Thursday March 28,1996 Vol. CXXVII, No. 46
Bites to quell anyone's hunger
There are sound bites to please everyone today; whether it be "alterna-rap" with the Fun Lovin' Criminals, blues heavy rock with Drivin' N' Cryin' or dancehall tunes from Priority records.
Diversions, page 7
USC looks into false grade charge
USC has informed the I’acific 10 Conference that it is again looking into allegations that student-athletes at the university received grades in classes without doing the work to get them.
Sports, page 20
What does the anthem represent?
The NBA suspended Mahmoud Abdul-Raup for refusing to stand for the national anthem. Viewpoint writer Lupe Chdvez insists the action itself belies the ideology behind the anthem.
Viewpoint, page 4
F.Y.I.
Summer seminar in the Netherlands
USC is one of 10 educational institutions in the United States that has been chosen by the Institute for International Mediation and Conflict Resolution, from which to select students for a month-long summer program in The Hague, nether-lands this July.
The IIMCR will conduct the four-week summer seminar for a select group of 100 international students. It will take place from July 8 to Aug. 2 and will feature a host of internationally known diplomats and world leaders wno are experts on international relations, environmental dilemmas, trade policies and legal disputes.
The seminar is open to students who have finished their first year in college and maintained a 3.0 GPA. The cost of the program is $3,500 and the deadline for applications is April 15.
For more information, call (202)828-0721.
Newspaper of the University of Southern California
Upgrades to avenue improve local area
By Jonathan Atienza
Staff Writer
Brighter lighting, accessible emergency phones and other improvements alon University Avenue have been well-receivei by students and local residents since USC took over landscape maintenance from the City of Los Angeles last May.
Maurice Hollman, executive director of operations and maintenance, said that students and faculty concerns about the appearance of University Avenue and incidents of crime prompted USC to make the request.
"The primary goals in assuming the landscape maintenance were to improve both the safety and appearance of tnis important pedestrian access," Hollman said.
Initial landscaping efforts that began last summer were also aimed at improving visi-
(S<?c Renovations, page 3)
Swing time
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Laura Lanchaster / Daily Trojan Dancers performed by Tommy Trojan Wednesday in the International Fashion Show from noon to 2 p.m. The event was part of the weekly activities for Springfest. Later, “Purple Rain” was screened in Bovard Auditorium.
Administrators speak on Local 399
Officials say that union members will not receive pay cuts or lose benefits
By Susan McAllister
Staff Writer
In response to recent accusations of unfairness by members of Service Employees International Union Local 399, university administrators said that they required that all USC custodians be hired by the university's new custodial contractor, ServiceMaster, and be paid at their existing pay rates indefinitely.
Union members held demonstrations on campus earlier this month to protest the university's switch to ServiceMaster, a firm which has been contracted to clean some campus buildings for the last five years.
Currently, no members of Local 399 are employed at the university, according to Bob Hascall, associate vice president for facilities planning and management.
Hascall said he thinks "there has been some deliberate misinformation spread" about the terms of the university's contract with ServiceMaster, but said he does not know who is responsible for it.
"One piece of inaccuracy I heard was that after 90 days the (custodians') pay rate would be cut. This is absolutely not the truth," Hascall said.
As of March 1, ServiceMaster began pro viding custodial services for all academic and administrative buildings on the University Park Campus, and almost all custodians at USC became employees of ServiceMaster, according to Hascall and Mo Hollman, executive director of operations and maintenance.
"The contract required that all current USC employees be taken on by the contractor, subject to the contractor's pre-employ-ment conditions," Hollman said.
ServiceMaster reauires that each employee provide proof of eligibility to work in the United States, pass a drug-screening test and meet performance criteria during a 90-day
introductory period, Hollman said.
"We know of only 12 to 15 people who for various reasons did not transfer to ServiceMaster," Hollman said. "Some chose not to, some retired and some did not pass the pre-employment conditions."
"As long as they continue at USC, they
Union Protest
Second of two parts
will receive their current pay," Hascall said.
USC-employed custodians made between $7.92 and $11 an hour, according to staff in Hascall's office.
"No one lost any money," Hollman said of the deal the university made with its former custodial employees.
He said custodians got their health benefits for six months at no charge before switching to the ServiceMaster health plan, and those who received tuition remission
(See Custodians, page 2)
NOW vice president advocates action
t
By Jovie Baclayon
Staff Writer
Action Vice President of the National Organization for Women Rosemary Dempsey urged students to challenge the radical right-wing agenda in a eech Wednesday night in per Hall.
In her speech, Dempsey covered issues such as illegal immigration and welfare reform. She also encouraged students to participate in the "March to Fight the Right" next month in San Francisco.
"The purpose is for people... from over 700 organizations to come together and say, 'We're not stupid, and we demand that the issues that
* I
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Troy Witt / Daily Trojan Rosemary Dempsey
will really affect people be dealt with,'" she said.
The event was sponsored by the Student Senate, the Speakers Committee and the Office of Women's Issues. Dempsey's speech began
(See NOW, page 2)
Internet experiment launched by faculty
By Antonia Barber
Staff Writer
The grand opening of a computer lab at a Hollywood community center Tuesday was part of a research project conducted by two university faculty members that will offer free access to gay resources on the Internet.
The Queer CyberCenter at the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center includes six Macintoshes with access to the Internet and electronic mail. It is one of the only centers in the area designed to reach out to the community in this way, said John Waiblinger, who sponsored the project with Eric Schockman.
"The Internet is a really important new media," Waiblinger said. "At USC, we
are really privileged to have that walk-up access to computers and the Internet resources."
"This brings it to different types of people in the community who are not so lucky," he said, The lab is sponsored by the community center, which has donated staff time and facility space. Funding was also provid-ed by the Internet research groups General Internet and Digital Queers, as well as the Annenberg Center, which gave a fellowship for the research idea.
"The CyberCenter was conceived as a research project, but the great thing for us is we're interested in giving many people access who don't have corn-
f>uters or aren't in schtxil," said ay Fong, chief policy analyst at the community center.
(See Project, page H)