University of Southern California
DAILY • TROJAN
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1971
MECHA. the Chicano students organization, finally received its sought-after Student Union office yesterday when the decision of the Student Union Board on office allocations was released.
Other organizations, including the Black Students Union, PROBE and the Indian Students Association, also received office space from the limited amount on the third floor of the Student Union.
“Everyone that applied got an office.” said Elaine Pappas, the Student Union Board's advisor. The decision, made Tuesday night, was released yesterday afternoon by Ms. Pappas after Robert Mannes. dean for student life, was notified.
Yvonne Armendariz, a member of MECHA, said that the group was of course happy at getting its office, but aggravated at having had to go through
the application process so many times before receiving it.
Some of the pressure on the board was relieved Monday when the Asian-American Alliance withdrew its request
for office space. The BSU and MECHA received offices whose former occupants were combined and moved into a third office, while PROBE and the Indian Students Association will share a previously unassigned office.
ASSC to settle frosh rep case
Arguments over the eligibility of Bob Glushon. freshman representative runoff winner, will probably be settled today, in one way or another, at the ASSC Executive Council meeting at 5 p.m.
If the ASSC Elections commission does not press the charges it has made against Glushon and the Student Court at the meeting, the runoff controversy will end and Glushon will serve as freshman representative.
Even if the commission does bring up its charges. ASSC President Kent Clemence said he would probably object to the consideration of the matter.
In any event, Clemence said. “Glushon was elected, and he will be seated” at the beginning of the council meeting.
If Clemence does object to the council considering the commission's charges, it would take a two-thirds majority of the council to override the president's decision not to discuss the matter.
“I see no point in carrying on the whole thing any further than it has been.’’ Clemence said.
Lauren Sherman, elections commissioner, said Wednesday that she did not know if the commission would, bring its charges before the council or not and that she will go along with whatever the other commissioners decide to do.
The two other commissioners, Nader Oskoui and Pat Nolan, could not be reached for comment Wednesday, and it is still uncertain if either will present their charges to the council.
Conflicts between Glushon and the commission have occurred throughout the election. Glushon did not enter the race until after he had taken the commission to the Student Court for not adequately publicizing the election application deadline. The court ruled in Glushon’s favor and his name was put on the ballot.
The greatest dispute came, however, as runoff voting ended: the elections commission charged Glushon with overexpenditure of campaign funds when it totaled his costs at $110.73—$10.73 over what it defined as the fund limit.
Because of these findings, it recommended to the Student Court that Glushon be disqualified from the election.
The overspending charge had complications, however: there were different definitions of the fund limit. Glushon said he had been told by Ms. Sherman that the limit was about $106. and last spring's election code set the limit at about $133.
The commission was going by another limit, $100. which had been set by a recent amendment of the elections code.
Even this definition of the limit. $100, was questioned, however. The council reportedly approved this as the limit—but the council s minutes never recorded that approval.
Because there is not official recording of the council amending the elections code from a limit of about $133 to $100. the old limit of $133 is still in effect—at least, this was the final decision of the Student Court in the Glushon case.
If the $133 limit still applies, and the court decided it does, then Glushon was well below the limit. On these grounds, the court acquitted Glushon of the commission charges.
If the commission does not appeal to the ASSC executive council today, Glushon will probably take his post without further argument.
Conflict exists within Campus Security
By LAURINDA* KEYS
Staff Writer
“We caught four black kids stealing a bike. They wouldn't hold still so we handcuffed them and told them to spread their legs. This one kid wouldn't do it so I told him again. He still wouldn't do it so I moved his feet apart with my foot. This guy from the BSU comes by and accuses me of brutality.” That was the experience of one young Campus Security officer and it is an example of the problems he and his fellow officers face every day in their job of providing protection and service for USC students, faculty and property.
Part of the problem is a lack of policy. The security officers don’t know when to do their job and when not to. They and the men who tell them what to do aren't even sure what the job is.
“You have to take a certain course of action in a certain circumstance,” said John Lechner, head of Campus Security and parking operations. “I can sit here in the office and contemplate, but it's different when you're there and you have to take immediate action.
Campus Security officers are commissioned through the Los Angeles Police Department and take an oath to discharge the duties of the special officer in and for the city of Los Angeles.
But Anthony Lazzaro, associate vice-president for business affairs, said the authority of special officers in and around the campus is no more than that of any citizen.
Lazzaro said that 99% of the problems encountered by Campus Security are internal and can be handled within the university governance system. In all other situations, “Campus Security should be a holding operation until the LAPD is called.” he said.
Lazzaro feels that the mere presence of the security men deters crime. Lechner agreed with him. He said, “The uniform looks like a police uniform and it is an asset in dealing with teenage theft problems. It s a symbol of authority. It s not true that the black kid is trained to disrespect it. You can see it in their eyes. They know they'll get in trouble.”
they couldn’t get away with half the stuff they pull now. The southwest division (of the LAPD) has enough problems of their own. We could have our own
For this reason, officers have ignored suspicious situations when they see them off the campus. The officer who was censured said, “Pretty soon we're
'The Community Center is just a hangout. The kids run over to the restrooms there and devide up their loot,"a campus security officer said. "I've got no prejudices. I'm on this Big Brother program and I take kids out on weekends. It's just that the community is a lot worse than the university wants to admit because they're afraid parents won't want to send their little girls here."
The young campus security men maintain that they need peace officer standing. They complain that in dealing with criminal situations off campus they are handicapped.
“If we had peace-officer standing it would mean more protection for the students and faculty,” one officer said. “We would not be harassed in making on-the-spot arrests. The community would understand better, if we had a fully recognized police department, that
files and make our own arrests and all they would have to do is transport. " Almost all of the officers have worked as policemen before. Lazzaro feels that this causes them a problem in adjusting to working for the university. “Their primary job should be one of service,” he said. “I'm not interested in how many arrests we made last year but in how many we avoided. ”
Lazzaro and Lechner said they are working toward a program to teach the officers how to handle the different situation they find on campus.
“Out on the street there's one law,” said a security man. “But here there's one rule for students, one rule for faculty, one rule for the adult community, one rule for the adolescent community.”
This officer said he was censured by his superior after he chased a motorcyclist off campus in his patrol car. The motorcyclist had been speeding down University Avenue. Campus Security's authority technically ends at the borders of the campus.
just going to stop doing anything, then see what happens.”
The confusion as to when an officer should act and when he shouldn't are reflected in the words of Carl Franklin, vice-president for financial and legal affairs.
He said, “They are not instructed to do anything if the situation is not connected with the university. But if they saw something. I wouldn't care if they apprehended someone and held them for the LAPD. Officers should not be censured if it is in the area of their patrol.''
Lechner explained his theory of law enforcement with the example of a campus security officer apprehending a young teenager stealing a phone from a university office.
“The security man should get the phone back and call the telephone company and let the kid run. He should have no compulsion to chase the kid down because he performed an illegal act,” Lechner said.
(Continued on page 2)
CONCERT MOURNERS—Buster and the Pene-trators, sweepstakes winners at the 1971 Songfest, perform at a noon concert Wednesday on the Student Activities Center patio. Barbara Posatko, the only female member of the groups lies in the
foreground as if she were dead. Behind her on the stage are, left, Steve Laughlin (on piano), Ron Silver, Ron Goldberg (on guitar), Terry Tabor ("Buster"), Tony Serritella, Greg Sawyer and Chris Sampson. DT photo by Wil Hertzberg.
MECHA receives office
VOL. LXIV NO. 26	LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA