S I N C !•:	10	12
USC safety Troy Polamalu uses religion to help succeed on and off the field /16
TROJAN
Student newspaper of the University of Southern California
FRIDAY
♦
September 15, 2000
Of interest...
‘Almost Famous'follows a rock journalist through his journey with a fictitious band / 7
News Digest	2	Opinions	4
Editorial	4	Lifestyle	7
The Buzz	7	Classifieds	12
Crossword	13	Sports	16
vol. CXXXXI, no. 13
www.usc edu/dt
We have learned that you can do anything you wish here...all you have to do is put your balls on the line"
OLIVER SICAT, co-founder, Bryver
Chi Kuang Hwang I Daily Trojan
In the air. USC students Bryan Stevens (left) and Oliver Sicat (right) are partners of a company that markets custom antenna balls.
Road to success
After founding their own company, two USC students are selling their product on campus.
By ALEXANDRIA DAVIS
Contributing Writer
W'hat began on a road trip to San Antonio, Texas may now end up on the streets of Los Angeles.
"We were on a bus at four in the morning coming home from our spring vacation when we had an idea to create the antenna balls,” said Oliver Sicat, a senior majoring in education and math, whose USC antenna toppers went on sale at the Pertusati University Bookstore last
week for $2 each.
“There was a long stop at a gas station, and we started making a list of things we needed to do to start up an actual company and get our product licensed,” he said.
Sicat and his business partner Bryan Stevens, a junior majoring in business and finance, are the founders of the company Bryver — a combination of both their first names — which produces football-shapped and round antenna toppers.
“We are always open to talk to all members of the Trojan family if they have product items that are of inter-
est to the store,” said Dan Archer, bookstore director. "Even if we choose not to buy the product itself, many times we agree to sell the product on consignment, meaning we display the item in the store and the owner gets paid when items are sold."
But creating the product to get into the bookstore wasn’t that easy.
“All of our frat brothers were very doubtful of our success in the beginning, so in order to avoid the jokes and to make sure our idea wouldn’t get stolen, usually we’d be up at three in the morning working on develop-
I see Company, page 111
University
appealing
Traveler
trademark
Mascot: USC officials seek to deny the horse’s owner from rights to its name; the case is before U.S. patent office
By AMANDA CARACCI
Staff Writer
Controversy is brewing over the USC mascot as the university fights for trademark privileges with the family that loaned it Traveler and helped create a 39-year tradition.
In March of 1998, Traveler's owner,
Patricia Soukko, filed for the rights to the horse’s name, which would allow her to market merchandise and participate in equestrian events to financially support Traveler V and his successors.
Sixteen months later, USC filed a counterclaim to keep those rights out of the Soukkos’ hands and claim them for the university.
The matter is now before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board o the U,.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
“1 never dreamt the university would do this to me," said Soukko, who is the widow of Bichard Soukko, owner and rider of Traveler I.
Michael Jackson, vice president of Student Affairs, said the counterclaim was filed to protect the university’s interests. By maintaining control of Traveler, the university can ensure the horse sustains a positive image for USC, i whereas if Soukko acquired exclusive Jigsaw puzzles, legal rights, she could tarnish the image musical toys, of Traveler, he said.
Traveler first became a part of the USC mystique in 1961 when USC asked Soukkos late husband to ride his horse at
I see Mascot, page 111
Mark of Troy
Among the uses of Traveler that USC is seeking trademark rights to: piggy banks, portable beverage coolers, shot glasses, hair brushes, underwear, cloth bibs, pajamas, T-shirts, action figures, toy armor, toy swords, stuffed toy animals,
Students can earn degree online
Los Angeles County diverse but segregated, study finds
Society: USC history professor concludes that whites and minorities are interacting less in local neighborhoods
By NADA EL SAWY
Assistant City Editor
No one’s looking at you, no one’s pressuring you to talk faster and finish up what you’re saying, the teacher’s not looking at his watch.”
A dream come true?
Maria Henke, program manager of the School of Gerontology’s online classes, is simply describing a new learning environment — going to class on the Internet.
The Leonard Davis School — founded in 1975 — is not only the nation’s first professional School of Gerontology, it is also the first school to offer Master of Arts and graduate certificates completely online.
TECHNOLOGY
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The graduate certificate can be obtained after 16 units (four courses), while the M.A. in Gerontology requires 28 units (seven courses). Two online courses are offered for undergraduates as well.
The program was initiated through a joint decision made by Dean Edward Schneider and the faculty. By the fall of 1998, they had developed a completely Internet-
based program.
“It allows people who work fulltime jobs, have children at home...are on the swim team to get an excellent education at USC," Schneider said.
One of President Steven B. Sample's mandates is to focus on distance learning so that busy students and working professionals can still have their educational needs met.
Close to 80 students are enrolled in gerontology’s online classes.
The two undergraduate courses that are available online are GEBO 200 (“The Fundamentals of Gerontology") and GEBO 380 ("Diversity and Aging").
The CyberClasses are just as vig-
I	see Technology page • I
By RACHELLE RADPOUR
Contributing Writer
Despite its ethnic diversity, Los Angeles County has become increasing segregated, according to a study released earlier this week by USC history Professor Philip Ethington.
“Donut patterns" have formed in many large metropolises with blue-collar minorities living mostly in the core and white-collar residents living in the periphery, the study concludes.
As a result, the chance that
whites and non-white Hispanics and whites and blacks will interact in their own neighborhoods is less than 20 percent
Falling along racial and economic boundaries, these "donut patterns" have historical and present-day influencing factors, Ethington found.
Homogeneous white neighborhoods that were historically off-limits to non-whites became overvalued, preventing many lower- to middle-class minorities from affording the areas.
I see Society, page 111