Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | VOL. 162, NO. 5 | www.dailytrojan.com
FRIDAY , AUGUST 31, 2007
Leah Thompson | Daily Trojan
Philly | Danny DeVito, who stars in the new TV show “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” signs a
T-shirt for a student Thursday afternoon. The entire cast stopped by campus for a meet and greet.
Greeks partner
to curb hazing
By JEAN GUERERO
Daily Trojan
The national councils of 10
USC fraternities and sororities
have joined a coalition of Greek
organizations to create a toll-free
number to stamp out hazing on
college campuses.
The aim of the 1-888-NOT-HAZE
hotline — started by a co-alition
of 22 international Greek
organizations and called the
“Greek Anti-Hazing Hotline” — is
to make it easy for students to re-port
hazing, said coalition spokes-man
Norval Stephens. The coali-tion
wants to eventually eliminate
hazing altogether, he said.
“There’s a phone number out
there that anyone can use to re-port
[hazing],” Stephens said.
Students who call to make a
hazing allegation can leave a voice-mail,
which is recorded in an audio
file. The voicemail is monitored
by attorneys at the law offices of
Manley Burke in Cincinnati, said
Dan McCarthy, an attorney with
the law firm.
The Manley Burke law firm
publishes Fraternal Law, a jour-nal
that “chronicles legal issues
involving collegiate Greek orga-nizations,”
according to a press
release.
The law firm will forward the
allegation details to the appropri-ate
national Greek organization,
whether or not the organization
is one of the hotline’s current 22
Greek sponsors, McCarthy said.
Authorities will be notified,
McCarthy said, if the state where
a hazing allegation arises requires
legal action.
Although the hotline, which be-came
operational in July, enables
students to make fast and even
anonymous reports, some stu-dents
at USC are skeptical about
the potential effectiveness of the
hotline.
“I think it’s a good idea, but in
practice I don’t think it will help
a great deal,” said Alex Pastor, a
sophomore majoring in mechani-cal
engineering. He said he doesn’t
think anyone would actually re-port
hazing because “so many
people are willing to get hazed
just to feel accepted.”
Ten USC chapters sign
on with hotline aimed at
ending hazing incidents.
| see hazing, page 6 |
By LOIRE TSUI
Daily Trojan
The USC Credit Union is opening an additional
branch at the corner of Flower Street and Exposition
Boulevard this fall.
The $16 million structure, which took nearly two
years to build, will better serve credit union mem-bers
who do not currently work or live on the Uni-versity
Park campus, said Credit Union President
and CEO Gary Perez.
The credit union’s current location in King Hall,
next to the Lyon Center and Webb Tower, is too
small and almost impossible to find, he said.
“We opted to secure a location near campus,” Per-ez
said. “We understand that the Trojan community
is unique, and we feel special to be the only financial
services [provider] here.”
The USC Credit Union has 50,037 total mem-bers,
8,631, or 17 percent, who are USC students,
said USC Credit Union Chief Financial Officer
Credit Union officials say the new branch
will be more convenient for customers who
live outside the USC campus.
Credit Union to
open off-campus
branch in October
| see credit, page 2 |
Ashcraft murder charge dropped
By JOSHUA SHARP
Daily Trojan
The murder charge against sus-pended
USC student Holly Ash-craft
was reduced to involuntary
manslaughter for a second time
Thursday.
Ashcraft was arrested in October
2005 after a dead newborn was found
in a Dumpster behind the 29th Street
Café. DNA evidence proved it was
her son.
Los Angeles County Superior
Court Judge Samuel Mayerson ruled
that there was insufficient evidence of
a specific intent by Ashcraft, spokes-woman
Sandi Gibbons of the Los
Angeles County District Attorney’s
Office said.
Ashcraft is currently scheduled
for a Sept. 14 arraignment on the in-voluntary
manslaughter charge, said
Gibbons.
“We’re going to discuss our op-tions
on the murder count,” Gibbons
said. “We have not made any decision
yet.”
Deputy defense attorney Franco
Baratta declined to comment further.
Mayerson previously threw out
the case, ruling that it had reached
the maximum of two dismissals al-lowed
under state law.
“The Judge found no evidence of
malice and dismissed for the fourth
time the murder charge,” defense
attorney Mark Geragos wrote in an
e-mail. “Hopefully this is the end of
the line.”
Judge David Wesley reduced the
murder charge to involuntary man-slaughter
in March. Prosecutors
moved to dismiss the case and quick-ly
re-filed the murder charge.
Superior Court Judge Peter Es-pinoza
overruled Mayerson’s ruling
that the case could not proceed in
June, Gibbons said.
Judge throws out murder
charge in death of student’s
infant son for second time.
QUICK
FACTS
Ashcraft is
currently
free on
$200,000
bail.
u
She has
been
suspended
by USC.
De-Lightful | FX Network TV stars comes to campus
The Idaho Vandals come to town for the first time since 1929,
and the DT has it covered from the first kick to the final knee
L.A. Spotlight » Game day special »
Beyonce expresses
her inner diva at the
Staples Center Sunday
showing off on her
national B’Day tour SPORTS EXTRA , page 7 Lifestyle, page 14
Rock the vote 2.0
Don’t let the presidential
candidates focus on
Facebook friends instead
of issues facing America’s
youth, writes guest colum-nist
Torey Van Oot.
Opinion, page 4
Supergood »
Film critic John Wheel-er
explains why Judd
Apatow’s recent films
have hit it big with
college students.
Lifestyle, page 20