Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | www.dailytrojan.com | VOL. 165, NO. 30 | Tuesday October 7, 2008
InDEX
2 · News Digest
4 · Opinion
7 · Lifestyle
11 · Sudoku
12 · Classifieds
16 · Sports
By Taylor Friedman
Daily Trojan
Craig Fertig, a former USC
quarterback and a symbol of
Trojan Football’s golden age,
died Saturday from kidney fail-ure
at Hoag Memorial Hospital
Presbyterian in Newport Beach.
He was 66.
Colleagues remembered Fertig
for his dedication to the univer-sity
and devotion to the football
program.
“Craig was such an unbeliev-able
spirit around this program
for years and years — well before
I was even here. He loved this
university so much,” said USC
head football coach Pete Carroll
in his postgame press confer-ence
after Saturday’s game.
Fertig, a former USC quarter-back,
solidified his place among
USC football legends in 1964
when he led the Trojans against
one of their fiercest rivals, the
Craig Fertig, Trojan legend, dies at 66
USC football player went on to
coach alongside John McKay
during USC football heyday.
| see FERTIG, page 10 |
By dan doperalski
Daily Trojan
The Los Angeles Department of
Transportation has agreed to place a
stoplight at 28th and Hoover streets
after more than a year of negotiations
and a pair of accidents — one involv-ing
a student and another with a
non-USC student — Undergraduate
Student Government officials said
Monday.
The city also plans to install a
stoplight at the intersection of 32nd
and Figueroa streets.
LADOT told USG officials that it
will take at least a year for the city to
finance the $200,000 stoplight but
added that the process could move
faster if the university secures pri-vate
funding.
“We would like to see the proj-ect
funded, and wherever the mon-ey
comes from it will speed up the
process,” said USG President Jens
Midthun.
Midthun would not say whether
funding might come from the USG
budget, the university or an outside
source.
USG can now try to secure pri-vate
funding and expedite the stop-light
or wait for the city — which is
in the midst of its own budget crisis
— to fund the project.
“Our interest is increasing safe-ty.
The sooner we do it the safer it is
for everybody,” said John Legittino,
USG senior director of communica-tions.
The stoplight is a victory for
Midthun, who has worked on
securing the crosswalk for more
than two years.
Midthun continued to push for
change last year as director of cam-pus
affairs. Midthun said he was
concerned that students crossing
Hoover Street on their way to The
Row or coming from The Row would
often put themselves at risk by jay-walking.
He had urged the city to
study the risk for students.
Last fall, the city conducted a
study and found the maximum
number of students crossing the in-tersection
at any time was 19 in one
hour. But the study was conducted
during the middle of the day, and not
during peak times such as Thursday
or Friday nights.
Unsatisfied with results, Midthun
decided to do his own study.
“Last fall, we filmed the corner
and found a few hundred people
crossing,” he said.
He sent the study to the city
and in January, the Department of
Transportation agreed to put in a
crosswalk, albeit without a stoplight
as Midthun had requested.
After the two accidents this fall,
USG decided it had to make a new
request to the city.
“From the beginning ... the core
concern was to make sure students
were safe crossing the intersection,”
Legittino said. “[Students] were not
safe before and we found immediate-ly
with the addition of the crosswalk
that students were still not safe.”
Some students agreed that the
crosswalk did little to improve safe-ty
at the busy intersection. Crystal
Small, a sophomore majoring in
communication, said she was scared
while walking across the street be-cause
“cars do not stop for you.”
City agrees to light
at Row crosswalk
Los Angeles expresses interest
in placing the light, but won’t
fund the project immediately.
By alexander comisar and
holly villamagna
Daily Trojan
At least 275 USC students have
now been infected with a gas-trointestinal
virus that has been
spreading throughout campus
since midday Friday.
Students were first notified of
the virus’ spread Saturday morn-ing
via the TrojansAlert system,
which indicated that at least 30
students had become ill. Since that
time, the number of infected stu-dents
has increased by more than
200 people.
But James Grant, executive
director for USC Media Relations,
said students should be aware that
the rising numbers might not nec-essarily
reflect the amount of new
cases of the illness.
“Those numbers could include
people who were sick earlier who
now feel better,” he said.
Grant said it would take two to
three weeks to identify the virus,
Virus expands reach; 275 now infected
USC officials urge students to
minimize contact with peers,
wash hands frequently.
| see virus, page 11 |
By Kelly Mofitt
Daily Trojan
Amid a semester plagued by
several high-profile crimes, the
Department of Public Safety has
released its annual crime report
indicating a broad overall drop in
crime on and around campus.
The report reflects an overall
downturn of crime over the last
three years. Forcible sex offens-es
increased from 17 incidents re-ported
in 2005 to 23 in 2006, but
then decreased to 3 in 2007.
Burglary decreased from 146 in-cidents
reported in 2005, to 107 in
2006, to 71 in 2007.
DPS Capt. David Carlisle said he
is confident that crime is decreas-ing
and that this semester’s violent
crimes have been the exception.
“The highly publicized events
that occurred this fall we do not
think are a true indication of crime
at USC,” Carlisle said. “I think and
we preach here at DPS that if you
take reasonable precautions, you
greatly reduce the chances of you
becoming a victim of crime.”
Maggy Garcia, a freshman ma-joring
in political science, said she
had been afraid to walk outside at
night, but that the recent crime re-port
alleviated much of her anxi-ety.
“I get really uncomfortable
when I hear about sexual assaults,”
Garcia said. “I’m a little more com-fortable
knowing now that the
number of sexual assaults per year
is steadily decreasing.”
But Joel Grattan, a junior ma-joring
in civil engineering who
lives off campus, said the report
does little to make him feel safer
and that a strong communication
system is essential to a feeling of
security.
“A statistic is great but doesn’t
help my peace of mind very much
when I am walking around cam-pus,”
Grattan said. “That the
As pressure intensifies, DPS
report shows crime decrease
New report shows a decline
in the overall crime rate near
campus for third straight year.
| see crime, page 11 |
Photo courtesy of USC
Champion · Fertig won two championships for the Trojans during his
time coaching alongside John McKay, a period since deemed a golden age.
Ryan Furlong | Daily Trojan
Cleaning up · TrojanHousing employees hand out disinfecting wipes and hand sanitizer to students near
McCarthy Quad. A stomach virus has infected 275 students, many of them living in that area of campus.
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