Creating Urban Art
USC faculty member and famous hip-hop poster artist Justin Bua talks about his distorted urban realism / 7
SINCE 1912
DM TROJAN
Student newspaper of the University of Southern California
WEDNESDAY
September 18, 2002
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If Saddam Hussein withdraws promise to let U.N. inspectors in, Bush should strike / 4
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vol. CXLVII, no. 16 www.dailytrojan.com
Single-car crash kills student
HEALTH & MEDICINE
Volunteer staff of JEP need TB shots
By SCOn MARTINDALE
Staff Writer
For the first time in years, the Joint Educational Project is requiring a tuberculosis screening test for all student participants, a move that will bring the program into compliance with state laws in effect since the iate 1970s.
California’s Health and Safety Code mandates that all long-term public school volunteers show proof that they are free of communicable tuberculosis.
JEP students who have not received a TB test within the past year will be required to take the test before beginning their volunteer work, and returning JEP participants will be required to have the test once a year, said Tammara Anderson, director of JEP.
State law is less stringent, requiring volunteers to take the test every four years. This law applies to all public school employees and long-term volunteers.
The push to require the TB test for JEP participants came from the 30-year-old program’s partner schools, including USC’s Family of Five Schools.
“More and more, they were asking us to do this,” Anderson said.
The challenge was to find a way to efficiently administer TB tests to all JEP volunteers — about 1,100
I see Tuberculosis, page 3 I
Accident Freshman from South Pasadena, returning from Las Vegas convention, probably was not wearing seatbelt
By PAUL HARTSOCK
Contributing Writer
Sina Massoumi, 18, an undeclared freshman from South Pasadena, died Sunday afternoon in a single-car accident after the vehicle in which he was a passenger rolled over and ejected him, officials of the Barstow California Highway Patrol said.
Massoumi was returning to Los
Angeles from Las Vegas, where he was attending a convention relating to his job with Cutco Cutlery Corp., said Lora Julian, area director of North Residential Colleges, and Jane Truong, Massoumis resident adviser, Barstow CHP officers said they received calls at 4:23 p.m. to respond to an accident on Interstate 15 near Nipton Road, about 10 miles south of the Nevada state line. CHP officials
said five people were in the car; however, they do not know whether the others were USC students.
A preliminary investigation showed that the four others were likely wearing seatbelts and received “minor to moderate injuries,” CHP officials said.
They do not believe Massoumi was wearing a seatbelt.
Massoumi was flown to University Hospital in Las Vegas, where he later died.
The accident was probably sleep or fatigue related, CHP Officer Curtis
Higgins said.
“There does not Appear to be alcohol involved,” he said. But he said the case is still under investigation.
Monday night, students and staff gathered outside Birnkrant Residence Hall, where Massoumi lived, for a candlelight vigil. About 50 people attended, including friends, resident adviser staff and faculty master Tim Gustafson.
Students who	lived	on
Massoumis floor remembered him as a down-to-earth, charismatic I see Obituary, page 3 I
Biology revamps curriculum for update
Academics: Those majoring in sciences are unprepared for future, researchers say
By HEIDI HARDT
Contributing Writer
They are the doctors, environmentalists and biologists of tomorrow, but biology students today must struggle to make those dreams reality.
“Undergraduate biology majors are not adequately prepared for their fields after graduation,” according to a survey released by the National Academies’ National Research Council.
The USC biology department hopes to prove otherwise as the result of a recent overhaul in the undergraduate curriculum that affects incoming freshmen.
The Bio Curriculum Task Force, composed of two professors from each division and two administrators, organized the changes to the core requirements, said Jeff Tennis, biological sciences undergraduate program coordinator Both Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts students now have one less core elective requirement, and Bachelor of Science students have one additional upper-divi-I see Biology, page 3 I
Sonja Beck I Daily Trojan
Glassy view. Gisela Kim, a freshman majoring in biology, and Vidya Murthy, a freshman majoring in biochemistry, peer carefully through microscopes during a laboratory session.
Campus groups help battle sexual assault
Prevention: Health experts, peer educators and 24-hour, on-call counselors available to students regarding safety
By ANNIE MUSKE-DUKES
Contributing Writer
For freshmen, the first weeks of college are full of new opportunities. New students view this time as their first taste of freedom. Now that those students don’t have to answer to their parents, they are free to go where they want, when they want and with whomever they want
The problem is that many students are not capable of taking on this responsibility. Students must realize that limits need to be set and
that precautions need to be taken.
One of the greatest dangers facing new students is that of sexual assault Rapes are most likely to occur in the first few weeks of school, between orientation and Thanksgiving, said Stacey Selevan, director of the Center for Men and Women.
All colleges in California are mandated by the state to offer educational programming for students. USC’s Center for Women and Men sponsors Fair Game, a peer-educator program usually consisting of 12 to 20 student volunteers. These volun-
teers give sexual assault prevention presentations during orientation and in each of the residence halls during the first few weeks of school.
A service available to members of the Greek system is Greeks Promoting Responsible Relationships. Every sorority house has at least one or two liaisons from this organization.
The presidents of the houses are also aware of what occurs on the Row and have Department of Public Safety officers updating them on incidents once every two weeks. In addition to this, houses often have supplemental systems to keep their members safe, sorority members said.
Alpha Delta Pi has a number of I see Prevention, page 3 I
Programs
Prevent
Initiatives such as Fair Game, sponsored by the Center for Women and Men, and Greeks Promoting Responsible Relationships are services USC offers for safety
Senate cabinet adds 4; elections code settled
Meeting: Also selects speaker pro tempore, continuing work toward new constitution
By ROBB FERRIS
Staff Writer
Student Senate confirmed four members to its cabinet, approved an amended special elections code and allocated ftmds to purchase six computers, as Senate members continued to develop a new Senate constitution.
After tabling the issue for a week because of constitutional concerns, Residential Senator Jenny Allen was elect-, ed and confirmed to the position of speaker pro tempore.
The speaker carries out the responsibilities of the vice president and runs the Senate meetings in the event that the vice president is absent Allen decided to take the
I	see Senate, page 111