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Volume XCII, Number 28	University of Southern California	Thursday, October 14, 1982
New process credited for decline in unpaid fee bills
Architecture students must settle by November deadline
By Wendell Mobley
City Editor
Six weeks of school have passed and
22	percent of the university’s total enrollment still has not paid its fee bills. The figure, although seemingly high, is an improvement over the 1981-82 academic year, Jimi Bingham, director of student financial operations, said Wednesday.
As of last Friday, there were 5,893 unpaid fee bills, he said. There are currently 26,350 students enrolled at the university.
He estimated that the number of unpaid fee bills is between 2,000 and
3,000	less this year than last year.
Bingham credited the improvement to the new process of automatically crediting financial aid to the fee bill.
Despite the improvement in statistics, the school of architecture has apparently taken steps to motivate students to settle their fee bills.
A letter distributed by the school warned students enrolled in the school’s classes that if they had not attempted to settle their fee bill by Nov. 1, they would no longer be enrolled in the school.
Bingham credited the improvement to the new process of automatically crediting financial aid to the fee bill.
“If your fee bill status is listed as ‘N’ (indicates no payment and no record of attempting to pay) on or after November 1, 1982 faculty members will be advised that you are not enrolled in the school of architecture, that you are not eligible to receive any kind of instruction or participate in class work, or to receive a grade for the course,” the letter, dated Oct. 6, 1982, says.
Authorities at the school of architecture refused to comment.
However, one administrator with the school who would not give her name, said she thought the letter was drafted by Cornelius Pings, senior vice president of academic affairs.
Pings said he had not read the letter and said he would not comment until he read it.
The school administrator said the let-
ter’s statement was directed to students who are not attempting to settle their fee bill. “We wouldn’t penalize a student in a pending status (a student who has taken steps to settle the bill).
“It’s a useful letter,” the administrator continued. “It lists names and places where a student can go to solve fee bill problems.”
Bingham said that although he has not heard about the letter, he thought it was a good idea. “They (students) should be told to pay up or get out,” he said.
He had not heard of other schools imposing deadlines for fee bill settlement but said small schools would find it easier to set deadlines than would larger ones. “It would be pretty difficult for LAS or the school of business to do it." Bingham said.
Michael Klineman, assistant dean for student affairs for the school of business, said his school was not attempting to set a deadline for fee bill repayment. “We’re not in the collection business. I think faculty would rather let administrators do the collecting. We do want them to pay but I don’t think a faculty member should be responsible (for en-
forcing a deadline),” Klineman said.
Jerry Kenney, manager of student accounts, said he was unfamiliar with the letter. The Nov. 1 deadline described in the letter is not part of the university’s policy, he said.
In the past, the problem of unsettled fee bills has been perpetuated by students who were not aware of the steps they are supposed to take to settle the debt, Kenney said. “A lot of students sit in class and think everything has been taken care of. We ask people within the academic structure to enlighten these students.”
Kenney said he sent letters out last month to students who had not settled their fee bills. He quickly pointed out that he made no threat or ultimatum.
There are several reasons students settle fee bills late, Kenney said.
"Sometimes they haven't had their financial aid packages re-packaged by financial aid, or they aren’t attending the university even though they pre-registered. Other times they are just waiting for parental or outside agency support (money provided by a source other than the university or state or federal government).”
UAC ADVISES COUNCIL BI-WEEKLY
Improved decision-making expected with new council
By Marc Igler
Assistant City Editor
University leaders emerged from Tuesday’s introductory meeting of the University Advisory Council with the impression that the newly created body will provide a long-awaited overhaul of the decision-making process on campus.
The UAC, which was created by President James Zumberge in June following the dissolution of the nine-year-old President's Advisory Council, is a group of 18 men and women representing various university interests.
Although the UAC will not be a decision-making body, it will provide advice to Zumberge on many important issues that confront the university.
The UAC, which will be on a two-year trial basis, was created by Zumberge to provide an alternative to the highly bureaucratic and largely ineffective PAC, said Dan Dunmoyer, president of the Student Senate and the student representative on the new advisory group.
“I considered PAC to be the quintessential bureaucratic animal,” Dunmoyer said. "Zumberge is not known for wasting his time, and the UAC is going to give him a much better flow of ideas on important matters than PAC did.”
