University of Southern California
DAILY @ TROJAN
VOL. LXII NO. 89
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 1971
MARGARET MEAD
Media causes apathy—Mead
By JAN EDWARDS
The media see campuses as dens of apathy. In fact, they bring about that state by a sort of cause-and-effect relationship. This is the observation of Margaret Mead, anthropologist and author, who said. “The media say the campuses are calm, and in general the campuses are complying.”
At noon yesterday in Bovard Auditorium. Dr. Mead spoke to a near-capacity audience. Reviewing the past few years, she found “you either have a bust or you have apathy. If you're not having a bust, then you're having apathy.”
‘ But the campus image in the eye of the community is of marginal importance.” she observed. “The image students have of themselves is more important than the image that the media give to students.
“Students have been discouraged about the chances of accomplishing something.” Dr. Mead believes that if an organized few are motivated by the need for change, much can be accomplished. And an already-existing division of labor helps show students that things can be done by people who know what they are doing, she added.
“Unless there is some sort of commitment, I think we are very likely to get into some sort of disarray,” she said. “We won’t have as much a harvest from the fresh perceptions of the young people.”
Each voter—which includes 18-year-olds throughout most of the country—should be as aware as possible and ask these questions of each political figure, she said. “I have a tremendous belief in the importance of what individuals can do. ’ ’
Too often, people fight for a worldwide change and ignore the local problem, she related. “If you start with local issues, you can win.” She mentioned last April’s Earth Day gatherings—where preservation of the environment was discussed—after which participants left their meeting places strewn with litter.
This must change, she said. “When you do something locally, you need to consider how you can translate it into something that matters for the rest of the world. If it runs around the world untranslated, it can be very dangerous.”
Scientists who developed the atom bomb lacked the worldwide responsibility that must be applied today, Dr. Mead continued. Because of this, “the idea of the bomb has to be in our plans forever.”
In the 1950s, there was widespread feeling that technological assistance could save the world, she said.
“In the 1960s we were slow to realize that the miracles of technology were only going to make the poor countries poorer.
“We saw we were going to strangle in our smog and our own waste. Heavy industry in undeveloped countries was not the answer.”
In the optimistic 1950s “we did not have the capacity to predict smog, or the population explosion." And now that we have more accurate predictions of the needs of the future, we must change our frustration with all that needs to be done into hopeful, meaningful commitments, she concluded.
CONTRACT ACCEPTED
Food union raise
By TIM TAYLOR Managing Editor
All residence halls and food service employees will receive a five percent wage increase as part of a contract just signed by USC and the Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union.
The contract, retroactive to March 1, is the first labor union agreement in USC’s history. It is expected to cost the university an extra $150,000 to $175,000 in the first year alone.
The pact increases the minimum wage from $1.65 to$1.73.0n July 1, 1972, there will be another five percent wage increase for all union employees, raising the minimum to $1.82.
Lead cooky, which are the highest paid employees in food services, will now earn $3.07 and will be given a raise to $3.22 per hour beginning next July.
The contract includes a union shop clause which requires all nonstudent employees to join
City dean up! legislator says
By BONNIE ROWE
“The city of Los Angeles should clean its own house; it is the biggest pollutor in Los Angeles,” said Arthur Snyder, Los Angeles city councilman from the Eagle Rock-Lincoln Heights district.
Snyder held a press conference Saturday on campus as part of the School of Journalism-sponsored Newspaper Day for high school journalists.
Snyder blamed an inactive city council for not taking the necessary steps for environmental control. He cited various examples of motions which have been either defeated or are being held up in different committees.
“We now have almost two dozen motions that have been in committee since last session because the committee chairman will not bring them up. So, Los Angeles does not make a move against environmental pollution,” he said.
Snyder has a solution for the council’s inaction. “Municipal government is that level nearest to the people. It is that level nearest to the will of the people. You might take some interest in what is happening in City Hall,” he continued.
He used a recent oil pollution hearing as an example of the populace’s apathy. “The only people who showed were those who would be hurt by fighting pollution. The people who appeared were the oil people. You (the public) didn’t show.
“Nobody in the media who cares is taking the time to see what is happening in pollution. There can be no action when there are no lines of communication among the concerned. The government will respond if the government feels that the people want action.
“The power can be you, the readers of the high school papers.
I am positive the 18-year-old will have the right to vote in the 1973 municipal election.”
The municipal government cannot solve all the environmental problems, he continued. “There are important things the city can do. The mayor’s office can initiate action in the form of executive orders. The city can also be an action arm for federal and state pollution agencies.”
Latin studies disbanded due to fund shortage
the union. Students who work in the food services department will receive the wage increases but will be excluded from union membership.
“Students are completely excluded from the union contract,” said Elton D. Phillips, vice-president for business affairs. “The contract says that we will not increase materially the percentage of student employees. We will not decrease the number either.”
The coming of the union to the Residence Halls and Food Service Department marks the end of the university’s policy of giving merit raises to deserving employees.
“The merit system is now out,” said Phillips. “Longevity under the union program means nothing.”
Some employees, because of previous merit raises, are actually earning more under the university’s system than they would under the union scale
salary system. These people will continue to earn their higher rate, even though it does not correspond to the union rate, and the five percent increases will be figured based on their higher pay rate.
The union contract also includes a health and welfare plan for which the university will pay 23.5 cents per hour per employee. The plan includes hospitalization, dental coverage, life insurance and covers both the employees and their dependents. Students will not be included because they will not belong to the union.
Robert Giesick, business manager of the Joint Board of the Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union, said the program has been used for 15 to 20 years.
The contract, which also contains a no-strike, no-lockout provision, expires June 31, 1974.
By THEA BERKHOUT
The Latin American Studies Program has been temporarily disbanded because of a lack of finances. The university Council on Graduate Education, which has been studying the program, has suspended admission.
This decision is not sudden; investigation had been going on since 1969. Kenneth Johnson, associate professor and former chairman of the program, produced the original impetus for the investigation of the program. He is presently on leave.
About two years ago, Johnson recommended to Charles Mayo, dean of the Graduate School, and Charles Linnell, dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, that they do away with the B.A. degree in Latin American studies. He, along with the Graduate Council, stated that it was not an appropriate degree for an undergraduate, since Latin American studies is an interdisciplinary field. There was also a low enrollment in the undergraduate program.
The Graduate School appointed a subcommittee to investigate the program. The committee found that a number of professors, specialists in Latin American studies as well as fields related to the program, such as history, political science and anthropology, had left, while the university had
limited resources to hire new people to replace them.
In addition to this, Johnson asked for a one-year leave of absence, saying that when he returned to USC, if he returned at all, he would not be the chairman of the program.
The Graduate Council then suggested to disband the Ph.D. program and to suspend all admissions to it. Charles Mayo, dean of the Graduate School, said, “We have never said that we shouldn’t have a Latin American studies program, but we shouldn't have an inadequate one.”
Recently the subcommittee has decided to disband the entire program, including the masters program, until sufficient resources are available to reimplement satisfactory curriculum.
Students who are currently in the program working for graduate degrees, have been fully assured by the Graduate School that they will be able to receive their degrees, providing their work is satisfactory. This can be done because the Latin American Studies Department is still offering a course this summer. There are professors in related departments who can give students their oral exams, and Johnson may even be flown here.