WINING AND DINING — A group of Mexican-American student body presidents from local high schools gathered for a luncheon Tuesday at Hancock
Suite. Administrators spoke to the students about the many options available to them in universities and the possibility of financial aid. DT photo by Brian Queen.
University of Southern California
Volume LXX, Number 50
Los Angeles, Californio Wednesday, December 8, 1976
Geology profs question Dec. 20 quake prediction
BY GARY MALONEY
Stoff Writer
Doubts concerning the earthquake predictions of Henry Minturn, who forecasts “an earthquake. possibly a major one,” in Southern Califoria Dec. 20 were voiced by two professors in the Department of Geological Sciences.
Minturn's predictions, methods and background were questioned in the Los Angeles Times Dec. 5 after his predictions received what was described as far. wide and uncritical publicity by the news media.”
Minturn, unknown in seis-mological circles, claims a 75% accuracy rate in his predictions, while denying to detail on the record his educational and professional background, the Times article said.
Bernard Pipkin and Richard Stone, both professors in geological sciences, questioned Minturn's credentials, his overgeneralized forecasts and his reluctance to explain his methods.
“I’m not in any position to critique Minturn’s methodology because it’s totally unknown,” said Pipkin, who recently made a speech on earthquake prediction. “He seems to base his theories on the alignment of astronomical bodies, especially the moon. Most seismologists don’t place much credence in this idea as the major cause of quakes.
“If gravitational attraction
can trigger an earthquake, then the crustal blocks would have to be stressed and ready to shift. You can't shoot an unloaded gun by pulling the trigger.”
The criteria for a reasonable prediction, Pipkin said, that has been generally agreed upon by researchers at the university, includes those that “give a decent time frame, within a matter of days; a reasonable location, within tens or even 100 miles; and, most importantly, the magnitude of the predicted quake.
“I too can predict an earthquake in Southern California for Dec. 20 and be correct, for there are several thousand quakes in the state each year. Most, however, are minor and only detectable on seismic instruments. Minturn has failed to adequately predict magnitude.
“Certain things can be measured and observed that could be indicative of impending seismic activity: magnetic field shifts, changes in natural water turbidity (clarity) and the radon content of ground water.
“Minturn's methods for prediction are left undescribed and ambiguous, resting on the ‘astronomical bodies’ hypothesis. If Minturn is right, then why haven’t men who have worked much longer in the field than he validated his claim through computer analysis and other means?
Stone, chairman of the department, lashed out at Minturn’s background and the past performances of earth-
quake predictors in California. “There have been dozens of phonies throughout the years who have cried, ‘Disaster!’ and ‘Destruction!’ for Southern California. There are a lot of psychopaths in this state.
“Minturn has no expertise in the field of seismology. When you break his predictions down, he’s ultimately disproven.”
High school student body presidents visit
BY LINDA BROWNING
Staff Writer
Eleven Mexican-American high school student body presidents visited the campus Tuesday and attended a luncheon with some administrators in Hancock Suite. Most of the students liked the atmosphere, saying the university wasn’t as big and scary as they had imagined.
Raul Vargas, coordinator of the Mexican-American programs at the university, thought of the idea when a student body president from a local high school came to the university.
“I thought it would be good to have some of the local high school residents come to see the school,” said Vargas, who has originated many ideas for the Mexican-American programs. One of the programs offers high school seniors a chance to work in jobs on and off campus during the summer.
Vargas felt that such a tour would be an excellent way to recruit students for the university.
“We’re here to inform and offer them guidance. The speakers have told them about the university and what it might mean for them.”
Natalie Hernandez, assistant coordinator of the program, said they had hoped to reach the kind of student that has the initiative and the background to go to a university or college.
And, Hernandez added, the school presidents can spread the word to the student body concerning the financial aid situation and other general information.
“What students often are not aware of is that, while the university is expensive, we have many available funds,” said Vargas, who noted that last year the Mexican-American Program gave $82,000 in scholarships to high school students.
Most of the 11 Los Angeles high schools represented have counselors that provide college and university information.
Ramona Franco, from Sacred Heart High School, said her school has an entire room devoted to college brochures, catalogues and other literature. Speakers from Princeton, Harvard and UC Santa Barbara, as well as other California universities, have come to Sacred Heart to give the students financial aid and other information about their schools.
Franco plans to go to California State University at Northridge, which she has read and heard about, where she will major in speech therapy. She may go to Washington State University, which she said also has an excellent speech therapy program, if she finds that Northridge doesn’t meet her needs.
Hernandez expressed surprise that most of the students seemed to be getting exceptionally thorough counseling.
“It is great to know that they have the chance to make plans ahead of time rather than falling into something they would rather not be doing,” she said.
At a luncheon in Hancock Suite. James Appleton, vice-president for student affairs, and Paul Hadley, interim academic vice-president for the university, both spoke frankly about their desire to recruit students.
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Swine flu shots available Monday
BY MARC CORMAN
The swine flu vaccination will be available from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday in Religious Center 103.
That will be the only time the vaccine will be obtainable on campus. The vaccination program will be conducted by the Los Angeles County Health Department and is open to the public.
People between the ages of 6 months and 25 years will need two shots: first, the vaccine and one month later, a booster shot to provide full protection.
The vaccine is not as effective'without the booster shot, said Ryu Kanemoto, the coordinator of the program for the Student Health Center.
She added that booster shots could be obtained from private physicians and local community health centers.
The vaccine will be administered with an injection gun that can give shots at an average rate of 800 per hour.
There have been at least 20,000 doses of the vaccine ordered for Monday’s program so there is little chance of running out, Kanemoto said.
“If we had to, we could always get more,” she said, since the local health department is administering the shots.
Kanemoto emphasized that the program will be conducted for only one day, not two, as previously stated in the Daily Trojan.
She recommended the vaccine for everyone, with certain exceptions.
Those people who are allergic to eggs, chicken or feathers and those who have a cold or fever on the day of the clinic are not eligible for the vaccine. Also, those who have had any other immunization in the two previous weeks are not eligible.
Persons 65 years of age or older, or persons of any age who suffer from certain chronic diseases such as heart, lung or kidney disease, diabetes, diabetes mellitus or other chronic metabolic disorders are labeled high-risk persons.
They will receive a bivalent vaccine active against the recent A/Victoria/75 strain as well as the swine flu strain.
The Los Angeles County Health Department has recommended that high-risk persons also obtain a vaccine against the B/Hong Kong/72 strain. This vaccine is available from private physicians.
All persons 45 years of age and older will receive the bivalent vaccine.
Persons between the ages of 25 and 45 who are well need only receive monovalent vaccine against the swine flu strain.
Results of coed vote on 24-hour visitation awaited
BY PETER FLETCHER
Assistant City Editor
Female residents of EVK-Harris and College-University Residence Halls voted last week on a proposal to institute 24-hour visitation in the halls, said Hans Reichl, director of the Office of Residential Life.
The results of the votes have not been tabulated yet, but they are the last step in a process that began last fall to bring 24-hour visitation to the halls.
Letters of intent were sent to the residents last week, said
Jennifer Echols, head resident of College-University Hall.
If the vote to institute the plan passes, it will be implemented over semester break, Reichl said.
The results of the vote will be known when the head residents can count the letters. Echols said she is still waiting for some of the letters from the resident advisers.
Residents had several options to vote on, she said. They could elect to have no visitation, li-
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NO EASTER EGG HUNT — Members of a geology	San Andreas Fault, the center of many California
class on a fieldtrip follow the visible portions of the	earthquakes. DT photo by David Black.