Volume XCI Number 21
trojan
University of Southern California Tuesday, February 9, 1982
Students protest firing of aide
Believe BSS director involved
thing most other schools neglect. Such classes. Steele said, should make for well-prepared, well-rounded graduates. These preparations can only go so far, however.
“We can only prepare students, but they have to perform,” he said.
Steele illustrated some of the ways in which the business school has changed.
In 1975, for example, only 3 percent of the students enrolled in the MBA program were women. Now, 30 percent of the students are women.
The average age of students is older too as people are re-(Continued on page 3)
Olympic Committee tours campus for progress report; finds beauty, serenity
The International Olympic Committee executive board members visited the university last week as part of their occasional progress report check-ups during their stay in Los Angeles.
“Basically we wanted to communicate to the IOC the idea that even in the middle of a bustling metropolis like Los Angeles, a beautiful and serene college campus can exist, and I must say that we were successful,” said a Los Angeles Olympic Committee staff person.
Part of the IOC’s main concern was designated athletic housing for 1984. As an example of apartment-style living, the university’s Webb Tower was toured. Olympic officials were impressed, the staff member said. The other style of housing Olympic athletes can look forward to are dormitories. IOC members also travelled to UCLA to see the dormitories in Westwood.
“We really did not come here to show them what the Olympic village will be like, because that is too far ahead in the future,” the staff person said. “We wanted to show the venue and
what is to come as our plans progress.”
Other stopping points on campus were the Annenberg Communications Complex and university athletic facilities. Cromwell Track is going to be used as a warm up and training facility in the 1984 Summer Olympics.
“We did not go into the physical education building and look at that pool as our emphasis was on the new pool construction site,” said the LAOC staff person.
Absent from the tour was IOC President Juan Samaranch, as he had his own privately conducted tour.
As representatives from the IOC, members do not represent their own countries or interests, they are responsible only to the IOC itself.
Also w’ith the IOC group were members of the Olympic Federation and some United States Olympic Committee members.
The members of the IOC executive board were in Los Angeles from Jan. 30 to Feb. 7.
PROGRAM LOGICAL, PRACTICAL
couraged black students on campus and is dedicated to serving the students.
Rodgers received notice of termination Friday from James Appleton, vice president of Student Affairs. “The action was taken by me at the recommendation of Dr. Porter,” Appleton said. He refused to discuss the circumstances surrounding the termination.
Students believed that the Rodger’s firing was part of Appleton’s plans to undermine the BSS, thus prompting the protest. It is an allegation Appleton fervently denied. He said that in time students will see that this is untrue.
“We’ve increased the budget, hired a director, retained student work dollars and I’ve added dollars from my own budget," Appleton said.
The reasons listed for termination were mismanagement of time sheets, poor overall performance and insubordinate behavior.
Rodgers attributed the claims of poor performance to the "mass confusion” in the office since Porter arrived. This left her unable to do her job. “She
didn’t give me a job description or let me follow my old one, so I didn’t know what she wanted me to do,” Rodgers said.
Rodgers mentioned several projects Porter gave her that involved a lot of work but lacked direction in their implementation.
For example, Rodgers said she set up plans for a BSS newsletter at Porter's request, but her boss rejected the idea after Rodgers had completed the research. According to Rodgers, Porter gave her a sample of a brochure from another university and asked her to replicate it. Rodgers said she worked hard to produce the BSS brochure Porter asked for, but Porter disapproved of it.
Regarding mismanagement of time sheets, Rodgers said that when students made up scheduled work hours on the weekends, she was instructed by the work-study office to fill the time in on the day(s) that the student was scheduled to work.
Rodgers said her duties called for her to sign the time (Continued on page 8)
University’s publications face financial difficulties
Business dean develops theory
By Laura Castaneda
Staff Writer
“The problem (with business).” says Jack Steele, dean of the Graduate School of Business Administration, “is unlearning, not learning. The old rules simply do not apply anymore.”
Since the old rules of business are changing all the time, business educators have had to find new w'ays to teach, and this is just what Steele has been doing during his seven years as dean.
He has developed an approach to business education that some have called unorthodox, but Steele finds that his approach is both practical and logical. He said it has helped raise the school’s prestige in recent years.
Rather than stressing solely the practical side of business, or the academic side of it, he balances the two. Business school professors still teach conventional business theories, but they try to show their relevance to corporate strategies — a philosophy in direct conflict with most other busis-ness programs.
“In my judgment, a lot of good schools are working on questions no one is asking. That's fine but there are many problems that are relevant," Steele said of universities devoted solely to esoteric academic research.
He does not dismiss research entirely but said that a balance with practical learning must be maintained.
“We want to produce leaders, not technical specialists,” Steele said.
He said the graduate school tries to conceptualize what is important in the world and to create a learning environment where students can have a competative edge. “We want students to see tomorrow’s problems and not yesterday’s solutions,” Steele said.
Many academicians and businessmen outside the university credited the school’s sudden rise in prestige in recent years to the philosophy Steele preaches. The school’s improved faculty has also been praised.
“We have some of the most exciting scholars in the business field,” Steele said.
Although success has been relatively recent, the potential for a great business school was always present, he said.
“For 50 years, we’ve had a close working relationship with the business community in Southern California,” he said. “That was here before I got here. I just capitalized on it.”
Steele, who taught at Harvard and Stanford before coming to the university, has also stressed computer science and information systems, some-
ization led to confusion concerning how to allocate individual budgets.
“This whole thing will blow over when we get the budget settled for next year." he said.
A spokesman for Trojan Family said that the publication has been “living on a shoestring " since September. Because of the lack of funds, it missed its February printing date, and the spokesman said that its March issue is in doubt.
Published since 1970 for alumni. parents and supporters of the university, Trojan Family is printed 10 times a year with a circulation of 110,000. It is traditionally 16 pages in length and operates on an annual budget of Si20.000.
Peterson said that additional funds may not be available to Trojan Family for this year, and the newspaper may be forced to cease publication until September.
Peterson said that the future of Transcript, published weekly for the university’s faculty and staff, is not in immediate jeopardy. He said that the publication has enough remaining funds for four or five more issues.
The Transcript has approximately 13 remaining publication dates for the spring semester.
Transcript has been operating since last November and has a circulation of 8.000 and an annual budget of S26.000.
Transcript and Trojan Family are funded exclusively by the university’s operating budget and receive no endowment support. Peterson said.
By Yolanda Austin
Staff Writer
Black students once again staged a sit in Monday in the office of Black Student Services (BSS) in protest of the actions of Pamela Porter, the director.
Some students believe Porter is responsible for the termination of her assistant, Bobbie Rodgers, the person whom they feel has kept many dis-
By Marc Igler
Staff Writer
Unless additional funds are made available immediately, the university's publications Transcript and Trojan Family will be forced to curtail operations, spokesmen for the publications confirmed Monday.
But Vance Peterson, director of Academic Relations, was quick to point out that the financial difficulties of the two publications are merely a temporary condition.
“This will not be a long-term problem," Peterson said. "It was basically a situation that was caused by the reorganization of the budget internally.”
The University Affairs publication staff was reorganized last year. Peterson said, adding that in the process many university staffs were consolidated into one unit with one budget. Peterson said that this reorgan-
FEARSOME FOURSOME — University Security officers Hero and Amo are pictured with their partners, officers Steve Sickles and Joe Picou. The men will be used to detain suspects the dogs smell out
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT — Tom Kaim and Ned Treuenfels practice blowing in the wind. Yesterday's fine weather was trumpeted by Tom and heralded by Ned's French horn.