Friday
April 21,1995 Vol. CXXIV, No. 62
Urban oasis lies south of campus
Though for many students Exposition Park is simply a thoroughfare on the way to football games, not to be visited for fun, pleasant surprises await for the adventurous urbanite. Features, page 6
New season starts for USC
Despite a disappointing season, the USC men's volleyball team will have a chance at redemption when it travels to Pauley Pavilion to face top-ranked UCLA in the first round of the MPSF playoffs.
Sports, page 12
It’s absolutely free — almost
You, too, could be an instant millionaire — or at least be eligible for cheap prizes at cheap prices. Guest columnist Laura Benko shares the joy of the sweepstakes rollercoaster.
Viewpoint, page 4
F.Y.I.
Swim with Mike benefit Saturday
The 15th annual "Swim with Mike" fundraiser to aid physically challenged athletes is set for Saturday beginning at 8 a.m. in the McDonald's Olympic Swim Stadium. A barbecue is scheduled at noon, and tickets cost $10. For information call Ron Orr, at (213) 740-4155.
• • •
The landmark Orpheum Theatre at 842 S. Broadway will host a free sneak preview of "Venice Bound" on Saturday at 8 p.m. This "action-art" film has been selected for showing at the Cannes Film Festival. A pipe organ performance starts at 7:30 p.m. For information call (213) 239-0949.
• • •
Miss C.J. Francis invites guests to her senior recital in the vocal jazz major on Saturday at 8 p.m. in Booth Hall Room 100.
Newspaper of the University of Southern California
Panel adresses affirmative action
Black Students’ Union hosts forum; initiative backers do not attend
By Laura Margoni
Staff Writer
Being color-blind in a society that is colorconscious is just being blind, said Joe Duff, an NAACP representative and one of four panelists at a forum addressing affirmative action and the California Civil Rights Initiative.
The Black Students' Union sponsored the Wednesday evening event at Taper Hall to educate the university community about the facts and issues surrounding current affirmative action policies and the CCRI. Three other panelists, from the Congress on Racial Equality, Congresswoman Maxine Waters' office and the USC Office of Affirmative Action, were also present.
"We wanted to educate the students and to motivate the students to get active on issues like this," said Deidre Gantt, vice president of the BSU. "(The CCRI) doesn't just affect African-American students, it affects women, Latinos, Asians, and a wide variety of other people. We want people to be aware of these issues and the truth behind these issues."
The CCRI, which may be on the ballot in November 19%, states that neither the state of California nor any of its political subdivisions or agents will use "race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin as a criteria for either discriminating against or granting preferential treatment to any individual or group" that operates in the state system of public employment, education, or contracting.
It is an initiative which Duff, of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said is stated in very plain language yet "is very deceptive."
“Affirmative action is intended to change the system of institutional racism (and) the initiative will stop the progress cold under the guise of being so-called ‘color blind*.”	-Joe Duff
"What they're talking about is not the goal of affirmative action, but the methods used (to enforce) affirmative action — the preferences, quotas, and set-asides," he said. "Affirmative action is intended to change the system of institutional racism (and) the inia-tive will stop the progress cold under the guise of being so-called 'color-blind.' "
Rod Wright, the panelist from Rep. Maxine Waters' office, spoke on some of the politics behind the move to abolish affirmative action.
"It's about the assumption of power," he said. "The people who lobby and who have power get to make the laws that benefit themselves. There is not a shred of intellectual integrity that's possessed by any of the people who are opposing (affirmative action). It's just a naked grab at power."
Wright said that the way people achieve this power is by making demagogic statements that accuse somebody of problems they have no control over.
"Nazis specialized in this type of propaganda," he said.
The two other speakers on the panel included Celes King of the Congress on Racial
Equality, and Linda Nolan from the USC Office of Affirmative Action.
King, who participated in the creation of affirmative action in the 1950s, gave a brief overview of the history and the purpose behind its implementation.
"People who had not previously had opportunities would now have them," he said. "The only problem now is that everyone wants to be a minority and benefit."
Nolan, along with Joe Allen, dean of admissions and financial aid, addressed the question of how USC would be affected if the abolition of affirmative action occurred. Both said that race is never, on its own, a factor in admission.
"USC is not going to change a thing in (its) efforts in affirmative action," Allen said. "We know that we do not live in a colorblind society. We have to take into account all the students' circumstances before they come to our door."
Before the question and answer period there was a brief interruption by audience member Art Fletcher. Fletcher, a friend of King's and fellow originator of the affirmative action movement, rose to interject his own account of the history and ideas of affirmative action.
"You've got the original source here," he said, referring to himself. "The whole issue had nothing to do with morals, nothing to do with ethics, it's always been about economic purposes."
There was going to be a fifth panelist, a spokesperson from the CCRI, but they declined the invitation to participate in the forum. Pamela Porter, director of the Department for Black Students and forum moderator, said notice from the CCRI was given in "an untimely fashion."
Joe C. Gelman, campaign manager of the CCRI, said the group chose not to attend because they felt "the panel was made up almost exclusively of individuals who favor (See CCRI, page 3)
Troy Witt / Dally Tro|an
Hemp legalization supporters came out In force Thursday during a rally In front of Tommy Trojan. The event Included a concert by 3-Hole Punch and guest speaker Eric Shevln from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, L.A.
Hemp
hoopla
Disputes end in annoying calls
By Nik Trendowski
City Editor
A group of students who have restraining orders against one another may be involved in a regular series of annoying phone calls reported to the Department of Public Safety.
15 incidents of obscene, threatening, or annoying phone calls have been reported to DPS since March 21, and DPS Deputy Chief Bob Taylor said the group may be involved in such reports at least once a week.
"A lot are being generated by the same people,” he said. "It started out as a boyfriend-girlfriend dispute, and went downhill from there."
Taylor said the circle of possible callers in the group has expanded to include friends of the people involved in the original dispute.
Ailhough Taylor said he could not identify any trend in annoying phone calls, he said many originate in failed relationships.
"There's the problem of letting go while still retaining some sort of friendship," he said. "Instead of people taking out their relationship issues in an amicable way . . . they use other routes.''
Some other annoying phone calls tend to occur when people are unhappy with a member of the staff or faculty, Taylor said.
Others may simply be pranks. In one recent report, a student received a phone call saying, "you didn't meet us to get the cocaine and we're gonna get you," Taylor said. Although both he and the student felt the incident was a hoax, Taylor thought it was serious enough to report.