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Volume XCII, Number 36	University of Southern California	Wednesday, October 27, 1982
Gerontology center receives large government grant
$870,000 made possible by National Institute of Aging
By George Aguilar
Assistant City Editor
The doctorate research arm of the university’s Andrus Gerontology Center has received one of the largest trainee grants ever awarded by the federal government, a sum totaling
8870,000.
The grant, made possible by the National Institute of Aging, was given to the Gerontology Research Institute last month
and will be used solely to train researchers for the 21st century.
Directors at the gerontology center are ecstatic over the grant, saying the competition for money was fierce.
“We came out number one, in an era where the (Reagan) administration has been attempting to cut back on funding for graduates,” said Vern Bengtson, director of the re-
search institute and a university sociology professor.
‘‘We are very pleased and very proud. It is a unique promise to provide leadership in research on aging in the 21st century,” he said.
The money will be used to fund nine pre-doctoral trainees and three post-doctoral fellows in the fields of sociology, psychology, biology, political science, and economics for the
next five years.
"It is specifically for training researchers for 21st century on the processes of aging. These people will be around in the years 2010 and 2020,” Bengtson said. “By that time we will have unlocked the secrets of cellular aging. We will be discovering cures for diseases.
“But that just starts the problem. If we cure cancer, then we
have to deal with the social and psychological problems of aging. Not only are we trying to add years to life but we are researching to add life to those years,” he said.
The grant will pay tuition fees for the trainees and fellows, plus an expense stipend. Bengston said the grant will allow the university to attract top-notch graduates on aging from all across the country.
Bengston said the grant “represents a major coup for the university, where funding for graduate students has been an increasing source of concern.” He credited Jeff Birren, gerontology center executive director, for securing the grant from the National Institute of Aging.
The NIA is a branch of the National Health Institute, which receives its funding for the Department of Health and Human Services.
The research institute is only one of three divisions in the Geronotology Center. The Leonard Davis School of Gerontology offers undergraduate and master’s degrees in the gerontology field, while the Institute for Policy and Program Development offers an applied research program to graduate students.
There is more good news awaiting the Gerontology Center, as the Institute for Policy and Program Development’s National Policy Center is expecting to be re-funded for more money than was originally requested. An official announcement is expected today.
Aid to student draft dodgers may be cut
By Belma Johnson
Staff Writer
President Reagan signed an amendment last month that will require eligible male students to register for a possible military draft if they expect to receive federal financial aid.
House Concurrent Resolution 263 becomes active law in fall 1983 unless opponents can overturn it in court.
The law makes students who have not registered for the draft ineligible to receive federal financial assistance, or benefits. It also prohibits students from participating in any programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance, and prohibits them from being employed by the federal government or any organization receiving federal financial assistance.
There are three major arguments raised by the law’s opposition:
—	Because the law applies to persons applying for financial aid, it discriminates against the poor.
—	The law legalizes an invasion of privacy.
—	Technically, every law should stand on its own. Therefore, existing conscription laws should not require the new law for enforcement.
Sen. S.I. Hayakawa introduced and cosponsored the bill last year, and saw the
The law makes students who have not registered for the draft ineligible to receive federal financial assistance or benefits.
Senate approve it May 12, an office aide said.
“If students want to further their education at the expense of their country, they cannot expect these benefits to be provided without accepting their fair share of the responsibilities,” the senator said in a press release.
“In order to share freedoms that we all enjoy in this society.” he continued, ' the responsiblities for protecting the nation must be accepted. Registering for the selective service is to accept a share of that obligation.”
However, William Smith, chairman of the Selective Service Law Panel, had a more cynical appraisal of the law.
“Congress is not in the mood to do away with the selective service,” he said, “So they must come up with Mickey Mouse things like this. What’s really sig-
nificant is that it wouldn’t hurt anybody who is affluent.”
Smith said affluent students do not need financial aid and are unaffected by the law.
But Smith said he doubts the move will cause about 700,000 unregistered young men to register.
However, Marian Hopkins, a legislative aide in Hayakawa’s office, disagreed.
“A tremendous majority of students have to seek one form of financial aid or another,” she said.
She repeated Hayakawa’s view that persons unwilling to sign up for the draft do not deserve federal assistance for school.
“People are willing to take everything the government offers,” Hopkins said. “Yet, some are unwilling to give their names and addresses (for registration).”
The university will not be directly involved in enforcing the edict, although it handles many of the application forms for financial aid.
“If (the law) holds, then (enforcement) is between the individual applying for the loan and the federal government,” said Cornelius Pings, provost and senior vice president of academic affairs.
Pings said that, as a lender, the federal government has the right to outline its lending requirements.
Phi Gamma Delta member tied to steps in front of sorority house
By Alan Grossman
Assistant City Editor
An active member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity was stripped to his briefs and doused in molasses and flour before being tied and taped in the crucifixion pose to the front steps of a sorority house Monday afternoon by his house’s pledge class.
Rick Donine, who was unavailable for comment, was found by a University Security officer, bound at the feet by packaging tape and tied, arms extended, to the front step bannister of the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority house at about 5:40 p.m.
After being cut down from the bannister by Officer Pat Fitzgerald and a passerby, Donine refused to either identify himself to Fitzgerald or explain why and how he was put in that position.
Fitzgerald said he followed Donine home, and learned Donine’s name from Phi Gamma Delta president Tony Stav-ros. He said he also learned that the act was perpetrated by the house's pledge class.
Stavros said that the pledges "decided to have some fun,” and said he had no prior knowledge of the occurrence.
“They took it upon themselves,”
Stavros said. “It was an unfortunate incident.”
He explained the incident by saying that the house wanted the pledges to perform duties together, in order to instill brotherhood, and added that the pledges were unaware “they were not doing something kosher.”
“The pledges like to show the house that they can act as a unit, but this was not a good way to show it,” Stavros said.
“It was a mistake on their part,” he added.
He said the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority house was chosen only because it was the closest to the fraternity.
Jill Hussey, president of the sorority, said she was not at the house at the time of the incident.
She did say this was the second time the members of the fraternity had tied one of their brothers to the front porch of the sorority.
"They did it last year, and at that time, the guy was painted purple,” she said.
Stavros did not say whether the pledges would be penalized for their action; and Cece Freeman, coordinator for student conduct at the university, was unavailable to state whether the fraternity would face charges of misconduct.
Photo by Maggie Meianson
FIJI FOLLIES — All appears quiet Tuesday at the palatial entrance to the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house. But on Monday it was a different story. An ill-fated active was dunked in molasses and sprinkled with flour before being tied to a post and ignominiously placed at the doorstep of a neighboring sorority.