Service clubs’ special seating privileges cut
By Galen Gruman
Staff Writer Student service organizations, such as the Knights and Squires, will not receive special seating for football games in accordance with a Student Senate resolution passed Friday.
Service organization members will have to disperse their members throughout the student section instead of in prime seating. The resolution, passed with a 13-1-1 vote, said such dispersion would "effectively aid in crowd control."
The Squires and Knights in the past have received about 300 seats in the area between the 15- and 40-yard lines. The Phrateres, a women's service group, were given about 60 seats in exchange for coupons, behind the band, between the 40- and 50-yard lines. This has caused controversy because many feel such organizations should not expect privileges for volunteer services.
A memo to the senate from Paula Tripp, a senator from the dorms, said the Phrateres "really did not provide any necessary function" and further stated that their only ongoing responsibility, painting stunt cards "was eliminated halfway through the season." Such services, if they returned, could be performed by other organizations, the memo said.
Other concerns were that the best seats at football games would be dominated by members of fraternities and sororities.
The resolution also said the number of people needed to provide services at games, such as crowd control, ID checking and card stunts, would be determined prior to the games, and twice that number of tickets would be distributed.
There had been discussion about not giving an extra ticket to each member working at the game, but the senators decided it would be unfair to have these students sit alone during the game.
Other services to be provided that were listed in the resolution were pom pom distribution at UCLA, Notre Dame and Homecoming games, and checking ticket stubs.
The senate based its resolution on a random survey done of 1% of the student body. The survey showed that almost three-fourths of the students believed the groups should receive special privileges, but only 8.4% felt that they should get the benefits they currently receive.
Eightv-three per cent of those polled felt the service group members should only receive privileges if they actually worked at the games, but 8.4% again felt these should not be (Continued on page 9)
“OZ” FACES AT BOVARD — Ray Bolger (left)	swt photo by w«yn» Lavin*
reacts with surprise to the scream of Margaret Bovard Auditorium celebrating “Wizard of Oz Day” Hamilton (superimposed in this photograph) at Friday. See story page 7.
trojan
Volume LXXXVIII, Number 24 University of Southern California	Monday March 10, 1980
Athletic academic adviser resigns
By Richard Bonin
Associate Investigations Editor
Richard Perry, athletic director, accepted Jeff Birren's resignation Friday as academic coordinator for the athletic department.
Birren had advised 34 football players, most of them on 1979's Rose Bowl team, to enroll in speech communication courses that they would not
have to attend to receive credit.
"Mr. Birren's resignation reflected his concern for the nature of the current publicity involving the academic aspects of the athletic department and its negative impact on his ability to fulfill his responsibilities to that department," Perry said in a prepared statement.
The Daily Trojan reported last week that Birren, who served as academic coordinator for two and a half years, would announce his resignation on Friday.
"Through our conversations we both concurred that Jeff had exercised poor judgment in the conduct of his responsibilities," Perry said. "I (Continued on page 9)
Debate squad seeks funding
By Richard Bonin
Associate Investigations Editor The university's debate team, already struggling to weather sagging morale in the wake of their coach's forced resignation, has encountered yet another setback. The team has spent all but $650 of its original $13,800 appropriation, according to Kelli Sager, debate squad captain.
John DeBross, debate team coach since 1963, was forced to resign three weeks ago, in part, for attempting to give football players credit for classes they did not attend.
To hmsh out the season, with its national ranking at stake, the squad will need an additional $9,000, Sager said. Most of the money is needed to meet travelling expenses.
Last week, several competitors, unable to finance their own way, were forced to miss a contest in Arizona.
The team has asked John Schutz, dean of social sciences, for the extra money.
Sager said $3,500 is usually set aside for extra expenses in case the team advances to national finals, and that DeBross used to donate $3,000 to $4,000 of his own money. The comr bined total of $6,500 to $7,500 was sufficient to meet the team's financial requirements in the past. But with DeBross gone, "he won't contribute that money," Sager said.
"That's why we're asking for $9,000 — the $3,500 that is usually set aside plus the money that Mr. DeBross used to provide out of his own pocket." The difference is for inflation, she said.
John Marburger, dean of the College of the Letters, Arts and Sciences, said the amount requested for the remainder of the year is consistent with previous years. "In fact," he said,
"I would recommend that it be permanently added (to the debate team budget)."
During the last fiscal year (July 1, 1978 to June 30, 1979), the squad was awarded an extra $7,600, raising its total annual appropriation to about $20,000, said Paul Moore, asso-(Continued on page 9)
EFFECTS OF PROPOSITION 9
Prof feels bill will aid state economy
By Susan Pedersen
Assistant City Editor
Proposition 9, the controversial tax initiative otherwise known as Jarvis II, has been likened to the cautious theme of Jaws II: "just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water...."
But according to Art Laffer, university economics professor and a chief proponent of the initiative, the water is fine.
The proposition, should it pass this June, would cut state income taxes by almost 50%, and opponents say that the resulting reduction in state tax revenues would threaten a variety of services, including money for state-supported schools and financial aid programs.
However, Laffer believes that this will not necessarily happen and that it would be "stretching it" to say there is a connection between the tax cut and state spending.
. "I don't think there’s a rational link between the two," he said. Instead, Laffer says that tax initiatives such as Propositions 9 and
13 are merely used as excuses to justify cuts in spending. He believes that there is plenty of money in the state surplus to cover any loss in revenue that would necessitate spending cuts.
Should Proposition 9 pass, the total loss in state income tax revenues could total as much as $4.9 billion in fiscal year 1980-81 (a 257c cut), an estimated $4.2 billion in fiscal year 1981-82, and undetermined amounts thereafter.
While Laffer does not say that these figures are inaccurate, he believes that the combination of state surplus and increased spending by taxpayers will offset the losses in revenue.
Laffer, known for his controversial economic theory, the "Laffer Curve," strongly believes that the tax cuts will lead to a boom in economic growth for the state.
According to his theory, a decrease in taxes will produce more spending money for taxpayers, and in turn will be spent and dis-
(Continued on page 2)
Southern university impeaches newspaper editor
By Paul Escobar
Staff Writer
The editor of a Southern university newspaper is in danger of losing his job for conducting investigations of National Collegiate Athletic Association football players who, after breaking the law and being fined, were assisted by their athletic department.
The Student Senate at Mississippi State University impeached Michael J. Dillon, edi-
Story on football scandal called ‘biased’
tor-in-chief of the Reflector, last week for "biased coverage" in a payoff scandal involving two members of the university's football team.
The Daily Trojan has been carrying on its own NCAA rule violations investigations for the past several months.
I^ast Monday, Dillon wrote a story of a football player who,
while coaching a little league baseball team during the summer, attacked one of the players who later had to go to the hospital and receive stiches. James Otis Doss, the football player, was booked on assault and battery by the Starkville Police Department, but was later released after being fined $50. According to the article, a
graduate assistant for football players, paid the fee from a slush fund within the athletic department.
Dillon said the fund originated from revenues of concession stands used by the athletic department during football games.
At first the athletic department denied the existence of
the concession stands, but then insisted that they had closed the stands over a year ago, Dillon said.
In the same article, Dillon wrote of another football player and All-American,Tyrone Keys, who did not receive his grades because he had run up campus traffic violations totaling over $500. However, an "academic assistant" paid the fine from
(Continued on page 6)