mmmm trojan
Volume CV, Number 9
University of Southern California
Wednesday, July 6, 1988
Summer resident plans to sue university
By Tommy Li
Editor
SAMUEL KELSALL V
A non-university student living on campus this summer plans to file a lawsuit against the university in August for alleged illegal seizure of property and alleged breach of contract.
Samuel Kelsall V, a University of San Diego graduate of law, claims that Parking Operations illegally booted his car last May when he had already bought his $81 permit and card key to park in Parking Lot R.
“Even at this point, I'm hop-
ing that it doesn't really have to go (to court)," said Kelsall, who is currently living at Parkside Apartments while attending Barbri in Santa Monica to prepare for his bar exams.
"It just seems that they've drawn their lines and there's not anything I can do about it," he said. "So in August, I will file suit as soon as possible.
"Once this matter is filed with the courts, I don't really see that there will be the ability to have an out-of-court settlement negotiation."
Kelsall said he will represent
himself in the case and will ask for out-of-pocket and punitive damages that could range from $1,500 to $10,000.
Parking and administrative officials involved in the case refused to comment because of Kelsall's intentions to file suit against the university.
Kelsall's Nissan 280Z was booted May 26.
He said the parking officer who wrote the citation left a note on the back explaining why his car was booted: “You charged your permit to your fee bill but are not on file as a stu-
dent. You must return your permit if you wish to retain it, you must pay for it in cash.”
But Kelsall contends it was Parking Operations' mistake for assuming that he was a university student enrolled for the summer and allowing the fee to be billed rather than paid in cash.
He added that when he went to the parking office to pay for parking, he agreed to have his permit billed, not knowing that it would be billed to a student fee bill.
(Continued on page 2)
Admissions, financial aid crisis analysis
Biller expects progress
By Jack Crittenden
Staff Writer
The new short- and long-term goals the university has set for its Office of Admissions, Financial Aid, and Registration and Records have brought about a more effective and efficient environment, officials said.
Even more remarkable than the new environment, however, is the short time period in which changes have occurred. It was a mere three months ago on March 22 when Joseph Merante, then dean of admissions, financial aid, and registration and records, was relieved of several of his key duties.
Dennis Dougherty, vice president of finance, temporarily assumed these duties and brought with him three of the university's top administrators. These individuals were Kathryn Long-Phinney, executive assistant to the senior vice president; Tom King, director of academic user services; and Fermin Vigil, university comptroller.
'We are ahead of our goals and last year.'
the best people had been flooded in to shape up the office."
He said the problems the Office of Admissions, Financial Aid, and Registration and Records are facing began more than 50 years ago. It was then that the university began its increased growth. From that time on, the university struggled to maintain and upgrade its files in relation to the growing number of students, Biller said.
Furthermore, last year the university elected to install a new computer system, known as "Prime/' which could effectively and adequately handle the present and future load.
"We brought the Prime computer system on before we should have," Biller said. "We still had bugs in the system, and it caused a lot of problems."
After Merante left the university, Biller was expected to accomplish two main goals — one short term and one long term — handed down by Pings.
The short-term goal was to
way ahead of
—	Tom King
Dougherty took over offices management, student services and the computer system of the financial aid office.
Upon their arrival, several student services within the office were far below expected standards.
For example, in recruitment, a goal of 12,000 applications was falling short by almost 3,500, according to a May 15 memo from Robert Biller, interim dean of admissions, financial aid, and registration and records.
"Last year we went over the edge, " Biller said. "By March,
vacant full-time positions within the office. The positions slowly vacated within the last year after many staff workers in the admissions and financial aid office left their posts, which were never refilled.
The rehiring was done in an effort to stabilize the staffing structure. Several of the individuals were transferred in from other university offices, Dougherty said.
Glen Harper, administrative assistant at the cashiers office, was one of these individuals who was transferred.
Harper was asked to be transferred temporarily but has been at the office for more than two months.
"It's a great learning experience," said Harper, who has been at the university for a year and a half. "I will be able to bet-(Continued on page 2)
User-friendly mini-sharks lend jaws to beachgoers
By Alisha Oropallo
Staff Writer
For all you beach goers who spend more time catching your blown beach towel instead of catching a wave, David Mednick has got a solution to your problem.
Commercial diver and inventor of the latest item out for the beach. Sand Sharks, Mednick can be found sitting in a local tradeshow booth in his hometown Pennsylvania Chicago or even trying to sell his 6-inch stakes topped with clothespin-type clips resembling a great white shark on the beach.
"Four little sharks is all it takes to hold your beach towel in its place," the jarring little slogan explains in front of the Sand Sharks packages.
However, the slogan was not as easy as it sounded when Mednick first began to bring together his idea and make it come true.
His idea began a little over three years ago when he saw somebody on Long Beach Island, N.J., using a primitive clip to hold down his beach towel. However, the clip was lacking something.
"It was not unique. It had no flourish, no sizzle, no drama," said Mike Mayer, Mednick's selling partner of Shark Products Inc.
Soon enough, there were pennies burning in Mednick's pocket, as he invested $20,000 of his savings into making Sand Sharks the trendy useful product for beach goers.
Although Mednick could not be reached for comment, Mayer recalls the beginning of Sand Sharks being "scary with a lot of sleepless nights. We had never been in a new project from beginning to end ourselves."	(Continued on page 3)
"assure the cleanup of remaining problems from the 1987-88 year," a May 15 memo sent to Pings said. The long-term goal was to “develop a working model program in these areas that can be brought increasingly into operation during the 1988-89 academic year," the memo'* said.
"The easiest part will be developing a model program," Biller said. “Everyone is in agreement on what is to be done."
Beginning in March, Dougherty began rehiring to fill 50
AAARGH! — Three-inch sharks devour innocent beach towel, sunglasses! Actually, this is a Sand Sharks clip, an ingenious invention for keeping your towel attached to the beach.