Fast
Forward
Friday
March 6, 1992 Vol. CXVII, No. 35
Weather
Partly cloudy with showers likely Friday. Highs Friday near 60, lows near 50. partly cloudy with showers probable over the weekend. Highs over 60, lows near 50.'
Inside
“Blame It on the Bellboy”
This is a poorly done British-style farce with a misused all-star cast. Bronson Pinchot plays the title character, but really only mumbles a few lines of dialogue.
Diversions, page 5
Orr a smashing success in win
USC freshman forward Lorenzo Orr shattered the backboard in pregame warm-ups, and he and his Trojan teammates shattered the Huskies, 75-63, Thursday night in Seattle.
Sports, page 12
Postal service asks Elvis fans
The U.S. Postal Service is an odd place to test democratic representation. Yet this month citizens have more say over the face of a stamp than taxes or other typical political concerns.
Viewpoint, page 4
Headlines
Women’s Issues surge to forefront
The Kennedy-Smith and Tyson rape trials have caused a change in attitudes and an increase in activity for Kathleen Bartle-Schulweis, the university's Women's Issues Advocate.
See story, page 3
Newspaper ol the University of Southern California
Evaluations to be published
Law Center opens results to students
By Bijal Parikh
Staff Writer
Breaking a long and controversial silence, the Law Center will become the first department at the end of this semester to release the complete results of course evaluations, said Scott Bice, dean of the law school.
The results will be available at the end of every spring semester, Bice said.
The decision to publish the results follows a year of student boycotts organized by the Student Bar Association, the Law Center's student government.
Student leaders voiced enthusiasm over the policy change.
"The main issue is that we wanted to have the disclosure of course evaluations," said Lorna Hennington, student representative to the SBA.
In the spring semester of 1990, 50 percent of law students refused to fill out the surveys because the results were kept confidential. Last semester, the school did not distribute sur-
Paul Howard / Dally Trojan
The Law Center is the first school at the university to publish faculty evaluations that have been completed by students.
veys because of threats of further boycotts and because a faculty committee was reviewing the policy that barred publication of the resjlts, Bice said.
The committee recommended making the surveys public and the resolution was adopted at a faculty meeting earlier this semester, Bice said.
The evaluations will be bound and placed on reserve in the
Law Library for student reference. The booklets will include numerical ratings and students' written comments. Both fall and spring results will be made available.
The SBA first requested the disclosure of evaluations in fall of 1990 because they said the results would aid students when they register for classes.
"I think it's a really positive
thing," Hennington said. "Students need information to help choose their classes."
Some students say they hope the Law Center's decision will lead other departments to publish their evaluations.
"When one department, especially one as prestigious as the Law Center, decides that they are not afraid to disclose the evaluations, then that definitely sets a precedent," said Student Senate President Sam Sheldon.
Sheldon said the senate has brought up this issue on a university-wide level. He said the Law Center's action may serve an example to the rest of the university.
Faculty objections to releasing the evaluations have been incorporated into the new disclosure policy, Bice said.
Racist, sexist or homophobic written comments will be blacked out before the booklets are made available. New faculty will be exempted from disclosure during their first two years at the university.
Some faculty members think the evaluation results are not good indicators of the teaching quality, said Mark Kann, associate dean of the Graduate
(See Law, page 3)
First witness for defense takes stand in rape case
By Paige Lipman
Staff Writer
The university began its defense Thursday in the Embassy Residential College rape trial by trying to discredit contentions by doctors that the plaintiff has post traumatic stress disorder.
Defense attorney Garrin Shaw called Dr. John Beck to the stand as an expert witness for the defense. He was hired to give a psychological analysis of the victim based on an interview he had with her and previous medical records.
(See Trial, page 2)
Women’s issues honored
Achievements, feminist backlash featured topics
By Lisa Braverman
Staff Writer
Women's achievements and the struggle against feminist "backlash" are the two main issues to be addressed during March in celebration of Women's History Month, officials in the Program for the Study of Women and Men in Society said Thursday.
Lois Banner, professor and chair for SWMS, said the current attitude about female equality is generally "very ambivalent." She said there has always been a "cyclical movement in gender relations over time."
"Society is in a backlash. Things we fought for we have to fight for again," Banner said.
"We won the right to choice over control over our bodies in Roe versus Wade. There is a good chance the Supreme Court will take that away," she said.
Banner said there has been a return to materialism and traditionalism, and that this same phenomenon occurred in the 1920s, after the feminist period of the 1910s.
Women face an unnecessary conflict between work and home, and, just as in the 1920s, feminism is being "demonized," Banner said.
She cited the recent Clarence Thomas Senate confirmation hearing, and the
(See Month, page 2)
Trojans collar Huskies
Junior guard Rodney Chatman scored 9 points in USC’s 75-63 win over Washington Thursday night in Seattle. The first-place Trojans improved their record to 21-4,13-2 in the Pacific-10 Conference. The Huskies dropped to 12-15, 5-11.