I
Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912
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February 17, 2006
INSIDE
Jamie Hagiya and the Women of Troy head to Westwood Saturday to face the archrival UCLA Bruins. 12
Vol. CXLVIII, No. 27
Election
complaints
continue
Reading music. Actor LeVar Burton narrates “A Lincoln Portrait" by Aaron Copland performed by the Thornton Wind Ensemble. The event, held Sunday at Bovard Auditorium, was the second trial event for the provost's new arts and humanities initiative.
Provost tries out arts initiative events
Logistics of the provost’s initiative are being worked out during the trial period
By J. CHRISTINA HUH
Staff Writer
Several trial arts and humanities events are going on this semester to work out the logistics of the university-wide arts and humanities initiative that will be launched next fall.
Some events so far include Sunday's Thornton Wind Ensemble concert with actor LeVar Burton and a trip to see the play The Exonerated" in Culver City.
University Provost C.L. Max Nikias announced the arts and humanities initiative last fall. He said the initiative was created “to transmit USC core values to students of all disciplines" in a Daily Trojan article printed last fall.
The core values listed in the memorandum Nikias sent out announcing the initiative are academic freedom, “Trojan family values," informed risk taking and ethical conduct.
The trial events were ones that USC’s individual schools had already planned, but a “reflective component" was added to each event, said Madeline Puzo, dean of the School of Theatre and chair of the deans' council of the arts and humanities initiative.
The reflective component will be a unique aspect of initiative-related events and will explore how the USC core values “are illuminated through the arts and humanities,” Puzo said.
In one event, students attended a pro-con panel that followed "The Exonerated." and principal conductor H. Robert Reynolds deconstructed the patterns and motifs in Aaron Copland’s “Emblems."
After each trial event, students will be given evaluation forms to fill out to see what students liked and disliked about the event, Puzo said.
The difference between events linked to the initiative and the regular schedule of arts and humanities events is that the initiative’s events will focus on “the university’s core values and give students an opportunity explore those values through the arts and humanities,” said Executive Vice Provost Barry Glassner, who is overseeing the initiative.
A schedule of about 45 initiative events will be finalized in mid-spring. Proposals from faculty members are currently being reviewed by a panel of faculty members, undergraduate and graduate students, said Tara McPherson, an associate professor in the School of Cinema-Television who is I see Initiative page 7 I
Two of the events on trial have included a concert with the Thornton Wind Ensemble and actor LeVar Burton and a trip to see the play “The Exonerated.”
Each event will focus on the "university’s core values."
The Election Commission heard one complaint and gave its verdicts on two.
By JOANNA UN
Staff Writer
Presidential-vice presidential tickets Sam Gordon-Sahil Chaudry and Chase Tajima-Aresh Irajpanah were cited Wednesday with one infraction each for posting campaign posters in Taper Hall of Humanities without approval.
Program Board Executive Director Matt Basco filed the complaints against both tickets after seeing their campaign posters on bulletin boards adjacent to classroom doors in Taper.
Basco said to use these bulletin boards, which are “academic" and not public. Program Board has been required to obtain permission. He said he suspected that candidates would have to obtain that same permission.
Both tickets said they were unaware they had broken any rules.
Gordon and Chaudry said they were aware of the permission required for academic boards, but that they had not considered the ones in Taper to be academic.
Tajima said other posters on such bonds have "stamps of approval," but none of the ones in Taper did, so “a reasonable student would , take the lack of approval stamps to mean that there is no approval required."
Still, the Elections Commission unanimously ruled that the tickets had illegally posted campaign materials and ordered the candidates to take down all campaign materials in Taper by 9 a.m. Thursday.
In a second complaint Basco filed against Tajima-Irajpanah Wednesday, the commission unanimously found no violations of Elections Code or Senate bylaws.
Basco said that the ticket was using a listserv from the Lall-Tajima campaign last year to campaign for Tajima-Irajpanah.
Without proper permission from the listserv’s creator or other associated party, the ticket improperly solicited votes, Basco said.
But because the listserv does not belong to the university, it is not regulated by the Elections Code, the commission said.
The commission also met Thursday to hear a complaint Basco filed against the Gary Lee-Andrea Schwartz ticket.
In his complaint, Basco said Schwartz was "going door to door to solicit votes in New (and) North Residential (colleges),” violating TrojanHousing policy. Elections Code,
I see Senate page 9
Activists discuss state of civil rights in U.S.
Muslim Student Union and Black Student Assembly sponsored Thursday’s event.
By ALLISON DUNN
SUIT Writer
Students, faculty and other guests heard prominent activists discuss the current status of civil rights in the Unites States Thursday night in Taper Hall.
The Muslim Student Union and Black Student Assembly cohosted ‘Civil Rights in America. A Retrospective and Contemporary Reflection." a dialogue paralleling the civil rights movement and current circumstances facing the American Muslim community.
The event featured two speak-
ers. Imam Zaid Shakir and Mandla Kayise. Imam is from the Bay Area and is a prominent black Muslim scholar. He is a resident scholar at Zaytuna Institute in Hayward. Calif.
Kayise is the president of the UCLA Black Alumni Association and founder of New W'orld Education, a consulting firm that provides education and community planning services to numerous universities.
The event aimed to connect instances in U.S. history of racial inequality and restricted civil liberties to the issues that many living in America are facing today, said Zainah Alfi. the president of MSU.
“After 9/11, the civil liberties of many minorities. Muslims and non-Muslims, were affected, and we want people to walk away with a see Rlfhu page • I
Right*. Imam Zatd Shatur. a resident scholar at the Zaytuna Institute dis cussed civil nghts for blacks and Muslims at Taper Hall Thursday night
WEATHER
Today: Partly cloudy. High 59, low 46.
Tomorrow: Showers.
INDEX
Student-created sitcom Birnkrant 616 pokes fun at National socialism. B
Embrace life, and dating, tn the moment. 4
NtwsDignt...2	LifettyW--------
Roundup_____•	CUswfeds-------•
Opinions.....4	Sports-------12