Blocked by Beavers
The mens basketball leam lose* its sixth-consecutive game, jailing to Oregon Stale in Ihe closing seconds /11
Student newspaper of the University of Southern California
MONDAY
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a, mob
Of interest.,.
A group from ML San Antonio College wins Abtolul A Cappella at liovard Auditorium / 7
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Opinion* 4 I'huHuu 1 CLattfuul* 11 Crossword It .S/mm a 14
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Demonstrators
show support
for possible war
Patriotic running
Three groups gather in duwntuwn Im Angeles U) demonstmte solidarity with presuienl
By WWEH DIEU
SUfl Wrltm
A group of about 30 protesters himk lit*d • half mile of downtown Loi Angelet on Sunday to voice tupport foi President George W Busli’t alance againat Iraq and Uie need lo help the homeless. who organiser* said were often poorly supported veteran*.
The protest, which began 9 a.m al the corner of Olympic Boulevard and Figueroa Stieel, drew mostly positive responses from yowdi gathered for Uie l,os Angelet marathon but nearly produced a fight when a man flashed peace sign* and chanted "No blood foi oil."
Hon Smith, who run* promo tion for the taw Angelet chaplet ol l-recHepublic.com, a conservative news forum, ran ovei and shouted at the man but soon rejoined the march.
“All I know is we have to gel rid ol Saddam,’ said Smith, 47. “People think this is going to piss ofT Uie Ami) world They’re pissed off anyway"
Ted Hayes, foundei of the anti-homelesinest group, Justlceville USA. ai ranged for the rally to be held at the Dome Village, a collet tion of domed housing units for homeless people, which Hayes helped found in 1993.
Hayet taid he believed military action lo aid the Iraqi people would be hypocritical if the U.S. govern
ment did not also lake action to aid America's homeless
“I'm saying liberate the people over there, bul we must bear In mind that there are people here in Uie U.S. living in the streets, and a lot of them are veterans.’ Hayet said
“The moat important people of any society are the aoldiers that defend it.’ he added
The rally was also sponsored by FIT-AIM-ACT, which stand* for a Fully Intact It Trained military, Annihilate Incoming Missiles and Attack lr Crush Terrorism, an activist group, which supports an increase in military funding, the Bush administration's proposed missile defense system and strong action against terrorism.
Ronnie Guyer, a spokesman fur 1 a Vietnam'
FIT AIM ACT and i
an. said hi* group believed that diplomatic solutions had failed and agreed with Bush that it was time tu invade lrsq.
“I think we've been al war since Sept. 11." Guyer said. “Every nalion that hales the U.S. needs to be democratised. After Iraq is Iran. Uien Syria, then Lybia, and so on. It s our own best defense."
Guyer said he fought in the bat-Ue of tlie ladrang Valley, the aubject of the recent film “We Were Soldiers,’ and that he agreed with Hayes about the poor treatment veterans had received from the government.
Other speakers at the rally included the Rev. Jesse Paterson, who founded the Brotherhood Organisation for s New Destiny, a group to combat the impressions figureheads such as LouU Farrakhan and Al Sharpton give of I see Rally, page 4 I
ftabaoc* Brawn I Datfy 1h»*
Going tha distance. A Los Angeles Marathon runner waves an American flag as he runs down Figueroa Street during the Los Angeles Marathon. Thousands of athletes participated m the annual competition.
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Local bank joins national interest
Savings: Founders Bank in University Village merges with a Boston company
By SHELUI BRANCO
Contributing Writer
Founders National Bank in the University Village is now part of the nation's largest black-owned bank.
The Los Angeles-based Founders National was renamed OneUniled Bank after a series of mergers. OneUnited targets urban communities with a low- to moder-atr income base, said Robert Patrick Cooper, senior counsel for OneUnited.
Most students did not know about the new name, while some were nol aware of the Founders National branch in the University
anager of his
Village.
“I just use my bank ATM,’ said Sana Arain, a junior majoring in business administration. "I don’t trust s bank I don't know about"
•	Hoover Street branch man Abhai Ram said a majority customers are nonstudent community residents. He said accounts were not affected by the name change, and customers may continue to use Founders National checks as well as its debit and credit cards.
But the change did cause a glitch — Ram said customers had problems with checks if they set up direct-deposit accounts using the Founders National check routing number instead of the OneUnited routing number, which took effect before OneUntteds Dec. 31 merger with Los Angeles-based Family Savings Bank.
Customers said some businesses would not accept their checks, and some customers had trouble receiving wire transfers.
‘When I got s wire transfer, the banks’ routing numbers were different, and I had money tied up in my original account,” said Joseph Damond, s Culver City resident, who has an sccount with Founders Nationsl.
Another customer said the name change was confining.
"I didn’t know if they had changed to another bank and my account was in limbo," said Timothy Logan, a resident of the mid-WUshire area.
Ram, who has been with Founders National for five years and at the Hoover branch for two years, said the branch has main*
I see Naatfm. page 41
Online Spanish workbook has mixed user reception
Students and faculty feelings differ about usefulness of the program
By ELIZABETH BURDICK
Contributing Writer
Mallard, the online workbook used by the USC Spanish department. is here to stay despite some student complaints about the amount of time it takes to complete its activities.
"When I see (the exercises) done well it works very, very well." said Gsyle Vienna, director of the Spanish language program, who also teaches Spanish 150. "I don’t think it's perfect, but I like a lot of the results.”
Students in Spanish 120,150 and 220 are required to complete a series of activities for each chapter from the textbook covered in class and are a given a 5 p.m. Friday deadline.
Vienna said many students tell her on the Mallard comfnent section that the program takes too long to complete. When actual work time is logged, students generally take about five houn over the course of two weeks. Ideally, students treat the exercises such as regular homework and do a little each day instead of waiting until the last minute to do it all at once, she said.
“Mallard has some strong points, but overall it takes too much time that could be used elsewhere to study Spanish.” said Ricky Ramirez, a
I	see MaMar*. page 111