Newspaper of the University of Southern California
Diversity requirements draw fire
USC, other universities join forces to fight new enforcement of rules by accrediting commission
Friday
February 25,1994 Vol. CXXII, No. 30
Weather
The sun will shine throughout the day with a few high clouds lurking about. The high should be in the 70s, and the low will be in the 50s. Expect the same for the weekend.
Inside
Stanford owns USC basketball
Women suffer worst loss of year, 80-50, at Palo Alto in a revenge game, while the Cardinal men pull away from USC in the final minutes at the Sports Arena.
Sports, page 12
Dramatic rodeo film hits the dirt
In this smarmy, uninspired drama, Luke Perry plays former rodeo star Lane Frost, whose meteoric rise to fame ended when he bled to death after being gored by a bull in 1989.
Diversions, page 5
Morality has no color boundary
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant values are not shared by all. Buddhism, Judaism, Confucianism, Islam, Hinduism and ancestor worship also teach "proper" ways to value life.
Viewpoint, page 4
F.Y.I.
Talk to explain unlikely alliances
Virginia Postrel, editor of Reason magazine, will give a talk titled "The Ideology Shuffle: The Dynamism, Diversity and Division of American Politics" today at 1 p.m. in GFS Room 106.
Postrel will discuss the post-Cold War blurring of the traditional left / right division in American politics. According to Postrel, this new political split explains unlikely alliances like that of Pat Buchanan and Ralph Nader, who joined forces in opposing NAFTA.
The talk is free and open to the public. It is one in a series of spring lectures sponsored by the USC School of Engineering. For more information, call (213) 740-4710.
By Melanie Asp
Staff Writer
The Western Association of Schools and Colleges voted unanimously Wednesday to adopt a Statement on Diversity, causing officials of several West Coast universities, including USC's President Steven Sample, to question the authority of the accrediting body and its intrusion on "institutional autonomy."
WASC is one of the six regional accrediting associations covering the United States. The federal government requires even the most well-established universities to go through the accreditation process, which involves an intense self-examina-tion process and a peer review by visiting teams. Accreditation is crucial, as federal funds for Pell grants are only given to in-
stitutions that meet accreditation standards.
WASC currently evaluates 145 colleges and universities in California, Hawaii and Guam.
WASC's purpose in the 20-page diversity document was to state "expectations for thoughtful and thorough institutional self-study on these issues (of diversity)." The statement is primarily an explanation of diversity standards outlined in a 1988 WASC document.
According to WASC, confusion and questions concerning diversity standards have arisen during the institutional self-studies.
In response, the agency published the statement to guide and encourage the universities to "thoughtfully engage the subject of diversity,'' said Ste-
phen Weiner, executive director of WASC.
The WASC document stated that quality and diversity are "profoundly connected." The statement includes a focus on diversity in representation, campus community and group membership and identification for higher institutions of learning.
The presidents of Caltech, Pepperdine, Stanford, USC and other prestigious West Coast universities wrote letters to the chair of WASC's Accreditation Commission opposing the initial draft of the diversity statement.
The complaints were not directed toward the content of the statement, as most agreed that diversity is of central importance in a university atmosphere.
Instead, many were in dis-
Drivers’ expires
By Nik Trendowski
Staff Writer
The contract between the university and its 19 tram drivers runs out at midnight tonight, and the Teamsters union that represents the drivers has been rebuffed so far in its efforts to negotiate with the university.
Though an attorney representing the university contacted Andy Perry, business representative for Teamsters Local 986, on Wednesday, the attorney only offered the date of March 9 to begin negotiations.
"The (university) has been delaying and stalling," Perry said.
The Teamsters have represented the drivers of the trams that transport students between the campus and the North University Park community for approximately two years, Perry said.
Perry said the union sent an opening letter to the university
agreement with the intrusive "threats" of WASC as an accrediting agency and denounced the ambiguous nature of the document and the lack of consensus on the issue among WASC's member schools.
"It is not the business of accreditation commissions to try to 'improve' every institution they visit," wrote Thomas Everhart, president of the California Institute of Technology.
"It seems to me the central goal of accreditation should be to determine whether an institution meets minimum standards of education," he wrote. "(It) may even suggest how the institution might improve, but this should be in the form of friendly advice and should carry no stigma or threat."
Sample voiced his opinion in a Feb. 17 letter, writing, "There is a serious question as to whether an accrediting body, which is essentially a regulatory or policing agency, should pre-
(See Diversity, page 2)
contract tonight
in December and received no response. In January, Perry sent another letter but received no response from the university. Both letters were sent by certified mail and were signed for at the Auxiliary Services office.
Don Mask, USC vice president for business affairs, told Perry that he had not received either of the letters when Perry spoke with him after receiving no response to the letters, Perry said.
Perry said that though the university and its attorneys told him that a negotiation date would be set, the university continued to stall.
The university's failure to respond to requests to meet and negotiate led Perry to file an unfair labor practices charge on Feb. 18.
That day, Perry said he received a faxed letter asking him (See Union, page 3)
Empowering USC
Roy NwdiMr / Dally Tro|«n
BSA held a voter registration drive yesterday at Tommy Trojan.
Leadership program looks to expand horizons
By Allison Vana
Staff Writer
To teach area high school students about international affairs, USC will host a leadership conference this Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the classrooms of the Von KleinSmid Center.
The High School Leadership Conference on International Affairs program is an expansion of a similar program held in Washington, D.C. As a result of its success, federal grants were given this year for additional programs at schools throughout the nation. USC requested to host the conference this year.
"We want to teach area high school students how international relations can affect their daily lives and can be applied both now and in the future, possibly even in the career
choices that these students make," said Jason Oppermann, co-student director of international relations.
The principals and social studies departments of each school made the decision to participate, but students can still choose whether they will attend. Four hundred to five hundred students are expected to attend, Oppermann said.
The program will begin with a keynote address delivered by Edwin Smith, law and international relations professor. Smith's address, entitled "Ralph Bunche: Out of Los Angeles," will focus on Bunche's achievements as one of only two African Americans to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
"Through all of my work in this field, I have noticed that very few African Americans are involved in international affairs.
More minorities should definitely become involved, but to do so they must first be aware of the fact that there is room for them at the top," Smith said.
Following Smith's address, participants will attend smaller group talks given by professors on different areas concerning international affairs. A panel discussion is also planned.
"We plan to have some interactive activities where 16 high school students will be paired with two USC graduate or undergraduate students. These activities were drawn from the Introduction to International Relations course, and USC students volunteered their time. There's a lot of university participation here," Oppermann said.
(See Leaders, page 3)