EMBROILED IN CONTROVERSY, PROTEST CONTINUES
BSU, alumni vow to have BSS director dismissed
By Mare Igler
Assistant City Editor
The Black Student Union has vowed to continue to press the university to dismiss the director of Black Student Services, and a group of black alumni has thrown its full support behind the cause.
At a BSU meeting Tuesday night co-chairman Ronnie Martin said that “we will continue to protest and shout.”
The heart of the BSU’s attack is Pamela Porter, director of BSS. She has been embroiled in controversy since taking the position last October.
‘We simply do not want to deal with this woman anymore. There’s nothing wrong with BSS in itself; it’s the director. ’
The BSU claims, among other charges, that Porter is unresponsive to the needs and problems of black students.
Members of the organization say her appointment as director was a political move by the university. “The university felt threatened by the thought of black students organizing on campus,” said Olu Osei, a former BSU president and a current member of the alumni group fighting for Porter’s ouster.
University spokesmen maintain that Porter is a competent administrator who inherited many problems when she accepted the position and was expected to solve them overnight. She will succeed, and
will be accepted by the students, if given a fair chance, administrators say.
The BSU leaders at Tuesday night’s meeting said that the student organization will continue its opposition to Porter, and will “continue to separate from Black Student Services,” Martin said.
“We simply do not want to deal with this woman anymore,” he said. "There’s nothing wrong with BSS in itself; it’s the director,” Martin said.
The Black Student Alumni Association, described by its
representatives as “very high-powered with plenty of money,” has also began to play a more pronounced role in support of BSU, Osei said.
The alumni group contains about 25 members “who have the means and the devotion” to rectify the controversy, he said.
The group is also concerned with many other problems including alleged past discrimination and treatment of black students on campus, he said, adding that “we’re in a virtual state of war.”
Volume XCII, Number 8
dkii% trojan
University of Southern California
Thursday, September 16, 1982
Gift makes band’s trip to Oklahoma possible
By Cathy Murino
Staff Writer
The Trojan Marching Band will accompany the football team to Oklahoma next week thanks to a private donation.
The Milligan family of La Jolla, Calif., part of Milligan Enterprises, an Oklahoma-based company, gave approximately Si 16,000 to enable 278 band members, band staff, flag and song girls to make the trip.
The family reportedly has ties with Oklahoma University and this institution. It feels that the quality of the university band is such that the Oklahoma people should be rewarded with the pleasure of hearing it in person, said Jack Hoagland, director of engineering development.
This is the first time the university's band has been able to make the trip to Oklahoma, and it is a “dream come true,” said Arthur Bartner, band director.
The musicians will perform a big-band show featuring the music of Glenn Miller.
Usually, when the band travels, the members raise their own money by participating in extra performances and by holding fund-raisers, said Bingham Cherrie, associate vice president for university development.
Hoagland said the plan to send the band to Oklahoma started a year ago and was recently completed.
It takes two years to raise the $80,000 to $90,000 needed to fly the band to South Bend for the Notre Dame game, Hoagland said. If the money saved had been used toward the Oklahoma game, the band may not have been able to travel to Notre Dame in 1983, he said.
To thank the family for its donation, a band of 40 musicians and the songgirls will perform at a private party that the Milligans are giving for friends after the pep rally in Oklahoma.
In addition to this donation, the family also supports a variety of programs in the school of engineering, Cherrie said.
RTD strike strands thousands
Carpools, other options explored
By Dan Janeck
Staff Writer
Many students and staff members scrambled to get to school Wednesday following the strike of some 4,600 bus drivers of the Soutern California Rapid Transit District.
The strike began shortly after midnight Wednesday, after a final breakdown in negotiations between representatives of the hus driver’s union and RTD bargaining officials.
The strike affected approximately 600,000 riders in Los Angeles who were left stranded by the walkout, the city’s fifth in 10 years.
There was no indication of how many university commuters were affected by the strike, said Gloria Payne, assistant director of parking operations.
She said statistics regarding the number of student commuters are still being processed by a computer, but she said there were 5,728 commuters last year.
In order to alleviate the lack of public transportation caused by the strike, university commuter affairs along with a private firm, Commuter Computer, are providing services to
Patent office saved from termination by consolidating into research center
By Bill Truman
Staff Writer
The university’s patent office, which had been slated for termination due to financial difficulties, is now part of the university’s West Research Application Center (WESTRAC).
With the completion of consolidation, the patent office, which handles patents that originate from university research, joined five other programs, including the Southern California Apparel Contract Project and the Urban University Center. Radford King, executive director of WESTRAC, oversees the office.
Jon Strauss, senior vice president of administration, said the program was incorporated into the center because the university could not do without its function, and “we were able to eliminate one high-priced administrative position,” Strauss said.
The closure of the first patent office, which was opened in July 1981, was strictly monetary.
In an article published in the Daily Trojan last
March, Clark McCartney, former director of patents for the university, countered claims by Strauss that the office was a financial strain on the university. “We think we might be able to have sufficient income this year to pay for the office. We expect to contribute to the university’s general fund $75,000 sometime next week from a licensing agreement.”
A last minute effort to prove the office’s self-sufficiency failed, and the program was handed to a patent committee to be evaluated. Strauss said in the article that he thought the faculty would be able to handle most of the functions carried out by the patent office.
A reevaluation of the program and a discussion with the patent committee convinced administration officials that the project was valuable.
Strauss said that the office was "built in” to WESTRAC this semester, and has shown signs of functioning well so far.
help commuters find suitable car pools.
Charles Feltman, director of commuter affairs, said his office received about 40 calls Wednesday from students who wanted information regarding car pooling. Feltman said his office would be taking down names, addresses and phone numbers on cards and then matching the information with other cards to select car pools.
Commuter Computer, a nonprofit organization, is partially funded by CalTrans and has
three employees working with universities throughout Los Angeles to help students and staff members, said Tad Widby, president of Commuter Computer.
He also said the routine of grouping commuters would be the same as that of the commuter affairs office of the university, but his organization would process the information through computers. Commuter affairs takes the commuter’s name, address, phone number (Continued on page 6)
Staff photo by Larry Gund
A RAY OF SUNSHINE — Brightening the everyday monotony of school, student Eric Moline plays his trombone in a quiet section of the campus.