Politicians dispute over young voters
By Carmen Chandler
Staff Writer
Rep. Matthew Renaldo, R-N.J., in a frank speech Monday morning, criticized university students and dismissed their political weight in the electoral process, saying that “when it comes to election day, they’re going to be doing something else.”
Renaldo, the ranking Republican on the House Select Committee on Aging, speaking to students in Political Science
100,	pointed to his recent campaign in the 1982 elections as an example.
He said that while he did not ignore the young vote, he spent more time and concern with senior citizens.
“Where do the young people fall down? They don’t vote,” he said. “All the polls show. . .in my district only 10 to 20 percent of them vote. So, why should I go down to (Princeton University, which is in his district), traveling. . .and appealing to these people to get out and vote for me, and my opponent is appealing to them, when they’re not going to vote for either one of us.
“And we made a decision, no, we’re not going to do that. We’re not going to write them off. We're going to talk with them. But where am I going to spend my time at in this dis-
trict? We’re going to go with the senior citizens.”
During his campaign, Renaldo said he surveyed an area populated heavily with senior citizens. The results showed that over 90 percent of them turned out at the polls on election day.
“Now where would you spend your time?” he asked. “I was there with those senior citizens. I knew election day they were going to go to the polls.” Renaldo said that while students ask a lot of questions, criticize frequently, and fill the campus newspapers with “all these articles,” their vote still means very little in the long run.
When contacted Monday afternoon. Assemblywoman Teresa Hughes of the 47th Assembly District, which includes this university, strongly disagreed with Renaldo’s philosophy.
She said the young vote has "tremendous potential.”
“There are more students than there are senior citizens,” she said. “The only thing about senior citizens is that they are more committed to voting. The students are busy with academics.”
Students are more prepared when they vote because they are familiar with complicated (Contiriued on page 7)
FUTURE ACCOUNTANTS — Ronda Azar explains economic analysis to an accounting class. The accounting school was recently rated among the top five in the nation.
Volume XCIII, Number 15	University pf Southern California Tuesday, February 1, 1983
University housing rent costly but within law
Accounting school rated among top 5
By Laura Castaneda
Assistant Gtv Editor
XT
troian
By Brenda Wong
Staff Writer
Despite living in a neighborhood where rent control is enforced by city ordinance, residents in university housing have for years been on the receiving end of rent hikes that are well above those specified by law.
The university is able to skirt the rent control laws because the city ordinance states that nonprofit organizations and institutions of higher education are exempt from rent control.
The university falls under both categories and has been able to make in the last few years rental increases of 11 to 13 percent in the face of the city ordinance that sets rental limits at 7 percent a year.
The main reason why the university raises the rent so highly in the dozens of apartments and dormitories it owns in the area is to help defray expenses brought on by construction of new buildings and to compensate for the high vacancy rate during the summer.
Several years ago the university began building apartment complexes and dormitories at a rapid pace, adding over 3,000 rental spaces in six years.
It was largely due to this building phase that has kept university rent at such a high level, said Bill Thompson, director of housing and residence halls.
“When we build a new building, if we charge what it costs to build and operate, your rent in an old building may be $100 and someone else’s rent in a new' building may be $800,” Thompson said. “If we made a unit pay for itself, there is no way students could afford it. The whole system supports itself.”
During the school year, old buildings as well as new buildings have the same rental increase. Thus, the old buildings help support the buildings with heavy debts, Thompson said.
“At universities, what you hope to have is two beds, both paid for, helping to support a new bed,” he said. "However, here the case is one bed, debt-free, helping to support a new bed.”
As a consequence of the last six years of con-
struction growth, the university has been left with more new buildings than old. This has kept rents high.
"That’s the paradox,” Thompson said. “The faster you build, the more it costs.”
The other factor that contributes to expensive rents stems from the high vacancy rate in university housing during the summer, Thompson said.
“In the summer, in order to defray the rents in the fall, we need to have optimum utilization year round,” he said. “Summer is basically a down time. It would be wonderful if we could have the apartments empty so we can get it ready for the fall, but financially that is not feasible.”
Last summer, 1,500 students lived in university housing compared to less than 900 the year before. Thompson said.
“If it had not been for the summer income, we would have to raise our rates 23 percent (during the school year) instead of the 12 percent,” said Guy Hubbard, director of auxiliary services.
The fact that the university did not raise the
1982	summer rent from the previous summer — plus the recession — may have been why more students stayed in university housing during the summer, he said.
Housing is also made available to anyone attending summer events at the university. These events include conferences, seminars and sporting events.
Hubbard said housing costs more to the general public than to students. “We charge considerably more, not hotel rates but about that range,” Hubbard said. “The purpose obviously is to help keep rates down (during the school year.)”
The rent increase for next year has not been set.
“We’re in the budgeting process now,” Thompson said. "We just have to wait and see until after we closely scrutinize our expenses. I hope the rates are below double digit. With Park-side (Tower) just completed and if the university doesn’t build or acquire any large-sized buildings, it would give us a breather. Hopefully, there is no need to increase to the extent we have in the past.”
Staff photo by Ather Ali
RENT IS DUE AGAIN — Skip Kendell pavs Ally Schulz, collections coordinator, this month's rent. University housing rent increases each year to defray the cost of new construction.
The university's undergraduate school of accounting has been rated among the top five in the nation, according to a recent survey conducted by Public Accounting Report magazine.
The survey asked the department chairmen at almost 400 colleges to name the five best undergraduate accounting programs in the United States.
The top ten schools, as published in the magazine’s December 1982 issue, were Illinois. Texas, Michigan, Ohio State, and Brigham Young, which tied with the university for fifth place honors.
Michigan State, Virginia, Washington, Missouri and Wharton filled out the remainder of the top ten positions.
Doyle Williams, dean of the school of accounting, said that the university’s high ranking was particularly noteworthy because the other schools have a greater number of alumni eligible to vote, which in turn gave them a greater advantage in the survey.
"These schools will have more graduates as department chair-
(Continued on page 3)