Top Prospect
Joey Metropoulos opted to play baseball at USC rather than work his way through the minor leagues / 20
S I N C E I 9	1	2
DM TROJAN
Student newspaper of fhe University of Southern California
TUESDAY
April 23, 2002
Of interest...
Webb Tower’s Rainbow Floor enjoys its first successful year as a home free of prejudice / 4
I 1	2	Roundup	13
Opinions	4	Lifestyle	7
The Buzz	7	Classifieds	16
Crossword	17	Sports	20
vol. CVL, no. 65
www.dailytrojan.com
Alumnus wins two coveted writing awards
Protests hit Abercrombie
Activism: Stores line of caricature clothing offends Asian-American students; others report indifference
By KENNETH BASIN
Staff Writer
A controversial line of Abercrombie & Fitch clothing bearing stereotypical slogans and images of Asian Americans has incited a public outcry from Asian American communities on college campuses across America.
Depicting caricatures with slant-
ed eyes and conical hats and taglines such as “Wong Brothers Laundry Service — Two Wongs Can Make It White,” the shirts have been met with protest by Asian American student organizations at schools from San Francisco to Boston, even after the retailer pulled the questionable line from stores.
The shirts, which were marketed toward Asian Americans, did not offend Courtney Komai, a freshman majoring in music. Komai said she might have bought a shirt if they had not been pulled from the stores.
Although she is not easily offended by any racially charged comments, especially in humor, Komai said the
shirts’ potentially offensive content is nothing compared to some things she has seen on television.
“'The Simpsons’ Mr. Sparkle episode or the ‘South Park’ Chinpokomon episode were worse than the shirts, and nobody seemed to care then,” Komai said.
These cartoon television programs depicted stereotypes of Japanese accents and culture.
Komai was not the only Asian American who was not offended by the Abercrombie & Fitch shirts. Fifteen of 20 informally polled USC students said they were not offended by the shirts’ content
I see Shirts, page 13 I
"Ofcourse, the immediate reaction was outrage. What was Abercrombie thinking?" —♦— BETHANY LI
Amherst College junior and organizer of nationwide protests
Faiths’ stances on war depend on interpretation
RELIGION & ETHICS ♦
By ELIZABETH BR0THERT0N
Religion & Ethics Writer
* lthough many religious doc-L\ trines set guidelines for justify-JL JLing war, students do not always use them to determine whether war is acceptable.
Rachelle Concepcion, a freshman majoring in biological sciences, said she feels her Christian faith is peaceful and cannot think of any scripture that justifies war.
Varun Dhir, however, feels the Bible does justify war in some way.
“There is a time to kill’ — that’s
what the Bible says," said Dhir, a freshman majoring in business administration. “War is good if it is against evil. Not just any war — those against evil.”
Often members of various religions are divided on the issue surrounding the conditions of peace versus war, said Laurie Brand, professor of international relations and an expert on Islam.
“People take texts and see in them what they want,” she said. “There is often conflict among people as to whether or not an action is justified.”
There is great debate within the Jewish community as to whether or not the Israeli troop movement into Palestine is justified, said Rabbi Jonathan Klein, director of the Hillel Jewish Center.
“What Jewish law says is not always what the Jewish community thinks,” Klein said. “There can be division, and right now, for example, there is a great deal of discussion going on.”
Like other religions, Judaism has guidelines specifying whether war is justified. There are two types of wars,
I see Religion, page 15 I
Profile: Los Angeles Times journalist and coworker win Pulitzer, Sigma Delta Chi prizes for series on California homelessness
By JACKSON DeMOS
Staff Writer
Raksin
lam extremely well aware
t
hardly solved the problem, so I felt a little bit guilty that we were getting this awardfor a problem that is still so apparent and is still so sad"
—♦— ALEX RAKSIN journalist Los Angeles Times
Winning the Pulitzer Prize is widely regarded as the top honor for a journalist Some say the Sigma Delta Chi award is a close second.
But USC alumnus Alex Raksin downplays the awards, even though he won both in the last two weeks.
Raksin and coworker Bob Sipchen won the Sigma Delta Chi award Monday, just 14 days after they received the Pulitzer, which a board of five newspaper editors awarded them earlier this month for best editorial writing.
The pair won both awards series they did together about the homeless situation in California for the Los Angeles Times.
Winning the Pulitzer Prize, the Sigma Delta Chi award — given by the Society of Professional Journalists — and other journalism awards feels good, but Raksin trusts daily pride in craft more than yearly awards, he said.
Even though Raksin has won numerous newspaper awards, including the National Headliner award for science reporting in 1999, he graduated from USC with a degree in broadcast journalism in 1984.
“I chose broadcast because of the belief that if you wanted to communicate with people, you had to communicate visually. I have since come to believe that I was too glib and too simplistic,” Raksin said, sitting back in a green patio chair in his shady backyard, adding that he has also done radio documentaries.
He even switched his major to cinema-television for a short time because he believed it was the medium of the future, he said. But he gravitated toward print journalism because he said he could better convey ideas through writing.
He said he admired USC professors, including Joe Saltzman, who teaches "The Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture” at the Annenberg School for Communication. Raksin still maintains ties to friends from USC, including journalism professor Jack Langguth.
“He was a very bright student,” said Langguth, who immediately called Raksin to congratulate him on his most recent award after he heard the news. “He was a student of mine and I like to think of him as a friend.”
Langguth said he had a feeling that Raksin’s series on homelessness would be extraordinary because Raksin felt so strongly about the issue.
“I thought it was just fantastic and well deserved,” Langguth said about the awards.
Raksin said he worked extremely hard on the series but also acknowledged that the homeless issue is unresolved.
“I am extremely well aware that we have hardly solved the problem, so I felt a little bit guilty that we were getting this award for a problem that is still so apparent and is still so sad,” Raksin said.
The best parts of winning the Pulitzer were the Times’ celebration party and old friends who e-mailed to congratulate him. His 3-year-old son, Tobias, went to the celebration dressed as Batman.
Annenberg students said they were impressed and pleased that an alumnus won prestigious journalism awards, especially the Pulitzer.
“It reinforces the reasons why I’m here,” said Carisha
I see Raksin, page 15 I
Loosen up
Crystal Lauderdale I Daily Trojan
Stress case. Anna Cook, a senior majoring in theatre, relaxes at the fingertips of Kathy Winter, a massage therapist brought to campus Monday by the Greek Student Assembly, as part of Greek Week in Associates Park.