The UAC will meet once every two weeks for three hours. This contrasts with the executive committee of PAC that met about every two months and was plagued by in-house bickering and power politics, Dunmoyer said.
The new council will be composed of several senior administrators, four departmental
deans, the president of the faculty senate, the president of the Student Senate, the president of the staff assembly and two faculty representatives.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Zumberge outlined the role of the UAC as an advisory panel that will carry significant weight in the decisions of major university business.
“I left (the meeting) with a very favorable impression,” said Donald Lewis, president of the faculty senate. “I don’t know how things are going to go, but it is a worthwhile attempt. It should be a good sounding board to keep him
(Zumberge) informed on university sentiment.”
Dunmoyer said he felt a “certain sense of candidness” at the meeting.
“We didn’t reach any conclusions but there was a general understanding as to what we will be doing,” he said.
At Tuesday’s meeting Zumberge touched on several topics that he considers to be high-priority items for this year. Among the topics he mentioned were:
— the continuing commitment by the administration to improve the academic quality of the university, or as Dun-
moyer said, “Zumberge’s ‘Grand Plan.’ ”
—	the university’s admission policies that will be set in an attempt to maintain high entrance requirements without cutting back on enrollment.
—	the university’s athletic program that Zumberge is attempting to downplay in favor of academics and if the university should pursue in court the recent probation leveled against the football team by the NCAA.
—	the fact that the university is $18 million behind in deferred maintenance that has
left many buildings in dire need of repair.
—	student services that Zumberge has pledged to improve.
Numerous university committees will operate in addition to the UAC on specific matters of concern and will report directly to the president. Formerly these committees reported to the general council of PAC, a process which administrators felt dramatically impeded the decision-making process. If Zumberge feels he needs more advice on the committee’s conclusions as well as on other major issues, he will elicit the UAC’s opinion.
Senate urges automated teller cameras
By Aian Grossman
Assistant City Editor
The Student Senate unanimously voted Wednesday to ask the managers of local banks that employ automated tellers, to install cameras near these machines in an attempt to stop the recent wave of robberies in University Village.
The senate also passed a resolution to improve community relations by calling for a university-sponsored track meet involving neighborhood junior high school students.
The bank measure states that due to the recent robberies at Bank of America’s and Security Pacific National Bank’s machines and also because the First Interstate Bank's on-campus machine is in a "low-visibility area,” cameras are needed to “discourage any future assailants.”
In a separate action, Ingrid Calle, head of the senate financial affairs research and action unit, released copies of the university’s endowment investment portfolio that former senator Mark Slavkin first attempted to gain access to last spring.
Before its meeting, the senate queried
Irwin Lieb, vice president and dean of the college of letters, arts and sciences, mostly from a prepared list of nine questions that were circulated to the senators, but not to Lieb.
He told the senate that he had resolved problems relating to the concerns of senators who had alerted him to communication problems between students and foreign-born teacher’s assistants.
“I called in the (chairmen) of every department in the college which have a high percentage of foreign-born teacher’s assistants, and told them they were responsible that every TA they hire speak commendable English, and that I would have the heads of those who didn’t comply,” Lieb said.
Lieb added that if any student had a bonafide complaint about a TA’s language problem, he would look into the matter.
He was then asked how the university could hope to maintain a quality graduate program, when fellowships are difficult to obtain.
Lieb answered, explaining that because he is not the graduate dean of this university, he is not directly in-
volved. But he added that in the school of letters, arts and sciences, he is asking for more fellowships and fewer “titled professors.”
Lieb then responded to the comments of a foreign student who questioned the university’s practice of accepting international students without officially requiring the student to understand spoken English. As a result, the student said the university’s reputation abroad is weak.
Lieb said he disagrees with the university’s policy, and added the university is academically stronger than most people believe.
“USC loves to complain about its academic education, but it’s a stunning institution. I didn’t come here (from the University of Texas) just to get a suntan. This university is better than it knows.”
Lieb then emphatically denied the rumor that he wishes to end faculty tenure at the university.
“I’m not interested in attacking the principle of tenure. I’m not attacking tenure.”