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Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912
September 15, 2004
The Los Angeles County Fair is not your average midwestern state fair,
featuring motocross and a petting zoo. 7
Vol. CUII, No. 16
USC requires new online
alcohol
Entering freshman and transfer students now must go through AlcoholEdu.
By JORDAN WATROUS
Contributing Writer
All freshman and transfer students are now required to participate in AlcoholKdu, an online education program designed to educate students about the impact of alcohol.
The program was implimented for this year's incoming students, and will continue for another three years, with an aim at educating all students about the responsibilities and consequences of alcohol use, said Paula Swinford, director of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Services.
"This program is a lot like driver’s education. Much like when you drive you have to know the difference from the brake and the accelerator. If a freshman is going to drink, they have to know the conse-
course
quenses,” Swinford said. "My hope would be that the student becomes empowered to make decisions about alcohol use.”
Eighty percent of this year's entering freshmen and transfer class participated in the program, which involves numerous online lessons and a comprehensive exam, all of which might take as many as four hours to complete.
Although the program is a requirement, students face no repercussions for not completing it, Swinford said.
“If 80 percent of drivers took drivers’ education, that’s 80 percent of people stopped while the other 20 percent barrel through the red light,” Swinford said.
By 2008, every student on campus will have been required to complete the program.
The new program
AlcoholEdu was created by Outside the Classroom, a Boston-I see Alcohol, page 6 I
Drinking big. Lindsay Bell, right, and Eric Steele, left, drink prior to the USC home opener football game Saturday. Neither are students at USC. Recent studies have found binge drinking is a bigger problem than once believed.
Study finds smog affects lung development
The research conducted by the USC Keck School of Medicine is the largest and most detailed of its kind.
By BORIS MELNIKOV
Staff Writer
Teenagers living in areas of high smog concentration are at greater risk of having their lung growth impeded, according to new research performed by doctors at the USC Keck School of Medicine.
“The size of the effect was surprising to us,” said W. James Gauderman, associate professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School.
More than 1,700 children from 12 communities across the Los Angeles metropolitan area participated in the study from 1993 to 2001. The research-
ers also tracked smog levels in the communities.
Research found that teens that were monitored had on average 7 percent lower lung function than others in the same age group for females, and 4 percent lower lung function for males, Gauderman said.
Gauderman described the effect as a substantial decrease.
The study appeared last week in the New England Journal of Medicine.
“The results of this study indicates that the current levels of air pollution have chronic, adverse effects on lung development in children from the age of 10 to 18 years,” according
to the study’s abstract, located on the journal’s Web site.
Edward Avol, professor of clinical and preventive medicine at USC and one of the co-authors of the study .said the research was the largest and most detailed of its kind.
“This was a long-term study done with the same group of children over the years as they aged," he said.
Previous research found that smog worsened the symptoms of chronic respiratory illnesses, such as asthma. But the current study is the first to establish a definite long-term link between air pollution levels and lung function.
“It's quite important to realize that even at today’s pollution levels, we see clinically significant deficiency in lung function (in teenagers),” Avol said.
Although lung function could not be restored to normal levels for those who already suffered long-term effects of smog pollution, lower levels of emissions from cars would increase the percentage of teens with healthy lungs, Avol said.
“If we clean up the air, we can improve lung function." he said.
The effects of high smog concentration are similar to the effects of second-hand smoke inhalation to a person's lungs, the researchers found.
Reduced lung function is the No. two respiratory risk factor that causes premature death. Smoking is No. 1.
Teenagers living in highly-pollut-ed areas were five times more likely to have weaker lungs than those in the same age group who lived in less smoggy areas.
I see Smog, page 111
USC alum runs for California Assembly
Greg Hill earned his M.B.A. from the Marshall School of Business and is the current mayor of Redondo Beach.
By BONNIE SCHINDLER
Contributing Writer
Greg Hill, mayor of Redondo Beach. Calif., and a USC alumnus, wants to improve California's business climate by winning the State Assembly seat for the 53rd district.
Hill, a Republican who graduated from the Marshall School of Business with a Master of Business Administration in 1988, said the position of assemblyman is a natural progression from being mayor.
As part of the Assembly, representatives are at a low enough level in the government to make a difference but still be close to the people, he said.
”1 believe in lowering taxes, deregulation and making government more efficient," Hdl said.
But when Hill was a student at Marshall, he was not politically active. Politics was just something he fell into, he said.
Hill entered USC to work towards an M.B.A. on the entre-
I see Mill page 11I
Students face reverse cultural shock
Just the Facts
The Office of Overseas Studies holds 1.5 hour re-entry ses sions every semester for students that studied abroad.
Office of Overseas Study offers re-entry program for students who study abroad.
By CHRISTIE PAIK
Contributing Writer
When senior Carolyn Davidson returned home to the United States after studying abroad in Nicaragua in fall 2003. she saw the world differently.
The international relations major said she "had trouble communicating with students who haven't been in an undeveloped country" after she
returned from the Central American country.
“Nicaragua is as different as you can get from the United States,” she said. “I saw Los Angeles in a very different way afterwards."
One of the little discussed happenings of the study abroad experience is reverse culture shock, when students happily return home from a period spent abroad only to feel dissatisfied with their homecoming.
According to the Office of Overseas Studies, students usually have trouble reconnecting with friends and family, suffer boredom, feelings of wistful ness I see Abroad p^e 111
INDEX
Is there any hope for the Lyon Center, one of the most popular destinations on campus? 16
Igflorance of the Iraqi situation is holding the U.S. back. 4
News Digest...2	Sportl........16
Upcoming______2	Clusifieds----12
Opinio os-----4	Lifestyle-------7
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WEATHER
Tod ay: Partly cloudy High of 80, low of 6Z Tomorrow: Mostlysunnny. 79,81