Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | www.dailytrojan.com | VOL. 165, NO. 62 | Friday November 21, 2008
InDEX
2 · News Digest
4 · Opinion
5 · Lifestyle
8 · Classifieds
9 · Crossword
12 · Sports
Top Dog: Disney’s new
computer-animated film has
echoes of Pixar. PAGE 5
Revenge Bid: USC looks to upset
UCLA in 3rd round of women’s
soccer tournament. PAGE 12
By taylor friedman
Daily Trojan
The California Supreme Court agreed Wednesday
to review the legality of Proposition 8 more than two
weeks after voters passed the controversial measure to
ban same-sex marriages.
On Nov. 4, 52.5 percent of California voters chose to
overturn the state supreme court’s decision last May to
allow same-sex marriages.
Legal experts have said the proposition could be
considered an illegal alteration to California’s constitu-tion.
“The argument of the challengers to Proposition 8
are very strong,” said David B. Cruz, a USC professor of
law. “They argue that equal citizenship and equal pro-tection
are core principles of our constitutional order
in California. The way our government has worked is
that the courts are empowered to protect various mi-nority
groups from discrimination at the hands of the
majority.”
Now the issue has returned to the court, which has
scheduled a hearing for March. The court will hear oral
arguments and issue a judgment within 90 days, Cruz
said.
Prop 8 opponents said they were elated that the court
will review the amendment.
“I think it’s great that Proposition 8 is being reviewed
so quickly. Usually within the judicial process, it takes a
long time to process a case,” said Vincent Vigil, director
of the LGBT Resource Center.
While most lawsuits are generally filed in low-er
courts and work their way up to the state supreme
court, Cruz said it is not unusual for the court to exer-cise
original jurisdiction — the right to hear a case for
the first time, as opposed to reviewing a decision from a
lower court — when dealing with propositions.
Vigil said he hoped the outpouring of frustration
among Prop 8 supporters after the vote led to the court’s
review.
“I would hope that people marching and protesting
and advocating had some influence on the court’s de-cision.
... Maybe they realized the severity of the issue
and want some resolution before some type of activism
Supreme court
to hear Prop 8
legal challenge
Supporters of same-sex marriage on campus
said they are elated the court granted a review.
| see prop 8, page 3 |
USC’s Ski & Snowboard Team, with FuelTV and Mammoth Mountain, sponsored its second annual SnowFest in McCarthy Quad on
Thursday afternoon, which gave students a chance to snowboard or ski down a mountain of snow. For more, see page 5.
Taste of Winter
Nathaniel Gonzales | Daily Trojan
By dan doperalski
Daily Trojan
Undergraduate Student Government
senators introduced a resolution this
week that would require students to
show a USC ID at all times to enter uni-versity
libraries and require community
members to obtain a guest pass before
using the facilities.
“The main direction of this is to de-ter
individuals who come to campus to
commit crimes from entering our librar-ies,”
said Greek Sen. Holden Slusher, who
sponsored the resolution.
Information from guest passes would
be checked against a database of indi-viduals
who have committed crimes on
campus, Slusher said. Library privileges
would be revoked if library security staff
found that those obtaining passes have
committed crimes in the past.
Slusher made it clear at Tuesday’s
meeting that the resolution was in no
way intended to prevent community
members from accessing university li-braries.
“I think the fact that anyone can walk
in the library is a problem not only for
our students but community members
who may be there studying,” Slusher said.
From Jan. 1 to Nov. 19, Leavey Library
USG proposes new change in library security
Senate will vote on whether
libraries should check all student
IDs, in an effort to reduce theft.
| see libraries, page 7 |
By kate mason
Daily Trojan
Mira Gjura always wanted to
study architecture. She watched
as her brother and sister went off
to college while she was barred
from doing so, a rule enforced
by the communist regime in her
home country, Albania.
Instead, Gjura got a job build-ing
sets at a local theater and took
drawing classes at night. When
the communist regime collapsed
in 1995, she and her husband lost
their jobs and moved to America
with their son.
Now Gjura is 51 years old, and
just beginning college life as an ar-chitecture
student.
“When I was accepted to USC,
I couldn’t sleep for a week I was
so happy,” Gjura said. “When the
mailman brought me the letter, I
was shaking. I opened the letter
and started screaming.”
Gjura was awarded enough fi-nancial
aid to be able to pay the
rest of her tuition with the help
of her husband’s retirement fund.
Because Gjura, like many other ar-chitecture
students, often stays
up all night finishing projects, she
doesn’t have time for a steady job.
“Imagine me, at my age, all
night long. I will sleep for an hour
and wake up because I want to
prove myself,” Gjura said.
Gjura is part of a growing num-ber
older adult students who have
decided to attend college for the
first time or return to seek de-grees.
Though statistics for USC
were not available, in 2005 there
were just over 3 million students
ages 35 and older seeking degrees
at U.S. colleges or universities, ac-cording
to the National Center for
Education Statistics.
The center also projects a 21
percent increase in enrollments
by students 25 and older between
2005 and 2016, compared with a
projected rise of 15 percent in stu-dents
under 25.
USC offers graduate degree pro-grams
aimed at meeting the needs
of commuting adults. The Master
in Liberal Studies program, which
was launched at USC two years
ago, offers a way for working
adults to earn a master’s degree
through night classes. The Master
of Professional Writing program is
also targeted at adult students.
Professor Tok Thompson, who
teaches MLS courses as well as un-dergraduate
courses at the College
of Letters, Arts & Sciences, said
adults tend to be better students
because they can focus on school-work
without getting distracted
by social life.
“My adult students have a clear
perspective of what they want to
do, and they have a huge range
For adults, college can offer second chance
An increasingly large number
of adults, many from diverse
pasts, are attending college.
| see adults, page 3 |
Leah Thompson | Daily Trojan
Second chance · Mira Gjura is a freshman studying architecture at
USC. Gjura and her family came to America in 1995 from Albania.