viewpoint
Student apathy is plaguing the university — page 4.
Oliver Stone speaks out on his next film — page 9.
Come spend a day at Dedeaux Field — page 28.
Volume CIV, Number 41
University of Southern California
Thursday, March 10, 1988
Engineering school hardest hit
Fall applications drop significantly
By Katherine Dyar
Assistant Gtv Editor
The initial tally of undergraduate applications to the university for the Fall 1988 semester shows a 20 percent drop, almost 1800 applications, from last year's figures, according to information obtained from the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid.
In a memo dated Feb. 26 to Lyn Hutton, senior vice president of adminstration, figures comparing the level of the freshman applicant pool — the pool used, in part, to determine the budget for the upcoming academic year — show a significant decrease in the number of initial undergraduate applications received as compared to Fall 1987.
The memo was issued by Joseph Merante, dean of admissions, financial aid and registration. But Merante said Wednesday that his first report was inaccurate because it did not account for the applications that were still being accepted and processed by the office.
He said that current estimates
put the university much closer to last year's level, which, with 3,200 students eventually enrolled, was the largest freshman class ever admitted by the university.
Although Merante declined to state the specific figures from the most recent undergraduate application report, he said they are "within 9 percent" of where they were at this time last year.
Applications 'really off'
But while the overall numbers for the university may be comparable to previous years, some of the larger schools on campus — including the schools of engineering and business and the natural sciences division of the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences — are w'orried about sharp declines in the number of applications to their individual programs.
Carole Snow, assistant dean of engineering, said statistics for her school show a 30 percent reduction in applications as compared to last year.
"Applications are really off,'' Snow said. "It's had a tremen-
CHRtSTOPHER FLANAGAN / DAILY TROJAN
Lyn Hutton, vice president of administration, and Joseph Merante, dean of admissions and financial aid, said computer troubles are likely behind them. “We’ve got it fixed and working,” Hutton said.
dous impact on us."
Snow said the school has been trying to compensate for the decline by concentrating on "converting" the students who have been admitted, by persuading them to accept their spot and enroll as an undergraduate.
To recruit Fall 1988 students, the engineering school has sent (Continued on page 16)
Domestic Freshmen Applications Received
1350-
Fall 1988
1215
Fall 1987 —
9*5
1
10/2/87 to 2/25/88
/ 26 / 86 to 2/28/87
810-
675-
540 --
♦05-*
270--
135 - -
* * s 1 *■ -Il 1
-I—---------P
A graph from
Merante’s Feb. 26 memo comparing Fall 1988 undergraduate applications with last by week. Note, in the graph’s peak, a discrepancy of more than 1,1 ooapplications.
Financial aid officials ‘cocky’
University admits staff erred, not computers
By Brad Bowlin
Assistant City Editor
With crossed fingers and much knocking on wood, two key players in the university's financial aid snafus gave a tentative vote of confidence to the school's trouble-plagued computer system at Wednesday's Student Senate meeting.
Lyn Hutton, vice president of administration, and Joseph Merante, dean of admissions and financial aid, told the senate that a replay of last semester's computer crash and aid-processing debacle is unlikely.
The system "blacked out" last fall, Hutton said, because too many users were trying to access the same areas at the same time. "If we had done better training, we wouldn't have had the crash," she said.
"We think we've got it fixed and working," Hutton said.
The new system — which the university began adopting in 1984 but was not used for financial aid until last year — had not been fully tested, Hutton said, because installation fell behind schedule and because the administration was overly confi-(Continued on page 8)
Gang members caught at area Chevron station
Five gang members were arrested Wednesday night on suspicion of grand theft auto at a gas station across the street from campus, police said
The men, between the ages of 18 and 25, pulled into the Chevron station at the comer of Figueroa Street and Exposition Boulevard at about 6pm., said Los Angeles police Sgt. Steve Laroche of the Southwest Division.
The gang members were in an orange-striped black pickup that had been reported stolen earlier this week. An off-duty officer spotted the truck as Ive drove to the Southwest station.
Witnesses said about eight squad cars converged at the station, and officers ordered the fleeing gang members to "freeze." Laroche said the five youths admitted they were gang members. Chevron workers said the men were wearing T-shirts and jackets with the 18th Street gang logo on them. One worker said he recognized them as gang members from the area near Manual Arts High School.
— By Jordana Bieze