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http://www.usc.edu/dt	VoL cxxxviii, no. 30
dtrojan@usc.edu
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From the ground up. Since its construction 71 years ago, the outside of the Student Union building has remained largely unchanged.
Events for Coming Out Week to be more inclusive
Programming: Activities to continue in the next days, all students are encouraged to attend
By ARGHAVAN SALLES
Staff Writer
Organizers of Coming Out Week are focusing this year’s events on reaching more students in both the gay and straight communities.
“USC is known for ethnic, religious
and racial diversity,” said Simon Howard, the women’s programming chair for Gay, Lesbian, Bi Assembly — which is sponsoring the event — and a sophomore majoring in philosophy. “We want to raise appreciation for sexual diversity as well.”
Coming Out Week centers around National Coming Out Day — Oct. 11 — and began Thursday with a Breakdown Party designed to eliminate barriers among different groups of people. GLBA held a rally at Tommy Trojan at noon Monday and Wilson Cruz, best known as Ricky on My So-Called Life, spoke at Bovard Auditorium later in the evening.
“I think we’re tiying to gear the events more toward everyone,” said Scott Ward, executive assistant of GLBA and a sophomore majoring in electrical engineering.
Cruz spoke tc more than 70 students of his experiences as a gay man and hoped to inspire others to be confident in their sexuality.
“My experiences are a testament to the fact that y7ou can be out and be happy without having that be a hindrance,” he said before his speech.
Cruz said he believes events such as National Coming Out Day are tremendously helpful in making people aware
of homosexuality.
“I think this generation and the one that follows are going to be very' powerful,” he said.
The rest of the week’s programs include a Comedy Show at 7 p.m. Wednesday in GFS, Room 101, a Gay Games Discussion at noon Thu'-sday in Leavey Library and the AIDS Walk at 8:30 a.m. Sunday at Paramount Pictures.
The focus of the events is “to raise consciousness for gay and straight people,” Ward said. While National Coming Out Day was initiated by the Human Rights Campaign in 1987, events raising
I see NCOW, page 14 I
"We want to raise appreciation for sexual diversity well. ”
Simon
Howard
sophomore
philosophy
Azad Jafarian I Daily Trojan
State of the Union
The hub of student life on campus has seen more than the passage of 70 years of history
By ELISSA K. KONOVE
Staff Writer
esigned as the center of student activities and established to serve the varied needs of the university, the Student Union, when dedicated in 1928, was described as a “model of college student unions for the nation.” Seventy-one years later, university students, administrators, faculty and staff have formed a committee to guide plans to renovate the Student Union and adjacent buildings in a multi million-dol-lar project to create a new campus center better designed to accommodate the changing needs of the USC community.
Although the Student Union has undergone several renovations since it was first constructed and will continue to be altered by the currently proposed project, the history of the original structure
and its purpose endures.
The concept of the Student Union was developed by several members of the classes of 1926 and 1927 and was promoted in the student body through columns in the Daily Trojan. Located on
>>< The building continues
Plans for a new campus center are under way. See page 11.
the southwest corner of what was University Avenue and 36th Street, the Student Union was built and furnished for approximately $400,000. The project was funded by gifts from individual donors, profits from football and savings from the extremely modest faculty salaries at the time.
Following its completion, the Student Union housed student organizations and
I see Union, page 14 I
Weather
feit* High: 80 Low: 61
Before the Union. The
property where the Student Union is located, shown here in 1924, was donated to the university.
File Photo
High rollers. Some of the building’s contributors at its dedication ceremony in 1928.
Don’t ‘Run’: The ACME comedy players are hilarious in their new sketch comedy along the lines of Saturday Night Live.	y
----------------------------------------------------------DIVERSIONS ■
Tale of two defenses: While Arizona’s Desert Swarm was in full effect, USC couldn’t get a break.
----------------------------------------------------------SPORTS
Religion and Ethics	2
Off the Wire	2
Calendar	2
Conduct Corner	13
Classifieds	16
Crossword Puzzle	17
Tomorrow
Patchy morning clouds near the coast, but otherwise sunny