dSMB^ trojan
Volume C, Number 42
University of Southern California
Wednesday, March 12, 1986
Morrison leaves coaching post for administration
TOM WOODALL DAILY TROJAN
Tickets for Trojan Night to be honored in March
By Tommy Li
Staff Writer
Although the 8th Trojan Night at Magic Mountain last Saturday was canceled due to rain, the park has agreed to honor tickets until March 31.
Discount tickets to the park can still be purchased at the university ticket office or at the kiosk near Tommy Trojan for $8.95. The regular price is $14.95.
This was the first time the event has been canceled because of rain, said Chris McAlary, chairman of the Trojan Night committee.
"We're not real happy that it was canceled,” McAlary said. "It would have been a really successful event."
Admission tickets are non-refundable, according to a contract agreement with Magic Mountain, but beginning today, bus ticket refunds are available at the kiosk near Tommy Trojan between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., Monday through Friday, he said.
Free parking passes distributed by Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity, the sponsors of the event, are valid until the end of this month and are still available.
McAlary said if any students are still interested in going to the park on either March 15 or March 22, "we will provide buses for (students) if the demand is great enough."
On March 15, the rock band Strvper will perform at the park's Showcase Amphitheater at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., and on March 22, Blue Ovster Cult will perform at the same place and times.
The park is open on weekends from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and will remain open on weekdays during spring break from March 22 to March 30.
On March 16, the park will close early at 8 p.m.
"We still had to pay for the rental ($25,000) of the park," McAlary said. But the business fraternity was able to break even, because "we sold about 3,000 tickets," he said.
The onlv financial loss resulting from the event's cancellation was in advertising and promotional expenses, McAlary said.
Tiffany Smith, director of Nightclub Trojan, said the $600 spent to hire the John Doe Band to perform last Saturday might be lost.
Smith said she will find out Thursday if the Program Board will be reimbursed. "I doubt we'll get all our money back," she said.
Although it rained during Trojan Night at Knott's Berry Farm three years ago and at Disneyland four years ago, the parks remained open, McAlary said.
He said one of the major reasons Magic Mountain closed last Saturday was that the park has many outdoor rides that are unprotected from rain, whereas Disnevland has more indoor rides.
By Scott Wolf
Sports Editor
In a shocking turn of events, Stan Morrison announced his resignation as USC basketball coach Tuesday night to become associate athletic director at the university.
The announcement came as Morrison, 46, concluded his seventh season at the university, compiling a 103-95 record. He was 203-183 in his 14 years as a collegiate coach at Pacific (1972-1979) and USC (1979-1986).
"Seven years ago, I stood here wearing the same suit and experienced the single most happiest experience of my life," Morrison said. "This moment is not nearly as gratifying.
"Given the difficulty of the past season, an unusual opportunity was given to me," he said. "I believe it's time for a change and in the best interests of the program."
Neither Morrison nor Athletic Director Mike McGee named any possible candidates for the job. It was rumored Tuesday morning that Boston College coach Gary Williams was to be named head coach at the press conference, according to sources.
Williams is also expected to be a final candidate for the Ohio State coaching position and told the Boston Globe Tuesday, "I want a few days off before making any decisions. I don't want to do anything in the current situation I'm in."
The Associated Press reported USC as one of several schools that have contacted Williams about the coaching position.
McGee said he has received phone calls from several interested coaches.
Tuesday night, Morrison said that McGee had offered him an administrative position in the ath-
letic department prior to the 1984-85 season.
"I said I'd think about it down the road," Morrison said. "Well, down the road is here."
Morrison's departure comes at a curious time in the USC basketball program. He was named Pacif-ic-10 Coach of the Year in 1985 after directing the Trojans to the league championship and an NCAA Tournament berth.
Although USC struggled to an 11-17 record this season, Morrison had the returning nucleus for what could have been his strongest team ever, with freshmen Tom Lewis, Bo Kimble, Hank Gathers and Rich Grande all expected to make significant contributions. The team's top five scorers (Lewis, Derrick Dowell, Kimble, Gathers and Rod Keller) all return next season.
USC was in the midst of a strong recruiting year, with 6-9 forward Bob Erbst of Katella High School in Anaheim already signed, and 6-8 Chris Munk of San Francisco, one of the top prospects in the nation, close to making a verbal commitment to the university.
There has been speculation that McGee was searching for an opportunity to replace Morrison since becoming athletic director in 1984. The Trojans were 11-20 that year and only a remarkable 19-10 turnaround apparently prolonged the inevitable.
Ironically, Morrison's contract was renewed after last season for three years, amidst rumors he would accept the coaching position at California.
"Given Virgil Lubberden's resignation (as associate athletic director) and the awkwardness of the past season and perceptions I can do nothing about ... I am resigning," Morrison said.
(Continued on page 20)
Abortion controversy debated
By Gordon Gary
Staff Writer
Amid protests from anti-abortionists who demonstrated near Tommy Trojan and preparations for a pro-choice rally scheduled in Century City on March 16, two law experts debated the constitutionality of an anti-abortion amendment Tuesday afternoon at Hancock Auditorium.
Erwin Chemerinsky, a constitutional law professor at the university, and Wesely Beverlin, an attorney from the Right to Life League of Southern California, participated in the debate.
The Supreme Court's 1973 decision in Roe vs. Wade prohibited states from preventing women from having abortions during the first six months of pregnancy and "wiped away all of the existing laws in those states at that time," Beverlin said.
Since the decision, more than 18 million abortions have been performed in this country, he said.
But in handing down the decision, Beverlin said, the court failed to provide the unborn "the fundamental right to be bom and live."
He said that if the unborn are defined as persons in the constitutional sense, there is no reason to allow abortion to exist.
Modem technology has advanced to the point where it is possible to observe the fetus in the womb and see unborn life. Such technology illustrates that "all of us, at one time, lived in the sanctuary of the womb," he said.
Chemerinsky said the question of where life begins is not the issue to be debated. "I would argue that there is no medical, legal or moral way to resolve that question," he said.
"I believe that the profoundlv difficult question of abortion
should be decided by each woman and her own conscience," Chemerinsky said.
The Constitution, as a document of laws, should reflect the "shared values" of the people of this country, and the anti-abortion stance is not representative of a consensus of the population, he said.
"If there's any consensus, it's against Mr. Beverlin's position. In a recent opinion poll, over 75 percent of the people stated that the very question of abortion should be decided by each woman according to her conscience," Chemerinsky said.
A constitutional amendment against abortion, therefore, would undermine the legitimacy of the document, he said.
"Medicine can tell us if there are living cells, but (it) cannot tell us if there is a human being," he said.
"There is potential life every time an egg cell is released. To accept the potential life that comes from sex, the law should
obligate every woman to become pregnant every month," he said, as the audience laughed.
Chemerinsky also attacked Beverlin's argument that the mother has the obligation to carry the baby to full term to ensure that it lives.
"The law simply does not tell people to become good samari-tans. Nor can the law require a woman to use her body as an incubator to save the fetus's life. Even if the fetus has the right to life, the fetus has no right, nor does the law have the right, to insist that the woman keep the fetus in her body," he said.
The law does not require that parents donate organs, limbs or blood to their children, he added.
"(Chemerinsky) presupposes, in everything he says, that the fetus shouldn't have any legal right to protection. My God, the majority (in the Supreme Court) in Roe vs. Wade didn't even go (Continued on page 6)
JOEL ORDESKY DAILY TROJAN
While Erwin Chemerinsky and Wesely Beverlin were debating inside Hancock Auditorium, pro-choice and anti-abortion zealots squared off in front of Tommy Trojan Tuesday.