Rekindling the Olympic Spirit — see page 7
trojan
Volume C, Number 13
University of Southern California
Tuesday, January 28, 1986
Tutu inspires student anti-apartheid group
By Amy Mednick
Staff Writer
Inspired by Bishop Desmond Tutu's speech last week, a number of university students have formed an organization against apartheid and are planning a rally to protest the university's investments in South Africa.
The newly-formed group, which calls itself USC Students Against Apartheid, has already gathered support from the Black Student Assembly, an umbrella organization made up of seven black organizations on campus.
Ken High, president of the Black Student Union, said, "The BSA wants to make students aware of what is going on and what students can do to change the situation.
"If we show the students are involved, the university will know students want something to be done about divestment," High said. "We want the university to divest its South African investments."
Barry Kaufman, a senior majoring in biology, is one of the organization's founders. He said some students who congregated at the Annenberg School of Communications immediately following Tutu's speech decided there was enough student support to form Students Against Apartheid.
Kaufman said he was surprised by the number of students interested in becoming involved in efforts to prevent the university from investing in South Africa.
He has distributed leaflets under university ’’tterhead which play on the university's acronym with the phrase, "University that Supports Criminals."
The leaflet urges students to take a "few hours" of their time to send a letter of protest to President James Zumberge and provides a phone number for students to call if they are interested in attending a "big surprise party for the entire administration."
Kaufman said the "party" referred to a rally, as yet unscheduled, that the group plans to hold when administrators and trustees are on campus.
"Our purpose is not to antagonize the administration, but to use this as a way to get back to the people who handle the money," he said.
Kaufman said he has already gathered the names of 150 to 200 people interested in helping the organization and plans to be in touch with groups at UCLA and other schools to enlist further student involvement in the rally.
GURl DHAUWAL/DAILY TROJAN
Yesterday’s sunny weather brought vendors selling everything from hot dogs to ice cream.
Bar exam success rate drops
Second annual decline disappoints dean
By Tania Soussan
Staff Writer
The passage rate for graduates of the university Law Center who took the California State Bar exam for the first time last year declined for the second straight year. The 1984 decline was relatively large but was part of a statewide trend. The 1985 drop, though relatively small, came in the face of a statewide increase in passing scores.
The passage rate for university graduates declined from 71.5 percent in 1984 to 70.7 percent in 1985, while the rate for all California takers rose from 41.8 percent to 45.4 percent.
Larry Raful, assistant dean of student affairs at the Law Center, was unhappy with the results. "It is a real problem. We should do better," he said.
Most of the Law Center graduates who fail the exam are those who graduate in the bottom quarter of their class. The passage rate for bottom-quarter students has dropped from 50 percent in 1983 and 30 percent in 1984 to only 21 percent this year.
"If they haven't done well in law school, then their chances for passing the bar are less than one in five," Raful said.
Because students who do well at the university do well on the bar, Raful said, he believes that the bar examiners grade on the same scale as the university.
The university has the highest passage rate in Southern California, but Raful would like to see the passage rate rise to the 80 to 83 percent range. The best rates for the university have been around 88 percent, he said.
The California passage rate for the exam fell 10 percentage points in 1984 to the lowest
The passage rate for university graduates declined from 71.5 percent in 1984 to 70.7 percent in 1985, while the rate for all California taKers rose from 41.8 percent to 45.4 percent.
point in several decades, and regained less than half of that last year.
Raful said he had no explanation for the drop in passing scores, but said, "We don't believe this is a conspiracy on the part of the bar to keep people out of the (law) profession."
Laurel Hyde, an attomey-at-law for Kirtland & Packardt, disagrees.
"Of course (the bar) is pulling down the reins. No profession can reproduce itself by 10 percent every year. And a while
back, that's what they were doing. They're keeping them out, and the proof is in the pudding," Hyde said.
The passage rate for some Northern California schools went up. Stanford had the highest rate, with 86.3 percent of its graduates passing and 90.1 percent of first-time takers passing.
By holding small classes with high faculty-student interaction, being highly selective in accepting applicants, and giving "students a terrific educational base," the Law Center tries to ensure that good students will pass the bar exam, Raful said.
Students usually prepare for the three-day examination by taking a private, two-month bar review course which covers exam methods and reviews the three years of law school.
However, Raful emphasizes that students cannot slide through law school for three years and then catch up in two months.
The exam consists of multiple choice questions, a series of one-hour essays on different areas of law and performance essays.
"If you do what we teli you, you'll do all right," Raful said.
The Law Center plans to contact "statistic experts and an education psychologist" within the next month, to look into the low bar exam scores of Law Center graduates, he said.
NO 'PETTY RECEPTION' LAW
Buying stolen goods: a felony
By Terry Allen
Assistant City Editor
In California, theft of property valued at over $400 is a felony. But of equal gravity in the eyes of the law is what authorities term "willful reception of stolen property," an offense automatically labeled as a felony, regardless of the value of the property in question.
"Basically, if you buy property you know, or even have reason to suspect, is stolen, you've committed a felony," said Officer Willie Wilson of the Public Relations Office of the Los Angeles Police Department. "It could have been worth a dollar."
Theft of property valued under $400, termed "petty theft" in the California Penal Code, constitutes a misdemeanor and is generally not punishable by any lengthy stay in jail or large fines, Wilson said.
But there is simply no such thing as "petty reception" in California law.
"In general, if you know the property you're buying is stolen, the penalty is greater than if you stole it yourself," said Sgt. Dave Ritch of University Security.
The question arises, however, of how one is supposed to know what is stolen in the first place. How can the consumer ascertain the origin of the second-hand merchandise he purchases?
According to Section 496 of the California Penal Code, anyone buying or receiving stolen property "under such circumstances as should cause that person to make reasonable inquiry to ascertain that the person from which the property was bought or received had the legal right to sell or deliver it, without making such reasonable inquiry, shall be presumed to have bought or received such property knowing it to have been so stolen or obtained."
Ritch said, "If someone comes up to you on the
street and says, 'Hey, man, want to buy this watch for $25?' and it's a nice Seiko watch worth at least $250, you've got to be crazy not to suspect it's hot. Who would sell something worth $250 for only $25?"
"Most of these deals go down with the line 'Hey, would you like to buy. . out on the street," said Steve Sickles, a senior officer from University Security. "And the price is pretty much ridiculous.
"Most of it is kids and teens selling things that you can tell are obviously stolen as soon as they tell you the price," he continued. "All you have to do is check. If it's a car stereo, check if there's a box. If not, then check if it looks like it came from a car — with scratches and wires cut — and ask for a receipt. If he balks at that, then it's time to balk at the bargain."
Sickles said that reception of stolen goods is generally not a problem on campus, and he said he believed most property stolen here is eventually sold off campus.
"We've never come across any student or faculty rings (dealing in stolen property) or anything like that," he said. "It's mostly just a few individuals doing it.
"Every once in a while we'll run across a student (with stolen property)," he said. "Generally it's obvious that it has been stolen, and they'll admit to it. More often than not, they're cited with Student Conduct, and it is up to the university to decide. But then again, most of it (stolen merchandise) is sold off campus."
Sixty-seven percent of all crimes are committed by drug addicts whose primary motive for stealing property is to raise money to feed their expensive habits, Ritch said. Calling this university a "car stereo supermarket", he said it is is a prime target for
(Continued on page 6)