Senators draft plan
to counter aid cuts
trojan
Volume XCI Number 54	University of Southern California Wednesday March 31, 1982
Total crime rate rises slightly
Personal assaults up 39 percent
By Mark Ordesky
Staff Writer
Even with the attention given to crime in 1981, fuelled largely by the rash of violent personal crimes committed early in the fall, University Security statistics indicate only a
2	percent increase in total crime over the previous year.
A series of rapes, assaults and robberies believed to have been committed by one man last fall may have contributed to the increase, security said. Antione Jordan has been charged with some 40 crimes and is awaiting trial.
Steven Ward, chief of University Security, said the effect the series of crimes had on the statistics is substantial.
The university experienced an increase of 39 percent in personal crimes during 1981.
Subtracting the 40 crimes Jordan has been charged with lowers that figure to 16 percent. Ward said.
There was also a significant decrease in the theft of personal property in 1981, with a decrease of 16 percent in such preventable crimes.
Ward feels that the large amount of publicity Jordan generated on campus played a large part in making the crime
problem seem more extensive than it was.
“I’m not mincing the seriousness of those personal crimes,” Ward told the Transcript. “But we were not having a crime wave by a significant number of people.
“It (the publicity) really escalated the perception of a crime problem,” he said.
But Ward also pointed out that the publicity contributed
‘There’s a lot more concentration on identifying people who look to be involved in criminal activity. ’
to the eventual decrease in crime, as illustrated in the statistics, because it “made people more aware of how to protect themselves." He cited the decrease in personal thefts as an example.
Despite the positive implications of these findings, additional steps are being taken to tighten security around campus.
“We’re attempting to make arrests whenever possible,” Ward said. ‘‘There’s a lot more concentration on identifying people who look to be involved in criminal activity.”
In the past, University Security policy, in most cases, has been to conduct field interviews of suspects rather than arresting them, Ward said. But he added that the released suspects were usually arrested at a later date for different crimes.
The statistics indicate that arrests were up last year compared to 1980. Two hundred thirty-nine arrests were made in 1981, with 147 made in the previous year. Also, security’s conviction rate has proven better than 90 percent. Ward said.
In addition to the increased arrests, 18 new officers are in training for duty. Also, Ward said the policy of "general patrols” in which officers are spread out equally in and around campus is being replaced by “target patrols” which key on particular areas for particular crimes.
Ward feels the two percent increase for 1981 is a good sign. "It wasn’t a bad year,” he said, “all things considered.”
By Mark Grabow
Staff Writer
In an effort to fight back against the Reagan administration’s proposed 56 percent decrease in general financial aid cutbacks, the Student Senate has devised a two-part plan to politically enlighten and involve students who will be drastically affected by these loan cutbacks.
“Right now, I don’t think the student population realizes how important it is to contact their congressmen,” said Patty Minor, vice president for undergraduates within the Student Senate. “What we want to do is tell them what is happening in Sacramento and Washington and let them know who their influential congressmen are.”
Minor said the first part of the Student Senate’s political strategy is to get students registered to vote within their districts so that they may put pressure on their congressmen’s shoulders.
“We want to let them (the congressmen) know that we will be watching their votes,” she said, adding that 95 percent of the student body is eligible to vote.
While an estimated 1.5 million students across the country will be affected by Reagan’s loan cutbacks, the university will be severely shortchanged because it receives more Cal Grants than any other California college.
As the second part of its political strategy, the Student Senate will initiate a comprehen-
sive letter-writing campaign after the spring recess.
“Students must give a personalized version of how the cutbacks will affect them — a sob story,” Minor said.
The senate and the adminis-tation met Tuesday to discuss plans for joining forces on the issue of financial aid cutbacks.
Minor said the senate would take a "hardline stance” while the administration’s would be one of “timing.” Jon Strauss, vice president of Administration, planned on outlining the tuition outlook for next year. Cornelius Pings, senior vice president of academic affairs, was to inform the senators about the university’s political contacts in Sacramento and Washington.
Arguments concerning the federal government's timing in cutting aid were also on the meeting’s agenda, Minor said.
“The federal government has taken a major role in higher education,” she continued. “They cannot afford to pull back all their support in one year and expect society to pick it up privately. What we are calling for is a gradual decrease.”
Minor said the administration will attempt to close the gap so that students will slowly receive their loans despite the projected cutbacks.
Minor said an updated financial aid handbook w'ill be available April 12. It will deal with changes in the government, wThat funds are now' available, tuition and the pro-(Continued on page 3)
TO SEE OR KNOT TO SEE — Seaver Science Center and parked cars can be spied on via a knothole on a fence located near the Green Room Theater