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Volume XCVII, Number 15	University of Southern California	Monday, September 24, 1984
Library makes computers handy
Students to gain access to new satellite centers
By Craig Hotti
Staff Writer
The university library plans to install satellite computer centers on campus where students can gain access to word processors and data bases, said Charles Ritcheson, dean of libraries.
By using the computers, students can gain access to the library catalog and encyclopedia material, and wall be able to wrrite term papers. Printers would also be located at each center.
"A student could do a major part of his research at these facilities," Ritcheson said.
The centers will be located at the Frank L. King Olympic Hall of Champions (West Dining Hall) and Marks Residence Hall. A third site, still unnamed, is planned for the northern part of
campus, Ritcheson said. Each center would house 30 computers.
The facilities would be staffed by two people, one a computer science specialist and the other a library employee. The computer science specialist would be available to help people who have never worked on computers before.
Ritcheson, who became university librarian in June, said he does not want to charge students for use of the computers, but added he is not the person who would make that decision.
"I would see it merely as an extension of the university library service," he said.
Although Ritcheson originally expected the facilities to begin operating during the spring of
1985,	there is a possibility the centers will open Nov. 1.
"With some very super good luck we might be able to have the space available and everything in place by November," Ritcheson said.
Ritcheson hopes funding for
the $6 million operation will all come from outside sources, some from a gift to the university from International Business Machines Corp. and the rest from a major foundation which he declined to mention.
He did not rule out the possibility that the university would contribute.
"President Zumberge and other top administrators are committed to helping out the library in every possible way, so I could see the money coming from the university," Ritcheson said.
Bret Fausett, undergraduate vice president of the Student Senate, said the plan is a very good idea which would help facilitate research.
"I'm all for the idea," Fausett said. "I don't think the plan to put one of the centers in the West Complex dining hall would hinder any plans to put a pub in that building as well, since the computer center would only take up one-third of (Continued on page 2)
Federal loan program in jeopardy
ED BATT/DAILY TROJAN
Students protest the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon in front of Tommy Trojan.
Five students demonstrate following embassy bombing
dents become familiar with it.
This university has offered CLAS loans for onlv two years, but there are already signs of growth, he said.
About 900 students took advantage of the program in 1983, but the same number have already applied for the loan this year, with more applications expected, Silverman said.
However, the education council said growth of the program has stalled because of poor marketing, high interest rates and the requirement that parents start repaying both the principal and interest on the loan 60 days after they receive it.
Several other states, including (Continued on page 2)
By Karen Kucher
Assistant Qty Editor
Five university students, responding to the Thursday bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, marched and carried signs around Tommy Trojan Friday afternoon, calling for an end to terrorism.
The half-hour demonstration was followed by an hour of
heated discussion between the protestors and students from Middle Eastern countries.
The protestors carried signs saying "Don't bow to thugs," "No more terror" and "Condemn Islamic Jihad," or Islamic Holy War, a nebulous group that claimed responsibility for the Thursday attack, as well as several other bombings of U.S. buildings in Beirut and the kidnapping of U.S. citizens there.
The protest was sponsored by the USC Alliance, an organization of approximately 25 faculty and students.
Yaffa Weisman, a university graduate student and president of the USC Alliance, said the organization is mainly concerned with the way Israel is regarded on campus.
"After what we heard about yesterday's act of terrorism, we planned this protest," she said. "We are protesting terrorism all over the world."
The protestors were also soliciting signatures from students for a petition "denouncing the outrage' of Thursday's bombing. The petition will be sent to the United Nations, Weisman said.
The petition, which said "we should be on guard against the bloody Arab terror" had been signed by less than 30 students by 2 p.m. Friday.
"Many students we approached with the petition didn't even know about what had happened," Weisman said. "We want students and faculty to be aware about the Middle East. Most of them will graduate, go to the outside world and (Continued on page 2)
Counseling group to help gays, lesbians on campus
By Steven Church
Staff Writer
A gay and lesbian therapy group will be organized by the Student Health and Counseling Service to help members of the gay community deal with the problems homosexuals face in a predominantly heterosexual world.
"The purpose of the group is to help participants deal with the fact that they are gay," said Dee Bridgewater, a counseling intern from UCLA who will be conducting the group, along with Nancy Hay, coordinator of peer counseling at this university.
The group will begin meeting Oct. 3 at the YWCA on campus. Six people have now signed up for the sessions, and there is room for two or three more members, Bridgewater said.
"We will begin with eight or nine participants in group sessions," he said. "But it will be open to those who want to drop in for one session."-	(
Bridgewater said there is a need for such an organization on this campus. His estimates, based on the national average, show there are probably 2,000 gays and lesbians on campus.
"Sexual issues are a big deal here," he said. "What our group offers is a distinct, once-a-week, hour-and-a-half meeting to deal with a specific area."
Both Bridgewater and Hay said that confidentiality is very important in the program because many gays will be uncomfortable if their homosexuality is made public.
"There are people who have been hiding the fact that they are gay for 18 years," Bridgewater said.
"I would like the group to realize that they have been oppressed. There are normal homosexuals just as there are normal heterosexuals.
"We all grew up in a society that taught us that being attracted to someone of the same sex is wrong. We want to help them deal with this," he said.
(Continued on page 3)
By James Jones
Staff Writer
A little-known loan program for parents of college students, which has met with moderate success in California, is now’ stagnating and in jeopardy, according to the National Council on Higher Education Loan Programs.
In 1980, Congress set up the loan program to help families pay for their children's college education, but unless it is used more and changes are made in the law that started it, the program could die, the council said.
The federal program, known as the Parent Loans for Undergraduate Students, was established by 1980 amendments to
the Higher Education Act. In California, the program is known as the California Loans to Assist Students.
The program enables parents of dependent undergraduate students to borrow up to $3,000 per year at 12 percent interest. Graduate students can borrow up to $3,000 in addition to Guaranteed Student Loan money.
The money is provided by banks and guaranteed in part by the federal government.
Although only a small percentage of students at this university use the CLAS program now, Rick Silverman, staff assistant to the director of student financial operations, said the program will grow as more stu-
FRTTZ SM.TH/DAILY TROJAN
DEE BRIDGEWATER