Daily § Trojan
University of Southern California
Volume LXXI, Number 44
Los Angeles, Californio
Thursday, April 21, 1977
CAMPUS CONSERVATION
Commission to avoid energy crunch
By Gary Linehan
Staff Writer
Energy is currently a forceful issue in our society, both on and ofT campus. Conservation ofthe university’s resources is the goal of the Energy Policy and Water Conservation Advisory- Commission. a subcommittee of the President's Advisory Council (PAC).
Concrete results ofthe group’s efforts include a 25% to 30% reduction in electrical consump-
AL PALMER
tion since 1972. a 50% reduction in landscape watering and a 100% reduction in decorative water use. said A1 Palmer, research analyst for energy con-servaton and a commission member.
Cut in electrical use
He said he hopes to cut electrical use by another 10% in fiscal 1977.
Electricity has been cut back through various methods. One of the simplest was the reduction of the number of light tubes used. Many light fixtures are designed to hold four lamps, but two have been removed in many cases. The goal of the commission is to reach lighting levels recommended by the Federal Energy Administration, said Harvey Stadman. associate dean ofcontinuing education and The Commission's chairman.
Lighting changes
The wattage of the tubes used also has been reduced, thus reducing the amount of electricity needed to operate them. When the 40-watt tubes used in the fix-
tures burn out, they are replaced with 35-watt tubes.
Not all of the tubes on campus have been replaced, but the switch has already reduced electrical use by 12^% each month. Palmer said.
Further changes in lighting aimed at energy conservation call for a replacement of incandescent lamps with fluorescent lamps, which use less wattage. Lights in the parking lots which currently use high pressure sodium lamps are being changed to mercury vapor lamps, which use about four to six times less electricity, Palmer said.
“We are trying to curtail the total amount of light being used. We also look at the lighting which remains and ask, is it energy efficient?” Stedmansaid.
Water conservation Decorative lighting has been reduced dramatically, while security lighting remains at higher levels, he said. Electrical consumption for March dropped 7.2% over February.
Water conservation has risen drastically in importance in recent months. “Our concern about water was implicit before — now it has been more explicit,” Stedman said.
Since March, decorative use of water has been completely stopped. No fountains are currently in use, although they may be turned on at the direction of President John R. Hubbard.
Functional use of water has been reduced by 50%. but this figure may change if the landscape requires more water as the weather becomes hotter, Palmer said.
National sentiment Stedman said the commission is trying to conform with national sentiment towards conservation. but the sheer reality of finances — utility bills — has greatly spurred the conservation movement. “What energy there is costs dramatically more than it did ten years, five years or even one year ago.”
For March, the University Park Campus’ electrical bill was more than $140,000. In March, 1972, the bill was $44,000. showing an increase of more than 220% in five years.
And the costs keep rising. The university now uses natural gas as its principal heating source. In fiscal 1977, fuel oil will be used as the heating agent for six months of the year.
Fuel-oil use In fiscal 1979, it is predicted that fuel oil will be used exclusively. Since fuel oil costs twice as much as natural gas, the university’s heating bills will increase by 50% next fiscal year, raising the total electrical bill to approximately $3 million, Palmer said.
Curtailment and management of resources is the goal of the commission, although it requires the cooperation ofthe entire university community, Stedman said.
The commission was formed in 1973. It is a subsection ofthe Resource Management and Planning Commission ofthe PAC. It functions as a sounding board for considerations of policy changes, acts as a vehicle for community input and attempts to promote awareness of conservation problems, Stedman said.
Gay group ready to sue university
By John Hughes
Staff Writer
A civil suit against the university and the Board ofTrustees could result from the present impasse between the Gay Student Union and the Affirmative Action Committee ofthe President’s Advisory Council
(PAC).
The impasse centers around the union’s request that the university’s nondiscrimination policy be changed to include a prohibition of discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation.
The committee ruled in April,
1976 and again this year that present university policy “disallows discrimination on the basis of qualities and characteristics which are unrelated to job characteristics.” It was the committee’s opinion that this unwritten policy was sufficient and changing the university’s written nondiscrimination policy was unnecessary.
Donald C. Knutson, a law professor, said he is consulting with the Southern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union concerning the possibility of the committee’s action.
Knutson, who is the union’s faculty adviser and is acting as its legal representative, said the issue is the committee’s failure to grant an open hearing in which detailed arguments by proponents and opponents could be presented.
Committee members, however, disagree with Knutson’s contention that the union has not been granted an appeal.
John Griffith, executive assistant to the president of the PAC, spoke for the committee: “There hasn’t been a hearing, opening the meeting to a large group of people. But Knutson has been before the committee and presented his arguments.
“The committee felt he had originated this proposal and therefore they had fulfilled their obligation in meeting him.”
“I don’t consider my appearance before that committee as a hearing,” Knutson said. He said he attended the meeting with the hope of convincing the committee to hold an open meeting. He appeared before the committee Feb. 22.
(continued on page 2)
DON KNUTSON
Expansion of tuition remission for families of faculty recommended
By Gary Maloney
Staff Writer
Recommendations for expanding the scope of tuition remission forfaculty members and their families were approved by the Faculty Senate Wednesday and sent to President John R. Hubbard for consideration.
Changes proposed by the senate subcommittee on tuition remission ranged from expanding the allowable age limit for employee children eligible for remission to extending their right of cost-free tuition to the university’s graduate and professional schools.
Richard Lorette, chairman of the subcommittee, backed the elimination of the age limit saying “Many faculty children are cheated of their right to a tuition-free education by this age limit due to military service and other activities that keep
them from taking advantage of their parent’s work. It would be a right for dependents, and age should not matter.”
Another proposed change in the remission plan, which is open to all faculty and staff members, was the inclusion of graduate and professional schools in the allowable remission package. At present, a maximum of four years’ work in undergraduate studies is allowed under the plan.
“This would include tuition at the Dental, Medical and Law Schools — this could endanger the principle of tuition remission for all,” said Charles Wad-dello, a professor of physics, who opposed the proposal. “It could get to where remission would be so expensive, the entire right of tuition remission would be brought into question and perhaps lost in some future
EASE ON DOWN THE ROAD —
The road in this picture unfortunately doesn't lead off into a summer sunset but instead towards the stacks of Doheny Library as term paper due dates quickly approach. DT photo by Paul Rodriquez.
budget,” he said.
Other recommendations for remission change included allowing children and spouses of retired faculty members (as well as disabled and deceased members) to be given due rights for tuition here. As regards those rights, Lorette said, the committee also proposed that for each year of service rendered to the university, each child of that member would be eligible for one complete year of tuition-free education. Under the present policy, Lorette said, each year of remission is divided among the children — for example, a faculty member with one year of service and two children would have each child eligible for one semester of remission, while underthe proposed policy each would be eligible for a full year in this case.
The set of resolutions was approved overwhelmingly.
Late in the meeting, James McBath, senate president-elect, favorably reported on Hubbard’s reorganization proposals for the President’s Advisory Council (PAC) which he termed “excellent” from the view of the faculty.
“The most crucial improvement was the combining into a single election process the naming of faculty senators and faculty councilors, the latter of which will represent the faculty in the PAC.”
Dealing with Hubbard directly, McBath said, is a major tenet of the Faculty Senate constitution. “He has explicitly said that when the senate reaches a consensus on faculty matters, he w ant to hear about it personally."
In the reorganization structure proposed by Hubbard, the faculty retained 50% of the membership in the advisory bodv.