Newspaper of the University of Southern California
Headlines
Survey of freshman class yields surprises
Freshman Demographics
	USC	Hi-Sel	Hi-Sel	All	All
		Pub.	Priv.	Priv.	Univ.
White/Caucasian	50.4	73.0	71.0	75.2	82.6
Asian American/A sian	28.9	14.6	18.7	13.5	8.0
Mexican/Hispanic/Latino	16.9	6.2	6.8	7.9	4.4
African American	5.7	6.6	5.4	4.7	5.7
Other	4.9	2.5	3.0	3.0	2.1
American Indian	2.0	1.4	1.4	1.4	1.5
			Morgan	Kaap / Dally Trojan	
By Anisa Abeytia
Staff Writer
USC students are less conservative, drink less alcohol and are less financially dependent on their parents than their predecessors or counterparts at other universities, according toa survey of this year's freshmen class.
Last fall USC students partici-ated in the annual Freshman urvey conducted by the Cooperative Research Program. The data was collected by compiling the responses of a total of 237,777 students at 416 colleges and universities. Of these stu-. dents, 1,799 were USC freshmen.
“What we can learn from these studies are the students' own aspirations. They also tell us what they need from the university, and allow us to evaluate
our own policies," said Kristine Dillon, interim vice president of student affairs.
USC has continued its recent trend of greater racial diversity compared to most other universities.
"The things that I see happening are the changes over time in
ethnic distribution," Dillon said. "The number of African Americans at universities is still low and we want to increase the number of African-American students.
Another developing trend is that freshmen are less financialy dependent on their parents.
However, financial aid assistance is higher than national averages. "There is a larger number of students with families with lower family incomes. Clearly the trends are more pronounced today as when we first thought they were trends."
In addition to letting the administrators know what is important to students, the survey gives them a gauge of how well their policies are working, Dillon said.
"In the 1980s, we did not meet full financial need; now we do," she said. "This report tests whether a policy had an impact. This policy has had an impact, and this report reinforces the need."
Dillon said that a copy of the survey is sent to the heads of each department in order to as-(See Survey, page 6)
Corporate America comes up with a gimmick a minute, writes Kyle Blakebor-ough. Is the public so idiotic that it needs freshness dating on its Pepsi cans, or is it just another advertiser's contrivance?
Viewpoint, page 4
Researcher to talk on intimacy study
Communication researcher Peter Anderson will talk about current theoretical issues in the study of intimacy today at 12:30 p.m. in Annenberg School Room 329. e • •
New York-based artist Fred Wilson will give a visiting artist lecture today at 4 p.m. in Harris Hall 101. Wilson's exhibitions deal with the buried presence of racial minorities in inclusion or exclusion of objects on display. • • •
The Monterey Park Tutorial Project will hold an informational meeting today at 6 p.m. in the Leavey Library collaborative workrooms.
• e e
Ronald Takaki, professor of ethnic studies at UC Berkeley and author of "A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America," will speak today at 7 p.m. in Annenberg Auditorium. $15 for the public, $10 for faculty and staff, free to students.
Incoming president outlines her goals
By Kitty Hollis
Staff Writer
Student Senate Presidentelect Radha Thompson is no ordinary Trojan.
"Most senators see only as far as their next year in office," she said. "I'm looking to do something that will be more long lasting and helpful for years to come."
Thompson is one of only a handful of women who have been elected to the office of Student Senate President. It was the lack of female repre-
sentation in the senate that prompted Thompson to become involved to begin with.
"Student Senate can advocate for the students, allocate the perfect budget and pass legislation, but without student involvement, the student body will never reach the goals we are striving to achieve," Thompson said.
As chair of the student affairs research action unit, Thompson has helped to lower parking rates for commuters, (See Thompson, page 7)
Photo courtaay of Radha Thompton
Radha Thompaon
USC interim women's tennis coach Ed Burt learned last week that he will be coaching the team only until the end of the season, when Pepperdine's Richard Gallien takes over.
Sports, page 24
Anything that makes the sale
Kicking Giant, an up-and-coming rock band from Olympia, Washington, recently played at the Troubadour. Adam Stackhouse tracked down vocalist / guitarist Tae Wan Yu, who explained his goal of stimulating creativity in the Asian-American community.
Diversions, page 9
Women’s tennis gets new coach
Students
appraise area need
By Midori Clark
Staff Writer
Students in H. Eric Schock-man's classes discovered the true "Urban Politics" and "Urban Political Problems" of the community as they helped conduct a survey for Rebuild Los Angeles, a non-profit organization established in 1992 to help rebuild the city after the riots.
The Community Needs Assessment Survey asked residents of South Central Los (See Urban, page 2)
Wednesday March 22,1995 Vol. CXXIV, No. 40
From the mouth of a Kicking Giant
Red Cross policy called prejudiced
Refusal of blood from homosexuals causes controversy
By Richard Cordova
Staff Writer
The American Red Cross Bloodmobile will be on Trousdale Parkway again today and tomorrow, and some gay male students who wished to donate blood but cannot due to donor guidelines are dismayed that the organization has returned.
Last semester, members of the Gay, Lesbian, Bi Assembly went to participate in a blood drive on campus and were turned down. One of the questions on the form donors must fill out before they give blood asks if they are a man who has had sex with another man, even once, since 1977. If the answer is yes, they are instructed not to donate. Red Cross officials say I this is an anti-HIV measure.
Ricardo Aldape, GLBA social events director, said, "My family has always volunteered for
the Red Cross. I used to help out as a kid. I was going to do my duty again, to give blood . . . when I noticed the question."
"I thought, this can't be happening at the university. It goes against the principles of community, anything that segregates or discriminates against a certain class of people," he said.
Aldape brought the matter to the attention of the Student Senate, who sponsored the drive, by telling Mike Newhouse, the community affairs chair at the time.
The drive "went really well last semester," Newhouse said. When Student Senate learned about the policy, though, "we thought it was discriminatory," he said.
Student Senate told the Red Cross that "unless the policy was changed, we wouldn't sponsor" the event again, Newhouse said. "Our reason for not asking them back (this semester) was that the discriminatory clause was not amended."
This week's blood drive is (See Red Cross, page 6)
Kally Kagan / Dally Trojan
Students have blood extracted at the Bloodmobile on Trousdale.