Athletes At a Loss?
They get their education, housing and most expenses paid, but athletes must abide by strict NCAA rules / 20
DM TROJM
Student newspaper of the University of Southern California
THURSDAY
------♦------
November 14, 2002
Of interest...
United States should let mistake of North Korea prove as good reason for attack on Iraq / 4
News Digest	2	Roundup	2
Opinions	4	Lifestyle	7
Horoscopes	7	Classifieds	12
Crossword	13	Sports	16
vol. CXLVII, no. 56 www.dailytrojan.com
Gaming action hits bookstore
Merchandise: The USC Computer Store is now selling some video game titles for Sony PlayStation 2, Microsoft Xbox
Professor argues in Supreme Court
Law: Erwin Chemerinsky, on
By ADAM EARNHART
Contributing Writer
Pertusati University Bookstore: one-stop shopping for textbooks, office supplies, school-related apparel — and now, video games.
Students no longer need to leave campus to pick up the newest releases for Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation 2. The USC Computer Store, located on the third level of the bookstore, now has a small selection of titles available for the two systems,
along with system hardware, extra controllers and other accessories.
“The opportunity arose,” said Sarah Fuhrmeister, buyer for the store. “It was a product we've had a lot of interest in.”
The bookstore received repeated inquiries from customers in the past about video games, she said.
Fuhrmeister said the store could not previously carry games because
college computer stores generally only carry merchandise that falls under academic or educational discounts to be competitive with other retailers. For obvious reasons, this does not apply to video games.
“Because of that, the manufacturers haven’t had previous interest in making them available for smaller campus retailers,” Fuhrmeister said.
I	see Game*, page 111
leave from USC, is assisting
YOUR
MONEY
♦
By MERRILL BALASSONE
Contributing Writer
There is a new place to find recent box-office hits that is closer than the nearest Blockbuster.
Movielink, a new online movie rental service that allows users to download films through a highspeed Internet connection, was launched Monday.
The site, which can be accessed
at http://www.movielink.com, will do a “soft launch’’ for the first three months, providing access to a limited number of customers to gather feedback and tailor service to users, a Movielink spokesman said.
Five major movie studios provide the films: Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Warner Bros., which release films to Movielink around the same time they are
offered on pay-per-view channels.
Movielink offers movies for $1.99 to $4.99, and it takes about an hour to download on high-speed DSL or cable modem connection.
The downloaded films are valid for 30 days, and customers will have up to 24 hours to view the film once it is started. Users can fast forward, rewind or stop videos at any time.
Users can search through the
I see Movies, page 11 I
"You could watch a movie in class, dare I say"
JIM RAMO
chief executive office ■ Movielink
city schools that are going into medicine,” Davis said.
“We used their interest in health care as an incentive to encourage students to work hard," he said.
Davis added that Med-COR was originally associated with the Keck School of Medicines Office of Minority Affairs.
Althea Alexander, the office’s assistant dean, who worked with Davis at the time, said the two groups split because “someone need-I see Med-COR page 111
Program
develops
future
doctors
Outreach: USC’s Med-COR gives LAUSD students a head start in health care
By HEIDI HARDT
Contributing Writer
For three hours every Saturday, Jisela Acevedo took part in a USC tutoring program from eighth to 12th grade that emphasized math, science and English and catered to students in the Los Angeles Unified School District who are interested in health care, Acevedo said.
The Medical Counseling, Organizing and Recruitment Program, known as Med-COR, places students in small groups of about 15 people and offers tutoring by primarily undergraduate students, according to the Civic and Community Relations Web site.
Acevedo, now a junior at California State University, Northridge and a psychology and child development major, said Med-COR helped her most by gearing her up for college.
“My family is first-generation in the U.S., so I was the first to go to college," she said. “As an inner-city kid, 1 didn’t know what to do. My parents didn’t know what to do. Being in Med-COR gave me the advantage of learning how to fill out college applications, fee-waivers and perform well on the SAT.”
Thirty-one years ago, Med-COR program director John Davis started the outreach program to “increase the number of students from inner-
New site lets cinephiles cut up video rental cards
defense in three-strikes case By KEVIN MERICKEL
Contributing Writer
USC professor of law Erwin Chemerinsky argued his stance on the California three-strikes law in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 5.
Leandro Andrade’s case is under constitutional review in the court for civil rights violations.
The man is serving two consecutive 25-years-to-life terms in prison for a third-strike violation for stealing $153 worth of children’s videocassettes in Ontario, Calif.- and Montclair, Calif.-area Kmart stores on two separate occasions.
Chemerinsky is representing the constitutional violations in the Andrade case.
Andrade stole the Disney classics “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and "Cinderella,” among other titles.
In 1983, Andrade, 37, was convicted of three burglaries, all felonies under California statutes, which invoked the three-strikes law for stealing.
California is the only state in the country with a three-strikes law that imposes a life sentence for misdemeanor crimes deemed as felonies by the prosecution, Chemerinsky said.
Twenty-six other states have three-strikes laws, but their statutes require a felony conviction for a third strike sentence, he said.
Andrade also had a drug possession charge on his record.
Chemerinsky, a law professor at USC since 1983, was appointed by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to represent Andrade.
The California three-strikes law is “cruel and unusual punishment as stated in the Eighth Amendment,” I see Law, page 11 I
Cultural cuisine
Food
festivities.
Engin Volkan, a graduate student in economics and a member of the Turkish Students Association, prepares a traditional Turkish dish for students to try as part of the
International Food and Culture Fair, hosted by the International Students’ Assembly.
Abran Rubmer I Daily Trojan