university of southern California los angeles, California
Professors express dissatisfaction with administration policies
Meeting will discuss details of six student government proposals
By Marc Groothaert
“Professors of USC unite!”
To many, this is an unlikely battle cry in a school that has often been referred to as “Tranquility University”. Yet, there are rumblings heard among the masses and the stage may be set for a faculty-administration conflict.
One indication of the discontent among faculty members is a letter by Spencer Pollard, professor of economics and vice-chairman of the University Committee on Faculty Tenure and Privileges. The letter was printed in the February issue of the Faculty Newsletter and was titled “Justice and the Spitzer Report.”
The Spitzer Report should really be called the Report on Faculty Load. It was prepared by a team of 12 professors under the chairmanship of William G. Spitzer, dean of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. It was approved in March, 1972, and its implementation began in September, 1972.
The report established a formula whereby each faculty person could prepare his own profile stating his expected division of effort among teaching, research, university service and community service in terms of percentage. This -was to ensure that those who did less of one thing but more of another could still receive good merit ratings, salary increases and promotions.
According to Pollard, the
new system has developed its own injustices. He charges that in some cases the report was applied retroactively and that some professors were being unfairly judged on past performance.
Pollard goes on to say that no system of appeals has been set up so that a professor, if unhappy with his teaching load, cannot have a hearing. Pollard contends that a hearing is a professor’s legal right.
Under the present system, President Hubbard has the final say in any faculty dispute.
John Mohr, professor of biology, illustrates the communication problem when he says: “On Oct. 12, 1972, I sought deanly attention on a matter; however, by Feb. 10, 1973, on inquiry, I learned nothing had been done. On a larger and more touchy matter I asked for a presidential audience beginning June 9,1972. About Jan. 9this year I was granted an audience but no action was taken.”
What then are possible solutions? Pollard proposes several alternatives. One of these would be that the university hire an ombudsman, but Pollard fears that it may already be too late for that solution to be effective since too many problems have accumulated and no one would risk accepting the position.
Another choice would be outside arbitration. All discontinued on page 3)
SCULPTURE PLANS—A sculpture publicizing the Semester of the Arts program is being erected on the lawn of Founders Hall. Gary Lloyd, the sculptor, says the structure will use concrete discs each weigh-
ing more than a ton. An overlay of the plans suggests what the final form of the creation will be. DT photo by Michael Sedano.
Super sculpture being built to publicize Semester of the Arts
No one seems to know what is being built on the lawn between the Administration Building and Founders Hall.
The artist will not ever know until it is completely finished.
The sculpture, designed by Gary Lloyd, will be built this week and will be on display next week. It is being constructed here to publicize the Semester of the Arts.
Semester of the Arts is a 16-unit interdisciplinary program offered in comparative literature. It is designed to integrate nonprofessional undergraduate studies in the fields of fine arts, architecture, drama, cinema, dance, literature, music and aesthetics.
The materials being used in the sculpture are concrete disks, waxed blocks, a tree, logs and ropes. Most of the men working on it are not students here, although some students have put in time cutting wood, digging holes and lifting the disks.
The weight of the finished product will exceed 7,500 pounds. Each of the cement blocks weighs a ton.
Lloyd said this sculpture is typical of his work. “I try to make them a bit wrong, then I have something to repair,” he said.
Everything is planned out in technology, said Lloyd. He said he doesn’t like to know what he will have beforehand.
“My work is not abstract,” Lloyd said. “It is made of real things, and about what will really happen.”
The finished product will stand, but it will
need repair, said Lloyd.
After it is on display, the parts of the disassembled sculpture will go back where they were found, unless the university decides to keep it permanently.
Lloyd said he is enjoying himself
immensely.
other plans did not have enough commuter representation. “Some proposals were half-fake. They were put on just to fill out space,” said Flanagan. “We don’t want another ASSC, but we want something with greater representation to commuters.”
Flanagan bases much of his commuter representation argument on the large
number of USC student commuters. He said they comprise 47% of the undergraduates and 85% of graduate
students.
The series of meetings, open to all students, were called by the university’s Student Affairs Division for the purpose of resolving the problems faced by a general student organization.
Open forum in SAC to examine Daily Trojan
The Daily Trojan will be the topic of an open forum to be held today in Student Activities Center 204 from noon to 1 p.m.
The editor and staff members of the paper will be present to answer questions about the paper and discuss with its readers what they like or dislike about it.
“It’s a good paper, from all the technical aspects,” said Bernard Beck, editor, “but there are still some areas in which we can provide better service to the campus. Our readers are going to have to help us.”
A questionnaire on the Daily Trojan will be distributed this week in several classes. The survey, to be conducted by members of the Public Relations Student Society of America, is designed to measure reader response to all aspects of the paper. Results of the survey will be summarized and published next week.
TROJAN CHORALE—A sunny day brought forth the members of Trojan Chorale to sing for the campus from the steps of the Administration Building. The student group has been well received by audiences and critics in performances on and off campus.
Students who last week selected six student government proposals for a May 1 referendum, will discuss the details and implementations tonight at 7 p.m. on the second floor of the Student Activities Center.
However, tonight’s meeting may feature a note of discord. Some members of the student group have expressed disenchantment with the manner in which the six proposals were selected to last week’s meeting.
Joe Flanagan, chairman of the Commuter Students, and Steve Zimmerman, vice-chairman, think that their organization has not been adequately represented in the meetings. Last week the two students presented a governance proposal that was rejected by the other students.
“We are interested in representation that we’ve never had before,” said Flanagan. “We would like other commuters to show up at the meeting.”
Flanagan claimed that the