Seventy-Fifth Year of Publication
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Volume Cll, Number 46
University of Southern California
Wednesday, November 5, 1986
Feature.
Volunteer group shows restored historic homes
By Moon Yun Wright
Staff Writer
The homes built on West Adams Boulevard during the turn of the century were mainly homes of the top hat and silk stocking set of Los Angeles. The area that had been the "Beverly Hills" of the 1900s was the area from Figueroa down to Crenshaw.
On Veteran's Day Weekend, Nov. 8 and 9, from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. each day, volunteers will be needed to help guide visitors through the historic, turn-of-the-century homes during West Adams Heritage Association's annual Historic Homes Tour, according to Eike Smith, the board director of the West Adams Heritage Association.
"The volunteer docents will answer questions about the handsomely restored Victorian and Craftsman homes and will help with the flow of visitors through the homes' interior," she said. "Each docent will have the choice of four hours / day shifts, either on Saturday or Sunday."
The docents will be stationed at one of the 14 particular homes scheduled to be on tour. Their duties will be "to take tickets and to point out the architectural features of the building/'said Smith.
"The docents are encouraged to take the tour themselves. The tickets are $6 for the general public, but docents will receive free tickets," she added. "There will also be a docent party to be held in an elegantiy renovated home not open to the general public."
Most people in Los Angeles are unenlightened about the rediscovered historic neighborhoods, while urban pioneers on the East Coast and in San Francisco have learned to treasure them. The residents of Los Angeles have ignored the architectural wonders that still exist here, according to the West Adams Heritage Association.
Nearly all the homes in the West Adams area were built with the tum-of-the-century craftsmanship that makes each one unique. Condos and tract houses are all alike, but West Adams homes are one of a kind. The main attractions are hardwood floors, woodwork detailing, spacious rooms and all sorts of nooks and crannies. Most homes were built by one of the leading architects of the day — making each property a potential landmark, according to Smith.
Some of the houses and other buildings in the community are listed on, or are eligible for, the National Register of Historic Places, and others are Los Angeles Cultural Monuments, she added.
The stately homes were designed by famous architects who also designed the Los Angeles City Hall and the Shrine Auditorium.
(Continued on page 8)
General education, ’careerism’ called major failings in educational system
By Rachel Amone
Staff Writer
Citing poor general education classes and an increased emphasis on "careerism" as major failings in the educational system, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching criticized undergraduate colleges for not providing a quality education.
The report, which was released on Sunday after three years of research, said that "many of the nation's colleges and universities are more successful in credentialing than in providing a quality education for their students."
A major concern of the report was that students graduate without basic skills, such as spelling, grammar and mathematics.
"Malapropisms and factual gaffes in students' work, passed around from professor to professor and even campus to campus, are a sure source of hilarity," the report said.
Last year, a college professor published a compilation of students' humorous errors that had been handed in on essays and tests entitled "A History of the Past." The mistakes showed students were lacking a fundamental grasp of English.
Writing on the bubonic plague, one student wrote that "victims of the Black Death grew big boobs on their necks." Another said that "Martin Luther nailed 95 theocrats to a door." Still another wrote, "the German emperor's lower passage was blocked by the French for years and years."
Such mistakes would most likely be eliminated by effective writing classes, the report said. Although most students at undergraduate universities are required to go through programs comparable to the Freshman Writing Program, it seems that writing classes do not serve to improve students' writing.
Betty Bamberg, director of the Freshman Writing Program, said that while some students do tend to be imprecise in their use of formal English, she felt it was more a fault of society in general than of undergraduate education.
"Freshman writing can only do so much. Students have to be exposed to a more formal use of the language," she said.
Although Bamberg said high schools could do a better job of teaching English, she said they have
improved over the past ten years, especially in the California public school system.
She also said that while the foundation's report will not cause a revolution in education, "it represents an important statement about goals (universities) should achieve."
Most university faculty interviewed agreed with the report's position that an undergraduate education should be well-balanced instead of geared solely toward a career.
