Volume XCIV, Number 62
University of Southern California
Tuesday, December 6, 1983
Work study program hit with $100,000 debt
By Annette Haddad
Investigations Editor
Poor management and a lack of supervision of the university's off-campus College Work Study Program (CWSP) has left the university with a debt of more than 5100,000 that is virtually uncollectable, the Daily Trojan has learned.
The debt can be largely attributed to the university's failure to draw up and enforce legal
contracts with 32 off-campus, non-profit agencies — an oversight that allowed the agencies to not pay their portion of the students' salaries — and to dishonest students who worked beyond their award limits and inflated their wrages and the amount they worked.
Such mismanagement of the CWSP allowed certain students to go beyond their award, some by as much as $8,000, said an
Sexual harassment policy to be adopted
By Carmen Chandler
Assistant City Editor
Despite a recent decision by the University of California system condemning sexual relationships between faculty members and students, even if by mutual consent, officials at this university said they have no intention of adopting a similar policy.
“Human relationships are complicated affairs. It's difficult and unwise trying legislate all human relationships," said Robert Biller, vice provost, adding, "I was surprised at (the UC system) trying to encompass so much."
However, the university has had an interim policy concerning sexual harassment since 1981, and that is expected to become official this spring.
Sexual harassment can include unwelcome or offensive sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, unwanted or uninvited verbal comments of a sexual nature, or objectionable physical contact.
"Over the years there have been occasional complaints of this nature (concerning sexual harassment)," Biller said. "It is difficult when a person goes to make a complaint after the fact. What makes it difficult is people don’t exactly know what should be done and this policy makes that clear."
The interim policy confirms the university's commitment to opposing any type of "discrimination and retaliation against any person who has filed a complaint concerning sexual harassment or has testified, assisted or participated in any manner in an investigation, proceeding or hearing concerning sexual harassment."
It also outlines formal and informal procedures a person can take if he feels he has been the victim of sexual harassment by a member of the faculty or staff, or even a student.
"If a person feels comfortable, they should complain to the supervisor of the person engaged in the behavior. If they do not feel comfortable they can go directly to the provost's office or the senior vice president of administration, if it's a staff person," Biller said.
Victims of sexual harassment can also contact the dean for student life, the director of the personnel office, the director of affirmative action, the administrative coordinator of student affairs, the assistant dean of students, the assistant dean of the graduate school and the office of university legal counsel.
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employee in the financial aid office who has access to work study documents.
University auditors are now looking into the CWSP, focusing specifically on the off-campus program during the 1982-83 fiscal year in order to identify and possibly prosecute those students who went over their aid award by a substantial amount.
While the university usually plays only an “accountant's role" in the off-campus CWSP, the fraudulent nature of the program has left the university in the position of having to pay the balance left over when federal money ran out.
At least two off-campus agencies that hired CWSP students have been contacted by the Los Angeles District Attorney's office in connection with the university's CWSP. However, word of an official investigation could not be confirmed by the DA's office.
Fred Hessinger, director of financial aid, neither confirmed nor denied the allegation of the DA's involvement and said he
could offer no further comment on the CWSP investigation by university auditors. Ed Wall, dean of admissions and financial aid, refused to comment as did William Hogoboom, the university's general counsel.
According to an Aug. 31 memo sent from the financial aid budget administrator and the director of financial aid, several problem areas led to financial misappropriation. As stated in the memo, among the irregularities in the system that could have caused financial mismanagement:
—	students were allowed to deliver their own time reports
—	students were allowed to work extended hours
—	hourly wage rates were altered on payroll documents
—	worksheets summarizing time and hours worked were altered after signature approval
—	work study employers hired students prior to contract approval
—	approval signatures on time reports varied within agen-
cies. Approval signatures were not verified
—	work study employers received contracts without verification of prior obligation to the university
One former work study student, who worked for an off-campus employer last year but asked not to be identified, said that it was easy to abuse the system.
"The agency I worked for let me inflate my hours. I was making $15 a hour and the university never questioned it," the student said. "My supervisor (at the agency) complied with me. I figured out a way to take my friend's $2,500 award and the university never said a thing. I thought it was very lenient."
Last year, only one financial aid employee handled the transactions for the off-campus CWSP, according to the memo. This coordinator was responsible for virtually all duties of the off-campus program, including setting up contracts between the university and the agencies, (Continued on page 7)
Slight reorganization of administration approved
By Joann Galardy
Assistant City Editor
University President James Zumberge has approved subtle changes in the administrative structure in order to strengthen the lines of communication between the administration and university departments.
The new plan calls for each department to be channeled through the office of one of the three senior vice presidents.
"(President Zumberge's) conception of the president's office has every area of the university in some way connected to the senior vice presidents," said George Abdo, executive assis-
tant to the president.
Jon Strauss, senior vice president of administration, and Cornelius Pings, provost and senior vice president of academic affairs, have in the past shared responsibility for several departments including admission and financial aid, academic services, budget, contracts and grants, and registration and records. Under the reorganization, each of these departments will report directly to Strauss.
"The reorganization is not correcting a problem but avoiding confusion," Strauss said, explaining that there can no longer be any confusion about w’hich
Libraries extend hours as exam period nears
By Terry Angle
Staff Writer
With final exams a little over a week away, the College Library is now open extra hours for students who want to get some studying done before their finals.
It is the first time any campus library has remained open past midnight prior to finals, said Anne Lynch, librarian of the College Library. In the past, libraries have implemented additional hours only during the finals period.
The College Library's extended hours began last night and will continue through the next two weeks, providing an additional 24 hours of study time each week. Hours for the College Library, located on the base floor of Doheny Library, are 8 a.m. to 2 a.m., Sunday
through Thursday, and 8 a.m. to midnight on Fridays. On Saturdays, the hours are 9 a.m. to midnight.
In addition to the College Library, VKC Library will be open additional hours, but only during the finals period.
"As the night rolls on, people tend to drift away from the library, but for those who wish to stay through the night to study for finals, we will now be open," said Janice Hanks, assistant librarian at the VKC library.
VKC Library will be open from 8 a.m. on December 15 until midnight on December 17, and from 8 a.m. on December 18 until 8 p.m. on December 21.
"We've extended our hours around finals time for three or four years now/' Hanks said. "We want to (Continued on page 10)
ATHER ALL'DAILYTROJAN
Chris Lampman, a senior in marketing, searches the shelves in Doheny Library to find just the right book.
departments are accountable to which vice presidents.
Pings said that in the past departments reported to both himself and Strauss because of the cross over between academics and administration. He said the reorganization has been planned since 1981 and does not expect it to result in any major changes within individual de-(Continued on page 8)
Powell Hall computer used to gain illegal access
Evidence was discovered Sunday night indicating that a computer at Powell Hall has been used by an unauthorized person to gain access into the Department of Defense's computer system. Sergeant Hermin Aviles of University Security said.
University Security responded to a call around 8 p.m. Sunday from a faculty member who discovered a printout containing the Defense Department's computer access code, said Officer Louis Diaz, who investigated the incident.
Diaz said the printout, which was confiscated as evidence by security, was primarily a personal correspondence and contained information about the user.
Diaz would only identify the user as a male who presently may be a university student. He added the suspect was unauthorized to use the system at Powell Hall.
Agent Jerry DeLap of the Federal Bureau of Investigation was contacted by University Security, and the case is now being handled by the FBI, Aviles said.