ONLINE EXCLUSIVE Check out pictures from the second annual Break Through dance showcase.
Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | VOL. 163, NO. 31 | www.dailytrojan.com monday, march 3, 2008
swedish import
European clothing company WeSC features
artwork by company-sponsored artists
in a new exhibit in Santa Monica. 7
Trouble in arizona
The USC men’s basketball team couldn’t
get a win at Arizona State,
despite O.J. Mayo’s 37 points. 16
By ALEXANDER COMISAR
Daily Trojan
At 3:30 a.m. Saturday morning,
James Krusling sat wide-eyed and
still, slinked down in his lawn chair
outside the front entrance of the
Conquest Student Housing com-plex
Tuscany.
He and his roommate had been
waiting for almost 20 hours and,
although his eyes remained open,
said he had never been so tired. At
about 3:35 a.m., it began to rain.
More than 60 students brought
chairs, blankets, pillows and enter-tainment
to Tuscany’s front lawn
and waited through wind and rain
Friday night in hopes of signing a
lease with Conquest, whose leasing
period began Saturday morning.
Because of a glitch in last year’s
online lottery system, Conquest told
this year’s potential tenants that in-stead
of reserving their apartments
online, they would need to arrive at
the main office in the lobby of Tus-cany
and sign their leases on a first-come-
first-serve basis.
Krusling, a sophomore majoring
in biology, had already failed to re-serve
a spot in USC’s TrojanHous-ing.
He said his group had waited
in line since 8 a.m. Friday morn-ing,
before anyone else, to ensure
a Conquest apartment for himself
and his roommate next year.
“I just want any one-bedroom
apartment that’s close to campus,”
Krusling said. “Tuscany would be
great, but if that is out of my price
range, I could do Bungalows or
something like that.”
Tuscany is Conquest’s flagship
luxury complex, located on the
northeast corner of Figueroa Street
and 37th Place.
The Bungalows, also owned
by Conquest, is a group of small
houses near the northwest corner
of Shrine Place and 32nd Street.
“I hate camping out. I don’t even
know what to say to this because
I’ve never had to do anything like
it before,” Krusling said. “I think
this really does illustrate that USC
needs more housing.”
Max Slavkin, vice president of
Undergraduate Student Govern-ment
and an active Conquest op-ponent,
said the line was just one
more reason why USC needs to
find a way to provide more housing
to its students.
“Good for students for taking
initiative,” Slavkin said. “But I
think it says a lot about the need
for more housing. It’s sad that stu-dents
are having to sleep outside
on the sidewalk just to get housing
from a company that is less than
Students camp out for more
than 20 hours in response to
Conquest’s new lease system.
Students sleep on the street to land Conquest housing
| see conquest, page 3 |
Gary Fung | Daily Trojan
Late night | Students arrived at the Tuscany housing complex on Figueroa Street as early as 8 a.m. Friday to get in line for Conquest
lease agreements, which were available beginning Saturday at 8 a.m.
USC students run the L.A. Marathon
By FARAH ZAREA
Daily Trojan
After five months of training,
70 members of the USC marathon
training team competed in the Los
Angeles Marathon on Sunday.
The team began two-mile runs in
October, and increased their distance
by two miles every week.
Two weeks prior to the marathon,
the team completed 22-mile run, but
never reached the 26-mile mark that
comprises a marathon.
“After 22 miles, we kind of wanted
to stop going, and were really tired
and only trained for 22 miles. But,
as a team, we were able to motivate
each other to keep going” said Kay
Kaine, a senior majoring in biology
who competed in the marathon.
Dallas Shi, a junior majoring in
biological sciences, said the most
difficult part of the race was endur-ing
the heat. The team did not have
experience running in this warm
weather, she added.
What kept Kathleen Coltman,
an undeclared freshman, going in
the race were the streets lined with
people cheering and motivating the
runners.
“The team was wearing USC gear
and people would yell, ‘Fight on!’
to us, and we would do the ‘Fight
on’ symbol back to them,” she said.
“Whenever we got tired there would
always be someone on the side pass-ing
out water and Gatorade, which
were a godsend.”
For Coltman, the last three miles
were the most difficult, but she ran
with two teammates and they pushed
one another through the race.
“It was such a team experience.
On the bus ride back to school, ev-
The 70-member USC
marathon training team ran
the 26-mile race Sunday.
| see MARATHON, page 10 |
Greeks show support
for philanthropy event
By DOMINIQUE FONG
Daily Trojan
Greek sorority and fraternity
councils hosted the first Greek
Gala on Saturday in an effort to
raise money for Swim With Mike
and the Interfraternity Parents
Council Scholarship Fund.
The black-tie event brought 250
chapter presidents, alumni, stu-dents
and their parents together
at the Founders Club in the Galen
Center.
This was the first time the Pan-hellenic
Council partnered with
the Interfraternity Council and
the Interfraternity Parents Coun-cil
in a philanthropy event.
Colorful poster boards outside
the gala highlighted each chapter’s
charity projects, including Alpha
Phi’s Heart of Gold fundraising for
the American Heart Association
and Sigma Delta Tau’s ultimate
Frisbee tournament for Prevent
Child Abuse America.
Jim Ellis, dean of the Marshall
School of Business, opened the
Greek councils teamed up
Saturday to advocate for
various organizations.
| see GREK, page 10 |
Opinion |
Literary publications are a
lost form of competition,
writes Kartik Sreepada.
PAGE 4
Joshua Sy | Daily Trojan
Endurance | Runners of all ages and skill levels ran the course,
which started at Universal Studios and ended downtown.