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Wednesday Februaiy 11,1998 Vol. CXXXIII, No. 23
Headlines
Long road leads Johnson to USC
USC senior point guard Gary Johnson, the Trojans' second-leading scorer, is nearing the end of an adventurous college career that saw him play at three different schools in four seasons.
Sports, page 20
Titanic' sweeps Oscar nominations
The ship which sunk on the screen has floated its way toward a new record for most nominations for a film (14 of them). Find out which other films received the honor and which ones didn't.
Diversions, page 7
V-Day does not have to be D-Day
Editorial Columnist ]. Nanda Liljeblad finds himself holding a skeptical mindstate about the merits of celebrating Valentine's Day, though he still finds himself drawn to the day's romanticism.
Viewpoint, page 4
Overseas
basketball
Information meetings for the Overseas Studies program will be held today in Taper Hall of Humanities, room 335. The South Korea pro-m will be at 2 p.m. and the ily program is at 3 p.m.
For more information on other countries, consult www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/cwer-seas/overseas.html.
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Tickets are now available for the second USC vs. UCLA basketball game. An activity card punch card and $7 cash is required for every student ticket purchased. Tickets can be obtained in the Ticket Office, Student Union, room 100, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.
The game will be in the Sports Arena at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18,
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Applications are now available for the Pepsters, a spirit club which represents the university at events.
For more information, call (213) 740-7267.
Newspaper of the University of Southern California
Buildings clear asbestos testing
Janitorial union expresses concern, despite clean health, safety survey
By Shashank Bengali
Staff Writer
Asbestos-containing materials in campus buildings pose no danger to USC students and staff, said Safety and Risk Management Services officials, after tne completion of a survey reporting the location of all sucn materials on campus.
"As far as we know, everything is in good condition, and
the asbestos in the buildings is of no danger," said Jane Bartlett, an industrial hygiene specialist with the department. "Problems with asbestos arise only when the material is crumbled or disturbed."
The safety department issues the Asbestos Building Material Survey periodically in accordance with a state law requiring that employees be informed of areas in the workplace in which
asbestos-containing materials are present.
However, officials with Local 1877, the labor union of USC's janitorial staff, are concerned.
"Our janitors work eight hours a day cleaning every building on campus, and...they are the ones most likely to be exposed to asbestos," said Lety Salcedo, the union's lead organizer. "Obviously, there is a danger to them, and we've requested the employer (ServiceMaster, the university's custodial contractor) to investigate the concern, notify us and take the necessary steps if there is ever the possibility of
exposure to asbestos
All campus buildings, built prior to 1978 — when the use of asbestos was made illegal — were included in the survey, which was designed to identify asbestos in each structure's fire-proofing, insulation, floor and ceiling tiles, roofing and other areas.
Of the more than 130 buildings surveyed, only Norris Dental Science Center and Watt Hall of Architecture and Fine Arts were found to have asbestos-containing materials in
(See Asbestos, page 2)
Event combines cultural music, acting
By Lisa Weiss
Assistant City Editor
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The arrival of the year 2000 is bringing headaches to computer programmers — and inspiration to artists.
Four performers converged Tuesday night in Bing Theater in a collaboration that blended music with scenes depicting events on New Year's Eve, 1999.
The fifth program in the Spectrum series "The New Millennium" featured guitarist Eliot Fink, who studied under classical musician Andres Segovia, in addition to Turkish instrumentalist Burhan O^al and the performance team of Jackie Planeix and Tom Crocker, known as Blue Palm.
The artists created the evening's performance in less than a week with the help of production designers and crew from USC's School of Theatre.
Each of the scenes typified a convergence of some kind. A screenwriter's urge to be alone in the desert collides with the cell phone and laptop his lover finds in his knap-
Suala Yau / Dally Troian
Guitarist Eliot Fisk (left) and TUrkish instrumentalist Burhan 0$al perform Tuesday.
Santeria and is about to give birth. A Turkish Muslim finds an American new-ager chanti-
(See Spectrum, page 2)
sack during a surprise visit. A high-powered lawyer is stuck in an elevator with a Slavic cleaning woman who happens to practice
Eric Sullano / Daily Trajan
Jenny Cohn, a graduate student bi social work, shops for bargains at the University Bookstore skiewafc sale Tuesday.
Students protest conservation plan
r
By Jennifer Prosser
Staff Writer
Chalk figures lined the sidewalk in Griffith Park. The scene was roped off by police tape, and an ambulance was in the background. And USC students were in the middle of the action Tuesday.
A violent series of murders? It was, of sorts. Members of USC's Student Action for the Environment ( S . A . F. E . ) protested a conservation plan they say would make it easier for natural habitats to vanish.
About 10 students were part of the event staged in the park, which is home to the Los Angeles Zoo. They carried homemade signs and chanted "save the species" after strapping a stuffed bear on a stretcher and loading an ambulance full of stuffed animals.
The students protested the Kempthome Bill, a proposed addition to the Endangered Species Act in which endangered animals could have fewer protections from landowners and
arises
It's gratifying to know you...can help educate people.
CODY WESTHEIMER freshman, music composition
developers. A "no surpr policy would allow a landowner to enter into a conservation agreement with the government and not be required to ever make changes to that plan, even if the development causes a species to decline in number.
"It's gratifying to know you are helping out
________ society, that
you can help educate people," said Cody Westheimer, a freshman majoring in music composition.
The protest also included talks by members of the environmental community.
Sierra Club member Kevin Finney called the Kempthome Bill "a brink-of-extinction bill for endangered species."
Finney saia that 90 percent of endangered species live on private lands and that this Dill would allow landowners to make their own decisions regarding whether or not their developments would harm the environment: Also, it would no longer require the Fish and
(See S.A.F.E, page 2)
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