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Volume XCI Number 24	University of Southern California	Wednesday, February 17, 1982
Student senators angered by eleven percent tuition increase
By Johannes Tesselaar
Staff Writer
Jon Strauss, vice president of Administration, labeled Student Senate members’ angry responses to the printing of the tuition rate in the financial aid handbook as “unfortunate.”
At a meeting last week to review the financial aid handbook prepared for students each year. Patty Thompson, assistant director of Financial Aid. told three senators that the figure to be printed aver-
Slavkin:
‘You get the feeling there’s no room to manuever the budget. We have never seen a willingness to change.'
aged out to $228 a unit, an 11 percent increase over the current $205 figure.
This angered senate members for several reasons.
“We got the impression from Patty Thompson that the administration was set on an 11 percent increase in tuition, despite the fact that they’ve been saying for months that the 11 percent figure was only tentative,” said Mark Slavkin,
chairman of financial affairs.
What concerned the student representatives was that it appeared as if the administration had decided on an 11 percent figure from the first day of discussions on tuition increases.
“We were shocked that it was carved into stone (the $228 a unit tuition),” Slavkin said. “You get the feeling there's no room to manuever the budget. We have never seen a willingness to change. You have to wonder when the decision was made and question our (the Student Senate’s) ability to influence decisions.”
Strauss called the student senators’ reaction an unfortunate misinterpretation. He added that the senators still have input on budget decisions and the university’s position on the 11 percent tuition increase is still tentative.
“We are still planning it, the number of the tuition increase. The senators are being oversensitive when they say they have no more input into budget matters,” Strauss said.
The vice president said that at no time was there authorization for Thompson to use the $226 figure. Strauss added that she most likely based her figure on earlier reports that the
tuition increase would reach
11	percent.
Both Slavkin and Strauss agreed that Thompson had no malicious intent in using the $228 figure, and she just estimated the figure using the current $205 rate as a base.
Strauss said that if the handbook is printed before the final decision on tuition increase, the handbook would state that the student budget figure is tentative.
Slavkin said the administration decided to print the finan-
Strauss:
‘The senators are being oversensitive when they say they have no more input into budget matters. ’
cial aid handbook this year after the Student Senate had d«jne so last year.
Three student senators, Ingrid Calle. chairman of Student Affairs, Lisa Livote, a member of Slavkin’s committee, and Patty Minor, senate vice chairman, conferred with Thompson last Tuesday to review the handbook.
At that time, the senators discovered the $228-a-unit figure, which stirred their anger.
Zumberge plans study of extended education
By Christopher Murray
Staff Writer
Pressure from outside academic organizations has prompted President James H. Zumberge to create a review board to evaluate the university’s extended education programs.
The Western Association of Schools and Colleges and other accrediting agencies asked the university to “assure the extent and ongoing quality of extended education programs.”
Extended education programs are those which offer off-campus, off-hour, part-time or non-traditional classes either for credit or non-credit.
The review board will establish a framework by which decisions can be made to continue, discontinue or improve these programs.
The president will be appointing a review committee to begin the evaluation sometime this month. Zumberge announced the formation of the committee in a memo to all deans and directors of schools which offer extended education programs. He said the review should be completed by commencement.
Zumberge has charged Cornelius Pings, senior vice president of Academic Affairs, with the responsibility for the review.
“No one is talking about continuing or discontinuing programs at this time,” Pings said. “Our task now is to identify our goals and prepare an inventory of all extended education programs. ”
In his memo Zumberge outlined three objectives of the committee:
—	To compile an inventory of all extended education programs.
—	To develop a statement on university policy concerning these programs.
—	To offer suggestions for the continuing surveillance of quality within the extended education programs.
The review will include all programs under the supervision of the College of Continuing Education: the Institute of Safety and Systems Management; late afternoon, evening, and off-campus classes in the schools of Business and Engineering; and the Continuing Education programs of all other schools such as Medicine, Law and Dentistry.
Video wizard relaxes by pushing the right buttons
Student shattered national record for Centipede
Staff photo by Joe Fives
ATARI EYES — Mark Lucidi appears to be suffering from an advanced stage of Pac-Man fever. Last week the freshman set the national scoring record for the video game “Centipede” in the Student Activities Center.
By Todd Marmorstein
Assistant Feature Editor
As the mushrooms and spiders erratically jetted around the video screen, bright flashes of light beamed from the control base towards them. Loud, almost musical, notes and electronic tones emanated from the machine, synchronized in perfect harmony with the moving targets on the video display.
Despite these distractions, 18-vear-old Mark Lucidi remained calm as he played Atari’s video game “Centipede.” He sat in front of the command buttons and knobs, and simply aimed his ammunition towards the swiftly approaching missiles. Then he fired his weapons rapidly.
Most people would be so distracted by the moving mushrooms or the noises that their concentration level would be low. But the curly, blonde-haired freshman was not easily bothered. After all, the shy student shattered the national record on “Centipede” last week at the Student Activities Center.
His score of 611,370 was more than 50,000 points higher than the previous national record. But Lucidi admitted that he has not always had an attraction to the game. “When it first came out, I wasn’t interested in it at all. But I knew a guy who was good at the game, and I learned how to play from him,” he said.
Initially, he thought the game would be easy to play. But, after he played the game a few times, he found “it was a lot harder than it looked,” he said.
He discovered the game last summer at the video arcade near his La Habra residence. At the arcade, which he partronized regularly, he would play four to eight games a day, often taking 45 minutes to finish each game.
“It was just a way for me to relax. But soon I felt almost obligated to master the game,” he said modestly.
As Lucidi gradually mastered the game, he was unaware of the national record until Rico Spa-daccini, SAC recreation coordinator, posted a flier several weeks ago announcing Atari video game records. The old record for Centipede was 556,886 points, attained by Dan Witman of Evansvillle, Ind.
“When I found that out, I regretted not entering the university’s Atari championships several months ago,” he said.
At the time, he vowed to himself that he would work to improve even more in order to beat the old record by a considerable amount.
Lucidi always has to be doing something. “It keeps me busy. And both mentally and physically occupied.”
Though he plays Centipede avidly, he said he has not lost his feel for reality. “These games will take you out of your everyday problems and you can escape for a while. But after I finish with a game, I still realize that I have the same problems as before I started.”
He used to enjoy playing pinball until he discovered video games such as “Asteroids” and “Defender.” Pinball, he realized, was a game which involved not just skill, but a lot of luck. But video games are an obsession which demand total skill and complete control.
His affection for the game did not dramatically change his lifestyle or his social life. Although he has made many new friends at video arcades, he thinks he is a little less social than before. But he claims that being an extrovert helps him meet new people.
“But it really hasn’t affected my behavior to people," he admitted.
He enjoys having crowds huddling around him while he’s involved with the game. “When I have a lot of people watching me play, I feel like I gain their respect.”
(Continued on poge 7)