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Volume XCV, Number 64
University of Southern California
Wednesday, April 18, 1984
University ranked 37th in search for elite Merit Scholars
By John Kirby
Qty Writer
The university continues to actively recruit National Merit Scholars and is among the top 40 schools in the nation competing for these top-level students, according to an April 11 article in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
"National Merit Scholars are recruited very actively," said Katherine Forte, director of admissions. "The deans have been improving the quality of the faculty and this is the other side of the coin."
According to the Chronicle, this university is ranked 37th, having 35 of the scholars enrolled. Of those enrolled, 28 receive some sort of university-sponsored financial aid.
Harvard-Radcliffe is ranked first in the country with 297 Merit Scholars, but it offers no additional financial aid to any of those students.
For the past three years, the university has sponsored a "National Merit Honors Day." The students are invited to spend the entire day at the university in an attempt to educate them on the advantages of attending this campus.
In addition, nine spring recruitment receptions are given for high school honor students who express an interest in enrolling here. During these receptions, students receive personal financial aid counseling, Forte said.
"All honor students can attend these receptions," she said."But National Merit Scholars are also invited."
Prior to the inception of the special recruitment day, the admissions office sent the National Merit Scholars personalized letters encouraging them to apply here.
Valerie Paton, staff associate in the Office of Students Affairs, said she has recently been in contact with the National Merit Scholarship Corporation to clarify the criteria by which the merit scholarships are a wared.
"Since the top one-half percent of the students are chosen from each state, it (a merit scholar's actual qualifications) depends on which state they come from. They (the qualifications) could be really high or not," Paton said.
Paton is in charge of screening students at this university for possible eligibility as Trustee Scholars, another university honors program.
"I have seen a lot of National Merit Scholars who don't qualify for Trustee Scholarships," she said.
The qualification process for National Merit Scholars begins with the Pre-Scholastic Aptitude Test/Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/MSQT) that is given across the country to high school juniors, said Nancy Giles, director of public information for the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
Those students in the top one-half percent of the scoring in each state become semi-finalists, she said.
Because the initial qualifications for the National Merit Scholarship program are done on a state-by-state basis, students in one state may qualify for the program with lower scores than those in another state.
"The qualifying test scores will vary from state to state as population varies from state to state," Giles said.
(Continued on page 16)
SUSAN CATER DAILY TROJAN
The Sheraton Grande Hotel in downtown Los Angeles angles up into a sunny, but cooler, metropolitan sky Tuesday. Temperatures in Los Angeles are expected to be in the mid-70s.
Fraternity, sorority houses to be leased during Olympic games
By Jason Knott
Gty Writer
AU 13 soronty houses and at least three fraternity houses have already been leased to various corporations for use this summer during the Olympic Games, said Carol Thompson, president of the Sorority Advisers Association (SAA).
Shannon Ellis, director of Greek affairs, said the houses have been rented for the dates between July 15 and Aug. 15 by companies such as Nike, New Balance, Occidental, and various Japanese and other foreign firms.
"Many fraternities are stiU in the midst of high negotiations," Thompson said. "Negotiations wiU probably continue right up to the day of the Olympics."
The fraternities and sororities are controUed and owned by non-profit corporations made up of volunteers who were former members houses. These non-profit corporations are the entities responsible for the renting of the houses, Thompson said.
EUis said the idea of leasing the houses was thought of approximately two years ago when the university introduced the presidents of the 26 fraternity and 13 sorority corporations to members of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee.
However, Thompson said the negotiations did not work out.
"We were very enthusiastic about becoming a member of the Olympic family and we were
disappointed when it didn't work out," she said. "The negotiations broke down because the SAA and the FHA (Fraternity Housing Association) felt that we were assuming too many ob-Ugations that didn't justify the price being offered."
She said some of the obligations involved insurance and other liabilities
Because of this, the negotiations are being privately conducted between the corporations wishing to lease a buUding and the corporate officers of the fraternities and the sororities. The LAOOC is not involved, Thompson said.
The university is negotiating leasing agreements with the interested companies for the eight (Continued on page 6)
Middle East women seen as agents of change
By Sonia Saruba
Qty Writer
"Women as Agents of Change" was the topic for a symposium in the Annenberg School of Communications main auditorium held Tuesday dealing with women in the Middle East today.
The Office for International Students and Scholars and the International Peer Advocates co-sponsored the symposium.
"Women must be integrated into the development of the world," said Terri Hunter, international students adviser for the OISS.
Hunter welcomed the audience of about 60 people, as weU as the eight panehsts, remarking that humans are a central resource for development.
'■‘Fifty percent of these resources are women and are excluded from the process of development,"she said.
Elena Garate, assistant director of OISS, said women are representative of human issues and want better understanding, peace and prosperity.
The first speaker on the faculty panel was Judith Stiehm, professor of political science, who spoke on women in the mUitary, particularly in the United States.
Stiehm said that participation in the military in the U.S. meant that it was assured that fighting would go on elsewhere — out of the country.
It is also assumed m the military that women would not actually engage in combat, she said.
In the past, women engaged in standard participation
in the military, and were involved in the reserve corps, doing what the men away at war used to do at home.
"Today, women are a substitute for men who have decided not to go," Stiehm said.
Stiehm raised a few questions which she said had no answers, yet needed to be addressed by the world.
"Does the participation of women make it more dangerous for them?" Stiehm asked. "Could bloodshed be averted if we could count on women and children being disarmed?"
Stiehm also discussed the problem associated with women in exUe, saying that in these cases, women have enjoyed more freedom, more was permitted and norms were suspended.
But when the danger was over, the old ways returned and created conflict, she said.
'Two-thirds of aU iUiterates in the world are women," said Eliz Sanasarian, professor of political science.
Citing more statistics involving the deprivation of women in the Middle East, Sanasarian said that despite the oU revenues, little money went to wipe out poverty or to enhance the status of women.
"One thing is missing in all the organizations present for women and that is the women organizing themselves and pushing their demands," Sanasarian said.
This comment was followed by am explanation by Fadwa El-Guindi, visiting professor of anthropology from UCLA, concerning the recent Islamic movement by both
men and women in highly competitive university settings.
Women's clothing styles have been changing to cover the entire body and now resemble uniforms, or more traditional types of clothing, El-Guindi said.
No traditional veiling has existed before this, she added.
The trend has been caUed regressive by many, yet El-Guindi believes that it is a part of the ritual and symbolism associated with the movement and said it is not regressive.
"Women are presenting themselves asexuaUy, neutrally. It provides them with a way to move up and be leaders," said El-Guindi. " Women are able to join the Islamic process, to actively go to mosque."
Susan Imady, a graduate student in education, defined an Islamic woman as confident, serene, and equal.
She does not need to prove equahtv; she does something because she enjoys it, Imady said.
"It is a conflicting situation," Souad HalUa, a graduate student in history, said. "Women are neither traditional or modem. They are trying to find a synthesis."
Abdulrahman Meraie, a graduate student in public administration, expressed his belief that the world cannot be divided into two parts of men and women.
"We must not forget that the countries are still learning to stand on their own feet, are still growing, added Wis-sam Nadra, an undergraduate student in biology and drama.