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Hit me baby: One more time, as the year ends, music writers tell which albums to stuff in stockings and which aren’t worth more than coal.	*7
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Searching for the savior: Looking on the internet finds five listings for Jesus Christ. Is the end near?	A
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NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
December 8, 1999 Vol. CXXXVIII, No. 66
Office seeks to improve service
Business: Ticket sales for athletic events could go online as soon as USC’s next football season
By CLAIRE LUNA
Managing Editor
Hoping to increase the Ticket Office’s focus on customer service, officials have modified the facility, opened a satellite office on the Health Sciences Campus and begun considering the possibility of internet sales.
Officials have also started looking at the possibility of eliminating the activity card sticker altogether and replacing it with electronic coding, which will discourage theft of USCards.
“I think we need to make as many options available as possible,” said Rob Johnson, interim director of the Ticket Office. “People like to do different things, and they can choose the way they want to do it.”
With an annual revenue of more than $10 million, Johnson said, the Ticket Office’s goal is to sell athletic tickets online for next year’s football season. Officials have been considering their available options carefully, he said.
“We’re not jumping into this because there are some critical liability issues,” Johnson said. “We’re looking at the software package to be used....There’s confidential information traveling over those lines.” Some colleges have already started the process, he said, albeit at a gradual pace.
“They're growing into it slowly,” Johnson said. “There’s a lot involved in it.”
However, the option of having internet ticket sales will help customers and those producers selling the tickets, said Jim Haley, associate director of the Ticket Office.
“People can make spur-of-the-moment decisions to buy tickets at midnight,” he said. “It will be a service office that is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “Also, many agencies on campus are very interested in
I see Ticket, page 13 I
Ryan Green I Daily Trojan
Ticket me. Russ Sprunger, an undeclared freshman, at the Ticket Office.
Stipends, insurance raised for TAs
Employment: Provost takes recommendation to increase pay by 11.5 percent next school year
By ELISSA K. KONOVE
Staff Writer
The Provost has accepted the recommendations the Teaching Assistant Compensation Task Force made to raise the minimum stipends and provide health insurance for graduate student TAs, said Kay Hwangbo, graduate student in residence and a graduate student in cinema-
television production, at Monday night’s Graduate and Professional Student Senate meeting.
Existing minimum stipends for all graduate student TAs, research assistants and assistant lecturers will be increased by approximately 11.5 percent. While some USC departments currently pay their TAs more than the minimum rates, the new minimums will affect a number of schools — including cinema-television, engineering, music, occupational therapy and social work, Hwangbo said.
In addition, TAs’ Student Health Center fees will be waived and graduate students working as TAs will receive free health care through the Health Center, Hwangbo said.
The new policies are expected to take effect September 2000.
TA Unionization
A group of graduate student TAs is exploring the idea of organizing a labor union for TAs and RAs at USC, said Craig Loftin, a graduate student in history.
The primary purpose of establishing a union, Loftin said, is to make the graduate student employee community an equal partner with the administration in order to have a certain amount of control of their workload and working conditions.
“When graduate students do not have a 50-50 partnership with the administra-
I see GPSS, page 9 I
Senate votes to approve election codes
Organization: Voting will take place during a three day period, rather than two, next semester
By MEREDITH COOPER
Student Senate Writer
Student Senate unanimously approved the 2000 Elections Code, the rule book for student elections, at Tuesday night’s meeting.
“We made some big changes, like the time for elections will be three days instead of two,” said Hema Patel, elections commissioner and a sophomore majoring in math and political science. “We really wanted to clarify the rules because there were a lot of problems last year.”
Presiding power will also be divided among five voting members of the elections committee, whereas last year, only the elections commissioner and the assistant director to the elections commissioner could make decisions regarding the election process.
“We also made a standard for expenses,” Patel said. “So if, for example, one of the candidates has access to free photocopies, there will be a standard of 2 cents or so per copy. This makes it so one candidate doesn’t spend more than another on campaigning.”
Senate must approve the elections code before elections occur so candidates can read and understand the rules, Patel said.
President, vice president constituencies
Senate approved an amendment at Tuesday night’s meeting making it necessary for candidates for president and vice president of Senate to run from the constituency they belong to on the first day of classes in the spring semester.
“This makes it consistent with what the constitution says about senators,” said Kimberlee Chu, director of Academic Affairs and a junior majoring in accounting. “We wanted to clarify what has been said regarding constituency.”
In the past, there was nothing in the constitution relating to the timing for which candidates must belong to the constituencies they hope to represent. The amendment clarifies that the candidate must run for the constituency he or she represents the first day of spring semester. There were 10-and-a-half votes for the amendment with two abstentions.
A candidate could be from a housing, commuter or Greek constituency. Anyone who does not live in uni-versity-owTied housing belongs to the commuter constituency while those who are in a Greek fraternity or sorority are part of the Greek constituency.
“Last year a lot of people didn’t think the rules were clearly defined,” Patel said. “We want this year’s to be the first election with integrity.”
Homosexuality not openly discussed on the Greek Row
DIVERSITY ON THE ROW Part 3 of 3
Part 3: How
gays and lesbians are perceived in the Greek system (Today)
Bias: Some students say gays and lesbians not discriminated against, others do not agree
By JEANNE KLEIN
Assistant City Editor
Because of fear and discomfort among some of its heterosexual majority, homosexuality is one of the least talked about issues on the Row, said students living both on and off 28th Street.
“There are gay, lesbian and bisexual people in every fraternity and sorority — without question,” said Erik Sanjuijo, co-chair of Lambda Grads, an organization for lesbian, gay and bisexual graduate and professional students. They follow a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy though, he added.
However, the majority of them have not “come out” because they fear they will be kicked out of their houses, said Aaron Akamu, diversity coordinator of the Office of Residential and Greek Life and adviser for Diversity Encouragement Council.
“I think it’s an issue the Row does not want to deal with,” Akamu said.
“Fraternities are tremendously homo-phobic and a lot don’t want to discuss it.” Some non-gays on the Row may be afraid to talk about the issue because they are afraid to be associated with homosexuality, said Edgar Navarro, president of DEC and a senior majoring in business.
Even if people are willing to discuss the issue, they are afraid they will be identified as being gay themselves, Sanjuijo said.
“It’s seen as a negative thing,” he said. Non-gays are also afraid of their house being stereotyped as a “gay house” even if only one or two members come out as being homosexual, Navarro said. Vice-
versa, he added, homosexuals do not want negative attention drawn to their houses.
“I think the Row is very heterosexist, and that plays into their homophobia,” Akamu said. For example formals and socials are organized for the purpose of men and women to interact, he said.
“But if that is what is valued, I don’t think a gay person bringing another gay person would be accepted,” Akamu said.
It is not necessarily that the fraternities and sororities are trying to single homosexuals out, Sanjuijo said — it is just everyday small homophobic phrases.
“You’d be a fool if you didn’t know I see Diversity, page 2 I