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Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912
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Trojans’ defense has USCfans enjoying a different kind of win. 16
September 25, 2006	Vol. CLIX, No. 24
School creates student online portfolios
The program allows recruiters to view students’ resumes, bios and course listings online.
By LAURA SIMURDA
Staff Writer
When the USC career fair arrives, students often face the daunting dilemma of deciding how to divide their time among recruiters for various companies. USC’s Information Technology Program might have found the solution to this task; an online portfolio that allows recruiters to view the resumes, bios, course lists and old projects of ITP students.
Last week, students in ITP minor or certificate programs began creating portfolios after the school sent out an e-mail notification that the program was ready for use.
By Sunday, several portfolios had been created. Yet today was the first day the portfolios were linked to the main ITP Web site, allowing the general public to view them.
The project is, right now, restricted to a
tiny group so that glitches in the programming can be fixed quickly.
“It always helps to have a small trial period with a smaller subset of students to see are there any bugs, what the experience is,” said Ashish Soni, program director at ITP.
It also allows ITP the chance to “fix it and tweak it before we expand it to more students,” Soni said.	>
Although the portfolios are only available to ITP students this fall, they might be more widely available in future years.
“Eventually we might expand it to the Viterbi School, but we don’t know where from there,” Soni said.
To create a portfolio, students simply enter their USC e-mail username and password and input the relevant information.
The system automatically places the ITP courses a student has taken and his or her major in the portfolio. Students can then upload a picture, projects and a resume, among other things. They can also fill in a biography explaining their background and aspirations as well as their contact information.
Although other universities such as Penn State University have similar programs, USC students benefit from ITP’s improved, user-friendly version.
“It’s all really straightforward," said Bradford Chang, a senior majoring in computer science who helped create the online portfolios.
It only took about 30 minutes to create the entire profile and set up all the different aspects, said Justin Lin, a senior majoring in cinema-television production.
Another aspect of the Web site allows students to associate up to 10 short phrases or “tags” with their portfolio to describe their qualities and interests. The tags are usually one or two words and can describe anything from the computer programs with which a student is fluent to the areas in which they would prefer to work.
When recruiters come to the Web site they simply input the specific requirements they are looking for into the search area, and those students who have associated tags or courses ! see Portfolio*, page 3 I
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DNA tests link baby to Ashcraft
Nicholas Hernandez I Daily Trojan
Unified. Panel speakers discuss how police officials are using more faith-based organizations to assist in lowering violence and racial tensions between blacks and Hispanics in Los Angeles. The fourth annual African American-Latino Summit was held Saturday.
Stopping violence through faith
City leaders meet at African American-Latino ■ Summit to stop violence.
By NANCY RODRIGUEZ CASANOVA
Staff Writer
Regulating crime and drugs in Los Angeles has tapped into a higher level of authority: religion.
These days, police officials are no longer turning to each other for help. Instead they are turning to faith-based
organizations to assist in overcoming one of Los Angeles’ most prominent issues — racial tensions between blacks and Hispanics.
With more than 500 people in attendance, the fourth annual African American-Latino Summit, held at USC’s Town & Gown, included police officers, community members, religious leaders and political leaders who came together to help bring peace to the streets of Los Angeles.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Leroy Baca, along with the sheriffs Multi-
Faith Clergy Council, drew in people from the black and Hispanic communities to discuss ways they can make the streets of Los Angeles safer.
“If we can’t get along — the , two great minority communities of Hispanics and African Americans — then the example and the opportunities to be part of a positive movement will be lost to us,” Baca said. “We cannot let our youthful children, gangs or otherwise, dictate the tone of our reputation. We will not let it happen
I see Summit, page 3 I
More than 500 people attended the fourth annual African American-Latino Summit at USC’s Town & Gown, an event aimed at stopping violence in Los Angeles.
Investigators testify Friday in case against student accused of murdering her baby.
By JOSHUA SHARP
Staff Writer
At the conclusion of the first day of the preliminary hearing in the Holly Ashcraft murder case, prosecuting Deputy District Attorney Franco A. Barrata revealed a DNA match between the suspended USC stduent and the deceased baby boy found in a dumpster behind the 29th St. Cafe in October.
Based on the DNA comparison, the probability that Ashcraft is the mother is 99.93 percent, Barrata said.
Testimony Friday also yielded details about the investigation’s roots never before made public.
The hearing continues today in the Los Angeles County Superior Courthouse since the coroner was unable to testify Friday.
Witnesses called to speak Friday included Michael Walker, the man who first found the deceased baby in the dumpster, the coroner’s investigator and two Los Angeles investigators assigned to the Ashcraft case, detectives Moses Castillo and Rose Gaeta.
Walker testified he was “recycling,” describing how he searches for cans and bottles in dumpsters in the USC area. He said he had looked through a dumpster behind the 29th Street Cafe around 8:30 or 9:00 p.m. on Oct 9, 2005, then returned around midnight Oct 10.
“I seen a box that wasn’t there earlier,” Walker said.
Inside, he found a navy blue towel wrapped around what he initially thought was an animal. As he cleaned off the infant’s face with his hands, Walker realized he had found a human and yelled out at a female friend.
“I told her, “There’s a dead baby in there,”’ Walker testified.
The next witness, Denise Bertone, was the coroner’s investigator who responded to the scene the morning of Oct 10.
Bertone said she found the child covered in blood and birth discharge. About 10 inches of a three-vessel umbilical cord with a clean cut were still attached, she said.
“If there was a two vessel cord, then we would be concerned about birth defects,” she said.
Livor mortis, an accumulation of blood following death, was present throughout the body, but no liver temperature or outside ambience temperature was taken because such a test is not in the protocol for infants, Bertone said.
Detective Moses Castillo testified that envelopes found inside the box with the dead infant were addressed to Holly Ashcraft.
He also said a fellow detective overheard her name and remembered a similar incident in 2004 involving Ashcraft.
They found her apartment above the cafe, not far from the dumpster where the baby was found.
Two officials from Student Affairs accompanied
I see Ashcraft, page 3 I
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