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Volume CV, Number 64
University of Southern California
Monday. December 7, 1987
Heavy rains flood cinema building
Water crashes through office wall
By Gale Lance
Staff Writer
SHAWN POGATCHMK DAILY TROJAN
WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE — A build-up of water pressure from Friday’s rainstorm knocked down this wall at the Harold Lloyd Sound Stage Friday night. Fifteen people were evacuated.
Discovery of asbestos forces evacuation of Embassy rooms
By Kevin Davis
Staff Writer
Asbestos lining was discovered in the doors of eighth and ninth floor rooms at Embassy Residential College last week, prompting the evacuation of three rooms Friday.
The asbestos — a carcinogeous material once used commonly as a fire retardant but now considered dangerous — was reportedly exposed when bottoms of the three eighth floor doors were sawed off during installation of door thresholds.
The carpenter installing the thresholds discovered what turned out to be a fire-retardant lining containing five percent asbestos inside the doors Thursday afternoon, said Ray Perkins, a construction supervisor for Lyons Construction Co., the company in charge of renovating the 76-vear-old building.
Perkins said the discovery worried construction
personnel, and tests were done immediately on the substance.
When test results revealed only minor amounts of asbestos were present, construction crews cleaned up, replaced the doors and went home.
But students who live in the affected rooms were not informed of the incident until Friday afternoon, when they returned from classes to find the area in front of their adjacent doorways cordoned off and guarded by building security with notices posted in the hallway.
Perkins said the partial evacuation was prompted only as a precaution. "We did a clean-up but it was not thorough and needed complete decontamination, even though the fiber count (of the asbestos) was negative," he said. "So we asked the students to leave just to be on the safe side.
"This form of asbestos is basically concrete and is no danger. But because we did cut it, there were pieces of it lying on the floor."
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A river of water flooded a dnema school building and forced 15 people to evacuate its ground floor during Friday night's torrential rains.
More than four feet of water built up like a "swimming pool" against the recessed north wall of the Harold Lloyd Sound Stage between 6:30 and 7 p.m., according to witnesses.
The water pressure uprooted the three-inch-thick stucco wall and poured into an unoccupied office. A wave of water almost a foot high rushed like "roaring rapids" down an adjacent hallway and into several rooms, witnesses said.
"My main concern was the master electrical control. 1 figured if the water reached the power breakers we were going to die," said Marty Schapiro, photography instructor, who saw the water heading for the darkroom and toward a film crew working in the computer animation lab.
No injuries were reported.
Friday’s rainstorm causes additional flood damage. See page 6
Insurance adjusters surveyed the site Saturday morning No damage estimates were available Sunday.
A film library was flooded to a depth of three to four inches. However, more than 1,000 reek of film left sitting on the library's floor were saved by Physical Plant workers.
The photo lab was occupied by Schapiro and six students, who were finishing final projects
After Schapiro noticed water seeping through the lab's base molding, students scrambled to disconnect and pick up about S3.000 worth of lighting equipment, which was sprawled about the floor. "Everybody who was in here grabbed something." he said
The filmmakers in the computer lab shut off the room's power and evacuated the room as the water level reached more than one foot and immersed the lab's electrical wring
Approximately three inches of water reached the electrical control room, which houses all of the electrical power for the School of Cinema. The water level did not pose a serious threat, according to Physical Plant electrician Eddie McClain.
"I came in and determined that there was no danger. McClain said. He explained that a water level above six inches could have reached the main breaker and a "back-up of power into two outside transformers carrying 4,800 volts of electricity-" could have caused a dangerous explosion
After evacuating the students, Schapiro notified Physical Plant and sounded the building's alarm. University Secunty officers and one engine from Los Angeles Fire Department 46 met at the scene within minutes, according to Schapiro
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Humanities background practical for job market
By Michael Cary
Staff Writer
(Editor's note: This is the third article of a four-part series on humanities.)
Students shifting away from the humanities toward professional schools in pursuit of lucrative careers are making a grave mistake, according to some university faculty members.
Marshall Cohen, dean of the humanities division of the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, said students are more concerned with a professional education because of "the payoff in careers combined with the false view that humanities are not practical."
Many corporations prefer to hire graduates with liberal arts backgrounds, especially in today's interdependent world, Cohen said. "People at the highest levels (of corporations) need an understanding of culture and history. Those with a broad edu-
cation do best."
Peter Manning, chairman of the English department, said corporations do not want people in management who are vocationally or technically trained, but people who can act and think critically.
"The evidence of hired upper management shows they have solid, critical backgrounds,"
Tuesday: How the university finances humanities.
Manning said, noting that the president of E.F. Hutton has an English degree and AT & T's upper management personnel have liberal arts degrees.
"We're trying to produce students with an adaptable mind, capable of responding to situations," said John Dreher, chairman of the philosophy (Continued on page 2)
Students may be excluded from increase
Proposed raise in minimum wage not enough, local groups protest
By Julia Kirkendall
Staff Wr
An increase in California's minimum wage is currently being considered by the Industrial Welfare Commission, but the proposed 65-cent increase excludes full-time students between 16 and
21	who live at home.
The five-member state commission is empowered to set the minimum wage. Its proposal would raise the minimum wage to $4 per hour and establish a sub-minimum wage for full-time students.
The minimum wage is currently $3.35 per hour and allows for sub-minimum pay to full-time students under 18. The new sub-minimum would make up about 85 percent of the proposed $4-an-hour wage, or S3.40 an hour.
Opposition has rallied against the proposed wage plan, spearheaded by a coalition of three community organizations: the East Valleys Organization, the United Neighborhood Organization and the South Central Organizing Committee.
The EVO, UNO and SCOC have called for the establishment of a "moral minimum wage" of $5.01 per hour, which would be periodically adjusted to reflect cost of living increases as determined by the California Necessities Index. In
addition, the organizations oppose the extension of the sub-minimum wage provision to indude college-age students.
The three organizations represent churches and
200,000	families in the Los Angeles area, many of which are located in poor neighborhoods, said Larry Fondation, head organizer of the SCOC.
"There's a direct interest in the issue,** he said "In the three organizations, about half the people make less than $5 an hour."
"The response has generally been good . . . we've had over 2,000 small bus lesses. through their associations, come out in favor of $5.01," Fonda tion said.
The $5.01 figure represents the approximate cost of keeping a family of three, with one full-time wage earner, above the poverty level, according to the organizations' joint position paper. The minimum wage has not been raised since 1961, although the cost of living has increased at a rate of 33 percent, as measured by the state Consumer Price Index.
The organizations can find no justification for the expansion to the sub-minimum wage category to include those students over 18, Fonda bon said. "I think it is just misguided."
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