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Volume XCI Number _University of Southern California_Monday, October 19, 1981
Center merges with Annenberg School
By Alan Grossman
Staff Writer
Although the Center for the Study of the American Experience was discontinued as a separate part of the Annenberg School of Communications, university President James H. Zumberge said aspects of the facility will be integrated into the communications school.
“A decision was made to strengthen both the communications department and the identification of the center in order to improve the Annenberg School,” President Zumberge said.
According to the president, a joint committee of trustees from this university and from Annenberg's sister school at Pennsylvania State University at Radner, came to the conclusion that both the center and the communications department would be better served by merging.
“The decision (was made) by the joint committee and the Annenberg School in Radner, Pennsylvania, as per the agreement the University of Southern California signed in order to accept Ambassador (Walter) Annenberg's gift," Zumberge explained.
He added that the merger was not a financial decision: "It is mainly an academic decision ... it is not a question of costing or saving the university more money: it is getting the most mileage out of monies spent.”
The center was founded in 1978. and the USC News Service reported in a press release dated Jan. 25. 1979. that "the Center for the Study of the American Experience seeks to identify and trace selected threads drawn from the fabric of American life — some of the concerns that have been influential in shaping America and will be likely to define its future. The center works toward these objectives by assembling symposia at the highest level of expertise and objectivity."
John Weaver, the center’s executive director, said at the time. "Selected scholars are distinguished contributors to the intellectual life of our country, and their presence on our campus is a valuable asset in the study of the American experience."
To prove his point, Weaver recruited many leading members of particular fields. Among the notables was actor John Houseman (Paper Chase), a visiting professor of drama.
Zumberge said the value of the center has never been questioned and that “the visiting scholar program and symposia that the center was well known for under Dr. Weaver will be continued.”
(Continued on page 9)
__Photo by Rob Potter
ADMINISTRATIVE MOUSEKETEER—Mickey and Minnie Mouse pose with President James H. Zumberge and Yell Leaders Tony Manos and Mark Citjian, during Homecoming festivities on Saturday. Zumberge celebrated his second Homecoming, while USC celebrated its one-hundred and first.
Sadat memorial service held
Mourners pray, hear eulogies
By George Aguilar
Staff Writer
A memorial service for the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat drew nearly 70 solemn mourners Friday at Hancock Auditorium. The mourners, consisting of students and teachers, joined in prayers and later heard a university professor offer some personal reminiscences about the assassinated leader.
University Chaplain Alvin Rudisill presided over the service, held in memory of Sadat — killed in Cairo, Egypt, on Oct. 7. The service was sponsored in part by every religious organization on campus, the Office of International Student Scholars and the Egyptian Student Union.
The crowd was silent throughout the ceremony. The only external noise heard was the shifting of television cameras. Several television news crews covered the event.
Flowers were placed to the left of the stage and a portrait of Sadat was on a table to the left. An inscription in Arabic over the picture roughly translated into.
"The people who have been killed for Allah, they should not be considered dead, but alive in the kingdom of heaven.”
“We remember with sadness the death of Anwar
‘He (Sadat) had the courage to call for peace. It was fitting that his efforts on behalf of peace merited him the culminating recognition of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1980.’
Sadat, but we also celebrate his life," Rudisill said.
He recalled a 1977 news interview in which Sadat was asked what he would like his epitaph to be. Sadat replied, “He has lived for peace and died for principles.”
Nabil El-Zahhar, a university student in the School of Education, took the lectern and related Sadat's life history.
Sadat was born Christmas Day, 1918, in a village in the Nile River delta. In 1936 he met Gamal Abdel Nasser and in 1952, Sadat and Nasser successfully overthrew the government of King Far-ouk, after Sadat had spent six years in prison for his political views.
In 1970, Sadat succeeded Nasser as president of Egypt.
Sadat's presidency was stormy and controversial: “He reorganized the government and inaugurated a process of political and economic liberalization in Egypt. He released all political prisoners,” El-Zahhar said.
“He had the courage to call for peace,” he continued. “It was fitting that his efforts on behalf of peace merited him the culminating recognition of the Nobel Prize in 1980.”
A recording of an interview with Sadat was then played.
“In Islam, it is stated that in life, we are in a transi-(Continued on page 9)
Chlorine gas leak’s cause still unknown
By Suzie Abdalla
Staff Writer
Officials are still unsure of the cause of Tuesday’s chlorine gas leak in the Physical Education Building, which resulted in the evacuation of the structure.
Thomas Kranjcevich of the Environmental Health and Safety Office said officials there can only speculate, but he said there is a possibility that the valve controlling the chlorine gas tank of the swimming pool was corroded to such a degree that it leaked.
Two firefighters were hospitalized after inhaling the lethal substance.
Kranjcevich, who was also hospitalized, had entered the building to determine the seriousness of the situation, and ordered the evacuation of the building at about 8:30 a.m.
Though he entered the building without a gas mask, Kranjcevich later said the leak “was not (strong) enough to hurt anyone.” He said the two firefighters were injured because they committed a "functional error." After being sprayed with chlorine while inspecting the tank at close range, the firefighters left the
building. They then removed their gas masks and were overcome by the fumes from the chlorine on their clothes.
Kranjcevich was hospitalized after he accompanied firefighters to a fire department receiving station where the chlorine tank was taken for repair. He said he was standing near the tank as two firefighters with masks were working on th^ tank.
“I was standing upwind from the tank, about 75 feet away,” Kranjcevich said, when suddenly the wind shifted and blew the fumes toward him.
First signs of the leak were discovered by the night engineer, who had left a note for Desmond Vermaesen, the morning engineer supervising the pool’s chlorination system.
Realizing that the odor was becoming increasingly noticeable, Vermaesen called for help.
Five fire trucks from Los Angeles Fire Department Station 15, a mobile lab and two paramedic ambulance units were on the scene at 8:31 a.m.
No students were injured, and normal building operations were allowed to resume at 11 a.m.