Daily w Trojan
Volume LXXI, Number 30
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California
Wednesday, March 23, 1977
$800,000 from land sale earmarked for Bovard Auditorium renovation
By Gary Maloney
Staff W riter
Funds totaling $800,000 for the renovation of Bovard Auditorium are being provided over a 10-year period through a lucrative land sale, according to the office of Anthony Lazzaro, vice-president for business affairs.
The property, located in an industrial district of Vernon, a suburb in the southeast part of Los Angeles County, had been donated to the university by Kenneth Norris. Jr. The money generated from the sale for Bovard renovation. Lazzaro's office said Tuesday.
Micheal Bocchicchio. univer-sitv architect, said as soon as the
funds are authorized, the ofTice of Architectural Services would begin to shape plans for the auditorium's refurbishment, as detailed in the report submitted by the ad hoc Bovard Renovation Committee in spring 1976.
“We've lived with the problems a long time/’ he said. “WThen the money is turned loose, the renovation will get top priority in this office.”
The renovation report examined completely the phases and needs of Bovard in the present and future. The committee compiling it included representatives from all groupsusingand pertaining to the auditorium, including: School of Performing Arts, all divisions: Student Activities Center: Department of
Health center suspends night care over Easter
Students staying in the on-campus residence halls over Easter vacation won't be able to rely on the Student Health Center's on-call emergency room for treatment during the night, but the center will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p m
This year for the first time, students will be able to stay in the residence halls over the spring vacation. Since the on-call emergency room is run by students, however, that service will not be available. Usually, emergency care is available when the health center is closed.
Students requiring aid after 8 p.m. will have to be taken to California Hospital. 1414 S. Hope St.. or County-USC Medical Center, 1200 N. State St. Emergency transportation to the hospitals can be made by calling the Los Angeles Fire Department rescue unit at 483-6721 or Campus Security at 746-6000.
‘‘We are not sure whattheconsequences ofclosingthe on-call room w ill be since the dorms haven't been open during vacations before, but we are not expecting any major problems,” said Pat Loeb, a spokesman for the health advocates.
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Biological Sciences; Architectural Services; and Ed Carnes, university stage manager.
Projected costs for renovation were much higher than expected, said Howard Rarig, director of the School of Music and chairman of the ad hoc committee. The amount of $350,000 was used as a guide as to what might be expected for funding, Rarig said, but the estimate made by Bocchicchio on costs (if the beginning of construction is June 1977) was $957,000.
Rarig said with such costs exceeding the speculated budget, the program would probably fall into an extended plan, proceeding in phases over a longer period of time.
Lazzaro’s office confirmed the allocation of the $800,000 to be spread out over the 10-year period, with almost $100,000 to be available the first year to payment.
Bocchicchio released the committee’s report, dealing with the renovation priorities:
•	Additions to and renovations of the present backstage facilities, including installation of the new’ and improved house lighting system.
•	Extension ofthe stage apron outward to the present dressing room entrances, facilitating better use of the hall for large orchestral groups.
•	Replacement of the present auditorium doors with theater doors.
•	The providing of exterior
(continued on page 2)
TV figure calms tots, eases load on parents
MISTER ROGERS
By Clara Germani
Feature Editor
What miracle worker could calm thousands of squirming 4-year-olds.. .daily? What mature adult could reason with the preschool population of a country. . .on neatness and manners?
The mothers of those children know, and over 500 of them gathered in Bovard Auditorium Saturday to hear their messiah of child care, Fred Rogers, creator and host of educational television’s Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.
As keynote speaker and workshop leader at the annual California Council of Parent Participation Nursery Schools Convention, Rogers was bombarded with questions from autograph-seeking mothers in wonder over his soft spoken manner of handling children and the personal touch he brings to mass communications.
One woman asked about correct approaches “when you want to just put your children through the wall.”
Rogers said he is concerned about prescribing a manner of reaction forparents,“but we have to be gentle with ourselves no matter what our feelings are.”
He sang a verse from one of his program's theme songs stressing an honesty that most mothers could identify with:
“. . .When I feel like shouting. I'm learning to get it out.”
Still, it is hard to believe a 49-year-old man could maintain such a cool outer shell on a daily television program for 14 years.
“I am not an actor, I never learned to do that,” Rogers said. He is different from the many hosts for children's programs who are not unlike used car salesmen in their “soft sell.” He said. “People don't learn by force.”
Indeed, his whole program is an easy going, almost religious push for kids to calm down. Rogers’ composure as w'ell as his conservative dress conjure images of a minister. And amazingly enough, he squeezed in classes at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary to become an ordained minister of the United Presbyterian Church in 1963.	(continued	on page 2)
BOOSTS CONFIDENCE, LOW GRADES
Counselor spells relief for students
DIAL-AN-ANGEL—Bill Poalos, a student, hands a toy telephone to a member of a Salt Lake City mime troupe pretending to call Farrah Fawcett-Majors. DT photo by Denis Wolcott.
By Shelley Hoose
Staff Writer
When student grades go down, it’s Steven Hirsch’s business to find out about it. That is how he is presently spending 40 hours per week, plus overtime, in the Registrar’s office.
Sifting through the thousands ofgrades hisoffice handles each semester, Hirsch has the enormous task of finding and checking on all students with grade point averages under a 2.0 and sending each one a letter.
His title is simply “counselor,” but he is a student advocate by his own words. “I’m into helping students pull their lives back together — doing whatever it takes,” he said.
The letters fall into two categories: a wamingora probation. A warning letter is sent if the student’s cumulative grade point average (GPA) is still above
2.0,	even though he fell below that figure one semester. A probation letter means the cumulative GPA has fallen below 2.0.
“I try to write somethingpersonal at the bottom of the letter—just to let them know I’m alive and not a computer,” he said.
The letter informs the student of his GPA and asks him to contact Hirsch for help. Students receiving probation letters usually come in right away, Hirsch said.
Approximately 2,200 students will receive a letter from him this semester, out of 24,478 enrolled last fall. Although enrollment did not increase proportionally, from spring ’76 to fall ’76, the number of students receiving probation letters is up from the 1,650 students receiving these letters last spring.
Hirsch suggests two reasons for the increase in student GPAs falling below a 2.0. The primary reason is a reaction to the new grading policy now followed by the university designed to cut back on
grade inflation. “The teachers are tightening up,” he said.
The second reason will probably not be apparent until next spring semester, but it is that incompletes are now turning into Fs after a year’s time. Although an F does not show on a student’s transcript, it will be arranged into the cumulative GPA in order to encourage students to complete their classes on time.
Hirsch stressed he did not think there was an academic reason for the drop in student GPAs. “Nobody here is dumb. There are always extraneous reasons,” he said. He strongly objects to the feeling that a student on probation is intellectually deficient.
When grades go down, it’s a symptom of problems, he said. So in each letter he tells the student about the services available to him: the counseling center, the health center and the Learning Skills Development Center, which attempts to teach students study skills.
“I get involved in all levels of student life,” he said, “but not unless a student requests it” Hirsch can arrange talks with parents, faculty and deans on behalf of a student.
“I’m a retention specialist,” Hirsch said. He tries to help students stay in school. “I handle it in an open way. They don't really need a letter to know they’re hurting.
“We’re here to help,” he said, stressing that the letter is not meant to scare anyone. Counselors at the learning center work with him to help meet the students’ needs.
Olivia Aceves, program coordinator for the Learning Skills Development Center, said that once Hirsch sends out the letters, the counselors at the center wait for the students to contact them. If they fail to do so, Hirsch gives the counselors a list
(continued on page 2)