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Volume XCVIII, Number 22	University of Southern California	Monday, February 11, 1985
Trustees approve plans for student center
Ex-students who defaulted on loans will face government crack down
By Nancie Mack
Staff Writer
While the government is making a renewed effort to locate former students who have defaulted on their federal loans, the university has always had its own system of tracking down remiss students, said Cathryn Gorman, manager of Student Loan Accounting.
In an attempt to collect the $4.5 billion owed to the government because of defaulted student loans, U.S. Attorney's offices nationwide are filing claims against 15,000 former students, and by this summer, will go after 35,000 more, according to the Feb. 11 issue of Time magazine.
"We've always been cracking down," Gorman said.
About 65 percent of the students at the university receive financial aid, much of it in the form of loans — National Direct Student Loans, Guaranteed Student Loans, University Direct Student Loans, institutional loans, Health Professional Student Loans, emergency loans, Federally Insured
Student Loans, and California Loans to Assist Students.
Gorman said the federal government does not allow the university to let its default rate get higher than 10 percent.
When a student accepts a loan, he is required by federal law to provide up-to-date information on himself, his family, employers, assets, and tax records. Using this information and graduation lists provided by Registration and Records, the Student Loan Department can keep track of its borrowers, Gorman said.
When a student graduates, transfers or drops out, he or she should arrange an exit interview with the loan department to establish a payment plan or to make further deferment arrangements, Gorman said. If the student does not arrange an interview on his own, she said the department will contact the student to set up the appointment.
Once a loan has reached maturity, a university-contracted billing agency sends the student a notice of intent to bill, letting him know that he will
(Continued on page 11)
Students hit by virus, less flu cases reported
By Leslie Ann White
Staff Writer
Although it seems most of everyone's friends are sick with the sniffles, the number of students flocking to the university's Student Health Center with the flu did not reach the epidemic proportion it did last winter, said Dr. Ronald Mandel, associate director of the Health Center.
However, the Health Center has been overloaded with flu sufferers this semester, he said.
A great number of students with flu symptoms were going to the Health Center at the beginning of this semester, and the number did not begin to decrease until about two weeks ago, Mandel said.
The Health Center during this
period normally sees about 200 students each day, but treated almost 300 students daily this semester, Mandel said.
There is no epidemic in the county to date, but that "certainly can change," said Frank Sorvillo, an epidemiologist with the Los Angeles County Health Department.
Many Los Angles County residents have been complaining recently of flu symptoms that are characteristic of the Philippine flu, according to the county Health Department.
The virus was given its name because it was isolated and identified in the Philippines. It does not necessarily mean that the disease originated there, Sorvillo said.
(Continued on page 6)
Board chooses plan without adjoining basketball facility
By Eric Spotts
Staff Writer
After months of deliberation, the university Board of Trustees announced Friday that it has approved plans to construct a $12.3 million student recreation center.
The board decided at a meeting Wednesday to move ahead with the construction of an on-campus student recreation center separate from a basketball facility for the university's men's and women's intercollegiate teams.
The facility will include handball courts, recreational basketball courts, a fitness center, exercise rooms, a sauna, a game room and men's and women's locker rooms.
Although there is currently no fund-raising plan regarding the center, James Appleton, vice president of development, said he was optimistic that the $12.3 million for the facility could be raised by private donations.
The Board of Trustees' Finance Commission will probably reach a decisions on how the funds will be raised before the end of the semester, but it may be summer before a final decision is made, said George Abdo, executive assistant to the president.
University President James Zumberge said the university has been planning the construction of a student recreation center since 1973. He said it has been "badly needed for many years, and it will mean a lot to our students to know that it is going to become a reality."
The final decision to begin the planning of the facility, which will be built just north of the McDonald's Swim Stadium, was put off because the site was needed for spectator seating for the swimming venue during the 1984 Olympic Games, Zumberge said.
The great increase in recent years of the number of students living on or near campus created the need for a facility where students can study, do research, socialize or recreate, said James Dennis, vice president of student affairs.
With the addition of an on-campus student recreation center, the university will be "doing well in all four of those areas," Dennis said.
Anthony Lazzaro, vice president of business affairs, estimated that Parkin Architects will take 14 months to complete the plans for the student center.
If fund-raising is successful, construction could begin in July 1986, he said.
Under "optimal" conditions, the facility would take 18 months to build and probably be open for student use by Spring 1988, Lazzaro said.
Zumberge said that the question of building an on-campus facility for the men's and women's basketball teams, which currently play their home games in the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, still is being considered.
The Board of Trustees has directed the university to "work with dispatch to do everything possible to provide superior practice and playing facilities for the university's basketball teams," he said.
The two options being considered for the basketball teams are to build an on-campus facility or to work toward solving the difficulties the university has had in the past with the Sports Arena.
Because of scheduling conflicts with the Sports Arena this year, the men's basketball team was forced to play one of its home games at California State University at Dominguez Hills, and the two-time defending NCAA champion women's basketball team must play one of its home games in the Physical Education Building's North Gym.
If the rain comes, they run and hide their heads, they might as well be dead; if the rain comes. When the sun shines, they slip into the shade, and sip their lemonade; when the sun shines. Rain, I don't mind; shine, the weather's fine. Can you hear me that when it rains and shines, it's just a state of mind; can you hear me? — John Lennon
CRAIG ARAKAK1/DA1LY TROJAN