Friday
April 3/1998
Vol. CXXXffl, No. 51
Headlines
Trojans ready for No. 1 showdown
A matchup of aces highlights the opening game of a three-game series between the No. 2 USC baseball team and top-ranked Stanford this weekend at Dedeaux Field. Seth Etherton starts tonight.
<
Sports, page 12.
Bad MTA plan should be bus-ted
Compared to the mass-transit systems of other cities, bus service in Los Angeles is inadequate, which prompts Editorial Columnist Hang Long to question a proposal to reduce MTA funding.
Viewpoint, page 4
F.Y.I.
Research seminar, Catalina Island
"New Frontiers in Graduate Research: Communication, Technology and Society" will be presented from 9 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. Saturday at the Annenberg School for Communication.
For more information, call Derik Keshishian at (213) 740-9505.
• ••
Discover SC will set sail for Catalina island at 7:30 a.m. Saturday. The tour group will depart from EVK Dining Hall. The $30 ticket package includes a charter bus to and from the coast, a glass-bottomed boat ride and a tour of the city of Avalon.
For more information, call (213)740-2080.
• ••
The Trojan Golf Club and Intramural-Recreation are
sponsoring group golf lessons on the Intramural Field (west of Heritage Hall) from 11 a.m. to noon Sunday. Signups are in the Lyon Center.
For more information, call (213)740-5127.
Newspaper of the University of Southern California
Dwuoian
flyouts for the Ttofan Dance Force In front of Heritage Hafl
Qaorg* Faucht / Daily Trojan
nm until the end of the week.
Housing
situation
persists
By Angie Chen
Assistant City Editor
Spaces are still available for university housing, but students currently living in non-university housing who want USC housing next year will have to wait until all current residents are settled in, said Jeff Urdahl, director of Housing and Residence Halls.
This situation, which affects many upperclassmen who chose to lived in private housing this
{'ear may continue until June or uly, Urdahl said. Some students who have received contracts
(See Housing, page 2)
DPS community branches reach many
By Shaahank Bengali
Staff Writer
Two bullets from a 9-mm pistol are still lodged in the back of 16-year-old Pedro Santamaria's head, a constant reminder of
the morning last November when he was shot in a would-be carjacking while driving home from work.
Santamaria, who lives just three miles east of campus, was less than a month away from completing a 20-week \vi tra‘n*ng pmgram to become a >■—^ member of the Explorer Post
—\JL--at USC's Department of
Public Safety — one of the many community outreach programs run by DPS.
"I'm back at the training academy for a second time, so I'm a little behind, but it's not so bad," Pedro said. "I like the program a lot, I really respect the officers here...and it's a way for me to escape my neighborhood, which is really bad.
Behind the Badge
MKT lor S
"There's a drug problem, a gang problem, and a lot of stun goes down on my block every night. I just get really tired of it."
Hoping to help local youths like Santamaria find enriching alternatives to street life, and to improve its own neighborhood, DPS has broadened its sphere of law enforcement to include the community surrounding the university.
DPS runs an extensive crime prevention program off campus, consisting of community safety surveys, crime alert bulletins, crime avoidance training, beautification projects and several programs aimed at helping local youths.
"Our whole approach to community policing is built upon the philosophy of the police working with the people to make our neigh-
borhoods safe and secure," said Deputy Chief Bob Taylor.
"We have taken a broad approach to our role in community policing, and we recognize that it is often the appearance of the neighborhood that gives people a sense of uneasiness or an absence of control."
Taylor attributes recent improvements in campus crime rates — personal crimes dropped 30 percent from 1995 to 19%, and another 10 percent in 1997 — in part to DPS's approach to community-oriented policing.
We are more pro-active than reactive, he said. "We are actively involved off campus — so much so, in fact, that many area residents have come to rely only on us as police because we can get there faster than LAPD and...we do a good job."
DPS's community-minded philosophy is unique among local universities. Neither the UCLA nor the Cal State Los Angeles police forces cover nearly as extensive an off-campus area as DPS.
Among the programs DPS is involved in is Kid Watch, the result of a partnership between the area's public and private sectors that includes the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Kid Watch, which provides volunteers
(See DPS, page 2)
. . ■ . , ■ ,, • GLBA replaces flag, battles to redisplay it
DPS labels theft of the rainbow flag a hate crime, investigation unable to solve case
By Nada El Sawy
Staff Writer
The Gay, Lesbian, and Bi Assembly’s traditional rainbow flag, stolen from its weeklong home of Bovard Auditorium tower Thursday, Oct. 16, has not yet been retrieved, and the ongoing investigation conducted by tne Department of Public Safety has been unsuccessful.
Further action is being taken by those concerned that the flag may never be hung again.
"The loss of the flag is devastating," said Elizabeth Malamed, executive director of the GLBA. "It has been a serious blow to our community."
The rainbow flag, approximately 50 feet-by-20 feet, has been hung during National Coming Out Week for five years now.
"It is supposed to symbolize diversity and tolerance on a campus that desperately needs it," said Men's Programming Chair Josh Sonnen, a senior majoring in biology.
The flag was stolen between 9 and 11 a.m. on the day before it was to be taken down. GLBA estimated the cost of the flag at $600, and the crime was classified as grand theft.
The anti-gay graffiti that occurred shortly after was categorized as vandalism and subcategorized as a hate crime.
The Department of Public Safety has no information and no clues, said Deputy Chief Bob Taylor. He said that tnere continues to be an official investigation, although nothing can be done unless the flag appears.
"Whoever at this point stole that flag was probably able to get rid of it," Sonnen said.
Taylor said that the flag was not as properly secured as it has been in previous years. The flag was cut down once, but never stolen before. This has been taken into consideration for modifications of the new flag, which has thicker chains and
(See GLBA, page 3)
New banner policy prevents another Bovard flag hanging
By Nada El SaWy and David Khalaf
Staff Writers
Devised in the summer, a policy prohibiting banners on buildings, unless they are associated with that building like Programming Board events advertised on the Student Union building, has only recently been enforced.
The Gay, Lesbian and Bi Assembly is discussing with administration how the policy can be modified to include the tradition of the rainbow flag on Bovard Auditorium. The group’s large flag, a symbol of gay pride, was stolen from Bovand last year. Under the new policy, the group's proposal to nang their new flag was rejected.
Men's Programming Chair Josh Sonnen met with Cynthia Cherry, associate vice president of student affairs, to discuss the situation.
"We are curious why this
FH* Photo
A GLBA rainbow flag display in front of Bovard Auditorium after the theft last October.
seems to be a selectively enforced rule,” he said Under the policy, any banners
(See Policy, page 2)