Softshoe with senior citizens
Members of PhiDelt and Theta danced with elderly Angelenos for Valentine's Day.
By TOREY VAN 00T
Staff Writer
Ninety-six year-old Irina Finksler loves to boogie.
Her pink, sequin-covered ensemble shimmers as she dances the night away to Frank Sinatra hits with 20-vear-old Bobby Fijan, a sophomore majoring in history.
Sunday night, members of Phi Delta Theta and Kappa Alpha Theta traveled to Belmont Village retirement home in Hollywood in search of some senior valentines.
Dressed in semi-formal attire, the Greeks visited the Belmont Village facilities to treat residents to an evening of hors d’oeuvres, conversation and dancing.
PhiDelt brothers invited the Theta house to join them as dates for the senior residents at the Valentine’s Day ball, said PhiDelt philanthropy chairman Jeff Okita, a sophomore majoring in English.
PhiDelt public relations chairman Matt Sotelo, a sophomore majoring in business administration, said that planning events with a “creative edge" is one of the defining elements of the fraternity.
"We’re kind of an 'out of the box' fraternity," he said. “(This is the) kind of stuff we do that sets us apart from the other fraternities."
The Belmont Village dining room served as a makeshift dance hall and was decorated with a Valentine's Day theme of red balloons, heart-shaped mobiles and pink
I see Dancing, oage 11
Tlcklin' the Ivories. Marty Jacobs, accompanist to George Burns and a friend of Frank Sinatra's, plays piano as members of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority look on. Members of Theta and PhiDelt spent Sunday night with residents of Belmont Village retirement home.
Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since
February 14, 2006
Love Shack’ panel looks at love with an academic eve
J
The USC Academic Honors Assembly co-sponsored the Monday night event.
By AUSON KRAMER
Contributing Writ«T
A diverse panel of USC professors, including a philosopher. a physicist and a neurologist, provided deconstructions of the nature of love in "Love Shack.' an interdisciplinary forum at the Davidson Conference Center Monday night Sponsored by the Academic Honors Society, one of the nine divisions of the USC Program Board, the event drew almost 200 attendees
Adorned with white-linen table-cloths. Mattered rose petals and twinkling votive candles, the room set an appro pnate mood for the evening's topic.
The panel consisted of five of USCs most reputable professors. Each speaker provided an interpretation on love that reflected his particular area of expertise
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wmv.dailytrojan.com
Vol. CXL VIII, No. 24
Senate elections commence
Online voting began at midnight, and polling sites will be open through Thursday.
By JOANNA UN
Staff Writer
Voting for Student Senate elections began at midnight and will continue through Thursday. Students may vote online or in person at polling sites at Hahn Plaza and in front of Leavey Library, the Lyon Center and the Joint Educational Project house.
Even though voting began today, Senate was still working on the logistics of its voting ballots as late as 2:30 a.m. Monday morning, when the Judicial Council issued its preliminary ruling on a case regarding the placement of candidates' names.
The council met late Sunday to hear a complaint filed by presidential candidate Chase Tajima against Elections and Recruitment Co-Directors Catherine Finneran and Caitlin Strauss for violating the Elections Code and Senate bylaws in trying to randomize Candidate names on ballots.
The bylaws state that the names of all candidates would be drawn at random at the first candidates meeting, Jan. as At the meeting, the candidates' names had been drawn in accordance with the bylaws. Tajima's name was first
But in a Senate trial vote on Feb. 8, the names were randomized, appearing in a different order each time the elections Web site was accessed.
The co-directors argued that the term “ballot" in the Elections Code and bylaws pertained solely to paper ballots, which are only used if online voting does not work, and excluded “online electronic voting."
On the paper ballots, Strauss said, the names would appear in the order determined by the Jan. 25 draw.
“It was made clear at the (Jan. 25) candidates meeting that (the drawn order) would apply to the ballots, not the Web site," Strauss said.
Tajima and the co-directors, Strauss said, interpreted the bylaws differendy.
Finneran said she and Strauss had "purposely left the article the way it is because it left room (for drawn or random order).”
In its preliminary ruling yesterday, the Council voted 5-2 in favor of Tajima and wrote that both "electronic and paper ballots shall be listed in accordance with the randomly selected order that was determined by draw."
The council will release its final ruling, which will include the majority and dissenting opinions, by Thursday
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Congress votes to reform drug charge, financial aid tie
Congress amended the Higher Education Act’s drug provision this month.
By ALLISON S0VEY
Contributing Writer
Kandice Hawes, like many college students, traveled to Las Vegas three years ago during a break from her pre law studies at Cal State Fullerton. While there, police caught her with a little more than an ounce of marijuana.
Since police only charged her with a misdemeanor, she believed that the charge was “not a big deaf After she was arrested for possession, however, it quickly became a big deal.
“When the police pulled me over.
I didn't think anything of it" Hawes said. "But then they said I’d lose my financial aid and laughed, saying I'd never be a lawyer now."
Hawes is one of 160,000 students who have been affected by a drug provision of the Higher Education Act. The act was written more than 30 years ago to provide funds for students in need of financial aid. In 1998. Rep. Mark Souder. R-lnd., revised the act by adding a provision that denied aid to students with drug convictions.
Earlier this month. Congress passed a partial reform to the Higher Education Act that would give aid to some students charged with drug possession in the past
The bill would not benefit stu-
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Quick Facts —♦
160.000 students have been affected by the drug provision of the Higher Education Act.
Congress changed the provision to benefit those who got drug charges while not enrolled m a university.
INDEX
New production of"Mama Mia!" is at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center. 7
Riots couLl cost the Muslim world its allies. 5
New* Digest.....2 Lifestyle---------7
Upcoming________2 CU**ifieds— 1#
Opinions ........ 4 Sport*..,-------20
WEATHER
Today: Sunny. High 71, low 50.
Tomorrow: High 61. low 45.
INSIDE
No. 2 USC bested rival and top rated UCLA, 10-8, to claim the Stanford Invitational. 20