Trojans drop season debut
Sports, page 48
J*
Social attitudes, past and present
Feature, page 11
(MEw trojan
Volume CX, Number 2
University of Southern California
Wednesday, September 6, 1989
A Minnie Trojan
John Urata / Dally Trojan
Dozens of Disney characters joined halftime festivities at Monday’s football game against Illinois. They were part of the Trojan Marching Band’s salute to Disney, which Included a skywriter above the Coliseum.
Prices hiked for resident auto permits
By Michael Utley
Staff Writer
The price for resident parking permits shot up a whopping 28.3 percent from last semester, marking a trend that is sure to continue as university construction projects eat away at campus space, officials said Tuesday.
"It is inevitable that we will lose more on-campus parking spaces,” said Carl A. Levredge, executive director of transportation planning and management services.
"USC is in a severely compacted area," Levredge said, "and as the university continues to expand its academic facilities — a move we support
—	we will continue losing our on-campus spaces and substituting them with spaces at the Coliseum and elsewhere."
The huge price hike for resident permits, he said, is a "response to the disparity between the amount of time residents take up in the parking lots and the amount of time commuters use."
Residents are in the lots three to four times longer than commuters, and some store their cars for weekend use, Levredge said.
(See Parking, page 34)
■ SHRINE PARKING: The university recently acquired 250 spaces from the Shrine Auditorium /10
In Brief
Law Center Dean appointed to chair advisory committee
Scott Bice, dean of the University Law Center, has been appointed chairman of a Judicial Council Advisory Committee on Private Judges by The Hon. Malcolm Lucas, chief justice of the California Supreme Court.
The new committee will identify and study public policy questions regarding private judging and examine its use of public resources.
The committee may also survey alternative dispute resolution systems and make recommendations for council action or the council’s legislative program.
"Issues involving private judging in California are worthy of careful study,” Bice commented. “I’m honored to be asked to serve on a committee examining these issues.”
From campus news services
Program targets financial aid defaulters
New loan applicants must attend session on debt management
By Michael Utley
Staff Writer
In an effort to halt increases in the number of student loan defaults nationwide, two of the most popular loan programs now require new borrowers to attend a half-hour debt counseling session.	^
Before they receive a loan check, first-time applicants for a Stafford Loan or a Supplemental Loan for Students must attend a seminar outlining the rights and responsibilities of becoming a borrower.
"The program is here basically to tell students, 'If you're going to borrow, you need to be responsible,' " said Steve Bry-
ant, a university financial aid counselor.
Continuing students who already have loans are not required to attend.
The session consists primarily of a video presentation dealing with several aspects of debt management, said Tom King, associate dean of admissions and financial aid.
The video focuses on the penalties incurred when a loan is not repaid, King said.
Consequences for a student who defaults include a bad credit rating, auto re-posession, income garnishment, and a hold on income tax returns, Bryant said.
Though the program is in effect nationwide, university counselors such as Bryant claim that default rates of four-year private institutions are less of a problem than at public schools.
"USC has one of the lowest default rates in the country — approximately 9.5
percent — and money-lenders give our students a better rating because of that," Bryant said.
"The information session is mostly geared toward trade-school students who are generally not as well educated or as responsible as our students. Not that the video doesn't help USC students, it just gets repetitive sometimes," he said.
One student who had seen the video agreed that it served its purpose.
"I thought it was informative. At least it wasn't dry," said Tim Tincknell, a graduate student majoring in exercise physiology. "I think it will prevent some people from defaulting."
"The film tries to be interesting," Bryant said, "and I guess it's not too bad. I haven't had anyone fall asleep yet."
Counseling sessions began Aug. 28 and will continue throughout September.
Index	
Security Roundup			 3
Viewpoint			 4
Komix		
Feature			 15
Sports		48
Trojans victimized
Student swindled in ‘Jamaican switch’ at ATM
By Jordana Bieze
City Editor
A university student withdrew $240 from an automated bank machine last week, only to lose it to a slick trickster practicing what police call a "Jamaican switch."
In this kind of scam, named after the country where it originated, the thief peddles a phony product or uses
sleight-of-hand to steal the victim's money without his noticing, said Lt. Dave Ritch of University Security.
"This happens all the time," Ritch said. "They'll sell a student a TV still in the package, and the student will get home and find out he bought a box of bricks. "
Increasing numbers of these scams in the university community have
posed a considerable challenge to police and security officers, said Officer Todd Dow of the Los Angeles Police Department's Southwest division.
"It's hard to get a conviction on these guys," Dow said. "Nobody can positively identify them."
Dow said he handles between six and eight Jamaican switch cases each (See Scam, page 13)