trojan
Volume XCVII, Number 19	University of Southern California	Friday, September 28, 1984
Coilege-University resident goes down on Tommyburger — yum!
Annual Tommy’s eat off puts beef up for grabs
By David Jefferson
Assistant Investigations Editor
The tension built as the two men stood face to face, ready for battle.
Nervous perspiration ran down their temples as they shifted from side to side,' exchanging anxious glares. The crowd closed in on the warriors, waiting for the fight to begin.
The whistle screeched, and the two men wildly drew their asms upward. Neither one had to ask, "Where's the beef?" They both knew. It was in their mouths and on the way to their stomachs, already bulging with Tommyburgers.
In what will be known as the first "Eat Off" (the gourmand's term for tie breaker) in the six-year history of the annual Rootin' Touton Tommyburger Eating Contest, freshman Andy Frye of Touton Hall downed a Tommyburger in 42 seconds Wednesday night, beating his opponent from Coilege-University Hall by 2.5 bites, clinching Touton's fifth title.
Four five-man teams from Bimkrant, Coilege-University, Trojan and Touton Halls competed in the masochistic ritual, which is held each year at Tommy's World Famous Hamburgers on Beverly Boulevard.
The point of the contest is to see which team can chomp the most Tommyburgers in seven-and-a-half minutes — not an easy feat, considering the concoctions are made up of hamburger, chili,
(Continued on page 5)
Two new trustees chosen
First Hispanic named to board
By Karen Castro
Assistant City Editor
University trustees Wednesday appointed to the board two new members, one the first Hispanic to be given the position, the other the corporate successor to the late trustee J. Robert Fluor.
Edward Zapanta, a Los Angeles neurosurgeon with several affiliations with this university, and David Tappan, who recently succeeded Fluor as chairman and chief executive of the Fluor Corp., were named to the board, administrators announced Thursday.
The two appointments are the first since last fall, though they were not made specifically to fill vacancies left by the recent deaths of trustees John Wilson, Justin Dart and Fluor, said university President James Zumberge.
With the two appointments, there are now 36 regular members of the board, though there are still six vacancies. But university officials have said they prefer having some vacancies on the board, in case prime candidates appear.
Zapanta, the only Hispanic currently on the board, received a phone call Wednesday from Zumberge asking him to serve, and Zapanta accepted.
"I am very, very happy. It is a great honor and I am looking forward to working with the university even closer than I already do," Zapanta said in an interview Thursday.
Zapanta is a member of the Mexican-American Alumni Association and USC Associates — the university's support group — and works closely
with the School of Medicine, from which he is a 1963 graduate.
He said university officials have not specifically gone over his duties as a board member, but he said the job "looks exciting."
Zapanta, who is married and the father of four children, graduated from Garfield High School in Los Angeles and later from Los Angeles College. He studied one year at UCLA before coming to USC.
He has a private neurosurgery practice and holds licenses to work at local hospitals, such as Beverly Hospital and Children's Hospital.
Tappan, 62, has been president and chief operating officer of the Fluor Corp. since 1982. He became chairman and chief executive of the company after Fluor, a former chairman of the Board of Trustees at this university, died Sept. 9.
Tappan is an active member of the advisory council of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, from which he earned an MBA in 1948.
Bom in China, Tappan has been an active member of the National Council for U.S.-China Trade on behalf of the Fluor Corp.
He graduated from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania in 1943 with a degree in economics and finance. From there, he attended Stanford University, then spent four years at the U.S. Steel Corp. before joining the Fluor Corp.
The Board of Trustees is responsible for appointing the president of the university and for establishing, executing and defending university policy.
Students in temporary housing still wait for a home sweet home
By Steven Church
Staff Writer
Freshmen living in temporary quarters in university residence halls will have to continue waiting indefinitely for permanent housing assignments.
Joan Miles, assistant manager for housing services, said freshmen living in temporary housing can only be moved "after we receive cancellations from other dorms."
"Normally at this time we have more cancellations, but this year fewer people have left," Miles said.
Currently, 72 females do not have permanent assignments, and are living in groups of three in rooms designed for two people. Students are also living in quarters set up in recreation rooms in Elizabeth Von KleinS-mid Residence Hall, Fluor Tower and Coilege-University Residence Hall.
There are also 17 males in temporary quarters in Trojan Hall, Fluor Tower and College-Uni, but Miles said it is the women who have the biggest problem because more were admitted this year than last.
"The only problem with the males is that some have not turned in their (transfer) applications or have said they want to wait for housing in certain places," Miles said.
Three spaces are available in all-male Touton Hall, but housing officials are waiting to see if any space becomes available in a "better hall" before they place anyone in Touton, she said.
At the beginning of the semester, students without guaranteed housing contracts had their choice of either commuting
or accepting temporary contracts.
"A month ago those who were complaining because they had no housing are now the ones complaining about tempo-
By Diane Olivo
Staff Writer
The American political process is opening up to minorities, and the Republican Party has realized that "unless the process is open to all, it will be a minority party," said Republican Congressional candidate Richard Gomez during a campus appearance Thursday.
Gomez is running against Democratic incumbent Matthew Martinez for the 30th Congressional District, which includes most of the San Gabriel Valley -The candidate — who used to be a Democrat — re-registered as a Republican two-and-a-half years ago during Republican George Deukmejian's campaign for governor. He is one of a number of Hispanics who, along with Asians in Los Angeles, are abandoning their traditional membership in the Democratic Party and taking up
rary rooms," Miles said. "Now it looks like we're the bad guys.
"In the past we have just had more people cancel (housing contracts) by this time,'' she said.
membership in the Republican Party.
If elected in November, Gomez would be the first Hispanic Republican Congressman elected in almost a generation, and the first in California's history.
In his speech to a political science class, Gomez said a candidate must be "color blind and color aware."
He said the vote of an upper class person counts just as heavily as the vote of an immigrant who has just become a U.S. citizen.
"It's the stabilizer of society," Gomez said.
Gomez said there is a group of young voters in the Hispanic and Asian communities who want to break the stereotype of minorities as perennial Democrats.
Another thing that attracts the Asian voters to the Republican (Continued on page 2)
Minorities more welcome in politics, candidate says
Gomez said there is a group of young voters in the Hispanic and Asian communities who want to break the stereotype of minorities as perennial Democrats.