Volume LXXXVHI. Number 63
University of Southern California
Monday, May 12, 1980
Stan photo by Hugh Robinson
SMILE! —This fountain statue in the courtyard of Mudd Halt of Philosophy smiles patiently as water runs over it.
FOOD SERVICE EMPLOYEES
Contract amendments demanded
By Debbie Latish
Staff Writer
As the July 1 expiration date of the Food Service contract nears, employees and management appear to be on opposite sides in their views on employment policies and practices.
"The managers don't listen to us and don't care about us," said Alejandro Rivera R., shop steward for the employees, who added that several employees had their hours or positions changed for no apparent reason.
Although Rivera's job is to bring employee complaints to the attention of management,. "Alex has never come in and said anything to me since the time I've been here," said Neil Hirsh-field, general manager of the Commons since last November.
Management also denied they capriciously hire or fire employees, or they are insensitive to the needs of the employees.
"I don't think anyone should be fired on a whim and I don't think we have fired anyone without cause," said Michael McCarthy, assistant director of Auxiliary Services.
Article 2.1, the clause in the present contract that employees want changed, states in part.
"The prerogatives of management include, but are not limited to, the exclusive right to hire, promote, demote, transfer, discipline, suspend and discharge employees. . . and to determine the schedule of work and days of work."
"We think this (the article) is desirable for management in order to provide the best possible service to the university," said Milton DeGraw, director of Food Service.
"This gives the managers a lot of power," Rivera said. "We want them to explain to us why they change an employee's hours or position."
Rivera, a waiter in the President's Dining Room for 13 years, said it took him three days and a letter to Guy Hubbard, executive director of Auxiliary Services, to find out why management wanted to remove him from the dining room.
Neither Mark Archer, manager of Banquets and Catering, nor DeGraw, then manager of the Commons, would give Rivera a reason for the decision. Finally, Rivera met with Hubbard and the situation was resolved with Rivera keeping his position. DeGraw and Hubbard would not comment on why Rivera was to be removed from his position.
(Continued on page 9)
Work raises committee’s spirits
Faculty selects ‘Wine of Month’
By Roger Gray
Staff Writer
By their own admission they are the second most important committee on campus, yet few know they exist.
Five men and women gather once a month in a small room just off the main dining room of the faculty center. There they renew friendships and make a single decision that could, potentially, affect every department on campus.
At a signal from Conrad Wedberg, assistant to the vice president for government affairs, and Rosario Armato, professor of comparative literature, small clumps of committee members break off their premeeting chatter and settle into their seats. Wedberg, tapping a pen on the side of a wine glass, calls for order and opens the April meeting of USC-CLOWT.
The meeting begins quickly, for committee members are fully aware of the significance of the decision to be made: which wine deserves to be Wine of the Month in the faculty center?
Minority percentages declined under Berger
Coalition charges of discriminations found to be partially substantiated
By Galen Gruman
Staff Writer
This is the first of a two-part investigation on charges of discrimination in the admissions process.
A year ago, a Black Student Union - Movimiento Estudantil de Chicanos de Aztlan coalition charged the university admissions office discriminated against minorities.
The coalition charged in spring 1979 that black and hispanic student enrollment decreased significantly, the admissions process relied too much upon possibly discriminatory Scholastic Aptitude Test scores, admissions personnel wrote "minority" and "nonminority" on applications, two employees suffered discrimination, an administrator made radal slurs and a special admissions program favored affluent white applicants.
It demanded the resignations of James Jones, director of Student Administrative Services; Jay Berger, director of admissions; Thomas Nickell, vice president of University Affairs; and President John R. Hubbard.
The Daily Trojan began investigating the coalition's charges in December 1979.	,
Randall Craig, cochairman of the BSU, and Mercy Marquez, cochairman of MEChA, at first declined to comment on the charges or restate their grievances for the lecord. Members
_of the coalition did
comment on the charges and administrators' responses
—-Thursday.
Some of the coalition s charges may be unsubstantiated, although there may be legitimate concerns about the admissions process.
Charges focused primarily on discrimination against black students. The coalition claimed it had "documented evidence" to support its claims but has shown it to ho one.
The coalition claimed percentages of blacks and Hispanics admitted and enrolled declined in the last four years.
The number of admitted blacks did fall from 12% of the population in 1975, the year before Berger became director of admissions, to 7% in 1977, the year after his arrival, according to Office of-Institutional Studies statistics. Hispanic admissions dropped from 10% to 8%.
But percentages of blacks, Hispanics and Asians each fall remained relatively constant from 1976 to 1979.
The percentage of white students went down, accommodating a rise in foreign student admissions.
The university' has the third largest minority population in California.
The university's Hispanic and black enrollment rates, 6% and 7% respectively, are higher than the rates for the University of California system, 4.7% and 57c, a President's Advisory Council committee chaired by Robert Biller, dean of the School of Public Administration, found.
Some large private universities in the West have lower minority percentages. The University of Denver has a 3% black and 3% Hispanic population. The University of Houston's central campus has 9% black and 6% Hispanic population.
The coalition expressed concern about ethnic bias in SAT tests and the emphasis placed upon the tests in the university's admissions process.
The PAC committee in the summer of 1979 found "SAT scores appear to be less useful as predictors where language
(Continued on page
Investigation
"There is nothing frivolous about our wine tasting," Conrad Wedberg said, looking over his lunch two weeks before the April meeting of CLOWT, the faculty Committee for the Love of Wine Tasting. "The selection of wines is a responsbilitv w'e take very seriously."
Yet even as Wedberg described the gravity of the committee a sparkle came to his eye and a hint of a conspiratorial smile appeared on his lips. For if the committee takes its wine tasting seriously, it doesn't take itself seriously.
"Everything we do is in good taste," Wedberg said. "And there is more interest in our committee work than other
committees because of a consuming interest. That's a joke,
son."
During wine tasting meetings the committee follows a modified version of Robert's Rules of Order. "We allow no motions from the floor. People must be in their chairs," he said.
"Everybody thinks we get drunk," Wedberg added, suddenly concerned his jokes would be taken seriously. "We don't."
The committee was organized in the fall and "charter members were selected by the surest means possible . . . word of
(Continued on page 2)