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Volume XCVII, Number 68	University of Southern California	Wednesday, December 12, 1984
Loan delay due to shutdown of state computer system
By Rebecca Esquibel
Staff Writer
Because of the breakdown of a statewide system for processing California Guaranteed Student Loans, many university students are still waiting to receive their loans.
A new electronic delivery system allowed the Financial Aid Office to process GSLs at a faster
pace than in previous years, said Michael Halloran, dean of Admissions and Financial Aid.
The system was halted about Nov. 9 because the state contractor who had set up the system refused to continue until the state paid him, Halloran said. He added that the state is currently trying to work out arrangements to pay the contrac-
tor and get the system back up, and it is possible the system will be back up by the first of the year.
The new system enabled students to turn in their GSL applications to financial aid and be guaranteed automatically by computer. They would then receive their promissory note from the state and take it to a bank. The check was then delivered to the Financial Aid Office within three weeks.
But for the time being, the financial aid staff is back to processing the GSL applications manually, in the order they were received.
“It takes six weeks at the very least to process the forms, sometimes longer," Halloran said.
He added that two weeks ago there were still 1,000 applications that had not been certified.
If students still waiting for the loans have university charges, they are deferred until the loan comes in, Halloran said, but if the money is being used for personal purposes, the student has to wait.
If there is an emergency situation, financial aid will sometimes offer the student an emergency loan, he said.
There have not been a lot of complaints from students waiting to receive their GSLs, Halloran said.
"There are always problems. I'm not aware there is a greater problem than normal," he said.
Many students who are waiting for their GSLs to come in received letters last week explaining the situation with the new system. Many also received new applications, since the applications for the manual process and the electronic process are different.
One student, who preferred to remain anonymous, said he could not believe it had taken the university so long to notify him about the longer processing time.
"I expected this application in October. Now I'll have to wait until January," the student said.
The ecstasy of sex, skiing among topics of seminar
By Karen Castro
Assistant City Editor
Gathered in an informal circle in a private conference room at the Norman Topping Student Center, a group of students, most of them members of the scholars group, Mortar Board, began analyzing ecstasy as a "reasonable goal."
"If ecstasy represents a pure level of joy, why not have it as an aspiration?" asked Jerald Jellison, professor of psychology. "When are you ecstatic?"
Several students responded: "When goals are achieved," "A surprise I haven't expected," "The promise of getting something."
To illustrate the idea of the promise, one student said, "I was more excited about getting my letter for a medical interview than I was when I got the actual acceptance."
Then Jellison used snow-skiing to exemplify ecstasy: "When are you ecstatic? When you're skiiing down the slope? Or is it when you get to the bottom?"
Students provided the answer: "When you reach the bottom, it's more of a feeling of relief . . . while you're doing it is the actual ecstasy."
Jellison, who recently won the Mortar Board's Outstanding Teaching Award, was leading a seminar in which participants discussed everything from the ecstasies of snow-skiing to the agony of losing a loved one.
"Sex is another place people report feeling good," Jellison said. "Is this ecstasy the feeling of promise, for example, when vou see a person across the room looking so, so good?
"Or is it when sex is over, and you think, 'God, that was great.' Or maybe it's knowing the other partner thinks you're great." The comments were followed by jittery laughter.
"What are you thinking about during an orgasm?" Jellison asked.
After a long, nervous pause, one student responded, "Nothing."
Jellison agreed. He said during the actual process of having sex and reaching a climax, one usually does not think about anything and this is the real ecstasy. At the end of the act, one has a sense of accomplishment.
Ecstasy, he said, is the state in which a person largely is not thinking about himself and "you're not aware of boundaries." This occurs while having sex, skiing — "we've all experienced something like that," he said.
Jellison discussed how "human beings are characterized as judgment machines" and how judging relates to pain.
(Continued on page 14)
SUZANNE DENEBE1M DAILY TROJAN
Shoppers and spectators wander through the university’s art faire in Alumni Park.
The Alpha Tau Omega fraternity raised thousands of dollars for muscular distrophy through its “dunk-a-thon” and other fundraising activities.
ATO fraternity raises money to fight muscular dystrophy
By Albert Pang
Staff Writer
By enduring the plight of being hit by water bags, 15 pledges of Alpha Tau Omega raised S73 in quarters, and another 50 members solicited an additional S2,100 from families and friends of the fraternity, for the Muscular Dystrophy Association last week.
"The dunk-a-thon was very successful," said Rick McGeagh, president of the fraternity. "It helps the children who are handicapped."
John Angelo, district director of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, said, "The group has done a great job. They decided to do it and did it all by themselves. And it was a fun way to raise money."
'The dunk-a-thon was very successful,' said Rick McGeagh, president of the fraternity. 'It helps the children who are handicapped.'
After the fundraising program, the fraternity is eligible to go directly to the Jerry Lewis national telethon, held in Las Vegas every Labor Day, Angelo said.
Each youth group can help to raise 520,000 for the telethon, present the check there and receive national exposure, Angelo added.
McGeagh said the fraternity will hold a tug-of-war and over-the-line tournament with other fraternities in the next semester and raise the needed fund.
The Muscular Dystrophy Association is a national organization which helps set up clinics and fund research into curing and preventing the muscle disease.
Angelo said, "We're the fifth leading health organization in the country' and we receive the money purely from American people.
"It was nice getting people to raise funds (for us). It helps us and they would leam the skills to have a good learning,"he added.
Library hours for finals
College and Von KleinSmid libraries will be open extra hours for finals. College will be open daily Nov. 30 through Dec. 20, 8 a.m. to midnight, and Dec. 21, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. VKC will be open Dec. 14, 8 a.m. to midnight; Dec. 15, 9 a.m. to midnight; starting Dec. 16 at 9 a.m. the library will be open 24 hours until Dec. 21, when it will close at 5 p.m. Doheny Library will also be open during Christmas break, three days a week.