join in a chorus of America the Beautiful.
“This is the first time a college band has participated in the Academy Awards and it’s a great honor for the university and the band,” said Arthur C. Bartner, director of the band.
Bartner was contacted by Howard Koch, the show’s producer. The idea behind having the band at the ceremonies is to encourage audience participation.
It will be difficult for the audience to get away early in an attempt to beat the traffic while the band has utilized the 30 doors and 16 aisles to permeate the audience, Bartner said.
As a warm-up for the Academy Awards, the band appeared Sunday at the opening night of Filmex, the Los Angeles film exposition, which is billed as being second only to the Cannes Film Festival.
The band played the familiar Alfred Hitchcock theme song as Hitchcock, the guest of honor, and numerous stars arrived to see the premiere of Hitchcock’s newest film, Family Plot.
The ceremonies were held at the plaza area of the ABC Entertainment Center.