Musical Synergy
Thornton Symphony and Los Angeles Philharmonic combine forces to make student works come alive / 7
INCH 1912
DM TROJAN
Student newspaper of the University of Southern California
WEDNESDAY
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September 25, 2002
Of interest...
Taking away prisoners’ porn not only hinders rights but will also worsen their behavior / 4
News Digest	2	Calendar	2
Opinions	4	Lifestyle	7
The Buzz	7	Classifieds	12
Crossword	13	Sports	16
vol. CXLVII, no. 21 www.dailytrojan.com
Workers faying for assistance
Employment Staff at EVK, Cafe ’84 say they are being overworked, while officials respond with more hires
By PAUL HARTSOCK
Contributing Writer
Claiming that their workplaces are understaffed and personnel are being given inordinate amounts of worlt employees at Cafe '84 and EVK recently held a meeting to voice their concerns to USC Human Resources.
While Human Resources officials said a series of new hires would relieve the problem, workers maintained that not enough help was being sent
Cafe ’84 and EVK workers, together with Paul Engler, a representative from the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union, expressed several concerns to Human Resources staff, including what they said was underemployment at the cafeterias, leading to overworked employees, unfinished service tasks and problems training
new workers.
“We’re understaffed," said Miguel Garcia, a worker at EVK for 13 years. “We’re doing more than we're supposed to do. (1 end up doing) my job and somebody else’s job ... I know we have to work hard — it’s a university
—	but it’s only one thing we can do, not a lot of things. We’re not asking for a hundred workers; we just need the right amount of people.”
Three weeks ago, Engler and several cafeteria workers met with Dawn Mugavero, director of Human Resources, to discuss their concerns.
“Employees called me because they felt pressure, and they said this is a horrible problem,” Engler said.
Last week, USC hired four new workers for the cafeterias, one of whom quit shortly after beginning work. Still, Engler saw the move as a partial success.
“It has gotten a lot better,” he said. “They hired a hell of a lot of people, and part of that was because we put them under some pressure to do so.” Mugavero, however, denied that the meeting caused human relations to hire the new personnel, claiming I see Staff, page 11 I
Sonja Beck I Daily Trojan
Keeping cool. Graduate students in computer science Havi Gandhi and Aman Kaboor fill a refrigerator with slices of cake at EVK.
Advisory committee adds voice of students
Board: Representatives to handle concerns about personal, campus safely
By JULIE KUO
Contributing Writer
Undergraduates and graduates will be forming a Department of Public Safety Advisory Committee along with Career and Protective Services for the student body to have a voice about campus and personal safety.
On the student board there will be seven representatives — five undergraduates from university housing, nonuniversity housing and I see Committee, page 13 I
Bipolar disorder difficult enough to handle without college stresses
By SCOTT MARTINDALE
Staff Writer
Coping with the extreme highs and lows of bipolar disorder is difficult for everyone who suffers from the mental illness, but bipolar students face a particular challenge — dealing with the pressures of college life at the same time.
College stress, both academic and personal, tends to trigger and exacerbate mental diseases such as bipolar disorder, said Bradford King, director of Student Counseling Services.
“It’s more competitive at USC than it was 10 years ago," said King, who has worked at USC since 1985. “The undergraduate school in the last five years has really improved,
HEALTH & MEDICINE
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and that’s good, but it does bring with it pressures on people."
Thirteen students were diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the Student Counseling Center last year, and 20 were referred to outside psychiatrists because the disease was suspected, King said.
Bipolar disorder leads to an irregular cycle of extremely high and low moods, known as manic and
depressive phases, respectively.
Nationally, more people are being diagnosed with bipolar disorder than ever before, and at least 2 million Americans cope with the genetically linked disease, according to the National Mental Health Association.
The increase in the number of bipolar cases in recent years is likely attributed to more accuracy in making the diagnoses, said Dr. Sidney Russak, director of the division of child and adolescent psychiatry and residency training director of child and adolescent psychiatry at Los Angles County-USC Medical Center.
“Clinicians are now more alert and aware and therefore more attuned to identifying bipolar disor-I see Bipolar, page 11 I
Commons selection expands to meet requests
Food: Top demands include health and ethnic options; eateries also adding choices
By KARA MCLEAN KENNA
Contributing Writer
Student suggestions have promoted a healthy renovation of the food selection at Main Street in Commons, as well as several new additions to the menus of Betty Crocker and Wolfgang Puck’s California Pizza.
Donald Ranasinghe, director of Retail Services, said the new items, which include many vegetarian and
ethnic options, were added based on requests from student surveys taken on the Hospitality Services Web site in the spring.
"Students said they wanted more healthy snack options," Ranasinghe said.
Items such as tofu salad, hummus, soy products and frozen vegetarian meals were all added to the refrigerators. Fresh fruits, salad and vegetable plates now stock the aisles.
Other surveys commented on the availability of Asian and other ethnic foods and requested more of a variety. Ranasinghe said Hospitality Services has attempted to meet the demand by
"providing a little bit of everything.” Jenelle Sheridan, a freshman majoring in-business administration, said she enjoyed the healthy selection. She said she was especially pleased with the salads and produce.
The new items are so popular among students that Hospitality Services is finding it hard to keep the aisles stocked by the weekend, Ranasinghe said. Commons is experiencing limited food storage space and is hoping to add more delivery dates to meet the demand.
The only item requested on surveys that has not been widely, pur-I see Food, page 13 l
Ray of light
Beaming. The tower in the middle of von Kleinsmid Center acts as a stream of light behind students studying in the building’s courtyard.