DICK PERRY
Richard Perry criticizes press coverage of Zumberge report
By J.R. Heilman and Cliff Tan
Richard Perry, director of athletics, has criticized press coverage of the university's report on student-athletes, released Oct. 13, saving the media distorted the findings.
Perry, in an interview Monday, found fault with an article that appeared Oct. 14 in the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, as well as with subsequent coverage in the Neu; York Times and other newspapers.
He complained that the Herald Examiner implicated the university as an institution that used athletes to gain sports prominence and discarded them after their eligibility expired.
The headline for the Herald Examiner's storv read, "USC: Guilty on athletes; Official report finds academically deficient admitted, then 'cast aside.' "
In the story’, Mark Schorr and Michael Schroeder, both Herald Examiner staff writers, wrote, ". . . university officials, more concerned with performance on the field than in the classroom, had allowed athletes with marginal academic motivations and abilities ... to drift through the curriculum and, once athletic eligibility is used up, to cast them aside with neither a degree nor much hope of attaining one.'
Perrv said the story, quoting from the report, implied that the university was more at fault than other colleges. "There's absolutely no question in any rational person's mind that these are introductory comments as it relates to intercollegiate athletics throughout the country, and vet. the Herald Examiner opted to take that out of context
and make a headline statement that the president is saying that this is a practice at the University of Southern California."
The report, issued by university President James H. Zumberge, summarized the academic conduct, admission, advisement and counseling of student-athletes, as described in the reports of three ad hoc committees.
In the report's introduction, Zumberge listed five major weaknesses of collegiate sports in general, adding that "some of these weaknesses have been prevalent at USC." Schorr and Schroeder quoted material explaining one of the weaknesses.
Schorr wrote. "Unless Dr. Zumberge knows specifically about other schools, the school that he's speaking specifically about is his school.
"That (the university) is where the three committees studied the problem and while he (Zumberge) may be able to generally say it happened at other universities, the one that, obviously, he would be most knowledgeable about would be USC."
Perry said the Herald Examiner overemphasized the report. "There was nothing new in that report, and yet that report has been described in the Herald Examiner by (its) reporters as a second scandal."
The report, rather, was a personal review bv Zumberge of three in-house investigative committees and their findings. Pern' said.
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(M% trojan
Volume LXXXIX, Number 31
University of Southern California
Wednesday, October 29, 1980
Senate funds almost spent without approval
By Craig Gima
Assistant City Editor
Money to renovate student senate offices would have been spent without the formal approval of the senate if chairman Rick Wacula had not resigned in earlv September.
The $9,000 renovation was approved by the 12-member senate cabinet during the summer. Six senators sit on the cabinet, while the other half consists of the appointed chairmen of senate committees. During the summer, however, the cabinet has the full powers of the entire senate.
Original plans called for the renovation to be finished before the senate's first meeting this fall. If those plans had gone through, the money for the renovations would have been spent before the entire senate could have approved the allocation. Because of Wacula's resignation, however, the plans were postponed.
The allocation was broken down and estimated this way: carpeting, $3,000; office directories, $1,000; and office furniture, $4,(XX) to $6,000.
The senate cabinet usually does not have money to allocate during the summer. The senate had funds available, however, because money earmarked for hiring a consultant was not used. Because of that, the cabinet had 511,000 left over.
The money, derived from programming fees, could have been added to the senate's budget this vear, but the senate cabinet decided to spend the money on the renovation.
In a meeting on Oct. 15, student senators unanimously expressed support for the renovations. The senators did not question the cabinet's actions.
Tim Dickens, a Row senator and a member of the cabinet, said there might be instances where the cabinet should not act without senate approval. Dickens said the cabinet's action was not unethical "because it was discussed informally and the people did not object to it."
"Why it was done like that, I don't know. It was just one of those exceptions to the rule I suppose," Dickens said.
Julie Matsushima, a Row senator, who substituted on the cabinet for Monica Townsend, said memos were sent to all senators informing them of the cabinet's action.
"If there had been any questions, I would assume that the senators would have taken the initiative to write back or something," Matsushima said. She also said that although the senate took no action on the matter, discussions were held on the renovation before the senate adjourned for the summer.
Collete Benton, senate chairman, defended the role of the cabi-
(Continued on page 9)
College utility taxes may be cut
By Roger Gray
Assistant City Editor
The Los Angeles City Council is considering a tax proposal that could save the universitv $500,000.
A measure to exempt the university from the city's utility use tax is currently under study by the city's chief administrative officer, and in two or three weeks will be considered by the finance and revenue committee of the city council, said Charles Britton, deputy to Councilman Marvin Braude.
The proposal would exempt colleges, universities and hospitals. from the use tax, calculated as a percentage of utility bills. Water and power for example, are taxed at 10 percent while phone bills have a slightly lesser rate.
Individual consumers pay the tax, though most are probably unaware of it, a phone company spokesman said. If the university can gain the exemption, it will save "well over half a million dollars," said Paula Thomas, director of administra-
tive services.
However, as utility costs rise, the tax the university would have to pay would rise, so savings could be even greater in the future, she added The measure is "going to have a hard time," Britton said, though Thomas said the university has received "positive feedback" from city council members.
As the measure now stands, colleges, universities and hospi-(Continued on page 7)
Staff photo by Kenneth Lewis
SILENT VIGIL —Bruce Maxwell, a graduate student, participates in the Hillel House's attempt to halt the growth of anti-Semitism through a 10-minute silent vigil. See story page 9