Volume XCIV, Number 28
University of Southern California
Thursday, October 13, 1983
President scraps plan to move student seats
250 mid-field spaces enough, Zumberge says
By Jeffrey Tylicki
Assitant Qty Editor
The administration has abandoned plans to make further changes in student football seating at the Coliseum in the near future. President James Zumberge announced at a Student Senate meeting Wednesday.
Speaking at his own request to the senate, Zumberge said the administration has scrapped its three-year plan to move students off of 50-yard line seats at football games. Under that plan, the students' seats were sup-
posed to have been given to those who donated large amounts of money to the university.
"After reviewing the plan, we have decided the block of 250 seats we took out of the student section . . . was adequate," Zumberge said. "There will be no more changes in the near-term future."
Senate President Bill Lilia said the deeper implication of Zum-berge's decision indicated that the president realized college football involves more than just
alumni or fund raising, but students and the spirit and unity they bring to the university.
"Students should be proud that the president of their university will take their side on this kind of an issue," Lilia said. "This was the kind of decision where (Zumberge) would take flack from either side."
Heated Issue
Football seating has been a heated issue between students and administrators since last spring when the administration announced it was going to move
Larger-than-life sports heroes worth thousand words for Nike
Marathon runner Alberto Salazar towers over all who park their cars in the Coliseum lot on Menlo Avenue.
It's not the real Alberto Salazar, mind you, but a 50-foot mural painting of the two-time Boston Marathon winner.
The mural covers the entire north side of Casa Loma apartments, just across the street from the Museum of Natural History.
Two professional painters, David Larks and Adam Lustig, have spent the last five days on a scaffold working on the mural. They said the scene, showing Salazar in a race, was taken from a photograph. They sketched the photo on the side of the building and are now painting it.
"This heat is a real bummer," Lark said, noting that if it weren't for the warm weather, they would have been finished by now.
The mural is one of seven depicting famous ath-eltes that have been commissioned by the makers of Nike shoes. This mural is the third they have completed. The other two murals depict Dodger outfielder Pedro Guerrero (in downtown Los Angeles on Broadway) and tennis star John McEnroe (at Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street).
Lark said he normally paints billboards, about 20 per year.
The mural is expected to remain on the building until after the 1984 Olympics.
the student section from midfield toward the peristyle end of the Coliseum. Officials saw the opportunity to make the move when Colisuem management announced it had to shift the field approximately 4 yards to facilitate renovations of the running track for the 1984 Olympics.
Students, led by the senate, responded to the decision with a strong outcry. After careful formulation, the senate submitted a compromise plan which allowed for a 250-seat block bf prime seats at mid-field for donors without a loss for the student body. Administrators responded to the senate's proposal by accepting it — for one year.
At the end of last year's spring semester, the administration announced it would implement its own plan over three years. The first year merely would be the senate's solution.
The next year, a major loss of mid-field seats for students would begin, and by the third year, students would be completely out of the area considered "prime" seating.
Jon Strauss, senior vice president for administration, said the plan did not fail, but that Zumberge had always said he was going to review the plan to see if it was absolutely essential.
"The promotion of the seats was low-key. The interest in the plan was not solely for athletic scholarships, although that was (the original intention)," Strauss said.
Zumberge said many of the 250 seats were not strictly for new donors, but longtime donors whose seating priority was improved. The move, therefore, opened the way for new donors in other sections of the Coliseum.
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Medical students find education costs high
By Jean Evans Staff Writer
Of the 150 university medical students who graduated last year with debts to the university and federal government, about 25 percent of them owed almost $30,000, more than $6,000 over the national average.
Thirty percent of the univeristy's medical students in debt are classified as "high need students" because their families cannot afford the high cost, said Linda Lewis, director of student financial development. She said they graduated with debts ranging between $40,000 and $50,000.
'When a person defaults on a car payment, they take their car away. But when a person doesn't pay the government, they can't take away their knowledge. '
Most of the students received loans from the federal government to meet the costs of the university's four-year medical program, said Allen Mathies, dean of the medical school. The loans have to be paid off in monthly increments within 10 years, beginning the first year after the student graduates.
Eighty-six percent of medical graduate students throughout the country owed money last spring, according to a survey by the Association of American Medical Colleges.	—————————
The average cost of one year at the university's medical school is $12,000 a year — $1,000 more than last year — plus $8,000 to $9,000 for living expenses, Mathies said. Five years ago the average tuition for one year of medical school was $5,000.
"Of course, students complain about the high cost," Lewis said.
Of those students who owed money to the federal government in the month of June, almost 12 percent were delinquent in their payments, said Betty Cowin, in the office of student financial operations.
A deliquency is reported when the graduate has not sent in any money for over sixty days. If 120 days pass, the person has defaulted on the payments.
Two percent of graduated students have defaulted on their loans, Mathies said.
"When a person defaults on a car payment, they take their car away. But when a person doesn't pay the government, they can't take away their knowledge," Mathies said.
"I think they are sort of like other human beings. They have their faults like the rest of us."
If a student does default, the university sends the graduate a notice in the mail. If there is no response, the loan office will call the student on the telephone.
If the attempts to get the graduates to pay are still unsuccessful, the account is turned over to a collection agency. If the loan is small enough, the person is taken to small claims court.
"There has been only one student who declared bankrupcy to get out of paying the loans back," Mathies said.
Educators, however, are becoming concerned. They fear some students are unable to meet the high costs of some medical programs, Mathies said.
If costs are too high, he said, there is a danger that some institu-
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