ONLINE EXCLUSIVE The GLAAD Media Awards brought together celebrities of many different lifestyles.
Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | VOL. 163, NO. 64 | www.dailytrojan.com MONDAY , april 28, 2008
MAD WORLD
Chuck Palahniuk dives into the underground world
of the porn industry in his latest fiction
novel, “Snuff,” to be released in May. 7
Completed Revenge
Women’s water polo beat Arizona State, 12-6,
Friday and Stanford, 5-4, Saturday
to move into the MPSF final. 16
By KATE MA T HER
Daily Trojan
Weeks after Howard Gillman,
dean of the College of Letters, Arts
& Sciences, announced the uni-versity’s
decision to eliminate the
German major and minor program
next semester, national organiza-tions
are expressing their disap-proval
of the action.
Glenn Levine, vice president and
German section head of the Ameri-can
Association of University Su-pervisors
and Coordinators, faxed
a letter dated April 15 to Gillman
in order to “express [his] alarm
and dismay at learning that USC
decided to close the German de-partment.”
“I vehemently disagree with the
actions and the method of imple-menting
the action — by doing
so apparently unilaterally without
any consultation of the faculty dis-turbed
me personally very much, as
well as the AAUSC,” Levine said.
“Immediately there was a response
among the membership of the en-tire
organization across the coun-try
that we needed to respond to
this in some way.”
AAUSC, the professional or-ganization
of language program
directors in the United States, was
not the only national organization
to send letters of disapproval to
USC.
The Modern Language Associa-tion
and the Association of Depart-ments
of Foreign Languages were
two of several organizations that
also sent letters, Levine said.
“There’s just been a firestorm
of e-mail and forms and discus-sion
going on about this because,
in some ways it’s unprecedented,”
Levine said. “It’s not that language
departments have not closed down
in the past, but generally when they
close down, they have either been
folded into other departments or
it’s been largely a faculty governance
decision — the unilateral nature of
this really shocked the professional
community.”
Gillman referred media ques-tions
to Executive Vice Dean of
the College Michael Quick, who
said he had not seen the letter from
Glenn Levine, but that he had read
others about the cancellation of the
program.
“Personally, I am very pleased
that we have had the opportunity
to open up this issue for discus-sion,”
Quick wrote in an e-mail. “I
appreciate all the thoughtful com-ments
and constructive criticism.
The passionate exchange of views
is part of what makes a great insti-tution
great. And I look forward to
further discussion.”
Quick wrote that the national
attention given to the university’s
decision was expected.
“I would have been very disap-pointed
had this decision been met
with apathy,” he wrote.
In an April 11 Inside Higher
Ed article, Gillman cited a “much
broader perspective in the world,”
as an environment that required
Cancellation of department
contradicts foreign language
recommendations.
German cut faces
national criticism
Dean will digitize
libraries with new plan
By DOMINIQUE FONG
Daily Trojan
The dean of USC Libraries an-nounced
a strategic plan that will
upgrade all collections, technology
and customer service to be more dig-itized
and unified in order to match
other university libraries’ quality.
Catherine Quinlan, dean of USC
Libraries, said there is a need to pro-vide
a unified, interdisciplinary sys-tem
for the university. Most libraries
are updated every three to four years,
but USC’s system has not been
changed in 14 years, Quinlan said.
“Certain libraries have lost focus.
We will put collections in libraries
that are focused in an area,” Quinlan
said.
The $40-million budget for the
Essential Library plan will provide
more books and resources, more col-laborative
learning areas, an overhaul
of the outdated HOMER website
and training of library staff for better
customer service, Quinlan said.
All libraries, except for the Asa
V. Call law library, will be changed
to meet the plan’s vision, and spe-cial
focus will be given to five main
libraries: Doheny Memorial Library,
Leavey Library, Grand Avenue Li-brary,
the Von KleinSmid Center Li-brary
and the Science & Engineering
Library.
The plan will also electronically
update all collections and streamline
navigation through HOMER.
Students and professors said they
have experienced many difficulties
with missing links in the HOMER
system, which is also difficult to use
because of its decentralized format.
Sky Patterson, a freshman major-
The university’s $40-million
Essential Library plan will
overhaul outdated system.
| see German, page 2 |
By MARY SOL VALLE
Daily Trojan
A new law in Australia will
soon ban tanning beds and plastic
surgery to teens under 18, a move
USC experts say will have little to
no impact on the cosmetic surgi-cal
field.
“The magic number 18 is mean-ingless.
It’s how mature a person
is and what their motivation is,”
said Dr. Garry S. Brody, a plastic
surgeon in the USC Keck School
of Medicine.
Australian law will have
little effect on American
consumers, experts say.
Law restricts
ages for some
cosmetic
procedures
| see Surgery, page 10 |
Historic landmark
The Gamble House, shown here
after completion of a 2004 con-servation
project, is a historic
landmark that is owned by the
City of Pasadena and managed by
the USC School of Architecture.
Photo courtesy of Alex Vertikoff
The house turns 100 this year.
Kendrick Wong | Daily Trojan
Old School | A USC student takes notes by hand and studies at a
quiet spot in Doheny Library.
See page 3 for full coverage
| see Libraries, page 2 |