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Volume XCVII, Number 44
University of Southern California
Friday, November 2, 1984
Gandhi remembered at solemn ceremony
By James Jones
Staff Writer
Nearly 50 students and faculty members held a small ceremony in the Topping Student Center Thursday to honor Indira Gandhi, the leader of India who was assassinated Tuesday.
With the flag of India hanging on one wall and the smell of incense filling the room, the people sat in silence as several eulogies were delivered by students and faculty members on the woman who had been prime minister of India for 17 years.
Two minutes of silence was observed in her memory at the end of the ceremony.
Gandhi's contributions to her country were recounted in the half-hour sendee, with attention on her stand on women's rights, her continuous work to keep India the largest non-aligned democracy in the world and her striving to be a champion of peace both in India and abroad.
Geeta Choksev, a junior majoring in biology and psychology, said Gandhi was "a model for women around the world. She was ahead of her time. Women are politically active and aware in India, not only now but in the past, too.”
Kireeti Kompella, a doctoral candidate in computer science, said Gandhi “passed away at a crucial time in Indian politics. She has done a lot for us but left us with a big challenge, to heal the wounds between the Sikhs and the Hindus as well as the rest of India. I think it's time that those Sikhs who supported her, and don't have these radical views, spoke up."
Citing the fact that only a very small minority of the Sikh religion is radical and violent, Kompella said, "The person who killed her was on her staff and betrayed the trust she put in him. I believe that the majority of the Sikhs are trusted and respected, and it is time for them to take a stand."
Nadadur Kumar, a student adviser with the Office of International Students and Scholars said, "The Sikhs have set back their cause by at least 50 years. The psychological wounds felt by the Hindus will not be healed for a very long time. This crisis is going to bring the people of India together and help the unity of the country."
Joy Deep Ghosh, a doctoral candidate in electronic engineering,
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MIKE MELSON DAILY TROJAN
Army ROTC cadets prepare for a field training exercise to be held Saturday at Griffith Park
Student hit by driver on PCP
By Karen Castro
Assistant City Editor
A naked man, reportedlv under the influence of PCP, was chased and apprehended by University Security and Los Angeles police in connection with a hit-and-run accident involving a
Professor urges ‘no’ on Prop. 40
By Andrew Thomas
Staff Writer
Proposition 40, an initiative to put a limit on campaign contributions, would only limit candidates' ability to campaign, said Herb Alexander, a professor of political science and director of the Citizen's Research Foundation, at a seminar Thursday.
Proposition 40 would limit individual contributions to candidates in California to $1,000 annually. Individuals could give no more than $250 to a single political action committee in a single year, and PACs could contribute no more than $1,000 to a candidate.
Alexander said he is against
FRITZ c. SMITH DAILY TROJAN
HERB ALEXANDER
the proposition primarily because it would limit the competitiveness of elections by restricting the amount of publicity a candidate could afford.
"I would increase the contributions of individuals to $5,000," Alexander said, adding he would leave the PAC limit on contributions at its current level of $5,000.
"The high cost of politics is a thing a lot of people wring their hands about, but they have to recognize that the costs are inevitable," Alexander said.
"Presidential elections are the greatest single educational events in the nation every four years," Alexander said. He added that more money should be spent in order to "raise the consciousness of the voters."
The political reforms of the 1970s merely "replaced the day of the big giver with the day of the big solicitor," Alexander said.
He added that the laws have simply "put a premium on people with lists," and that more people are donating smaller amounts of money, but the "guy who has the cocktail parties and either charges $1,000 or makes a plea for donations" still has the influence.
Alexander said "limits on independent expenditures are illusory.” People can spend an unlimited amount of money personally endorsing a candidate, he said.
Alexander estimated the total cost of a presidential election at $325 million, but added that "isn't a lot of money if you think of all the problems the candidates have in terms of name recognition."
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university student Tuesday.
The suspect, Shawn Lawrence, 23, was booked for felony hit-and-run and driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol after university student Brock Miller, 20, was struck by a car while riding his bicycle near campus.
Miller chose not to press charges against the non-university suspect.
"My bike was totaled, but I was lucky not to be killed," said Miller, who received slight abrasions on his right thigh but was unharmed otherwise.
Miller was on his way to a fraternity meeting around 10 p.m. Tuesday. He was crossing the intersection between 30th and Hoover streets at a green light when he noticed a car traveling toward him very fast.
"I saw this car come barreling down the street about 35 to 40
miles per hour, and when it looked like he wasn't going to slow down, I turned and tried to lift up my legs.
"He hit the back of my bike, and my bike and I were pushed under the car and we rode the hood for a while before I was thrown off and he ran over my bike," Miller said.
After the accident, Lawrence allegedly stopped the car in the middle of the intersection and got out.
"When he got out of the car, I could tell he was under the influence of something," Miller said.
Miller at first thought Lawrence was going to shoot him because he reached down, but said the man was instead undoing his belt. Then Miller thought the suspect wanted to fight because he started taking off his (Continued on page 3)
Strauss to discuss with Senate investment policy in S. Africa
By Karen Kucher
Assistant City Editor
jon Strauss, senior vice president for administration, will meet with the Student Senate on Nov. 21, responding to an earlier senate request to discuss the university's investment policy in South Africa.
The senate, feeling "uncertain of the administration's philosophy concerning South Africa divestment" requested the university's policies be documented and presented during its Nov. 14 meeting.
"They asked for another week. I didn't see it as any problem," said Mike Singer, senate president.
South Africa's government has been condemned internationally for its policy of apartheid, the legal segregation of whites and non-whites. Students and civil rights groups have argued that American investments in South Africa indirectly support apartheid.
"What I intend to do is show (the senate) what our stance is,
and review what the policy is," Strauss said.
He said he would also show the senate the university's portfolio of stocks, bonds and other investments.
University policy on investments and social concerns was set in April of 1982.
The university currently has investments in 28 companies that are involved in some way in South Africa. Strauss said the university treasurer monitors the investments, and tells the university when an issue has "social consequences."
He said the university could then write a stockholder resolution, in order to "vote our conscious."
"So much of the voting of stocks is governed by large institutions that (they) don't pay much attention to stockholder's resolutions," Strauss said.
Institutions that divest their interests will not have any significant impact on the South African government or company (Continued on page 3)