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S
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viewpoint
Another baseball player makes an ignorant remark
—	page 4.
performance
A sedate David Sylvian is met with ‘Wave’ reviews — page 9.
—
sports
Records keep falling on half-miler Lesley Noll’s head — page 24.
	
Volume CIV. Number 58
University of Southern California
Tuesday, April 12, 1988
Merante resigns after year of criticisms
By Catherine Loper
Assistant Qty Editor
JOSEPH MERANTE
Joseph Merante, dean of the Office of Admissions, Financial Aid, Registration and Records, has resigned after a troubled year of continual delays of services to students, accusations from the university community and being removed from many responsibilities last month.
Merante formally quit Thursday. His resignation was announced to the trustees and administrators Friday, said Robert Biller, executive vice provost.
The resignation was made effective immediately, said Dennis Dougherty, vice president of finance. Dougherty was given responsibility for several key functions of Merante's office three weeks ago.
Dougherty and Biller said they didn't know who will fill Merante's position. Lyn Hutton, senior vice president in charge of administration, will be responsible for deciding how Merante's absence
will be filled. Hutton was unavailable for comment Monday.
Dougherty, who was assigned by Hutton to make an emergency cleanup of the office's management, will continue working on the project as planned, he said.
But he did not anticipate that he will assume the administrative responsibility of the office on a permanent basis, indicating that he will soon be "back to finance" on a full-time basis.
"My charge is to get all of the administrative structure in place to serve (students) for the next 10 years," Dougherty said.
Biller said he did not know if just one person would replace Merante or if the structure of the administration will change. He did say, however, that Dougherty's efforts in "getting things wrapped up" in the office will help the administration discover the best way to structure the office.
'In the short term, the person ultimate-
ly responsible is Dennis Dougherty," Biller said. "Dennis is doing an outstanding job."
News of Merante's resignation came swiftly after months of rumors and criticisms, but some of Merante's co-workers still didn't know he had left as late as Monday night.
William Myers, director of marketing support services for the office, said Monday that he had not been told. Myers had moved his office out of the Student Administrative Services Building to the Admissions Building along with Merante three weeks ago, to make space for Dougherty's team of administrators.
Dougherty said that the work his team is doing in the office is improving service to students, which is the main goal of the administrative shuffling.
"Our ethic is service," he said. "If we're not serving the student, we'd better be serving someone who is."
(Continued on page 7)
University officials reject proposal for women’s center
By Christine Carr
Staff Writer
The proposal to establish a women's resource center on campus has been rejected by administration officials, who said "the answer wasn't no, but it couldn't be yes."
In a March 28 letter from Lyn Hutton, senior vice president of administration, and Robert Biller, executive vice provost, the two suggested to the Women's Resource Center planning group that an "ombudsperson" be named to refer women students to currently available services.
An ombudsperson. Biller said, is a designated person "to whom you can turn when all else fails."
The letter said that not enough money or space for the center is available and encouraged a "less ambitious" proposal.
The proposal, submitted to Hutton and Biller in December, outlined the need for the center, the services it would provide and the cost of maintaining a staff.
Biller said he recognized the need to address women's issues and needs but said existing services can't be disregarded.
"We don't want to respond to new priorities with totally new resources; we want our existing services to work," he said. "The emerging arena of women's issues is clearly a priority, and we want it understood and acted on by every agency and service — we don't want to depend on a separate agency."
Biller said that recently appointed ombudsmen have been successful in helping students with financial aid problems and a similar liaison could aid university women.
'They are people solidly versed in how to get things done. They don't have power, but they know the channels to go through. We may change the title 'ombudsperson' to 'advocate' to clarify the idea," he said.
Helen Horowitz, chairwoman of the Study of Women and Men in Society department and one of the proposal's authors, said this was "only Round One" in the battle to establish a center.
(Continued on page 18)
Students become ‘bleacher bums,’ crowd Shrine for Academy Awards
By Kathleen Berry
Staff Writer
Thousands of star-crazed fans, "bleacher bums" and USC students crowded outside the Shrine Auditorium as early as Sunday morning for the 60th Annual Academy Awards — sleeping on concrete, standing on overturned trash cans, and running in front of limousines to catch a glimpse of their favorite stars.
"I came here after my Comp class at 11:30 this morning," Vicki Graveline, a freshman majoring in business, said Monday night. She had spent the better part of the day waiting on the bleachers set up outside the Shrine.
"There was a line of people who had spent the night. We saw everybody. Rob Lowe got the most cheers, then Michael Douglas and Cher," she said.
Students and fans bore the pain of sitting for hours on the packed metal bleachers.
"It was fun, but it wasn't comfortable at all," said Rick McCarthy, an undeclared sophomore. "We saw everybody but Jack Nicholson."
'7acko was cool. He came up in this really rad car," added his friend, Dave Evoy, a sophomore business major.
Carrying sleeping bags, coolers and shopping bags
(Continued on page 16)
PETER ZAKHARY / DAILY TROJAN
L.A. gang members lose glorified image
More than 1,000 Los Angeles police officers continued their war on gangs this weekend (left), carting off alleged gang members in massive sweeps headquartered at the Coliseum. Guardian Angels outside the Shrine Auditorium on Monday (below) protested the release of the movie Colors, which stars Sean Penn and Robert Duvall. Protesters claim the film's rose-colored portrayal of gangs endangers police efforts. See story, page 12.