Editor's note: The follow nig presentation on the I SC Security Officers' Assn.'s proposed contnict and agreement with the Campus Security administration concludes the two-part series on security and campus protection.
By Gary Maloney
News Analysis Editor
To further professionalize the Campus Security force, the USC Security Officers' Assn. members have formulated a 22-page contract and proposal presently under negotiation with the university.
The officers submitted suggestions to a committee, which synthesized the ideas into the proposal as it presently stands. It was approved by the officers in April.
"We want to create a department that attracts and retains good quality people." an association spokesman said. “As it stands now. virtually every good quality individual who is hired simply uses security as a holding point while he obtains a better job elsewhere.”
Security Officers’ Association seeks to professionalize force
The proposal covers many areas of security policy and working conditions, as well as wages and fringe benefits for the officers.
Carl Levredge. director of Security and Parking Operations, said neither he nor anyone else involved in management would directly comment on the proposed agreement, "because it would be improper to comment on anything presently in negotiations.
“I'm sure the association members will want to comment — in this case, it’s more advantageous for them to do so.”
The proposal includes:
Article 2 — Closed Shop Proinsions for a closed shop: that is. all officers admitted to the department will be
required to join the association.
“If we didn't have a closed shop, the university could hire lackey-type individuals who would be hired with the foregone conclusion that they would be anti-association. Through attrition and other tactics, this would deplete the association and effectively kill the organization. Without a closed shop here, it’s a useless effort,” said an association spokesman.
Article 4 — Nondiscrimination
"The employer and the association agree not to discriminate and to provide equal employment opportunities without regard to age, sex, race,color, national origin,political or religious affiliation or membership in any labor organization.
"Thus equal opportunity policy applies to all employees and job applicants in connection with recruitment, hiring, promotion, transfer, demotion, treatment during employment and layoff or termination."
An association spokesman seriously questioned whether this is presently followed by the department, citing cases where law-enforcement-experienced females applied for positions in the department and were subsequently denied for unknown reasons despite their qualifications.
Racial biases were reported last year in a Daily Trojan investigative article. A Campus Security supervisor was heard to have said that he didn't want any “nigger lieutenants” on the force..
Article 5 — Upgrade Requirements to Meet University Needs (Association spokesman's comments in parentheses.)
I.	High School Graduate. (“This is a minimum requirement. All police de-(continued on page 6)
Daily ip Troian
Volume LXXI, Number 40
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, Californio
Tuesday, November 15, 1977
Watching life pass by her door through eyes as big as a world
By Tom Rosa
Editor
She looks at the world through eyes that have seen her neighborhood turn into a ghetto, her husband into an alcoholic and her dreams into nothing more than a Social Security check coming in once a month.
She sits in a chair that has rocked five children to sleep and provided comfort at the news of her son’s death in an auto accident.
She speaks a truth that seems to erupt when age has taught you the ways ofthe world and lies are simply a nuisance not to bother with.
Lydia Smothers has watched this university grow and extend its influence over her neighborhood forover30years,yet hasonly walkedon campus a half-dozen times.
She lives a block away from the Row. a shadow's length away from Waite Phillips Hall and a generation away from the thought processes of higher education. But behind her wry smile is an intelligence that didn’t come from the pages of books, but from the experience of 78 years of survival.
“Every mornin' I watch you kids struttin' off to school like you was headin’ off to a weddin’. Jesus, the clothes them girls wear are downright obscene." There is a pause in her statement as another idea jumps into her head where it remains for her to enjoy by herself.
The rocker then comes to a halt and her eyes
peer through the black-rimmed glasses. She tilts forward and almost whispers.
“Not one of 'em. not even them uppity colored ones, has ever stopped by my home for a little chat. What you here for?”
No use attempting to pull some sociological or psychological jargon on this wise one. My eyes always tell the truth.
“Curiosity is probably the best answer. But maybe also a little guilt for not ever stopping to talk to you or your neighbors for the four years I’ve been here.”
The smile again. The rocker starts its solo performance as her hands return to her lap.
“What other impressions do you have of the students?"
“They ain't impressions. They what is. You kidsgot no appreciation for anybody but yourselves.” The chair has changed gears and the driver is heading for the finish line. “Wait till the Lord puts you in a rockin' chair and the kids come home only at Christmas.”
The conversation ceases for a moment as a siren moves into the room unannounced.
“But there’s the good ones. Not many, but a few.” Her eyes veer off to a handsome portrait hanging from a wall decorated in yellowing wa llpaper.
His name is Luke Manchester Smothers and he works in Utah as a marketing agent for a paper-producing factory.
(continued on page 14)
University pays costs of bad checks passed through cashing service
By Merilynne Cohen
Stall Writer
Approximately 30 bad checks are written out to the university every day. at a loss of thousands of dollars every year, according to figures ofthe Cashier's Office.
It costs the university approximately $1.80 for each bad check it handles. Bad check writing, whether intentional or unintentional, could cause serious problems forthe university as well as the check writer.
Bad check writing commonly occurs in tuition audit for the payment of fee bills, the check-cashing window in the Financial Services Building and from the bookstore, said Debra Otiand. an accounting clerk from the Collections Department.
Bad check writing is not limited to students — faculty and staff members as well as persons from outside the university all have contributed to the problem.
The university offers a check-cashing service that receives no profits but is a main source of bad check writing. Although the office keeps a file with the names of bad check writers as well as a list of students who owe money to the library or other services, bad checks are still a big problem, said Paul Clark, manager of the Cashier's Office
“Because we do not charge a fee for cashing a check, bad checks end up costing the university an awful lot of money With the amount of time and money needed to process a check, plus the cost of having a full-time employee to work the check-cashing window — about S9.000 a year — bad checks cost SI.80 to handle."
When a bad check is written, the Cashier's Office will prohibit the person who wrote it from check-cashing privileges for 30 days if it is a first offense.. If a person has written two or more bad checks, his check-cashing privilege is revoked indefinitely unti 1 he clears his record by paying/or the bogus check.
If a person has written a check intentionally from a closed account, however, his record can never be cleared. Clark said.
“We can't support a deliberate. unethical act such as knowingly writing .a bad check. The person’s name will not be cleared unless we had a discussion with the person first."
The office will often assist security officers and the LAPD who are investigating bad check writers by giving them access to their files. However, the office has never arrested anyone for writing a bad check
(continued on page 2)
CAAB begins distribution of programming fee funds
By Lynn Sprenger
Staff Writer
Buried somewhere in a column of figures on a student's fee bill is a S7 or S5 charge that may have slipped his notice after paying other minor expenses like tuition.
That programming fee adds up in the course of a year, however, which should make it a matter of some concern to students.
The nine voting student members of the Campus Activities Allocation Board (CAAB) decide what happens to 75^ ofthat fund. So far. it’s added up to $120,000 this year, but Nancy Somers, chairman of the board, is anticipating $50,000 to $60,000 more upon Student Senate approval tonight.
Undergraduates pay $7 each semester while graduate students pay $5.
How does the board decide which student organizations receive funding?
Although the board operates under certain bylaws. Somers acknowledged them to be vague and therefore open to interpretation.
(continued on page 2)