Universiry of Southern California
DAILY# TROJAN
VOL. LXIV NO. 115 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 1972
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
Spock urges shift to left
By MIKE RUNZLER
Dr. Benjamin Spock said that the government is pulling the wool over the public’s eyes, and that is the main reason for his dramatic switch from conservative to radical.
Spock, a former baby doctor, is the presidential candidate of the new People's Party. He spoke Tuesday in Edison Auditorium.
Spock was very blunt in his opening statements. He told the audience that he wanted to shift the attitudes of conservative people to the left, and swing the opinions of liberals even farther to the left.
Because of his father's Republican Party attitudes, Spock said he never knew he had an alternate choice in voting.
“As far as I know. I never talked to a Democrat while I was in college,” said Spock.
Later, after arguing with his colleagues in medical school, Spock became a mildly liberal Democrat.
In 1962. he joined the Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy.
Within a year. Spock was made cochairman of the group, not because of his activities, he said, but because of his influence on motherhood through his book, “Baby and Child Care.”
In the 1964 presidential elections, Spock campaigned actively for then President Lyndon Johnson.
He now regrets this move, he said, because three months after beingelected. Johnson broke his campaign promises and escalated the war in Vietnam.
Vietnam is just an exaggerated view of what America has been doing throughout history, he said. As proof of this, Spock cited United States intervention in the Dominican Republic and other countries.
This intervention, he said, is purely on behalf of the interests of American industry. Spock
He is convinced that the Vietnam war is another case of interference by the United States government. He called it not only illegal and immoral, but “one of the dirtiest wars that has ever been fought.”
REQUEST FOR AUTOGRAPHS — Dr. Benjamin Spock, People's Party presidential candidate, took time out after his speech Tuesday to sign autographs, with many of such requests coming from students who had been raised on a child care book written by the former baby doctor. DT photo by Tony Korody.
cited the corruption in the government of Cuba under Fulgen-cio Batista in the 1950s, and how the United States supported it because of its interests in the sugar cane industry.
The American involvement in Vietnam is because of similar action, he said. Industry was interested in the mineral resources in that area of the world; therefore, the United States paid 80% of the bills of the French military during its post-World War II occupation.
“Until recent years, we were the most successful imperialistic nation that the world has ever known,” said Spock.
“It wouldn’t be this w ay if the government served the needs of the people first, instead of those of industry.”
The number of poverty-stricken people in this country could be reduced to almost zero if money was redirected for use here instead of abroad, he said.
Medical care in the United States is quite poor for those who have little or no money. The
high infant mortality rate in America could easily be reduced if medical facilities w’ere more evenly distributed, he said.
In attacking the educational system in this country, Spock said, “The system is set up for people to fill slots.”
Many teachers who lead protest rallies and strikes at universities, or otherwise go against the established system, suddenly lose their tenure and are out of work, said Spock.
Industry causes many domestic problems besides those abroad, he said: “Antipollution laws have been on the books for years, but they are not enforced not only because industry does most of it (polluting) but it also pays for the campaign bills ofthe Republicans and Democrats.”
In response to a question, Spock said that President Nixon can be beaten, “but somebody has to scare the hell out of him, and he is scareable.”
To do this, Spock urged the sending of one letter per person a week to the President.
Rock opera will open
Cinderella will be enduring her traditional troubles and triumphs on the Drama Division’s Stop Gap Theater stage tonight through Saturday, but she won’t be quite the fairy-tale figure she used to be—her story has been changed to a rock opera.
Her name—and the play’s—has been changed to “Cinderelle” as well, mostly because “we’ve taken certain liberties with the original version,” said Daina BGibson worked off and on for two years on the music for the play, and, with Jack Bender writing the book, has concentrated on putting together the play since last Thanksgiving. Bender is a former USC drama student who is now a professional actor.
The production is being acted and produced by members of the Division’s experimental theater class, an undergraduate course that teaches by thaving its students stage their own shows, and the class has worked for five to six weeks to get the show ready for Stop Gap.
Gibson has written two other musicals which have shown here, “The Word” and “Words and Pictures,” and also wrote a song for the movie “The Babymaker” which plays during the movie’s credits.
She is also the recepient of USC’s Cole Porter
scholarship worth $5,000, a two-year award given to the most outstanding creative talent in the arts here. “Cinderelle” is her last show for USC.
Bender, author of “Cinderelle’s” book, helped stage “A Day in the Life of Edwin Marcus” earlier this year to earn money for Stop Gap and is presently working with the New Theater for Now program in the Music Center.
The set for the show is modern, including transparent plastic walls with round holes for windows, but the play still has the traditional stepmothers and stepsisters to torment the heroine.
