Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | www.dailytrojan.com | VOL. 166, NO. 55 | Tuesday April 14, 2009
InDEX
2 · News Digest
4 · Opinion
7 · Lifestyle
11 · Sudoku
12 · Classifieds
16 · Sports
Heavy metal: Rockumentary
‘Anvil!: The Story of Anvil’
reviewed. PAGE 4
Game-winner: Droneberger’s late
goal lifts the Women of Troy over No.
3 UCLA. PAGE 16
By nancy martinez
Daily Trojan
In an effort to keep costs affordable during the eco-nomic
recession, the university has decided to increase
tuition by the lowest amount in 40 years.
Over the past three years, the tuition increase has
ranged from 5.35 to 5.9 percent. This year, the increase
— yet undecided — will fall between 3.9 percent and 3.95
percent — the lowest increase in tuition for the school
since 1969.
In order to ensure the quality of education be main-tained
despite the smaller increase, USC Vice President
of Finance Margo Steurbaut said the university would
hire less new employees and limit salary increases for
staff.
“We are not sacrificing education at all,” Steurbaut
said. “We are trying not to impact the quality of educa-tion.
Students will not notice a difference at all.”
Faculty members are understanding of the universi-ty’s
decision, Steurbaut said.
“With the overall economy, people are more reluctant
to expect a big increase, so the faculty and staff are mak-ing
the sacrifice so the educational experience for the
students is not affected,” she said.
Although the final decision on USC’s fees will be made
by the Board of Trustees in May, Elizabeth Garrett, the
vice president for Academic Planning and Budget, said
she expects the tuition increase will be in the range of
about 4 percent — 2 to 3 percent lower than the nation-al
tuition increase average of 6 to 7 percent per year,
according to the Center for College Affordability and
Productivity.
“The reason for the decision to keep the tuition
increase so low stems from the economic situation,”
Garrett said. “Given the economic situation, it may be
Expected tuition
increase at USC
lowest in 40 years
University officials say the quality of education
will not be affected by the decrease in income.
| see increase, page 3 |
Emily Gosselin, a junior majoring in international relations, distributed information as part of Genocide Awareness Week
Monday in McCarthy Quad. The weeklong series of events, sponsored by USC Fight On for Darfur, included “Camp Darfur,” a
simulated refugee camp where students stayed to draw attention to those affected by genocide in various countries.
Raising awareness
Amaresh Sundaram Kuppuswamy | Daily Trojan
By larissa puro
Daily Trojan
Comparing notes with study
buddies and holding late-night
cram sessions in Leavey Library
might soon become things of the
past — USC students are now
turning to the Internet to upgrade
their study habits.
Several websites like Course
Hero and Cramster.com are tak-ing
cues from social networking
sites like Facebook to create on-line
study communities for stu-dents.
The Course Hero website, which
launched last fall, describes the
community as an “open social
learning network for students,
educators and self-learners to
publish, share and view academic
resources online.”
Kevin Teng, vice president of
Course Hero and a senior majoring
in business, said Andrew Grauer, a
Students turn
to Internet for
coursework
Students and professors say
when used properly, sharing
work online is not cheating.
| see sharing, page 6 |
By jessica poitevien
Daily Trojan
Weeks after a data breach forced the USC
Credit Union to issue 6,200 new debit and cred-it
cards to its members, officials say it is too
early to tell if students have had their identities
stolen.
A breach at the Heartland Payment System
that occurred toward the end of 2008 forced the
credit union to issue the new cards in order to
prevent the use of client information for iden-tity
theft.
Bank card numbers, card expiration dates
and the names of cardholders were stolen as a
result of the data breach that was announced to
cardholders on Jan. 20. Soon after, Mastercard
released a list of all the names and card num-bers
that were at risk for fraud to the USC Credit
Union.
Heartland Payment System serves as the
middleman between banks and approximately
250,000 businesses across the nation. HPS is
one of the largest payment processors in the
United States and its role is to send banks the
information of customers who shop with their
debit or credit cards.
“All we do is verify the information and see
if you have the funds, then we make the pay-ment,”
said Ralph Ramirez, interim chief opera-tions
officer at USC Credit Union.
Although the credit union had no respon-sibility
in the data breach, the necessary
precautions had to be taken to protect its mem-bers,
Ramirez said.
“We’re not required by any law to reissue
cards, but as a proactive approach we thought
it was in the best interest of our members and
the credit union to issue new cards instead of
allowing members to use cards that had poten-tial
for fraud,” Ramirez said.
On March 5, letters were sent to the card-holders
who were on Mastercard’s potential
fraud list and the credit union began the pro-cess
of making the new cards. The letter ex-plained
the situation and notified members
that their cards would expire on March 31. New
cards were mailed March 15 at the expense of
the USC Credit Union.
These steps were taken in order to protect
the credit union’s members from identity theft,
which most impacts the 20- to 29-year-old year
old age bracket, according to the Federal Trade
Commission.
Hannah Bayer, a senior majoring in business,
understands the trouble that a stolen identity
can cause because it happened to her through
an e-mail scam in February 2007. As a result of
the scam, $500 was taken from her account, but
she was reimbursed a few months later.
“The hassle that came along with trying to
get the money back was a lot more emotionally
Credit Union issues new cards after security breach
Officials say USC was not required to issue
new cards, but took the precaution anyway.
| see theft, page 6 |
Brittany Younger | Daily Trojan