Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912
ELECTION EXTRA
A complete voting guide for this week’s Student Senate elections can be found on pages 10 and 11.
www.dailytrojan.com
February 13, 2006
Vol. CXL VIII, No. 23
Villaraigosa selected as 06 commencement speaker
The last two speakers were alumnus Neil Armstrong and Sen. John McCain.
By JULIE KUO
Staff Writer
USC President Steven B. Sample has selected Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as this year's commencement speaker.
Viliaraigosa. the first Hispanic mayor the city has elected in more than a century, included in his mayoral platform issues involving education, transportation, public safety and economic development
He was also appointed a distinguished visiting fellow at USC's Southern California Studies tenter Every year, a committee nomi-
nates a group of people for honorary degrees, and from that list Sample can choose the commencement speaker, said USC professor of kinesiology John L Callaghan, who is also the university marshal.
In the end. though, the choice is "purely (his) choice," Callaghan said.
Villaraigosa also will receive an honorary degree at the commencement ceremony. Callaghan said.
Other honorary degree recipients have not been announced.
Neither Sample nor Villaraigosa were available for comment
USCs decision to select Villaraigosa was greeted with mixed reaction from graduating seniors.
Some students took notice that Villaraigosa. who has spoken at van ous USC event*, was, nevertheless, a I see Speaker page 13
Happy marriages. Doron Kornbluth, author of “Why Marry Jewish?' speaks at "Fond of Vou — Fondue and Relationships,” the first of four lectures hosted at the Chabad Jewish Student Center about the issues surrounding interfaith marriage.
RELIGION AND ETHICS
Students discuss interfaith marriage
Twenty percent of USC students' parents have interfaith marriages.
By JODIE OXMAN
Staff Writer
While some religious leaders urge students to marry within their faiths under the belief that it creates a healthier family environment, others argue that interfaith marriage can be very successful.
An increasing number of couples are marrying outside their faiths, leaving
some to worry that these marriages won’t last and their children will be negatively affected.
Not everyone shares this opinion, though. Some feel that love is a bond between people that is uncontrollable and should not be restricted. These critics argue that individuals should be open to new types of religious faiths and cultures.
These topics were discussed last week at the Chabad Jewish Student Center, at the first session of a four part series called, "Fond of You — Fondue and Relationships,’’ where students discussed the importance of interfaith marriage.
Twenty percent of students at USC
are the result of interfaith marriages, said Scott Long, the religious director of the Mosaic Trojan Network: A Christian Community of Faith, Hope and Love.
Doron Kornbluth, author of "Why Marry Jewish?" lectured on the importance of marriage in the same faith for all religions and cultures. While Kornbluth said he finds interracial marriages “beautiful" and believes they should continue, he encouraged students at the event to marry within their religions.
Kornbluth underlined three main reasons why people should marry inside of their faiths: divorce rates in interfaith marriages are hieher than those of inner-I see Marriage page 3 I
INDEX
Galco’s Soda Pop Shop stocks 500 different types of carbonated drinks. 9
Science and politics make a bad combination. 6
Newi IltgeM.....2	l ifestyle-----7
Upcoming________2	(liAsitieds — 1C
Opinion*........4	Sports.......20
WEATHER
Today: Sunny. High 80, low
51
Tomorrow: Mostly sunny.
Autopsy results released
Defense calls the report 'mere speculation' after coroner rules baby's death a homicide.
By JOSHUA SHARP
Staff Writer
The autopsy report in the Holly Ashcraft murder case was released last week after being on security hold, and while it answered some questions, it brought criticism from the defense.
The 35-page document has been the subject of multiple media reports, many of which focused on the coroner s declaration that the manner of death is “moded as homicide" because of caretaker neglect.
Ashcraft, a third-year USC student, is charged with murder and child abuse after the body of an infant was found next to a dumpster behind the 29th Street Cafe.
Prosecuting Deputy District Attorney Efrain Aceves said the report speaks for itself, but Ashcraft’s attorney, Paul J. Wallin, criticized the report and the media coverage surrounding it.
Wallin called the report’s conclusion “mere specula tion," insisting that the coroner overstepped his bounds by using the location where the baby was found to support a claim of caretaker neglect.
Aceves said he could not comment on specifics of the report, but also noted "everything seems to be consistent.”
Deputy Medical Examiner David B. Whiteman concluded that the brown-haired, brown-eyed child was born alive and the cause of death was “peripartum demise from prematurity and other undetermined factors."
Wallin said that the report should have ended there. Instead, it went on.
The coroner wrote, 'The child was abandoned and later found in a dumpster. Because of caretaker neglect the manner of death is moded as homicide; in addition, intentional asphyxia cannot be excluded."
“(The coroner) threw the prosecutor a bone." Wallin said. 'There’s nothing in the body of this report that supports (his conclusion).”
■Medical experts from the USC Keck School of Medicine disagreed.
Dr. Joan Hodgman. a professor of pediatrics specializing in neonatology, said that the conclusion of caretaker neglect was obvious.
“If that baby had been born in a hospital, where mavbe it would get nursery care, the baby’s chances of dying are nearly zero," Hodgman said.
I see Autopay page 13 I
Keynote. Mayor Antonto Villaraigosa was chosen as the 2006 commencement speaker He last spoke at USC at the Conference on Poverty thrs month