trojan
Volume XCVII, Number 64	University of Southern California	Thursday, December 6, 1984
STEVE FULTON/DAILY TROJAN
President James Zumberge and Nancy Calle, chairwoman of the student affairs research action unit, appear at a Student Senate rally designed to show support for the proposed University Center.
Campus basketball pass shows support for center
By James Jones
Staff Writer
Nearly 700 students passed a basketball around the campus Wednesday, kicking off a Student Senate rally to raise money and demonstrate student support for the proposed University Center.
In a letter read to university President James Zumberge, Nancy Calle, chairwoman of the student affairs research action unit, said, "The ball is in your court, but we are on your side."
Zumberge was presented with the letter from the Student Senate, the basketball which traveled around the university, a list of petitions signed by over 1,000 students and over $700 donated by the students as an opening contribution to the new facility.
Students from fraternities and sororities, campus organizations, and residence halls turned out to show their support for the issue, making it the biggest senate-sponsored event of the year.
Senate President Mike Singer said he had expected about 200 participants and was very pleased by the final student turnout.
"I think the event showed that students are more than willing to
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Local residents, Greeks meet to air complaints
Senate will establish S. Africa commission
By Claudia Ishino
Staff Writer
Community residents met for the first time w'ith residents of the Row to air their complaints about the students, and discuss possible ways the two groups can live together.
One resident said he has witnessed beer bottles flying past his children's heads, and that students have parked their cars on his lawn.	'*>•
The meeting, which was held at the Alpha Phi sorority house, was sponsored by the sorority and the Sigma Nu fraternity.
About 75 Greeks representing seven houses attended the meeting. James Dennis, vice president of student affairs, was also present.
The most common complaint from community residents concerned disturbances caused by loud noises at early morning hours, especially during Thursday night all-Row parties, and from loud stereos.
Bob Byers, chairman of the North University Park Alliance (NUPA) community organization, said it was not unusual to be awakened at 4 a.m. by firecrackers and screaming people.
"I understand that they want to have fun. But they have school and we have to work," said Joy Munn, a resident of 28th Street. Munn said she contacted the university's office of Residential Life and initiated interest in a meeting between students and community residents.
An apartment landlord on 29th Street said he receives frequent requests about vacancies from students who want to move away from the "Row area" because the noise does not allow them to study.
Another resident said the po-(Continued on page 5)
By Karen Kucher
Assistant City Editor
The Student Senate, after months of delay, voted unanimously Wednesday night to support a proposal by the Black Student Union to establish a commission to assess the university's policies and actions regarding investments in South Africa.
Jon Strauss, senior vice president of administration, spoke before the standing-room-only crowd of senators and interested students, explaining the university's policy and answering questions.
The university's current two-fold policy states that while the university is "unequivocally opposed" to South Africa's "abhorrent" policy of legal racial discrimination known as apartheid, it also "rejects the claim that investing in American corporations with holdings or operations in South Africa constitutes . . . indirect support of racism."
"We are separating our economic and political agendas," Strauss said, explaining the apparent contradictions of the university's policy.
Strauss said about 11 percent of the managed portfolio of university investments — almost $18 million — is invested in corporations having some holdings in South Africa.
The issue, which has been debated the entire semester, began in September, when the BSU approached university President James Zumberge with a proposal to establish a commission. The proposal was then turned over to the Student Senate, when Zumberge rejected it because it did not come from the right governing body.
Wednesday, the "right governing body" voted unanimously to endorse the establishment of a 13-member commission. Six of the representatives on the commission will be students.
"President Zumberge will be receptive to the idea of a commission," Strauss promised, adding that the commision would be listened to although he said he couldn't "promise their proposals would be adopted."
The university policy also calls for "issues of social concern" to be addressed through stockholder resolutions.
But later, Strauss said, "I do not believe shareholder resolutions are effective."
"You mention that it is the responsibility of the trustees to maximize our investments," said James McPherson, a commuter senator. But it is important that the successful investments should "not be infringing on human rights," he added.
"I couldn't argue that we should invest our money independently of social issues," Strauss responded. "I think it is fairly clear that divestment doesn't work, but it is a statement."
Student Senator Mark Decker argued, "I think you have to be a leader in these types of movements."
McPherson added that it is "our obligation to be conscious of how we make our money," and that the university's investments should "come from the heart, too."
Senate President Mike Singer said the commission will be studying the issue and may come up with alternatives other than divestment. "I hope the commission will be creative," he added.
Nightmare in Baja
— the tragedy of Rich Brown
Auto wreck gave two survivors a cruel lesson in Mexican law
Students and administrators walk in a candlelight vigil honoring IFC President Rich Brown in October. Brown was killed in an auto wreck in Baja California earlier this year.
By David Jefferson
Assistant Investigations Editor
Martha Brown fought to keep the emotion from overwhelming her as she recalled the conversation she had with her son.
"I asked him, 'Why in the world are you going down to Mexico?' He said, 'Mom, everyone goes down there, and I haven't been yet.' "
Part one of a two-part series.
Each month, over one million American citizens cross the border at San Ysi-dro from Baja California, many of them returning from a few relaxing days of sun, sand and margaritas at Hussong's Cantina in Ensenada.
Brown's son was one of those who did not return.
On July 28, Rich Brown, president of the university's Interfratemity Council, was returning to California from a short vacation in Ensenada with fellow Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity members Tom Eck and James McCormack.
Driving at dusk on a two-lane divided road through a rural area just north of Ensenada, Brown apparently swerved.
either to avoid a boulder that had fallen in front of his Volkswagen Rabbit or because of a blowout. The car ran into a guard rail and rolled over.
Eck and McCormack, both 19, were injured. Brown, 21, was pronounced dead at the scene.
That accident triggered a series of tragic complications, as Eck and McCormack struggled to get out of the country and Brown's parents tried to negotiate the return of their son's body.
"People from the U.S. think they are under U.S. law when they visit Mexico, but they are not. They are under Mexican law," said John Walsh, press secretary for the American Embassy in Mexico City. "They think they can depend on the embassy to get them out of any sort of trouble they are in, but we are here to protect them under Mexican law."
With the lure of Baja's uncluttered beaches only a few hours drive from Los Angeles, many people neglect the fact that a trip "south of the border" does, indeed, mean leaving the United States and entering a country where the legal system is quite different.
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