USC shines over break
Sports, page 24
Obscenity laws are unjustifiable
Viewpoint, page 5
Oscars hold no surprises
Life / Arts, page 9
trojan
Volume CXIV, Number 50
University of Southern California
Tuesday, April 2,1991
Taking the plunge
, v w
Robert Menislan / Dally Troian
Fort Borg, a student visiting from the University of Utah, executes a dive at McDonald’s Olympic Swim Stadium. Borg is training for the diving competitions he will face in the summer months.
USC faculty to investigate King beating
By Michael Utley
City Editor
Two university professors have been appointed to two separate city commissions investigating the Los Angeles Police Department following the beating of Rodney Glen King by Foothill Division officers last month.
James Zumberge, the recently retired university president and now a geology professor, and Dr. Robert Tranquada, dean of the School of Medicine, have both accepted appointments and will begin investigating LAPD policies and procedures next week, dty hall and police sources said.
The commissions were formed independently by Mayor Tom Bradley, who announced Tranquada's appointment at a
press conference Monday morning, and LAPD Chief Daryl Gates, who appointed Zumberge last Wednesday while the unversity was on Spring Break.
Gates and Bradley, both longtime dty offidals, are at odds over the March 3 beating incident, and the separate commissions may be further evidence of an internal power struggle.
It has been widely reported that Bradley's office is waging a behind-the-scenes effort to oust Gates from his position as chief. The mayor's commission, instituted five days after Gates unveiled his plan, has been seen as "the latest in a series of political moves engineered by the mayor's office to bring pressure on . . . Gates to resign," according to a front-page article in Mon-
(See King, page 8)
Spring Break reports keep security busy
Incidents include chemical leak, assault on police
By Glen Justice and Oscar C. Villalon
Staff Writers
A hazardous materials leak, hate mail and an alleged altercation between students and an off-duty Los Angeles Police Department officer were some of the inddents dealt with on or near campus during Spring Break, offidals said Tuesday.
A portion of the campus was blocked off about 7 p.m. Saturday after a bottle con-
taining chemicals began leaking in the Physical Plant building, University Security reported.
Six physical plant employees were evacuated and treated, but no one was seriously injured.
"My lead man called me and told me there was an odor coming from the tank," said Arnie Aldridge, the foreman in charge of Physical Plant on Saturday. The odor was escaping through a crack in a 4-liter bottle containing the solvent Pyridine, said Charles Lane, director of the university safety office.
(See Crime, page 8)
USC graduate students win business analysis contest
By Annette Chadney
Assignment Editor
After an hour of sleep, 22 hours of preparation and a 20-minute presentation, five university graduate students clinched a business competition at Notre Dame University last month.
The Notre Dame Invitational Case Competition tested analytical, evaluation and logic skills. The team won a trophy, a silver cup and individual plaques.
The three main competitors were Lydia Irby, John Otterson and Elizabeth Roper, along with alternates Deborah Jaffe and Gregory Sabala.
The team competed against
(See Competition, page 7)
Robert Menaslan / Dally Tro|an
(Clockwise startinq top left) Debbie Jaffe, Lydia Irby, Elizabeth Roper, Greg Sabala and John Otterson, all graduate business students, won the Notre Dame Invitational Case Competition.
Studies decry USC’s low athlete graduation rate
By Michael Utley
Gty Editor
USC's athletes — espedally football players — have a dismal graduation rate, are not suffidently supported in their academic pursuits, and operate under a collegiate system that "has lost its bearings," according to three separate studies last year.
USC's football team was named recently in a study by the Chronicle of Higher Education as being among the 20 lowest in an extensive survey of graduation rates of Division I schools. The rate was 24 percent, with only six of 24 players graduat-
ing. It was the lowest figure among Pacific 10 schools, except for the University of Arizona, which failed to provide statistics. The study examined freshmen from fall 1984 through the end of the 1988-89 academic year.
Last month, the Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics
—	without spedfically naming USC — came down hard on all large college athletic departments, proclaiming that "at their worst, big- time college athletics appear to have lost their bearings."
Last April, the USC Faculty Senate Committee on Athletic Affairs filed a re-
port stating that the university does not spend enough money educating its athletes. The report found that USC allocates $62,861 to the Office of Student Athlete Academic Services, while other schools spend as much as $400,000 more on similar programs. The report listed UCLA's allocation at $200,000 and Penn State's at
whopping $500,000. Why all the
Why all the critidsm in such a short period of time?
Offidals in the USC athletic department say many of the allegations are true, but only for the years that have been studied. More recent statistics are looking
better, they say, and the university is trying to meet its responsibilities.
"There's obviously a reform movement going on," said Margaret Gatz, the university's faculty athletic representative. "Everyone has had to take a closer look at themselves, and USC is doing that."
"Our football graduation rate looked abysmal (in The Chronicle study), but 1984 was an extremely bad year," Gatz said. "Since then, two more of those 24 players have graduated, bringing our average up to 33 percent."
(See Rates, page 16)