Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | www.dailytrojan.com | VOL. 169, NO. 8 | Monday January 25, 2010
InDEX
4 · Opinion
7 · Lifestyle
12 · Classifieds
13 · Crossword
14 · Sudoku
16 · Sports
Sonic heritage: Visions
and Voices events spotlights
black music history. PAGE 7
Blowout: After a tough late loss on
Thursday, the Trojans bounce back
against Washington. PAGE 16
By alexandra tilsley
Daily Trojan
Despite the uncharacteristically wet weather and
the cancellation of the second evening of Welcome
Back Nights, the Interfraternity Council gave out a re-cord
number of bids this spring.
The recruitment period began on Monday, Jan. 18,
and bids were given out Saturday. Though spring re-cruitment
typically yields less new members than fall
recruitment, 293 bids were given this spring, up from
290 last spring, according to Parker Adams, IFC’s vice
president for external relations.
“I’m really excited with how recruitment went this
week,” said Eric Ronan, president of IFC. “All the fra-ternities
did a great job of obeying the rules of recruit-ment
and moratorium.”
Though last week was plagued by rain and cold
weather, Ronan said he does not think this affected
the recruitment numbers.
“Rain might have made it difficult for fraternities
who were planning events outside, but I don’t think
rain’s going to stop anybody from going Greek,” he
said.
Nick Stubberfield, president of Phi Delta Theta fra-ternity,
said though the rain did not deter those in-tent
on joining a fraternity, it may have kept away
people who were unsure whether or not the wanted
to go Greek.
“It cut down on guys that might have been in-be-tween,
but it didn’t stop guys that were definitely
Recruitment
numbers up
slightly for IFC
Numbers could continue to rise after secondary
recruitment period is held later this week.
| see IFC, page 6 |
By Somto ugwueze
Daily Trojan
In response to the ongoing con-struction
on and around campus,
USC Transportation has made
temporary changes to its tram
and Campus Cruiser operations
to minimize traffic delays and ad-verse
effects on commuters.
According to Jeff Shields,
associate director of opera-tions
for USC Transportation,
Transportation has experienced
some periodic disruptions be-cause
of traffic caused by con-struction
— particularly the con-struction
of the new Exposition
Light Rail Transit Line.
Though the trams and Campus
Cruisers are following their
usual operational schedule,
Transportation has made adjust-ments
to its services because of
detours and road closures.
“[The construction] has cer-tainly
required us to think out-side
of the box in order to accom-modate
our customer base, and I
believe we have done a good job
of communicating changes to the
campus community,” Shields said.
Students who use the tram ser-vice
to get around campus gener-ally
said the ongoing construction
has not had any significant effect
on their experiences.
“It hasn’t affected me because I
take the A route and it doesn’t go
to where the construction is being
held,” said Jenny Paredes, a gradu-ate
student studying accounting.
“The construction is over there on
Exposition [Boulevard] so I don’t
see why it would affect my route.”
Brittaney Robinson, a senior
majoring in health promotion and
disease prevention, said the natu-ral
variation in the tram’s arrival
times makes it hard to tell if con-struction
has caused any delays.
Construction causes transportation delays
Work on the Expo rail line
has caused occasional traffic,
sometimes delaying USC trams.
| see Trams, page 6 |
By christianna kyriacou
Daily Trojan
At a university of USC’s size, stu-dents
often graduate without ever
finding a faculty member to guide
them through their college years and
counsel them as they head into ca-reers
and the real world. But a few
find faculty mentors whose perspec-tive,
wisdom and advice shapes their
success at USC, and those mentors
are trying to encourage others to take
on the role.
Dr. Charles Gomer, a professor of
pediatrics and radiation oncology for
the Keck School of Medicine and vice
chair of pediatrics for faculty develop-ment,
co-chairs the Mellon Mentoring
Forum, which honors outstanding
faculty mentors for contributions to
their colleagues or students as part of
its annual award program.
“I feel very strongly and I think all
the faculty here feel very strongly that
we all want to give back now. We want
to help other individuals just like the
previous faculty have helped us,”
Gomer said.
Gomer said he feels his education-al
and professional careers have been
helped significantly by the presence
of mentors, and he hopes to help cur-rent
students find mentors.
“Each one made a difference,” he
said, adding that mentoring is “a valu-able
asset we just can’t underestimate
in this day in age to help people suc-ceed.”
The school has been receptive to
Gomer’s mission, he said, and strives
to help create a mentoring relation-ship
between faculty and students.
“The administration believes very,
very strongly that mentoring should
be an essential part of an outstand-ing
university,” Gomer said. “It’s an
indication from the university of how
high they value this activity, that it is
essential for the success of faculty or
students.”
Gomer said he has noticed faculty
at USC are typically open to taking on
a mentorship role.
“We’re very fortunate at USC,” he
said. “Our faculty want our students
to succeed. There’s no doubt about
that. And part of that is giving lec-tures
and the coursework, but it goes
beyond that. It’s outside the class-room
where a lot of your learning goes
on and that’s the mentoring process.”
Kara Bartelt, an assistant profes-sor
at the School of Architecture,
received a Mellon Award last year,
which is given to faculty mentoring
undergraduate students. Bartelt said
it was her experience with mentors
that led her to want to be a mentor to
others.
“I have been fortunate to have
Mellon Awards highlight
role of faculty mentors
Yearly awards are given based
on nominations by students
and other faculty members.
| see Mentoring, page 6 |
Brandon Hui | Daily Trojan
Waiting · Construction around campus has caused some delays to
service by USC Transportation’s tram and the Campus Cruiser program.
Nathaniel Gonzalez | Daily Trojan
Iron curtain
Long Beach natives Cold War Kids, headed by singer/keyboardist Nathan Willett (above), played to a receptive audience gathered
at the Wiltern on Friday night. Alec Ounsworth, former frontman of Clap Your Hands And Say Yeah opened the show. Ounsworth is
on tour promoting his first solo record, Mo Beauty.
For coverage, se page 8