Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | www.dailytrojan.com | VOL. 165, NO. 60 | Wednesday November 19, 2008
InDEX
2 · News Digest
4 · Opinion
7 · Lifestyle
11 · Sudoku
12 · Classified
16 · Sports
Double decker: London’s
graves will follow the example
of its tour buses. PAGE 4
Toughing it out: Trojans get
physical in win against New Mexico
State. PAGE 16
By dan doperalski
Daily Trojan
Undergraduate Student
Government senators considered
a proposed bylaw amendment
Tuesday that could potentially alter
the number of senators who serve in
the organization as well as the pro-cess
for electing those senators.
The bylaw amendment proposes
that the senate add two additional
senators, changing the total number
of senators from 12 to 14.
The amendment would also
change the way senators are elected.
Under the current system, the num-ber
of residential, commuter and
Greek senators are set at six, four
and two respectively.
If passed when the senate votes
on the proposal in two weeks, the
amendment will allow for a more flu-id
system where the number of sen-ators
from each constituency could
fluctuate from year to year.
The new system would elect a
minimum of two senators from each
constituency. The remaining eight
spots would be decided based on the
remaining candidates who receive
the highest number of votes — po-tentially
allowing for 10 senators to
represent one constituency.
“It will fluctuate from year to year.
Just by the proportion and the num-ber
of people who come out [to vote]
it will be roughly proportional to
what the student body is,” USG Vice
President Tony Jercinovich said.
The amendment would also allow
students to cast votes for more than
one senator during a single election
and allow students to vote for can-didates
outside their constituencies.
For example, a Greek student could
cast their ballots for only Greek
candidates or split a set number of
votes among Greek, residential or
commuter candidates.
“Whoever turns out the vote has
the best chance. … We want [candi-dates]
who are able to reach as many
students as possible,” Residential
Sen. Henry Pfirrmann said.
But opponents of the change also
said the new system would put com-muter
students at a disadvantage,
making it nearly impossible for a
commuter senator to pick up one of
the eight open senate seats.
In past elections, commuter stu-dents
have had the lowest turnout of
any constituency. During elections
last spring only one commuter sena-tor
ran for the position. This fall, it
took the current USG administra-tion
until the end of October to fill
the final commuter senator seat.
“We thought that having com-petitive
elections would ensure you
have the most qualified candidates
rise to the top,” Parliamentarian Liz
Trower said. “Having a constituency
that does not have competitive elec-tions
can do harm when you have
people who may not be dedicated to
the position.”
Other opponents said senators
should be elected directly by those
who represent them and not by the
entire student body.
“I could vote for a Greek friend,
but if they are not going to serve
me it does not make much sense,”
Residential Sen. Ashlie Chan said.
That view places too much em-phasis
on a senator’s title, said Robert
Moore, a Greek senator. The Senate
should represent all students — not
just their constituencies, he said.
“It is not right to assume that
if you are in one constituency, you
have vastly different opinions than
another senator. ... The value of hav-ing
everyone vote for everyone would
allow for senators to be elected that
would represent the entire student
body,” Moore said.
USG might change
senate’s structure
Senate will vote on whether
students can vote on senators
outside their constituencies.
Mike Lee | Daily Trojan
Call him Ted · Media giant Ted Turner came to Bovard Auditorium Tuesday night to speak to students
about his new autobiography, “Call Me Ted.” He also shared his views on global business and philanthropy.
By jessica poitevien
Daily Trojan
Ted Turner, founder of CNN
and Turner Broadcasting, visited
USC to promote his autobiogra-phy,
“Call Me Ted,” and discuss
his business life and philan-thropic
work around the world in
an event hosted Tuesday by USC
Spectrum.
Eight hundred tickets were
sold or given away for the event,
700 of which were given to stu-dents,
according to Geoffrey
Baum, the managing director of
the Center on Communication
Leadership, which also helped
bring Turner to campus.
The event opened with an in-terview
conducted by Annenberg
professor Geoffrey Cowan
that touched upon a few as-pects
of Turner’s success as a
businessman, but mostly focused
on his more recent work as a phi-lanthropist.
One of Turner’s main goals is
to work with the United Nations
toward nuclear disarmament. He
said he believes the destruction
of nuclear weapons in the United
States is key to this endeavor.
“It’s the only way to stop nu-clear
proliferation,” Turner said.
“Nobody wants to die so why
have we built this system to kill
Ted Turner plugs new book at Bovard
The media mogul spoke to
hundreds of students about his
philanthropic work worldwide.
| see turner, page 6 |
By callie schweitzer
Daily Trojan
Ten-year-old Xexzie Galindo spends ev-ery
Friday afternoon from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at
the 24th Street Theatre learning different art
forms and acting methods from seasoned pro-fessionals.
An aspiring cartoon artist, the fifth-grad-er
at Vermont Avenue Elementary School sees
24th Street Theatre’s After ’Cool after-school
program as a chance to perfect her craft —
something she said she doesn’t have the oppor-tunity
to do at school.
Tighter budgets and less funding have left
several schools in the Los Angeles Unified
School District with limited or no arts pro-grams.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s recent
announcement of his plans to cut $2 billion to
$4 billion from California’s education budget
has many worried that remaining funding for
arts programs will soon be eliminated.
But After ’Cool doesn’t rely on funding from
LAUSD, but rather, from private donors such as
USC, said Jay McAdams, co-founder of the pro-gram.
For the last three years, 24th Street Theatre
has received a little under $30,000 annual-ly
from University Neighborhood Outreach,
which is part of the Good Neighbors Campaign,
an outreach program funded by USC faculty
and staff that supports programs that benefit
the families in the communities around USC’s
two campuses.
The program also receives funding from
several private businesses and nonprofits in
Los Angeles.
The 30-week program doesn’t just teach
theater — it goes beyond acting to teach so-cial
themes and forms of self-expression in a
Monday class for 6- to 8-years-olds and a Friday
class for 9- to 12-year-olds. Along the way, the
kids make friends and family.
Enter McAdams and his co-founder, Debbie
Devine. In the 10 years McAdams and Devine
have been running the after-school pro-gram,
they have been lifelines for community
Local children find inspiration in
after-school theater program
The 24th Street Theatre welcomes
children to study many fine arts.
| see Theate r, page 14 |
Benson Chan | Daily Trojan
Helping hand · Local children attend 24th Street Theatre’s after-school program.