Fast
Forward
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Tuesday April 26,1994 Vol. CXXII, No. 66
Weather
Today, the overcast morning will clear away to a bright, breezy afternoon. The temperature will reach a high in the 70s by noon and a low in the 50s in the evening.
The USC men's volleyball team's season came to a bitter end on Monday night, as the Trojans fell to BYU, 15-13, 15-12, 15-10, in the quarterfinals of the MPSF Tournament.
Sports, page 32
Ford introduces Contour for ’95
Like fellow American car companies who are trying to beat the Japanese, Ford has been looking for new holes to fill. Its efforts have yielded the sleek Contour, already a success overseas. Diversions, page 16
Liz Washburn bids farewell
After eight terms on the Daily Trajan, Editor-in-Chief Liz Washburn signs off in a thought provoking pie-cethat belies her vast experience and ability as a college journalist.
Viewpoint, page 4
F.Y.I.
Last issue of Daily Trojan
Today's issue is the last spring 1994 issue of the Daily Trojan. The Summer Trojan will take its place for the summer 1994 semester. The first issue of the Summer Trojan will be available on Wednesday, May 11, 1994. Sean Conley will serve as editor-in-chief during the summer, and again during the fall 1994 semester.
The Summer Trojan will publish 10 successive issues through July 13, 1994. The Orientation issue of the Daily Trojan will be available on Aug. 25, 1994. Daily production of the paper will resume for the fall semester after classes have begun.
‘Wanna-be alum’ Spielberg will finally get USC degree
By Herb Ratner
Staff Writer
USC will attempt to make up for a big mistake when they honor Steven Spielberg with a doctorate in fine arts at the university's May 6 commencement ceremony.
Spielberg applied to the film school his sophomore year as a transfer student from Cal State Long Beach, but was rejected because of his grades. Still, he held no resentment toward the school and since his success as a filmmaker began, has been one of its most generous benefactors.
In a recent interview, Spielberg talked about USC, and the honorary degree.
"My grade point average did not qualify me for admittance into a California university," Spielberg said. "I was in a state school system and I
was making movies like there was no tomorrow. As a direct result my grades were actually a C average. This barred me from transferring to USC."
Spielberg only applied to the school once, but he did put a little more effort into the application process than most people do.
"1 took a few of my short films over to USC and I showed them to a couple of the professors there, but there was no response either way. I was stopped academically at the Figueroa Gate. 1 wasn't bitter though. I had just thought that 1 made some really good short films and if they let athletes into their university because of their physical prowess, why couldn't they let low-scoring filmmakers into their school because of their filmmaking abilities?"
File photo
Steven Spielberg
Spielberg said, laughingly.
"So 1 thought I had wham-mied out twice, once academically and a second time because no one liked my shorts."
(See Spielberg, page 2)
Dining Services workers upset at closing of catering trucks
By Nik Trendowski
Staff Writer
The familiar catering trucks parked on Trousdale Parkway and Childs Way will no longer be in operation after next Wednesday, and employees and students are unhappy.
Dining Services will be discontinuing the catering truck service and consolidating the employees into the indoor dining facilities, said Aura Canales, who works in the truck parked outside Von KleinSmid Center.
Employees who work in the catering trucks may take jobs in Commons, but they will lose any seniority they had with the university based on years experience and thus will take a pay cut, Canales said.
Although Canales has been with the university only since 1990, she related the experience of one of the cooks on the trucks, Sara Curado, who had
(See Trucks, page 10)
Wounds reopened by cultural fracas
By Kim Smith
Slaff Writer
Although a commemoration by Armenian students of the Armenian genocide was rained out yesterday, campus tensions continued to run high in response to incidents Friday night between Armenians and Turkish students on campus.
The incidents included demonstrations by Armenian students at Turkish Cultural Night and the assault of several Turkish students by unidentified persons. The events concurred with the Turkish students holding their cultural night on the weekend when Armenians were mourning the massacre of 1,5 million of their countrymen by the Turkish government in 1915.
The Armenian Student Association said it was peacefully protesting the event, and was
not involved in the attacks, which took place outside Webb Tower.
"We had no contact with these people (the attackers)," said Kevon Kevonian, president of the organization. "They had stuff (about the event) mailed to them and they took it upon themselves to come and express their opinion.
"We were there passing out pamphlets and demonstrating in an intellectual and peaceful manner," .he said. "We were holding up banners, for which we had permission from James Dennis to do. We were about to eat some of their food when these other people came in and fouled up the place."
Kevonian, along with Jon Hovsepian, a member of the ASA's executive board, said (See Fight, page 3)
Plans in place for commencement
By Allison Vana
Staff Writer
As May 6 draws near, a year of planning and preparation is about to culminate in commencement for the approximately 8,200 students receiving degrees and the three committees responsible for the main graduation ceremony.
Two of these commitees, the University Convocations Committee and the Commencement Steering Committee, plan everything from parking arrangements to the ordering of flowers and chairs for the ceremonies, said Sheri Semon, assistant director of University Events.
"We rent 40,000 chairs for the ceremony from locations
all over California because I don't think that any one company in California has 40,000 chairs available," Semon said. "But these chairs are used for all of the satellite programs as well. We expect about 25,000 people on campus that day, graduates and families included."
Unlike last year, all of the satellite programs will take place after the main ceremony, which is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. The change was made because graduation used to run through the middle of the day, which didn't allow people time to eat.
"Another reason is because there was a feeling through the university that the main (See Ceremony, page 13)
Problems continue to plague ACCESS
By Travis Smith
Assistant City Editor
Big Brother is watching you, but he may not be doing a great job of it.
Every time you run your USCard through a card reader at a residence hall entrance, every time a supervised door is opened, the university records that action. Every residence hall on campus is secured with the ACCESS system.
But students aren't being kept completely safe by the system, which fails at times and is damaged in some places.
Not surprisingly, one of the system's biggest flaws lies in its use by students: The easiest way to overcome the $2-million system is to wait outside until another student comes to the door and lets you in.
Inside ACCESS
First in a Series
What is ACCESS?
"ACCESS does only two things: detect propped open doors, and . . . restrict entry into a building. You can issue a new card faster than you can rekey a door," said Terry Riley, director of ACCESS.
ACCESS is not designed to keep everyone out, or to monitor every single person who enters, Riley said. It would be difficult to rekey a building every time one tenant lost his or her key. However, it is a simple matter to
take that resident's card off the list of valid cards.
The monitoring of the system is done through the Department of Public Safety and Residential Monitoring Centers.
The Problem
Most of the system's problems this year stemmed from interference on ACCESS lines in the North University Park area. In December, Housing Services and USC Telecommunication Serices transferred ACCESS'S transmission lines from Continental Cablevision to the university's own phone network.
However, a random sampling by the Daily Trojan of students living in residence halls shows that all the problems are not yet solved.
(See ACCESS, page 13)
Volleyball ends season at MPSF
of Southern California
N e w s p a p © r of t h e V n i v e r s 11