INSIDE
Gabe Pruitt and USC face injury-riddled UCLA tonight in Westwood. 16
Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912
www.dailytrojan.com
January 18,2006
Vol. CXL VIII. No. 5
Stipends outpace inflation
$16,000
$14,000
$12,000
$10,000
$8,000
$6,000
$4,000
$2,000
USC tuition Senate president’s stipend Stipend if it followed inflation
- .v.
1995/	1997/	1999/	2001/	2003/	2005/
1996	1998	2000	2002	2004	2006
Zach Fox I Daily Trojan
Upward trend. Until Tuesday night's Senate vote, stipends grew at the same rate as USCs tuition. The resolution, effective next academic year, ties stipend growth to the Consumer Price Index. Tuition rises much faster than nation-wide inflation.
Senate votes to
i
lower stipend rates
Facts
Student Senate and Program Board will spend $232,764 on stipends this academic year.
Senate expects to save about $5,000 in the first year of the changes.
Senate voted Tuesday to make stipends reflect the Consumer Price Index rate.
By IOANNA UN
Staff Writer
Student Senate voted unanimously Tuesday to lower its stipends by about 5 percent and slow future stipend growth.
Beginning in the 2006-2007 school year, Senate stipends will be expressed in dollars per year and will grow at the Consumer Price Index inflation rate.
Currently, stipends are tied to the cost of academic units and increase at the rate of tuition inflation, which rises more rapidly than CPI.
Members of Senate receive stipends equivalent to one to five units
per semester, depending on their positions. At $1,059 per unit this school year, that means Senate stipends range from $2,118 (senators) to $10,590 (the president).
Under the new system, the cost of one unit is pegged at $2,000; this stipend decrease and inflation change allows Senate to save about $5,000.
Lowering stipends for the 2006-2007 baseline is a “show of good faith" and an attempt to correct for discrepancies between CPI and stipend inflation, Senate Treasurer Mike Orazi said.
"We are cutting our stipends by 5 percent — this is part of a larger cost-reducing effort in Senate,” he said.
Orazi, the author of Tuesday's resolution, said he thinks the baseline stipends to be fair, citing similar stipends at other universities.
“Generally, people work more hours I see Stipend page 2 I
Students take break to aid Tsunami victims
Sixteen students went to Thailand as part of Alternative Winter Break.
By YOUNG MICHAEL HAN
Staff Writer
For most students, winter break represents a time to get away from the stresses of work, but for one group of USC students and faculty, the break was an opportunity to help with the tsunami recovery effort.
The 16 students were part of the first Alternative Winter Break trip, where they traveled to Thailand for two weeks, dividing their time between recovery work and sightseeing.
Alternative Winter Break, a program sponsored by the USC Volunteer Center and Philanthropy Fund, sent students to the Tsunami Volunteer Center in Khao Lak, Thailand, from Dec. 14-28 to contribute in the rebuilding efforts there. Khao Lak was once the leader of the country's vibrant tour-
ism industry, but it was the region worst hit by the tsunami.
The group from USC included 16 students, two faculty advisers and one staff adviser.
The 19-member USC group became part of a 250-member volunteer team that was divided down the center into four work groups that focused on four separate projects — two on home reconstruction, one on boatbuilding and one on environmental restoration.
Through their involvement, many of the volunteers emerged with changed perspectives on "what’s really important."
Melissa Gaeke, the staff adviser for the group, said because of the rapid and widespread humanitarian response to the tsunami disaster, aid for the victims has moved past basic relief toward reconstruction efforts in economic sustainability and community development.
Gaeke also said that the Tsunami Volunteer Center projects were about “helping," rather than “serving" the victims. She described
I see Break, page 111
Helping hand. Sarah Tynes, a sophomore majoring in political science, makes decorative crafts for a memorial to tsunami victims.
INDEX
Political corruption in the nation's capital isn't limited to the Republican party. 4
Showtime's "Sleeper Cell" does not change stereotypes. 7
New* Digest-....2	Classifieds...
Opinions________4	Crossword..-
Lifestyle-------7	Sports-------
WEATHER
Today: Partly cloudy. High 64, low 46. Tomorrow: Sunny. High 64. tow 41
National Cancer Institute gives $9 million to Keck researchers
The grant will fund a five-year study of specific treatments based on DNA.
By ASHLEY ARCHIBALD
Staff Writer
Professors from the Keck School of Medicine of USC will continue a study of childhood cancers funded by a $9 million research grant awarded by the National Cancer Institute.
The grant, provided by the Strategic Partnering to Evaluate
Cancer Signatures, was awarded to	niliplf
Dr. Timothy Triche, pathologist-	l|lSvR
in-chief of pediatrics at Children's	C«fkt
Hospital Los Angeles and a faculty member at Keck.	——
The grant will fund a five-year	The grant
study of different types of pediatric	funds the
cancer by taking in thousands of	second part
walk-in patients and trying to match	of a	larger
those patients with specific treat-	study	and will
ments based on their DNA.	treat	cancer
By finding these specific treat-	patients wittv
ments for each patient, doctors will	out previous
be able to reduce the negative side	treatment.
I see Cancer page 11
IFC starts semester with rush activities
After alleged incidents of minors drinking alcohoL IFC now monitors all events to ensure rules are met.
By T0REY VAN OOT
Staff Writer
With the start of spring semester comes rush, where all 19 USC Interfraternity Council Houses will host rush events open to all interested candidates.
Students can select which events and houses they would like to visit throughout the week Rush culminates on Saturday with “Bid Night"
Activities include trips to go-kartmg venues, professional sports competitions, batting cages, laser tag. studio tapings of television programs and comedy clubs. Fraternities have also scheduled in-house poker tournaments and barbecues.
At the end of the week, fraternities offer bids to rushees whom they would like to invite to participate in the pledge process of becoming active members. Rushees have a one-week “hold” penod in which they can make their decisions.
Houses also have informational booths set up on Trousdale Parkwav from 11 am. to 1 p.m. every day this week.
Every house's spring rush schedule was registered and approved by the IFC, said Sagar Patel, a junior major mg in biological sciences and the IFC vice president of rush In accordance with IFC regulations, all events are monitored by IFC officers to ensure that they remain "dry" and within the
see Ihiak oage 1