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Senate elections
The candidates for Student Senators from the Greek and commuter constituencies are profiled on pages 7 and 8. Please see the Monday, March 1, issue of the Daily Trojan for the results.
Grammy goodies: Hie DT predicts who will win and who should win for tonight’s annual music awards, to take place at the Shrine.
Save Mm Coliseum: Michael S. Carter argues that the historic LA. site should remain.
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NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
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February 24,1M)
Vol. CXXXVI, No. M
Golden Grammys
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Musk for tho rnaaaaa. The 1999 Grammy High School Jazz Choir performed Tuesday in Bovard Auditorium for National Grammy in
the Schools Career Day, which was sponsored by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and the School of Music.
Senate elections to be held online
Turnout expected to increase to 30 percent; one Commuter senator candidate drops race
By JENNIFER MEDINA Student Senate Writer
Elections begin at 9 a.m. today and for the first time students will be voting online. Students will be able to log on to www.usc.edu/elections and place their vote. Online voting is available from any computer with Resnet or PPP internet access. Voting will end at 10 p.m. Thursday.
Computer voting stations will be open at Hahn Plaza until 5 p.m. and at Leavey Library until 10 p.m. both days. There will also be paper ballots at the voting stations.
Student Senate has been working on the web site since September, using Stanford University’s online voting as a model.
“This is the way of the future,’ said Powers Kane, elections commissioner and a sophomore majoring in political science. This is what all the schools are doing.*
Kane said that the University of Washington, Washington State University and Arizona University all started online voting this year.
Senate expects that voter turnout will improve with the online voting.
“We did it just to get in the technology phase,’ said Mike Cavanna, special elec-
tions commissioner and a sophomore majoring in business. “It should have a huge impact on everybody.’
Cavanna said he expected a 30 percent voter turnout, with a “huge drop" between the turnout for the housing and Greek constituencies and for the commuters.
There are four commuter candidates for four slots. Pedram Ben-Cohen was a fifth candidate, but dropped out of the race Monday.
“If elections were more balanced there would be more voters," Cavanna said.
Last year the voter turnout was 16 percent, Cavanna said.
Elections had a total budget of $10,000, Cavanna said. He said they would probably use less than that. The
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Springfest’s budget to go up $2,750
Meeting: Senators also vote down motion to bring Ellen DeGeneres for a GLBA event
By JENNIFER MEDINA
Student Senate Writer
Student Senate approved a motion to transfer $2,750 from the allocations reserve and security affairs fund to the Springfest budget at Tuesday night’s meeting. The money will be used for production and talent, members of Program Board said.
Program Board was allocated $25,000 for Springfest and has raised an additional $28,000 through sponsorships. Members of Program Board estimated that production and talent would cost about $30,000 each.
‘Clearly, Springfest is underbudgeted,’' said Chesahna Kindred, executive director of Program Board and a senior majoring in exercise science. “We have to raise a lot in fundraising, and this will certainly help."
Some members said they expected this year’s Springfest to be better than in past years.
“Every year we get closer and closer to getting a golden level of talent,” said Barrett Reiff, concerts director of Program Board and a sophomore majoring in accounting. “Last year that level was about $25,000; this year is about $30,000. That’s on the very low side, but good people will start to show interest.”
Senate also approved a transfer of $2,000 from the development account to the elections account. This is the same $2,000 that was transferred to the develop ment account last week for transition and the end-of-the-year banquet from the allocations reserve, which is set aside every year as a cushion.
The elections account was originally $5,000. An additional $3,000 came from the budget of the elections commissioner and special elections commissioner. Transportation Services donated $1,100 for the elections.
“We needed a safeguard,” said Mike Cavanna, special elections commissioner and a sophomore majoring in business. “If we don’t use it we can just give it back.”
Representatives from Pertusati University Bookstore said that they may donate between $1,500 and $2,500 for the elections, but have not done so yet, Cavanna said. If the bookstore does donate the money, the Senate funds will be transferred back to the development account.
Senate unanimously failed a motion to co-sponsor an event featuring Ellen DeGeneres with the Gay,
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Higher number of applicants can lead to overcrowding
HOHSlng: Limited number of spaces in university housing affects both freshmen and upperclassmen
By SHARON STELLO
Assistant City Editor
More students want to attend college now than ever before, universities across the nation are discovering that more students want to attend college now than ever before as more applicants accept offers of admission, filling university dorms and apartments beyond capacity.
This year, the Office of Admissions received 24,000 applications for next
year’s freshman class - 3,000 more than last year, said Joseph Allen, vice provost for enrollment and dean of admissions.
*We’re way up in applicants and once again the students each have stronger profiles than in past years,” Allen said.
Other universities - such as UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, Rutgers University and Texas A&M University
—	are in similar situations, said Frank Montana, housing manager at UCLA Montana said the number of students applying to college and being admitted is slowly increasing and has begun to put pressure on university housing offices in the last three years.
"We usually shoot for admitting 3,850 new students, but for this year we
got almost 4,200,” Montana said. ‘For next year, well just have to hold our breath and see how many accept offers.
The high demand by students for college jumped up all over the country. There was no warning and we are not the only university to have to scurry around to find places for them.”
About 2,950 students accepted USC admission offers for the 1998-99 school year, although the Office of Admissions only expected 2,750 students to enroll, Allen said.
USC is admitting fewer students this spring to reduce the number of incoming freshmen. The university hopes to enroll 2,840 students for next year’s freshman class. Housing can only accommodate and sign contracts with 2,837 students, said Jeff Urdahl, direc-
tor of Housing and Residence Halls.
The number of USC applicants increased last year because the UC system changed its admissions process as a result of Proposition 209, which ended affirmative action, Allen said. Because of this, he said, more students began seeking entry to private universities such as USC.
Some freshmen admitted to USC this year were housed oo two floors of the Radisson Hotel on Figueroa Street, whereas UCLA placed three students into two-person dorm rooms or turned floor lounges into living quarters.
Aside from putting freshmen in the hotel, USC placed students in houses it owns like the former Beta Theta Pi fraternity house at 2714 Portland St to I see Noaaftag, page III