Taking It Up a Notch
USC men's lacrosse enters into a more competitive division, while fielding largest
team in school history/ 20
Student newspaper of the Univeraity of Southern California
WEDNESDAY
’--—-+-.
Nbraary 19,2003
Of interest...
The famous 'Lansdowne' painting of Georgs Washington headlines a LACMA exhibit/I
Nuwt Digest i	Calendar 2
Opinions 4	1
	
Crossword IT	»» *
vol. CVUII, no. 23	www.daMytratan.co«n
	
Poet touches audience
Speaker Poet and author Maya Angelou tells her life story and how poetry helps her get through lough times
By SUSHMA SUBRAMANIAN
Mafl WrlUi
SludenU should compose their lives, communities and families to 11calf a climate where they can live and learn, said Maya Angelou, dis tinguished poet and author lo a packed Bovard Auditorium audi ence Tuesday nighl.
"When I gel lo he a composer." said Angelou, crooning a medley ol
songs in foreign languages and ending with an ode to Georgia, a stale she admires. “I will put Georgia in my music"
She recalled being 16 years old, pregnanl, unmarried and a high school student and having lo com pose her life. When the United Nations was heing founded in San Francisco, she remembers weeping at the city square, thinking that she could only enter the room if she wat
not “pregnant, six feet tall and black.
“Because people convinced me I could compose my life ... I wu invited to go there SO years later," she said.
She inspired her audience to lake action of events In Uieir lives.
"I feel very uplifted," aaid Kendall Davis, s sophomore major* ing in business administration. "She hu ao much energy and emo tion and pauion. and It makes you realize why we re all here."
Angelou advised students in the audience to find expression U) poetry I see Angus*, page U i
Oyatal LaudanMa I Dally Iktfan
Author and poet Maya Angalou ape aka at Bovard Auditorium.
Safely, recycling
debated
Senate: Presidential-ticket hopefuls discuss their platforms on Trojan Vision
By AUCE WALTON
Staff Wrttai
Student Senate presidential and vice-presidential candidate debated safety and campus activities during a debate hosted by 'IVo)an Vision on Tuesday night
The lour presidential candidates, Robert Anderson. Harold Mann, Eunice Kang and Matt Seltzer, were each given time to s|>eak alxiut their plallorms and address sludent criticisms about those platiorms.
Hach candidate stressed the importance of safety on and off campus.
Anderson would like to increase Department of Public Safety and police presence between Jefferson and Adams boulevards. Vermont Avenue and Hoover Street, where many students live in off-campus apartments and houses.
Seltzer would like to work with DPS to institute student checkpoints as well as increase the number of Campus Cruisers.
Safety hu created ‘ multiple concerns across campus," Mann said.
Mann would also like to increase security in the parking structures as well.
Kang focused her debate on “serving with purpose and passion." Kang would like to keep parking permit prices from rising and increase personal relations between Senate and the student body.
Candidates were given a chance to critique their opponents’ campaigns later in the debate.
Mann attacked Anderson and Kang for their lack of Student Senate experience.
"Experience is key in the role of Senate president and vice president" Mann said.
I see Debates, page 12 I
Affirmative action necessary at USC, some say
Poicy: University experts debate the importance of race in admissions, as U.S. colleges struggle with diveraity
By 8EUNC HWA H0NC
lldf MtfeM
Even though UM' Is ranked u one
of tiie most diverse universities in die nation, students and faculty still believe there should be more minority representation through affirmative action on college campusu and the nation.
U.S. News and World Report
ranked USC No. 14 in Uie diversity index, with Asian Americans u Um
largest minority at 23 potent. The data wu drawn from the university's
2001-2002 student body enrollment statistics.
Diversity is an iuue that colleges and universities consider in an incom ing claas and u every educational institution differs in IU admissions policies Uie fairness and neceuity of
affirmative action ia still debated.
"I believe in affirmative action because we all grew up in different environments, and affirmative action ia just one way Uj balance Uie diversity in our campuses," ssid Sara Nakssone, a Junior majoring in civil engineering ,
"Affirmative action pertains to whan all things si* equsl, that institutions will give preference to those who are hisUirically discriminated minorities or women,” said William G. Tierney, Wilbur Kieffer professor of higher education at Uie Rossier
School of EducaUon and director of tlie canter for higher education policy analyais.
For the fall 2002 semester, the percentage of black enrollment decreased slightly from 6.5 percent to 6.2 percent while the percentage of Hispanic student* and Asian Amerkan studenu remained the same at 12 percent and
21	percent respectively, for Csll 2002 and fall 2001, according to tha Office of Admissions.
Even with the diverse student population, USC admiuions officials I aee Uses page If I
Loud and proud
Rallying effort. USC students Joined thousands of protesters
part worldwide antiwar rallies.
Jaaa Lampa I DaHy fto|an
Hollywood Boulevard Saturday aa
Changes in exam bring criticism
Medicine: Policy shift in MCAT will have little effect on application process
By NEHN HARDT
Staff WrlUi
StudenU applying to medical school will no longer be able to bury away low MCAT scores because of a new policy that gives medical colleges full access to all of a student s test scores, whether good or bad.
Labeled "full disclosure," the policy change means that admissions centers at medical schools that receive MCAT scores will be able to look over a student's MCAT testing history rather than specific seU of scores, according to the official Medical College Admission Test Web site.
The policy adjustment applies to all 2003 or later MCAT scores, which are automatically released to the American Medical College Application Service and recorded in MCAT testing history reports.
A number of premed students planning to take the MCAT have opting views on the fairness of the recent decision.
Jason Portillo, a junior majoring in biology and psychology, ssid the I see MCAT. page 14 I
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