TRUSTEES ECHO SUPPORT FOR MOVE
University officials favor peace officer status
By Michael Molinski
Assistant City Editor
The university administration and board of trustees have for the first time publicly voiced unequivocal support of peace officer status for University Security officers.
“We have come to the conclusion that it would vastly improve the effect of our officers,” said Carl Hartnack, chairman of the board of trustees. “Without question the trustees are in support of the philosophy of peace officer status. It's just a matter of deciding which way to go. There has been no resolution passed. It’s not a finality.”
If University Security officers were granted peace officer status, it would give them the same rights and responsibilities of police officers while on duty.
There are essentially four options available to the
university in obtaining peace officer status for University Security.
The first is to apply for full-time peace officer with the state of California. The second is to request reserve officers with either the Los Angeles Police Department or the Sheriff’s Department. The third is to have a memorandum of understanding with the LAPD that will give security officers the power to arrest criminal suspects. The final option is to remain security officers.
"The one that we are working toward is reserve officer status with LAPD,” said Jon Strauss, senior vice-president of administration. “President Zumberge supports this.”
As reserve officers, peace officer status would only be retained only while on duty. The officers would be hired according to the standards of the LAPD and would probably have to pass police academy training, Ward said. They would have the power to arrest a
person for probable cause, have access to criminal files and other records, and would have other rights granted to police officers.
“Full peace officer status is possible but we’re somewhat reluctant,” Strauss said.
In order to be granted full-time peace officer status, a resolution requesting it wrould have to pass both houses of the state legislature and be signed by the governor. With this status, the university force would exist as its own entity, with all the rights of police officers. The responsibilities and costs of this option would probably be much greater. The University of California and California State University systems have this type of force.
Ward did not indicate any one option as a favorite but said that a memorandum of understanding would be the “least desirable” to University Security. This option w'ould give on-duty officers the power to make
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trojan
Southern California	Thursday, January 13, 1983
Volume XCIII, Number 3	University of
Staff photo by Ather Ali
CAMPUS COMMEMORATION — Members of community' schools and black organizations listen to Thomas) Kilgore, presidential adviser for special community affairs, as he speaks on civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. The Wednesday gathering was part of the tribute to King's birthday on January 15.
King honored in campus ceremony
By Mark Laycock
Staff Writer
An audience of nearly 200 gathered Wednesday to commemorate the life of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in an hour-long ceremony featuring speeches by two black leaders on campus and musical selections by the USC Gospel Choir.
The program coincided with similar events in what has been labeled Martin Luther King Week. The civil rights leader, assassinated at the age of 39, would have been 54 years old Saturday. On that day, hundreds of supporters are expected to march down Santa Barbara Boulevard. At noon, the name of the street will be changed to Martin Luther King Boulevard in a ceremony at the intersection of Western Avenue.
Gloria Haithman, chairman of the planning committee for the campus ceremony and a member of the USC Black Faculty and Staff Caucus, explained the purpose of the program held at the Law Center Plaza: “We wanted to commemorate his life and to talk of the impact it had on all of us,” she said. “It’s important to keep his dreams and ideals in the minds of all people."
Haithman, near the close of Wednesday’s program led the audience in a litany of King’s famous “I Have a Dream" speech.
The keynote address was shared by Thomas
Kilgore, presidential adviser for special community affairs, and William Williams, a professor in the school of public administration.
Kilgore shared his memories of watching King growr in prominence as a believer and practioner in the cause of passive resistance.
He asserted the King’s real legacy lies not in his civil rights advocacy but in his religious faith. “He and all he did," Kilgore explained, “was rooted and grounded in Christian ethics. He was a man of deep religious faith.”
Williams also related anecdotes concerning King and his peaceful means of dealing with adversity.
“It was inevitable,” Williams said, “that he would use passive resistance to meet the forces that blacks were faced with in society.”
The program also featured the debut of the USC Gospel Choir, under the direction of John Pye, a student in the school of music. Pve led the choir in "Going Up Yonder" and "Take Me Back.” At the conclusion of the program, the audience was invited to join hands and sing "We Shall Overcome.”
The event was sponsored by the USC Black Faculty and Staff Caucus. Co-sponsors included the USC Black Women's Caucus, the department of black student services, and the office of special community affairs.
Security arrests man for preaching past hours
By Laura Castaneda
Assistant City Editor
For the first time in years. University Security arrested one of the many evangelists who speak in front of Tommy Trojan, Wednesday.
George Smock, 40, a preacher who travels across the country
jnd stop- at r olToges arir: universities, was handcuffed by an officer after he refused to leave campus and was later booked for trespassing at the LAPD’s Southwest Division.
“If you want to arrest me, you'll do nothing but help my cause,” Smock shouted as he was being led away. “What kind of free speech is it if you only have free speech for an hour?”
A security officer explained that speakers can talk between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Most are allow’ed to speak after the deadline if they are not creating a disturbance.
A security spokesman said many complaints were received from students who were annoyed with Smock’s preaching.
“Normally, we don’t ask anyone to leave,” the spokesman said. “But we do when we get a complaint.
“It was time to cut (his speech) and he didn’t wrant to do it,” the officer said.
“Wre don't usually take (the preachers) in — any time we ask them to leave, they cooperate. This gentleman refused to leave.”
Staff photo by Ather Ali
PREACHER ARRESTED — Security officers joe Picou (left) and Steve Johnson arrest traveling evangelist George Smock for speaking past the allotted time in front of Tommy Trojan.