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Volume XCIV, Number 6^	University of Southern California	Friday, December 9, 1983
Soviets request UCLA for Olympic athletes
By Mark Lowe
Assistant Qty Editor
The chairman of the Soviet National Olympic Committee said Wednesday that the Soviet Union would prefer to house its athletes in the Olympic Village at UCLA rather than this university when the Games begin next summer.
Committee Chairman Marat Gramov said the Soviet delegation decided upon UCLA because "it has a very picturesque surrounding" and "the air quality there is probably better."
"We have to choose something at least," Gramov said, speaking through an interpreter at a press conference. "We had two choices. We have chosen one."
University officials were not upset at the Soviets' choosing the UCLA Olympic Village as the site to house their athletes.
'Tm not concerned in the least that the Soviets had expressed an interest in UCLA as opposed to USC," said Duane Hickling, executive administrator of the university's Olympic planning office.
Hickling said the university is "happy to have whoever wants to stay here," adding the LAOOC
will have the last word in where the Soviet athletes will stay.
"It's not a reflection on the university or on the quality of the housing at the university," he said, saying also that the university does not take the choice personally "in the least."
The Soviets' preference for UCLA almost guarantees that Soviet athletes will stay there during the Games, since the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee will "try to accomodate" any such requests by any country, said Dolores Wood, deputy press secretary for the (LAOOC).
UCLA Chancellor Charles Young said in a prepared statement that he was honored to have the Soviet athletes staying on that campus. His assistant, John Sandbrook, said later that UCLA will "welcome any country that expresses a desire for UCLA for any reason."
"I'm glad the Soviets have at least indicated a preference for staying in Los Angeles," Sandbrook said. "That in itself is really the good news."
During the conference, Gramov criticized the university Olympic swim stadium, in response to a
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Trustees OK venture capital, foreign investment policies
By Lawrence Toffler
Staff Writer
Hoping to bolster the university's endowment fund by taking more financial risks, the Board of Trustees Wednesday approved the investment committee's suggestion that the university invest in foreign securities for the first time.
President James Zumberge has termed the university's endowment "woefully inadequate" and believes new investments will strengthen it. The university also wants to pursue new investments because last year’s investment yield was less than expected.
In addition to international investments, the Board authorized the university to seek venture capital investments — buying stock in struggling companies that are expected to become profitable. Until last year, many members of the administration thought both types of investment were too risky.
"If you have the responsibility to see that money is used wisely, and invested wisely, there is the so-called prudent-man principle," Zumberge said.
"You should . . . not take any more risks with (the funds), since they are a trust fund, than you would risk with your own investment," he added. "The prudent-man principle, for a long time, has carried with it the idea that you shouldn't take long shots when you're investing funds in a trust."
He said venture capital and foreign investments have always been considered too much of a gamble to be included in the prudent-man principle, until the last couple of years.
"Now, however," he said, "foreign investments represent a more respectable place to invest money. And with the emergence ... of new areas in technologies, the prudent-man policy encompasses them all."
Zumberge added, however, that the Board of Trustees has only authorized the university to seek out venture capital investment opportunities and does not have specific ones in mind.
Lyn Hutton, university treasurer, said the endowment pool, which has a total market value of approximately $150 million, is "the largest portion of the (university's) total endowment."
The university's endowment pool is composed of gifts of cash, stocks, or other liquid assets that the university uses as the principle source for many of its investments. But Hutton said, "The value is large in absolute terms.
"Not many schools have endowments as large as $100 million," she said, adding, however that "compared to our peer institutions it's very small."
Harvard University, she said, has an endowment of $3 billion, while Stanford University's is nearly $1 billlion.
Hutton also said this universi-
ty's dollar-to-student ratio is very small, compared to other universities in the United States.
The university's strategy is to gain a greater yield from its investments and increase the size of the total endowment through the Common Fund of International Investing, a special tax-ex-empt organization that is designed specifically to manage school funds.
