Danger On The Field
Three recent fatalities in pole vaulting have prompted a push for increased safety standards for the sport / 20
DM TROJAN
Student newspaper of the University of Southern California
TUESDAY
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April 16, 2002
Of interest...
WWF superstar The Rock gets cooking on the big screen in "The Scorpion King” / 7
News Digest	2	Roundup	3
Opinions	4	Lifestyle	7
The Buzz	7	Classifieds	16
Crossword	17	Sports	20
vol. CVL, no. 60 www.dailytrojan.com
Muslims, Jews call for belter coverage
Local council adds student voice
Project: Class assignment prompts student leaders to get involved in community
By SUSHMA SUBRAMANIAN
Staff Writer
Regardless of the opposition they experienced from the neighboring community, students convinced the North Area Neighborhood Development Council that a USC representative is needed to address student issues.
“The community has a love-hate relationship with USC," said Frank Acevedo, a senior majoring in political science, who is sitting on the council. “They love us because we create jobs but hate us because we take up their housing. In case they accuse us of something like overrunning housing or causing rent increases, we can protect student increases. Students don’t change the rent Landlords do.”
When former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan came into office, be signed a new city charter that allowed neighborhood councils to
empower smaller communities within the city. The neighborhood councils’ role was to advise city offices and the city council on issues that concern particular neighborhoods.
The neighborhood council deals with a wide range of issues including housing, traffic, pollution and noise.
“The neighborhood council serves as the eyes and ears for the city,” Acevedo said.
But the student positions on the council were difficult to achieve, Acevedo said. The neighborhood I see Council, page 14 I
Shadows of greatness
-The community has a love-hate relationship with USC"
FRANK
ACEVEDO
senior
political
science
Mason Poole I Daily Trojan
Music to their ears. Jazz legend Sonny Rollins performs Monday night in front a packed Bovard Auditorium as the opening act of "L.A. Jazz 2002.” The festival will continue with several on-campus performances throughout the week.
Campus housing problematic for foreign graduates
Survey: Respondents’ concerns include local living problems but say university could help to resolve issues
Cited
Concerns
Key problems named by survey respondents:
Housing
Registration
Establishing
credit
By STEVEN JONES
Staff Writer
His first year at USC, Mark Todd rode a bicycle 8 1/2 miles each day to and from classes, because he could not find an apartment closer to campus.
Todd had a difficult transition coming to USC from Ireland, and his inability to find housing made the change even harder. He is like many international students, whose biggest problem at USC is finding housing, according to a survey the International Scholars Committee recently conducted.
Sixty-five percent of survey respondents reported severe concerns with USC Housing Services. Other main areas of concern included registration, listed by 40 percent of respondents, and establishing credit, listed by approximately 35 percent
About two-thirds of USC’s international students are graduate students, said Laurie Cox, assistant director of the Office of International Services.
Graduate students’ housing problems are partly because of the fact that all graduate students are last on the housing priority list after freshmen, continuing students and transfer students, she added.
Graduate students in general believe that there is not an adequate amount of housing space allotted for them, said Jeff Urdahl, director of Housing Administration. However, housing services have set aside close to 50 percent of the space for graduate students in the new International Residential College at Parkside for the fall, he said.
The housing department recently completed the new International Residential College at Parkside, showing its commitment to providing more housing, Urdahl said.
“I am in agreement that there isn’t enough housing for all students,” he said.
Some questions on the survey are vague and can be misconstrued, Urdahl said. For instance, the eighth ques-
I see Survey, page 14 I
Event: Media present bias in news of Palestinian-Israeli conflict, not showing deaths from both sides
By KRISTEN BABIRACKI
Contributing Writer
The only thing worse than people killing each other in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is the U.S. “media genocide," said Ahmed Shama, a fundraiser for the Islamic Relief.
U.S. journalists are not reporting the facts on both sides of the conflict, Shama said.
When eight Israeli civilians were killed in a suicide bombing the same day that 200 Palestinians were killed in a massacre in Jenin, the eight I see Event, page 14 I
Speech: Palestinian leader Arafat unfairly refused several peace and land offers, former Israeli media official says
Palestinian Authority as “the terrorist,” Olmert, brother of the mayor of Jerusalem, defined the situation in Israel as a state of war.
Recalling Yom Hazikaron, the Hebrew day of remembrance for the veterans of all of Israel’s wars, Olmert used population ratios to equate the 127 Israelis killed during March to 8,000 American lives.
The 22,000 Israelis killed in defense of Israel is equal to 1 million Americans, Olmert said. The blame for this bloodshed sits squarely with the Palestinian Authority, he added.
“(The Palestinians) were offered peace, they were offered land, they were offered Jerusalem — which was I see Speech, page 14 I
By KENNETH BASIN
Staff Writer
Mason Poole I Daily Trojan
International learning. Amy El-Akabawi, a worker for Islamic Relief, watches a film on Palestinian life Monday at Taper Hall of Humanities.
Yossi Olmert, former press secretary and head of Israel's press office, labeled Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority as terrorists Monday night calling the Palestinian leader “Israel’s Bin Laden.”
Olmert’s speech was hosted by Caravan for Democracy, a nation^ program that sponsors events on college campuses to discuss the challenges facing Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East About 60 people attended the event at Davidson Conference Center, more than half of which were not USC students.
Referring to the chairman of the