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Volume XCV, Number 69	University of Southern California	Wednesday, April 25, 1984
Professor ordered to pay $419,000 in fraud damages
By John Kirby
Gty Writer
International relations professor Willard Beling lost a civil fraud case Friday in a Los Angeles federal court and was ordered to pay
S419,000	in damages to a Kuwait businessman after a jury said he swindled him on a land investment in the Southern California area.
Beling denied any wrongdoing in the affair and said, "In all probability, I will appeal the decision, although I'll have to leave it up to the lawyers.”
Al-Quatami, one of Kuwait's leading businessmen, charged Beling with using his position at this university to take advantage of the relationship he formed with the Arab students he taught by convincing their families to let him assist them in making real-estate investments in the Los Angeles area.
Al-Quatami's son-in-law and two of his daughters attended this university and were enrolled in Beling's classes. Al-Quatami said he had considered Beling part of his family.
"Over the years, Beling has taught many of the sons and daughters of the leading Arab families and has extensive connections," Al-Quatami said.
Beling said that although he did help Al-Quatami's two daughters enroll in the university and let them stay with him for a few days until they found housing, he did not have a close relationship with the family.
According to a press release from Baker & McKenzie, the law firm that handled the case for Al-Quatami, Beling has used this influence since 1976 to arrange land investments with weathly Arab families totaling approximately $10 million.
He also received up to $600,000 in unauthorized and undisclosed payments from these transactions, according to the release.
"My involvement with land investment (by Arabs) has only been with this family," Beling said. "I have not made one penny from one Arab in my life."
Nando DiFilippo, a partner in the law firm of Baker & McKenzie, said, "Beling was no more than a crook who conned a man who considered him part of the family."
According to the news release, during the trial, Al-Quatami's lawyers contended that Beling, after first persuading the Arab businessman to sign a power of attorney, signed a contract to purchase property' through his consulting firm. The consulting firm w'as also named in the civil fraud verdict.
Beling then assigned the rights to purchase the property', near Oxnard, to John French, who acted as his agent. Beling gave the
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ADAM KRAJCHIR DAILY TROJAN
These trailers, alongside Howard Jones Memorial Field, house communications devices for the Summer Games that will spread news from the university to the world.
Trailers near swim stadium hold transmission devices for Games
By Susan Loux
City Writer
Two trailers near the dympic Swim Stadium, guarded around the clock by an independent security company since equipment was moved into them on Monday, contain sensitive communications devices vital to the Summer Oly'mpic Games, Pacific Bell officials said.
Pacific Bell owns the equipment, which will serve as the transmitting source for all telecommunications emanating from this university's Olympic Village. Bell arranged the deal
with the Los Angeles Olympics Organizing Committee, which in turn contacted the university.
The trailers, called central office extensions on wheels, have been placed on campus to accommodate the expected influx of Olympic customers, including ABC, Coca-Cola and government agencies, that will rely on Light Guide Fiberoptic Cable to transmit to the world, said Paula Wright, Pacific Bell staff manager for equipment recovery.
Fiberoptics technology is a state-of-the-art technique using
Salvation Army to get student discards
By Jason Knott
City Writer
Each year college students across the country discard clothing and other usable items from their rooms as they prepare to leave for the summer.
Under the assumption that one man's throwaway is another man's treasure, the Salvation Army will sponsor a
program from Mav 4-7 at this university' to collect the abandoned items and redistribute them to the needy in the community.
"We want to stop the W'aste and prevent good usable items from going to the dumpster," said Bryan Brannan, the planner of the project and also a graduate student in the law school.
"Instead, we would like to distribute these goods to the less fortunate in the community," Brannan said.
This campus is the first to have the program initiated and is being used as a testing ground for the possible growth of the project.
James Osborne, national chief secretary for the Salvation
Plans for university center stalled
By Catalina Camia
Assistant City Editor
Students can expect plans for the proposed university center to remain at an apparent stalemate until the administration works out the financial details surrounding the project.
Anthony Lazarro, vice president of business affairs, said there will definitely be a university center to meet the recreational needs of the students in the near future, however, he said the project appears to be at a stalemate because financial considerations still have to be outlined.
"The concept of a university center has been an authorized project of the university's Board of Trustees for two years," La-
zarro said. "But there has been no resolution about funding from the finance and budget committee."
Planning for the university center began in 1980 W'hen the administration conducted surveys showing the need for campus recreation space. Feasibility' studies were begun, and support for the project began to mount in the Student Senate.
The original concept called for a proposed $14.8 million recreation facility, to be built over the 50-meter Olvmpic competition pool, allowing for further development on a small parcel of land between the existing swimming complex and the West Complex residence halls for non-athletic activities.
At the time, the Student Senate passed a resolution pledging at least 50 percent financial support for the center in return for direct involvement in the planning of the facility.
However, in October of 1983, the senate passed a stinging resolution condemning the university for not adequately informing students of the plans for the center.
At the time, Jon Strauss, senior vice president of administration, and James Dennis, vice president of Student Affairs, dismissed the resolution as being inaccurate and a misinformed response to frustration.
Bv November, the senate was again included in the planning (Continued on page 7)
Armv, said, "We are aw'aiting the results of the pilot program at the University of Southern California in the hope that its results will allow for expansion of the program to other college campuses across the country."
Brannan said the collection technique differs from the normally' passive Salvation Army method because the donating will be easy for students and there is publicity to promote the campaign.
He said postcards describing the procedure for making donations will be delivered to students living in the residence halls, dormitories, apartments, fraternities and sororities.
Brannan said students will not be required to gather their donations in their arms and carry them long distances. Instead, a red plastic bag will be provided for each student. The bags can be obtained from resident advisers or fraternity/sorority house presidents.
He said if students looked through their drawers and closets and tried to find just one item to donate, they would probably find five or six.
Some of the donatable items include clothes, alarm clocks, calculators and other scholastic (Continued on page 6)
digital transmission via light waves, she added.
The portable trailers were devised to serve the temporary flood of communications customers and save the expense of building a more permanent facility, Wright added.
Pacific Bell intends to sell the trailers, after they have served their purpose here, for use in the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Canada and its summer counterpart in Korea, Wright said.
Bums International Security Services began surveillance of the site on Monday. It is scheduled to continue through Aug. 30, said David Hembv, a scheduler for the firm.
Because it fears that its investment might be sabotaged. Bell has ordered the guards not to leave the trailers under any circumstance.
In the event of rain, the guards will be stationed either under the trailers or inside them, said Jim Obertean, a light guide splicer for Pacific Bell.
Vincent Edw'ard Hicks, a guard, said he has even been ordered not to allow this university's security officers beyond gate limits without getting verification from both Bums International Security Systems and Universitv' Security after the fixtures are barricaded next month.
The cable nerve core will eventually feed about 20 additional company-sponsored trailers that are expected to congest McClintock Avenue within the university’s boundaries, said Lvle Bradt, site manager for the communications trailer.
As an additional sabotage deterrent, the trailer-occupied portion of the street will be fenced off, Bradt said.
Although Hicks and Obertean said concern over terrorism spurred tight security measures, Bradt contends Pacific Bell is simply trying to protect its investment from graffiti-prone university students and vandals.
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