Newspaper of the University of Southern California
Janitors protest layoff, workloads
By Karen Santos
Staff Writer
Headlines
By Philip Guidry
Staff Writer
The Student Senate Elections Committee will proceed with commuter senator elections Tuesday and Wednesday, despite the withdrawal of one of the two candidates.
Student Senate
The committee met Wednesday to discuss Joseph Haney's withdrawal from tne special election, which leaves senior Brandon Mercer as the lone candidate.
"The Elections Code does not specify what would be done in
this situation," said Dara Campbell, co-director of the^ Elections Commission.
"Therefore our decision is to continue the election as planned."
Haney cited time and dedication constraints as key factors in his withdrawal statement,
"If I am having trouble finding time to put together a campaign, I would be incapable of actually fulfilling the post of representing the constituency," ne said.
According to the Elections Code, "There is no minimum number of votes required for election to the Senate; a plurality
(See Election, page .1)
Claiming Cougar country
Roy Nwaiitar / Dally Troian
Although the Houston defense kept up the pressure, quarterback Brad Otton completed 24 passes for a 26-9 victory over the Cougars Saturday. See Sports, page 16.
Trojan debate; Population lunch
The Trojan Debate Squad will host a visiting debate team from Great Britain today in Annenberg Auditorium at 7 p.m.
The two teams will debate whether or not the United States should be the world's police force.
A reception will follow the debate.
• • •
The Population Research Laboratory Noon Seminar Series will be hosting a speech on "Cultural Hybridization and Changes in West African Family Structure and Fertility" by Kofie D. Benefo, visiting scholar at USC, today at noon.
The seminar will be held at the Population Research Laboratory Conference Room 387 in the Research Annex building on Hope Street. From campus, tne Research Annex can be reached by taking the Parking Center tram.
Luncn will be provided.
Monday
September 23,19% Vol. OQGX, No. 17
As beautiful as a 'Picasso' portrait
Anthony Hopkins and newcomer Natascha McElhone star in "Surviving Picasso," a personal biography of the great artist and nis many loves. Reviewed by Scott Foundas.
Diversions, page 7
Trojans win third straight game
Behind a Trojan-record 10 receptions by John Allred and a defense that repeatedly came up big in the red zone, USC defeated the Houston Cougars, 26-9, at the Astrodome Saturday.
Sports, page 16
New requirements won't lessen load
Editorial Columnist Amer Anabtawi suggests that the revamped general education curriculum is not a lowering of academic standards, but a chance for students to learn more than in years past at 'SC.
Viewpoint, page 4
Election continues with one candidate
DPS cracks down on shopping cart thefts
By Carol Surovey
Staff Writer
Department of Public Safety officers began confiscating shopping carts from local transients this summer in an effort to decrease crime in areas surrounding the USC campus.
Since July, DPS officers have made 28 arrests of people in possession of stolen shopping carts. The shopping carts are stolen items, but the major motives behind this increased vigilance also include decreasing theft on and off-campus, said Bob Taylor, deputy chief of DPS.
"There is a direct correlation between the claiming of shopping carts and a decrease in theft," Taylor said. Although many transients would say they are just using the carts to hold recycling items, they are often used as "vehicles to haul away
property," he said.
"We've arrested those with bicycles, TVs and car radios," Taylor said.
DPS officers are collecting the shopping carts in conjunction
with the California Grocers' Association. A representative from the organization will bring in a truck once or twice a week to collect the confiscated carts.
On average, 110 to 200 carts are collected weekly, Taylor said.
"The California Grocers' Association loses about $1 million per year" from the theft of shopping carts, Taylor said. This
in turn costs all consumers money, which the public must then subsidize by paying higher prices in grocery stores, ne said.
DPS officers often find that
people in possession of shopping carts often have outstanding warrants for felonies and misdemeanors, for which they are also held accountable.
As a direct result, transients are now turning to other ways to haul their belongings around. Baby carriages are becoming a fast replacement for the enforcement, because there is no law that says baby carriages can be seized, Taylor said.
Officers may confiscate carts within either of their coverage areas. Their general patrol area is from 23rd Street to Park Drive and from Grand Avenue to Vermont Avenue. They are also able to respond to USC students, faculty and staff in the area encompassing Washington Boulevard to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and from Normandie Avenue to Grand Avenue.
There is a direct correlation between the claiming of shopping carts and a decrease in theft.
—DPS Deputy Chief Bob Taylor
About 30 union supporters, union members, students and professors gathered Friday afternoon to protest what they believed to be the unjust firing of a union supporter and attempted to deliver a petition describing their grievances.
Elias Velasquez, a union supporter and a janitor for 16 years, was fired on the grounds of insubordination, said Joah Lee, an organizer for Service Employees International Union, Local 399.
The protesters were also attempting to deliver a petition requesting meetings with Henry Lacher, the USC liason for ServiceMaster, President Steven Sample and Vice President for Business Affairs Thomas Moran.
"They're trying to separate us because they don't want to hear us. As citizens we have the right (to free) speech, and (denying) that is against the law," said Samira Mijangos, a USC janitor.
The petition, signed by over 100 janitors, accused ServiceMaster officials of harassment and of increasing janitors' workloads.
"(As students) we need to stand up to the injustice from USC and ServiceMaster," said Luke Metzger, a junior majoring in political science ana theater. He is also an organizer for Frontlash, a youth labor advocacy organization. "The student delegation will snow (university administrators) they have a much bigger group to fight."
„ A group of about eight DPS officers kept
Eva Ttai / Daily Trojan
Samira Mijangos, a USC Janitor, reads her colleagues’ grievances to President Sample's secretary while DPS officers watch and videotape the event.
an eye on the protesters as they went to Operations and Maintenance to deliver the petition to Lacher. However, no one met them at the locked gate and the protesters left. Lacher could not be reached for comment.
The protesters then attempted to deliver the petition to President Sample, but they were told by Sample's secretary that he was out of town. Several protesters, however, said they saw Sample come out from a meet-
ing in the provost's office.
Five people were then allowed into the president's office where Mijangos read the petition to Sample's secretary and gave her the document.
The group then went to Town and Gown in an effort to give the petition to Moran, but the doors were locked.
Many protesters commented about USC and ServiceMaster's treatment of their (Sec Union, page 2)