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Volume XCI Number 20
University of Southern California
Monday, February 8, 1982
Fraternity members accused of forging checks, bribery, fraud
By Charla Foster
Staff Writer
Members of Phi Sigma Kappa and Kappa Sigma fraternities will appear before the university’s peer review board Wednesday to settle a dispute regarding an incident during which two Kappa Sigma members allegedly wrote at least $70 worth of fraudulent checks.
Mark Covell, a member of Phi Sigma Kappa, submitted to the board on Jan. 25 a report which stated that he suspected certain Kappa Sigma members of forging his name on three checks made out to Dominos Pizza and Dr. Munchies in December.
Covell said he had based his suspicions on a Dec. 12 incident during which Lance Schmidt, a Kappa Sigma member, allegedly made comments indicating his involvement in the check-writing incident while he and a fraternity brother threw cans at the Phi Sigma fraternity house.
Covell said the trouble began in October when he changed his bank account from San Diego to Los Angeles.
“I ordered new checks from the bank but they never arrived,” Covell said, adding that he notified the bank a few weeks later.
“For a while, I thought the whole matter was cleared up and that I would just receive new checks,” he said.
Instead, Covell said he received a bank statement which documented a $300 bill for checks he did not write.
‘‘The checks were made out to local pizza and beer places and had the wrong address printed on them — Kappa Sigma’s address,” he said.
Later that day, Covell said Lance Schmidt, a Kappa Sigma member, approached him and some fraternity brothers in front of their house and indicated their knowledge of the bill.
“They had been throwing tobacco cans at our house while me and some friends were outside working on a car,” Covell said.
“We told them to stop throwing the cans and they didn’t, so we turned around and started to walk away.”
“At that point, they noticed my football T-shirt with my name on the back and asked me if I had been writing checks for beer and pizza that were bouncing,” Covell said.
It was at that time that Covell decided to take legal action against the fraternity house.
(Continued on page 3)
Staff photo by Junji Yasuda
MACSTADIUM — A bulldozer destroys a basketball court making way for the construction of the Olympic swimming stadium. The MacDonald's Corporation is funding the project
Staff Assembly calls for survey
Asks university to look at wages
Chris Navarro
Staff Writer
The increased cost of living, differences between the university salary structure and the marketplace structure and the need for a reward for long service has prompted the Staff Assembly to call a planned seven percent salary increase inadequate.
This is one of six points contained in the “Recommendations on Budget Priorities” discussed during a Staff Assembly meeting Thursday. Except for some changes which need to be made in the wording, the recommendations on salary and benefit packages for university staff members are ready to be presented to the Resource
Management and Planning Committee.
"My understanding is that we have reached the basic points that will be in our presentation,” said Margaret Harrington, vice president of the Staff Assembly. “We realize that we will need to follow up on this with a more specific recommendation,” she added.
The recommendations describe, among other things, the need of staff to have access to a university annual salary survey so that the salary increase level may be determined. The survey is conducted to assess university salaries’ current relationship to the marketplace. This would enable the assembly to request a comparable
salary.
Staff Assembly members discussed the definition of “marketplace” and agreed that the word should be defined more specifically in the budget recommendations.
A third recommendation called attention to the difficulties in recruiting and retaining well-qualified staff because of a substantial difference in salaries.
One recommendation made by the Staff Assembly to solve this calls upon the Board of Trustees to establish salaries of reasonable market parity, and a definite schedule for reaching that goal.
A fourth major point made (Continued on page 5)
Preliminary hearing on NCAA allegations slated
By Wendell Mobley
Assistant City Editor
University representatives were scheduled to meet with National Collegiate Athletic Association representatives Friday in a preliminary hearing to discuss allegations pertaining to questionable procedures involving the athletic department.
Jim Pemr, the university’s Sports Information director, said Friday that Richard Perry, the university’s athletic director and Richard Field, a trial lawyer with the Los Angeles firm of Adams, Duque and Hazeltine and who is representing the university in the investigation, were in Shawnee Kansas, discussing the matter at the NCAA headquarters.
Perry also said that David Price, assistant commissioner of the Pacific-10 Conference, accompanied the representatives in the hearing before the NCAA's enforcement staff.
Ron Stratton, assistant director of the NCAA Enforcement Department, said Friday afternoon from his Shawnee office, that he had not seen any university representatives.
Stratton refused to comment on whether or not the hearing occurred although he did say that the hearing was not the type of preliminary' hearing that is usually associated with the legal definition.
A preliminary hearing, in the legal sense, determines whether or not there is enough evidence against the defendant to warrant further investigations and trials. Stratton said a NCAA preliminary hearing offers a chance to discuss allegations and provides a chance to "make the process move smoother.”
(Continued on page 6)
’83 budget proposal to cut student loans
Andrew O’Brien
The blade of the federal budget-cutting axe is being honed as the Reagan administration prepares for a proposed $1.5 billion cut in student aid.
The reduction proposal for
1983	will be sent to Congress today, and the cuts will eliminate three programs while affecting all other forms of federal aid. a college research group said Monday.
While forcing graduate students out of the Guaranteed Student Loan Program, the bill will force undergraduates to pay a 10 percent origination fee (based the total amount of the loan), and the interest rate will jump from the current nine percent to the market rate (currently exceeding 19 percent) two years after they begin payment, said Pat Smith of the American Council on Education.
Severed by the Reagan proposal will bje the $278 million Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant program (SEOG), the $179 million National Direct Student Loan (NDSL), and the $74 million State Student Incentive Grant (SSIG). the group said.
Mike Halloran, the university director of financial aid. explained that the budget proposal will take effect during the 1983-84 academic year. The university would lose $880 thousand in SEOG money. $1.75 milion in NDSL money, and $2 million from the SSIG program, which partially contributes to the Cal Grant program. Halloran said.
The bill would also cut the $2.3 billion Pell Grant program to $1.4 billion, and the $528 million Work Study program
would be cut to $400 million. The university currently receives $4.3 million from the Pell Grants, which would shrink to $2.6 million. Halloran said, and the present Work Study allocation of $3 million for the university would drop to $2.2 million.
“What this means." Halloran said, “is that fewer students will be eligible for federal financial aid. and those who are eligible will receive far less.”
In addition, Halloran said that the university will be forced to look for other sources for financing such as private donations. He also indicated that in the wake of last year's cuts, the university has had to increase its university scholarship committments by $ 75 million.
Last year, cuts by the Reagan administration caused a loss of $.75 million in the NDSL by the university. The administration also imposed a five percent origination fee on the GSL and required students from families with incomes above $30,000 to take a “need test” to qualify for loans.
A collection of college groups calling themselves the Action Committee for Higher Education held a news conference last Monday to launch a drive to defeat the proposals.
“At a national conference for financial administrators last year in Washington.” Halloran said, "I spoke to several congressional staff members.”
“They said that they hear from constituents regarding such issues as national health and Social Security, but rarely from constituents regarding education. especially post-sec-ondarv."