Hutton said the Common Fund functions like a mutual fund, where this university works with Stanford, Yale University, Dartmouth College and other universities to add a certain percentage of its endowment pool to a larger fund. The total sum is invested in international securities.
This university, she said, then receives returns based on "the pro-rated share of our participa-(Continued on page 6)
ATHER ALI/DAILY TROJAN
Marat Gramov, head of the Soviet Sports Commission, said he would rather Soviet athletes stay at UCLA during next summer’s Olympics.
Campus phone bills to jump 33 percent
By Jennifer Cray
Staff Writer
The impending breakup of American Telephone and Telegraph will cost the university an estimated $1.2 million in increased phone rates for the 1984-85 fiscal year, said Paula Thomas, executive director of administrative services.
This increase represents a 33 percent jump in the university's phone bill, excluding long-distance costs. Currently, the year-
University faces insurance hike; underwriter cites rash of fires
By Joann Galardy
Assistant City Editor
Preliminary figures indicate that the university's fire insurance premiums will be raised by as much as $100,000 during the 1984-85 fiscal year because of the increased number of fires that have taken place on campus in the past 13 months.
This represents the largest increase in the university's premiums since the 1979-80 fiscal year, said Paula Thomas, executive director of administrative services. The university is currently looking at an insurance cost of approximately $385,000 for the year, compared to $285,000 in 1982-83 and $264,000 during the previous three years.
"The university is a very big carrier of fire insurance, and when we experience fires our rates go up," said John Curry, executive director of the university budget.
The two largest fires occurred in the Student Administrative Services building and the Residence West dormitory.
The SAS fire, which occurred last November, caused an estimated $618,000 in damages, while the April fire in Residence West caused about $150,000 in damages, said Alex Ratka, director of insurance and risk management.
"We've had a number of fires around here and this is unusual for USC," Thomas said. "We went a number of years with no claims against our policy."
Thomas said that since the Hartford Insurance Group has paid more than $800,000 in settlements, the $100,000 increase cannot be seen only as a way to recoup loses all at once.
Ratka also attributed the rate increase to the new construction around campus which totals approximately $21 million. The construction includes the McDonald's Olympic Swim Stadium, the completion of Parking Structure D, the creation of the new cinema complex, and the extensive renovations which took place in the dental school.
He explained that the university must notify the insurance company of all renovation and new construction and the premium is then adjusted accordingly.
The university has a blanket policy for $500 million which protects all university buildings and their contents, Ratka said. The buildings and their contents are valued at $800 million.
The university has also extended its insurance coverage to include earthquake protection. Prior to 1982, the university was not protected in case of damages incurred during an earthquake.
Thomas said there were three reasons for the university's decision to include earthquake protection.
She explained that while the rates for earthquake insurance went down, ■ the university felt the chance of an earthquake increased. In addition, the
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ly budget stands at $3,485,000, but with higher phone rates expected from the splitting up of AT&T into regional operating companies, the university could spend $4,664,462 for the same services next year.
The breakup of AT&T is the result of a government anti-trust lawsuit, which will create seven new companies to provide calling service, while leaving AT&T to manufacture and sell telephone equipment.
As of Jan. 1, the university will receive two telephone bills
—	one covering equipment and one covering local costs. The new Pacific Telesis Group, which will replace Pacific Telephone, will provide all local calling services, while AT&T will still supply the telephones themselves.
To determine the specific budget increase, Thomas and her staff broke down the university' s phone expenses into their separate components, then estimated the actual increases for each specific service. Thomas said because some rate hikes have not yet taken place, and because AT&T will not be subject to government regulation, her staff could only estimate the total budget increase.
The largest single part of the budget is for line equipment, which is the charge for the actual telephone lines. Thomas estimates a 30 percent increase in line equipment costs. This is due to an increase in the access charge, which is the cost of linking into the telephone system. The cost will jump from 70 cents to $4 per phone line.
Terminal equipment (telephones) comprise the second (Continued on page 6)