“The play’s a kind of abstract fantasy,” Gibson said. “It’s got some toher twists, but people should come to the show to find them out.”
With Wendy Weber in the title role, it opens tonight and will continue through Saturday. The play begins at 8 each night, with an added performance 10:30 Saturday night.
Tickets, costing $1 for today and Thursday and $1.50 for Friday and Saturday, may be reserved by calling 746-SHOW.
John Shoemaker staged and choreographed the show, and “Moose” McMains served as musical director.
Plan for KUSC grant amended
Major changes were made in a proposal for a grant to aid KUSC after station staff members voted unanimously Sunday to oppose it.
The revised proposal was outlined in a telegram sent Monday night to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the government-financed organization offering the grant. It calls for the hiring of two professionals—a full-time general manager and a full-time chief engineer.
The positions of station manager, program director and production director would remain filled by students, who would be employees on part-time salaries.
The corporation grant, if awarded, would provide $15,000 in funds, which the university has agreed to match with an additional $15,000.
In sessi&ns Tuesday. Ken Borgers, telecommunications professor and KUSC general manager; Roy J. Adamson, associate dean of University College and Summer Session; and Doug Culver, staff mediator and present station manager, agreed on the terms of the modified proposal.
“It’s hard to look $30,000 in the face and do something that might jeopardize it, but the question of student operation of the station is just too important,” Culver said.
“We responded to the concern expressed by Culver’s staff members because we feel student operation is important,” Adamson said.
Two years ago, when the Telecommunication Department chairman fired the entire staff, the station was moved into the University College and Summer Session to preserve student operation.
The original proposal, submitted on the last day for applications called for the hiring of a professional station manager and program director. At a subsequent KUSC staff meeting, the proposal was criticized unanimously and Culver was appointed staff mediator for the university.
The corporation had acted to approve the original proposal, when the university notified it that a major change was forthcoming. The corporation agreed not to announce USC as a grant recipient until it is able to study the new proposal.
Under the new proposal, a professional full-timegeneral manager would be hired to supervise the operation of the station. This would not differ substantially from existing practice, in which the general manager is an administration or faculty member.
The general manager, however, would now be able to devote full time to managing the station instead of having to handle other administrative or professorial duties.
The second professional to be hired under the suggested system would be a chief engineer, a full-time employee responsible for maintaining high technical standards for the radio signal.
Culver terms the chances for receiving the grant under the new proposal extremely good. Adamson is less optimistic. He believes the chance of acceptance is about 50-50.
Requirements eased to boost admissions
By MIKE REVZIN Staff Writer
In an effort to prevent a drop in enrollment, USC is using new recruiting techniques and admitting some students who previously would not have been accepted, said Conrad F. Wed-berg, Jr., dean of admissions.
Wedberg emphasized, however, that he does not think admissions standards have been lowered. “This crisis in enrollment has forced us in the Admissions Office to look a little more deeply into the records,” he said.
Wedberg explained that a student whose grade point average was lowered because he had one bad year, or was consistently poor in one subject, now has a better chance for admission.
The Admissions Office will investigate the student to try to determine the reason for the lower average. In some cases, Wedberg said, it is the result of participation in extracurricular activities.
“I think students in high school nowadays become uninterested a little more quickly. As a result, their grades reflect this,” said Wedberg.
He added, however, that these
students have the necessary ability to do well here.
Many other universities throughout the nation are facing sharp declines in the number of applications. USC has roughly the same number of applicants for the next freshman class as it did last year. There is, however, a significant drop in applications for graduate school and from transfer students.
At present, 4,443 applications have been received for the freshman class—only 11 less than this time last year. But the 1,782 applications from prospective transfer students are almost 800 fewer than last year.
So far this year, there have been 4,106 applications to graduate school—430 less than at this time last year.
Although the same number of students have applied for the freshman class, Wedberg is worried that a large number of those accepted will decide not to attend.
Wedberg blames this on the financial situation in the country, and the fact that many students are deciding to travel or work before attending college. Still others will hesitate to attend college because of the
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Editor nomination made"
The Journalism Council recommended Tuesday that Rich Wiseman be named editor of the Daily Trojan for the fall semester.
Wiseman, a junior in journalism and Daily Trojan city editor, was one of four applicants for the position. Th«* others were Bernard Beck, Laurinda Keys and Michael Trope. The council interviewed the four and voted to make its recommendation. Wiseman was the unanimous choice.
The council's recommendation will be submitted to President John Hubbard for the actual appointment.
The Journalism Council is composed of five members of the School of Journalism faculty, five senior editors of the Daily Trojan, the university editor and the two ASSC vice-presidents.