One fault in university education, according to the report, is that little is done to further education outside the classroom. "The undergraduate college should be held together by something more than plumbing, a common grievance over parking or football rallies in the fall."
Student senator Daniel Potter agreed. He said that students' money could be better spent promoting more of an academic atmosphere. He praised student organizations such as the Program Board, Trojan Pride and a recreation assembly that consists of student clubs.
Speaking of the academic problems found by the study, he said that the "university has been aware of the problem and has been taking steps to correct it."
Potter said he feels that "undergraduate education is not the time to become specialized but is the time to be exposed to different areas of education, unlike business."
The foundation's study singled out business as a major that emphasized "careerism." But Michael Klineman, an assistant dean at the School of Business, said that since business majors are required to take half of their course work in areas other than business, he feels that most are well-rounded.
Klineman said that business majors pick their general education classes from the same categories as do students from the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, but the sequencing is different. Business students fulfill all of their general education requirements first.
Further, the admissions committee for the business school looks for "students who have skills other than business." They look for people who have work experience and varied interests, he said.
(Continued on page 7)
Student robbed at ReadyTeller
Student assailed at knifepoint outside Security Pacific Bank
By Bryon Okada
Staff Writer
A 34-year-old man was arrested by university security officers after he allegedly brandished an
11	1/2-inch buck knife and stole the wallet of a student early Tuesday morning.
He was booked for robbery and is being held on $11,000 bail, said Sgt. John Lewris of university security.
The student, whose name security did not release, was using the automatic teller outside of the Security Pacific Bank on the corner of Jefferson Boulevard and Hoover Street when the man came up behind him with the knife, Lewis said. Fearing that he would be stabbed, the student tried to flee, but stumbled and dropped his wallet.
The student told officers that he then flagged down the driver of a university escort car, who picked him up and contacted security.
Two officers in separate cars, Lee Walters and Robert Allende, converged on the suspect as he made his way down Jefferson Boulevard and confronted him in front of the Chevron gas station, Lewis said.
(Continued on page 8)
MIA HANUSEK DAILY TROJAN
Users of automatic teller machines such as this one at a branch of Security Pacific Bank were robbed in two recent incidents.
Fire in Pardee causes students to evacuate
By Karen Kuettel
Staff Writer
A fire in the trash chute at Pardee Tower Sunday afternoon caused about 100 concerned residents to evacuate the building and left some minor water damage after water from sprinklers seeped into first floor hallways.
"We came out of the room and there was smoke at the end of the hall. It was really scary," said Karen Matiasevich, a Pardee Tower resident who lives on the sixth floor.
As smoke traveled up the chute and into all of Pardee's eight floors, a seventh floor resident set off the fire alarm.
"Walking back to my room, a guy hollered to me that there was some smoke at the end of the hall," said Dwayne Edsinga, the resident who set off the fire alarm at approximately 3:45 p.m.
"So I popped the fire alarm thing with my key-ring," Edsinga said.
He and other residents then scrambled down the fire exit stairs that lead to the outside of the building.
Security was immediately notified of the fire and they, in turn, contacted the Los Angeles Fire Department, said Lt. Mike Kennedy, an evening watch commander at university security.
But heat from the fire had already set off the trash chute sprinklers and apparently extinguished the flames before the fire department arrived, said Bill Thompson, the director of housing and residence halls.
Two fire engines arrived at the scene and firefighters checked the building.
Although firefighters said they did not know the exact cause of the fire, one of three head residents at Pardee, Robert Cobb, said "someone may have thrown a cigarette butt into the chute that smoldered."
"Residents got out very quick and were very cooperative. The whole process went very smoothly," Cobb said.
Students were allowed to re-enter the building 30 to 45 minutes after the fire alarm sounded.
There was minor water damage to the first floor because "trash was piled a little higher than the first floor, so when the sprinklers went off, the water leaked down thru the trash chute on the first floor," Thompson said.