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Twenty-two cent stamps: The end of a happy era
—	page 4.
Grave Line Tours offers a lively look at death
—	page 9.
The volleyball team takes on UCLA — the defending NCAA Champs — page 24.
Foreign language exam will be axed beginning this fall
By Kathleen Berry
Staff Writer
The skill level examination for foreign languages will be eliminated next semester, allowing students who enrolled in the university after fall 1982 to fulfill the requirement by simply taking three semesters of a language, administration officials confirmed Tuesday.
The examination is required for all students in the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. The new policy gives students the option of either taking three semesters of a language, passing the placement examination or scoring at a level set by each department on a national examination. Any option fulfills the skill level requirement.
The third option, which has never been used at the university, will involve a national test chosen by individual departments and approved by the as-yet-unappointed Foreign Language Instrurtion Committee, said Richard Fbegel, assistant coordinator of general education.
In the past, many students have done well in the language courses and then have failed the skill level examination, prompting the policy change.
"I think it is aimed at eliminating the possibility that students who would do well in the course do not do
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Panel says minority students feel isolated and oppressed
By Shannon Rafferty
Staff Writer
In the shadows of the 20th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, a minister at a conference on racism and race relations charged Tuesday that minority students on campus feel isolated and oppressed, prompting them to run to ethnic organizations for security.
At a symposium coordinated by the Rev. Robert Wilkins, members of several ethnic groups discussed racism
JAMES SU / DAILY TROJAN
The Rev. Robert Wilkins points out to student Henry Hsu several stereotypes that other ethnic groups have toward whites. Other diagrams outlined the prejudicial views aimed at Asian-Americans, blacks and Latinos.
and race relations issues at the university with "ethnic perspectives."
The four-person panel included an Asian-American, a black, a Latino and a white. The racial representatives compared stereotypes that label the groups on campus and in American society.
Steve Ino, an Asian-American who works as a staff clinician at the Student Health Center, said Asians in the university suffer from different stereotypes and prejudices than blacks and Latinos.
"Asian-Americans have to prove they are a minority — a repressed minority" because of the stereotype of Asian-Americans as determined, successful, intelligent and passive people, Ino said.
Asians are often touted as success stories and as examples of how minorities can succeed in the United States, and then blamed for their successes, Ino said. He warned other ethnic groups not to believe in the stereotype, calling such generalities "dangerous."
"It's easy to fall into the trap that another minority group has it all," Ino said. That misconception separates minority groups and prevents them from forming strong coalitions, he added.
"A collective voice is a stronger voice," Ino said.
It is safer for minorities "to be invisible than to be visible" because of the risk of oppression, Ino said. He learned "not to make waves" at an early age when his Japanese parents were confined to relocation camps during World War II.
(Continued on page 8)
Congressmen analyze federal, trade deficits
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Think ‘U.S.,’ Matsui tells foreign students
By Chris Eftvchiou
Staff Writer
A member of the U.S. House of Representatives told an audience of mostly international students Tuesday that foreign countries will have to show "sympathy" for U.S. trade problems in order to prevent a world recession.
Rep. Robert Matsui, D-Sacramento, spoke at the School of Accounting to about 60 students of the university's International Business Education and Research program.
About 80 percent of the members are foreign students sponsored by corporations outside the United States to earn masters of business administration degrees at the university.
Matsui, a member of the House's powerful Ways and Means Committee, asked the students to consider U.S. trade problems fairly once they return to their native countries as active members of the business world.
"Many of you are from Pacific Rim and Latin American countries," he said. "You probably detect what you think is hostility from the United States. There's some truth to that, but at the same time I hope you have some sympathy for die problems we have.
"We're not used to telling our kids, 'You're not going to have as big a house as ours' or 'You're not going to be able to do as well as us.' We haven't been able to understand that. We see a potential loss in our standard of living and this has caused us some frustration.''
Matsui said U.S. trade problems require foreign cooperation, explaining that although the United States could easily sell rice to the Japanese, the Japanese won't buy it because they don’t want to purchase such
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"One might think it was ludicrous to try and lower taxes, increase defense spending, not lower spending on social programs" and balance the budget.
—	Rep. Julian Dixon
Dixon: Slashing debt would hurt poor most
By Michael Lambert
Staff Writer
If the enormous federal deficit is to be curtailed, upper and middle class Americans will have to make sacrifices and lower class people must bear with slashed social spending, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives told a group of students and professors Tuesday.
Julian Dixon, D-Los Angeles, who represents the district that includes the university, spoke at the Troy Decides '88 lecture titled "The U.S. Budget: A Need for Fiscal Responsibility." He said that in order to cut into the country's projected $1.2 trillion deficit, health care, education and key social programs must be given less money or, at the very best, remain the same.
Such cutbacks would affect the nation's poorest citizens much more than the middle and upper classes, he said.
However, Dixon indicated that any domestic efforts to stem the tide of federal red ink could hurt the economy more than they aid it.
"I can't say we should move more rapidly toward cutting the federal deficit because the federal government has a responsibility to provide these services," he said.
Dixon blamed the "supply-side" economic policies of the Reagan administration for the rapid increase in the federal deficit during the 1980s.
"One might think it was ludicrous to try and lower taxes, increase defense spending, not lower spending on social programs" and maintain a balanced budget, he said. "That, in my opinion, is why the deficit has skyrocketed so much the last eight or so years."
Contrary to the beliefs of most Americans and some
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