What Did You Say?
Abusing profanity diminishes the meanings of our favorite swear words. Will we. have to create new ones?/ 4
Student newspaper of the University of Southern California
TUESDAY
September 12, 2000
Of interest...
After winning a NCAA water polo title, Bernice Orwig tries her hand at the Olympics /16
News Digest	2	Opinions	4
Staff box	7	Lifestyle	7
Thu Buzz	10	Classifieds	12
Crossword	13	Sports	16
vol. CXXXXI, no. 10
www.usc.edu/dt
Relations Bearinsg‘fis
key to students’
success
Mixer: Black campus groups host event to bring undergraduates, graduates and faculty together
By LISA N0URSE
Assistant Managing Editor
Fostering relationships between black students and faculty as "an extended arm for help” is crucial to the academic and personal success of the students on campus, black campus leaders said.
As a part of Black Welcome Week, the Black Staff and Faculty Caucus hosted a staff and faculty mixer Monday.
Black staff and student activities preserve the culture and foster the family oriented relationship that is historically a part of the culture itself,
I see Mixer, page 13 I
Some students not receiving benefits
GPSS: Problems with health care should be resolved, president said Monday; housing also addressed at meeting
By JEFF SKLAR
Contributing Writer
Although teaching and research assistants are receiving health benefits this year, graduate students unaware of the change have continued to pay Student Health Center fees, said the Graduate and
Professional Student Senate president at Mondays meeting.
Currently the benefits — which affect all TAs, RAs and doctoral fellows who work at least 10 hours a week — have not appeared on their personal records. They are in effect, however, and students should not pay Student Health Center fees, pres-
ident Jennifer Vega said.
Those who already have paid will be reimbursed.
“If you’re eligible for benefits, you’re going to get them. Nobody is going to get late fees,” said Vega, a graduate student in education.
While some schools and departments have not yet turned in their lists of students receiving benefits, no one will be penalized for departmental errors, she said. Students wishing to know if their department
has submitted their name should contact Cathy DeFrancesco in the Student Health Center.
Housing
Concerns with limited local graduate housing spurred Vega to meet with university officials and undergraduates to discuss the issue, she announced Monday.
“Graduate housing is basically nonexistent, and each year, more has
I see GPSS. page 10 I
RELIGION & -♦
ETHICS
Sample says perceptions of USC changing
Daily Trojan editors met Thursday with USC President Steven B. Sample for a 90-minute interview covering topics ranging from USCs relationship with the surrounding community to the cost of tuition.
The second portion of the interview appears below. The first half ran in Mondays Daily Trojan.
q:
empltye
. You had mentioned briefly \ about the housing subsidies that the university gives to empWfees....And I was just curious, if the university was so interested in getting its faculty and staff members to come and live here and be part of the neighborhood, if you had ever thought about moving into the area yourself?
Well, 1 live in what’s called “the presidents home." And I live there at the pleasure of the Board of Trustees
—	that is, at the direction of the Board of Trustees. So if the president’s home were here, or wherever it was, either I'd live there or they could find another president But, all I’m saying is that when I came, that was not a negotiable point — “Here's the president’s home." And as you may know, the deed of gift for the Seeley Mudd Estate requires that it be used as the president's home. So that's where I live, under the direction of the Board of Trustees.
Q
You talked about the fact that the university gives preferential treatment to people in the
neighborhood, in terms of hiring. I know that in recent years, there have been several high-profile labor disputes with unions of some of those employees who work here. Do you feel that the university is fair to its employees, in terms of wages and benefits and all those labor issues?
I need to divide that question into two parts. I could not and would not address anything having to do with collective bargaining. So if you would take away — if you mean by labor, collective bargaining with unions, I wouldn’t respond. We have people whose job it is to — and that’s a very, very, very complex and difficult business. And I’m not an expert in that, so I can’t respond.
But let's talk about employees in general. Do I think the university is fair in its compensation of employees? Yes, I think so....It’s not unusual when a position opens up here at USC to have 200 applicants. A job at USC is one of the most preferred or treasured jobs anywhere in the Los Angeles basin, not just in the city.
Our turnover rate is extraordinarily low. Our benefits package, 1 think, is unquestionably the best anywhere in southern California. And I’ve never heard anyone seriously dispute that. Our health-care package is far and away the best in southern California. Our educational package for the children of employees, and for the employees themselves, is, I think, the I see Inter view, page 10 I
Hillel helps students see Israel for free
By BRIAN PONG
Contributing Writer
On a campus where practically everything costs money and trips abroad are a luxury
I	afforded by few. some students might be lucky enough to take a pilgrimage to Israel for absolutely nothing.
USC’s Hillel Center, in partnership with Birthright Israel, is sponsoring approximately 40 students to travel to Israel for free. Last year, 20 students from USC made the trip.
Birthright Israel is an Israeli national program that was created with the belief that all Jewish children have a right to visit Israel at least once as a rite of passage. According to the program’s web site, 85 percent of all Jews outside Israel never see it The program aims to bring those international Jewish students to the country.
Of the more than 10,000 non-Israeli Jews who have made the trip, many have come back changed.
A prime example is Josh Meltzer, USCs Birthright Israel stu-
I see Religion, page 13 I