University to review policy on outside speakers on campus
Recent problems spark questions of legality, censorship
By Diane Spaeter
Staff Writer
The rules and regulations that govern the presence of outside speakers on campus are under review by the department of Campus Life to clarify ambiguous clauses.
The present policies state that any person who wishes to use an amplifier during his speech must be sponsored by a recognized student organization or invited by a university department. However, any person wishing to speak without the aid of an amplifier can do so without the sponsorship of any organization.
“We are going to evaluate whether that policy is, in fact, in the best interest of our student body," said Nadine Felix, director of the Student Activities Center. “We have to consider the legality (of the policy) and the effect on the student body — whether it's conducive to the educational environment," she said.
The policy as it stands limits speakers with an amplifier to specific time restrictions. They may only speak between 12:30 and 1:30. However, speakers not using an amplifier may speak all day if they wish. Felix said.
Problems arose last week when Jed Smock, a born-again evangelist was escorted off campus as a large crowd of students jeered him. Smock had been speaking on the vices of alcohol, lust, rock music and drugs. He was removed from campus for not havjng a permit, but in reality, he did not need one because he was not using an amplifier, Felix said.
Several students were upset by Smock's presentation. "He (Smock) said ^tll USC girls were whores," said one student. “He said all you whores step forward. He almost kicked one girl (who was sitting near Tommy Trojan), he was so intent upon making his point," she said.
MAN WITH A VISION — Born again evangelist Jed Smock, who denounced students’ vices last week, caused the university to re-examine its campus speakers policy.
Smock did, however, have the right to speak, Felix said. “Smock was worried that we were trying to impair his freedom of speech," Felix said. “Smock was invited to come back on campus the next day.”
“Student Affairs has a philosophy,” Felix said, "that students have the freedom to choose. Students don’t have to believe what they hear from any individual.
“If the proper channels are followed and the individual is following California laws and not being libelous, slanderous, or obscene as defined by the state of California, or inciting to violence, then they have the right to speak," she said.
However, the university may decide where and when the person will speak. “We have the right to disapprove the time, location or manner of presentation,” Felix said. “It’s this phrase, manner of presentation, that is open to interpretation, she said, and “It will be defined very soon.”
There are other restrictions on speakers.
Felix said that it is her responsibility to determine whether the speaker could present security problems either to himself of the audience. If the speaker is seen to be a potential security problem, there must be a 10-day advance notice to the university, whether the speaker plans to use an amplifier or not. Also, “If my office is getting a lot of complaints, for example a speaker grabbing students, we could escort that person off campus if they’re violating a person’s private rights."
Speakers are usually prohibited from speaking on campus during official university functions, she said.
Felix stresses that the Student Affairs department “would like not to be strict censors. We don't want our student body to think we're making a decision as to what they can or can't hear.”
‘END OF A FRONTIER’
U.S. lead lost: Hayden
By John Powell
Staff Writer
“We are at the end of a frontier, America is no longer the major economic military power of the world.” Tom Hayden, chairman of the Campaign for Economic Democracy, said in a lecture sponsored by the Thematic Option Program.
“There is simply no way that any country can be the supreme military power of the world in an age of proliferated nuclear weapons," he added.
Hayden believes, “weapons are not the only strength in the world." Other countries have means of withholding their resources from us, Hayden said. Saudi Arabia has no weapons, yet there is no militaristic way to get their wells.
Hayden, who was a leader in the anti-war movement in the '60s and a candidate in the 1976 California Senate race, talked about the theme of his latest book. The American Future, which deals with the struggle of defining America’s personality, culture and role in the world.
There are two concepts that Americans should examine, he said, the outer frontier and the inner frontier.
“The outer frontier has been a myth of exploration and discover). It has been assumed to be the particular mission of the United States." he said.
(Continued on page 6)
trojan
Volume XC, Number 21
University of Southern California
Friday, March 6, 1981
Seminar advocates self-help cure
Speakers note trends in elderly, social service
Whether society views a person as delinquent, defective or a victim of circumstances determines how they treat the person, said Barbara Hade Kaplan, senior staff associate at the Andrus Gerontology Center.
Kaplan and Dorothy Fleisher, also a senior staff associate at the center, spoke at a seminar Wednesday on “Self-Help and Mutual-
Help," sponsored by the Andrus Volunteers and the Division of Educational Development.
“The importance of the topic for older people is that when they retire, they often find themselves separated from people they've worked with all their lives, and at a loss at how to structure their daily life,” Kaplan said.
Kaplan talked about trends in
COSMIC BLASTER — Mark Hamill will recreate his Luke Skywalker role in KUSC’s broadcast of a 13-part adaption of Star Wars, the biggest box-office success in film history. The half-hour episodes will begin on March 8 at 6 p.m. on 91.5 FM. See story on page 2.
social services, identifying five major influences on the development of formal counseling systems: The type of society and the sources of help available, society's views of people in need of help (delinquent or victim), new knowledge (advances in psychology), changing social conditions and changing social attitudes toward people in need of help.
In speaking about the society's competing views of people in need of help. Kaplan went over the history of society's attitude toward social services.
In England, starting with the reign of Queen Elizabeth, people who were unemployed, aged, disabled or in an> wav handicapped were all thrown into poorhouses. Kaplan said.
“This was an improvement over how they (the socially handicapped) were treated during the reign of King Henry VIII, where the\ were whipped, branded, kept in slavery or put to death,” Kaplan said. ’
loda\. the government determines what the poverty level is, and the elderly are given enough aid to be at that le\£l. Kaplan added.
According to Kaplan, social services have developed over time from the poorhouses of the 1600s to the broad spectrum of services available today. Since the 1930s, a parallel form of assistance has been emerging, known as the “self-help/mutual help movement.”
The movement has exploded particularly in the last decade, Fleisher said. "Self-help groups have spread from coast to coast
(Continued on page 3)