Newspaper of the University of Southern California
use
today
Wednesday January 17,1996 Vol. CXXVII, No. 3
Headlines
Music takes turn at best of lists
Shirley Manson of Garbage along with Foo Fighters, White Zombie ancl Elastica made our top albums lists of 1995, compiled by music critics Tim Grierson, Ryan Reed and Adam Stackhouse.
Diversions, page 10
Trojans defeat Cardinal, 84-80
USC Men's Basketball improved its record to 9-6 as they beat the Stanford Cardinal at home on Sunday, 84-80. Stais Boseman led all scorers with 22 points and six assists,
Sports, page 20
Students worst of dietary offenders
Many Americans live off fast food and quick meals-and students more than follow that trend. According to editorial writer Colin Dean Smith, people should take the time to eat right,
Viewpoint, page 4
F.Y.I.
Daily Trojan now available online
The Daily Trojan is now accessible via the World Wide Web. The full text of today's edition will be online in hypertext form by the time you read this. The URL is: http://www.usc.edu/ dept/DT/
Browse the Daily Trojan Online for articles from the beginning of the semester, or search for specific terms or subjects. (Fall 1995 issues will be available for perusal and searching soon.)
In addition to each article being available online, there's also information about the structure and operation of the paper, as well as relevant phone numbers, e-mail addresses and everything else you need to know in order to contact us.
Also look for advertising rates and information, a brief history of the paper, and more.
The Daily 7Yojan Online is best viewed using Netscape.
Donors sought to renovate Parkside
By April Haitsuka
Staff Writer
After years of recommendation from faculty, the university has approved plans to build a residential college with an international theme when it secures enough financial commitment.
The university is looking for an estimated $15 million to fund the new international residential college. Final approval for the project came last week.
Tne project, which was endorsed by Provost Lloyd Armstrong, Jr., will convert Parkside Apartments into an international residential college, after 10 years of faculty recommendation for such a facility.
The timing of the renovation will depend on when the university can procure funds through its "Building on Excellence" donation campaign, said Kristine Dillon, associate vice president for Student Affairs, who is heading the project.
It could take up to a year to find donors for the project, but the university hopes to find someone soon, Dillon said. Plans for developing the complex are on hold until the university finds more donors who will commit money to the project.
The new complex will include significant renovation of the building and the addition of a dining hall, seminar moms, a library, study nxims, a lounge, Internet connections in each room and a multimedia classroom. It will house 600 American and international students with an interest in international programs.
As with the other residential colleges, faculty members will live with students and direct programs, along with a resident coordinator and student resident advisors.
Dillon, who has been involved in developing USC's residential colleges for the past ten years,
(See Parkside, page 2)
Fire erupts in unused lab
By Troy Witt
Staff Writer
Stored chemicals in an unused laboratory on the second floor of Stabler Hall apparently combusted on Dec. 13, which was caused by the build up of pressure inside an ether storage bottle, said Professor Chris Reed. Ethers tend to become unstable over time when exposed to air, Reed said.
"It sounded like thunder, or [like] someone dropped a real heavy object," said Jonathan Snover, a graduate student in chemistry, who was working one floor above the explosion.
When Raj Mathur, a chemistry graduate student working with Snover, heard the explosion, both he and Snover went downstairs to investi-gate.
"All I saw was some flames underneath the lab door," Mathur said. "There were two guys around there and we wanted to make sure no one was in there."
Boris Kashemirov, a chemistry graduate student who was also in the building, recalled, "1 tried to go in there and rescue anybody, but chemical reagents were in the air. It was very hard to breathe."
"Hands-on quick response is part of a chemist's training," Reed said. "We train everybody to react quickly and calmly to emergencies."
It was the rapid response of the professors,
whose offices are on the same floor as the explosion, that kept damage to a minimum. After assessing the situation, Dr. Lawrence Singer decided to evacuate students.
As students exited, Reed decided to take action.
"After realizing that there was no danger to me, I proceeded to open the door and fight the fire with my hand-held fire extinguisher," Reed said. "I put it out while staying below the smoke's level so 1 could breathe."
Reed decided to put out the fire himself to prevent further damage to the building, he said.
"If you just close the door and walk out of the building, you could lose an entire building."
Los Angeles firefighters responded to the fire with a hazardous materials team and quarantined an area of campus bordered by the Student Union building, Trousdale Parkway, Harris Hall and Watt Way. Because finals were being taken, there were not any occupied classrooms within the quarantine area.
There were no reported injuries in the fire or subsequent evacuation.
After the hazardous materials team cleared the scene for re-entry, the university's safety team quarantined the lab and removed the hazardous materials to allow Operations and Maintenance to begin repairs.
"This kind of accident reminds you of some of the dangers inherent in the pursuit of science," Reed said.
Troy Witt / Dally Trojan
Fire trucks arrive at Stabler Hall on Downey Way responding to a chemical fire Dec. 13.
President Sample to occupy endowed chair
By Christian Cooper
Staff Writer
Through a $3 million donation to the university, Los Angeles attorney Robert C. Packard has established an endowed chair for the university president.
President Steven B. Sample will be the first occupant of the Robert C. Packard President's Chair.
Packard, a senior partner in the firm of Kirtland and Packard, graduated from the USC business school with a degree in accounting in 1941 and received his degree from the USC Law Center in 1947.
In 1990, the USC Law Center announced the establishment of the Robert C. and Nanette T.
Packard Professorship in Clinical Legal Education, funded primarily from a donation by the Packard family.
"1 am impressed with the outstanding joo President Sample is doing, and I felt that he should have a President's Chair to honor him and all future presidents of USC," said Packard.
Sample, who is also a professor of electrical engineering, regularly teaches undergraduate classes, including a freshman seminar course entitled Science and Technology in Human Culture. Currently, he is also teaching a course entitled The Art and Adventure of Leadership with Professor Warren G. Bennis of the School of Business.
"It is a real privilege to be the first holder of the Packard President's Chair," Sample said. "Endowment of this chair helps USC strengthen its foundation for the long term future.
"We are deeply indebted to Robert Packard, who has been a wonderfully supportive member of the Trojan family for decades," Sample said.
Sample, the tenth president of the university, served previously as the president of the State University of New York at Buffalo from 1982 to 1991. As university president, Sample said he has emphasized the need for strong undergraduate education, overseeing a new strategic plan for the university.
Packard's donation will con-
tribute to the university's Building on Excellence Campaign to raise $1 billion by the year 2000, Sample said. More than half of the campaign's goal is targeted for long-range investment in academic quality through gifts of endowment, he said.
The Building on Excellence campaign was kicked off by the $120 million gift from former ambassador Walter Annenberg, the largest cash gift in the history of higher education. His donation was used to create the Annenberg Center for Communications.
As part of the campaign, the university hopes to add more than 100 endowed chairs, Sample said.