Student observers assess Nicaragua — see page 9
trojan
Volume XCVIII, Number 24
University of Southern California
Wednesday, February 13, 1985
Budget commitee reviews fee system
By Dina Heredia
Staff Writer
While many universities across the nation are considering changes in tuition rates that will vary by major, a university budget committee is proposing several plans that would eventually eliminate expensive fees for more costly courses by the 1986-87 school year.
According to a recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, about 20 percent of the institutions surveyed are considering "differential tuition pricing," which would set higher tuition rates for undergraduate majors like engineering or business, to stabilize
Campus recreation center prompts mixed reactions
By John Orr
Staff Writer
The university's decision to construct a $12.3 million student recreation center has sparked mixed reactions from students, which varied from weak approval to strong opposition.
Last week, the Board of Trustees announced its approval of plans to build the center north of the McDonald's Olympic Swim Stadium, after several years of requests and lobbying from student organizations.
Funds for the project would come from private donations.
James Appleton, vice president of development, said he is optimistic about raising the money needed, but did not elaborate about any fundraising campaigns.
The center will include handball courts, recreational basketball courts, a fitness center, sauna, game room and locker rooms.
In January 1984, the university considered purchasing the Sports Arena for use as an intramural recreation center, as well as a home court for the basket-
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enrollments or increase revenues.
The article said these institutions see the new pricing plan as "lessening the degree which students enrolled in low-cost programs subsidize those in expensive programs" and "enabling admininistrators to adjust rates to meet (higher) demand for engineering or business classes than for education classes."
Irwin Lieb, vice president and dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, said the university's fee system at the undergraduate level cannot be compared to differential tuition.
Class fees are designed to provide more services to students, and do not change from program to program, he said.
Still, students in certain majors like engineering, cinema or the natural sciences must pay hundreds of dollars to the university in laboratory fees.
A biology major at the university could pay as much as $450 to $475 in core classes and hundreds more in elective courses and in a re-
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China/CISC to exchange knowledge
By Richard Hatem
Staff Writer
An exchange program for students and professors will begin next fall between this university and Fudan University in Shanghai, marking the first agreement of its kind between USC and the People's Republic of China.
The agreement was made by university President James Zumberge and President Xide Xie of Fudan University in Shanghai in January 1985.
"The idea came about among members of the faculty who specialize in Chinese studies, because it is difficult to study in China without a base in some institution," said Gordon Berger, director of the East Asian Studies Center.
A group of faculty members gathered to determine which universities would be most desirable "as targets," he said, and they concluded that Fudan University was the number one choice.
"We had some help in that last year there were two professors here visiting from Fudan University. They were here most of the year and a real sisterhood of universities seemed to start," Berger said.
When Fudan University was chosen, Henry Bimbaum, associate provost, began the negotiations between the two schools.
"Mainland China is a great area of the world to study in," Bimbaum said.
The agreement calls for one or two faculty members and up to four graduate and four undergraduate students to take part in the exchange.
Qualifying criteria has not yet been determined for the program.
Bimbaum said the process of choosing faculty members and students to participate in the ex-
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Dean labels
degree charge unfounded
By Owen Gross
Staff Writer
Related story on page 3
Responding to charges that the value and importance of a bachelor's degree is meaningless, Irwin Lieb, vice president and dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, said it is "emphatically not true at USC."
Marshall Cohen, dean of the division of humanities, called the notion of a "meaningless credential" a "wild exaggeration."
The charges stemmed from a report, released early this week, which was compiled by a 19-member committee of the Association of American Colleges.
The report, based on the AAC's "Project on Redefining the Meaning and Purpose of Baccalaureate Degrees," said the center of "the troubles and to the solution are the professors" and that in order "to restore integrity to the bachelor's degree, there must be a renewal of the faculty's corporate responsibility for the curriculum."
The AAC has pointed its finger primarily at those professors who place a higher premium on research and their own advancement than on teaching.
Sylvia Manning, vice provost, said this is a (Continued on page 6)
STEVE FULTON/DAILY TROJAN
It’s not the “Thundering Herd” or the first race at Los Alamitos. This mural is painted on the side of UB40’s private travel coach and was parked next to Bovard Auditorium Tuesday while the group performed.