Banks refuse Iranian checks
Government to study situation
By Roger Wedberg
Staff Writer
United States banks are refusing checks from Iranian banks in response to President Carter's freeze on Iranian assets, but administrators at the university believe that this policy may be reversed soon.
The President ordered Iranian government deposits in U.S. banks frozen Nov. 14, a move that has cut the spending money of some Iranian students.
Approximately 12 checks for amounts ranging from
SI,000	to $5,000 are returned daily by the Jefferson Boulevard branch of Security Pacific National Bank, said a spokesman for the bank.
The Bank of America, University Village branch, would not comment, but Berthe Von Allmen, director of the Office of International Students and Scholars, said other banks including the Bank of America were returning checks.
“The problem is that they’re hurting a lot of innocent people,” he said.
“These people are in bad shape right now, which is unfortunate. They need to eat,'" said a Security Pacific spokesman.
Private accounts were not affected by Carter's move, which came in response to a threat by the Iranian government to withdraw its holdings from American banks.
The President's directive does not require that the free flow of funds within the Unned States be halted. Von Allmen said.
Von Allmen contacted officials in the Department of State, who then talked to the Treasury Department.
They were not aware a problem existed and she was told that Carter’s directives did not mean that the banks had to refuse the checks.
The government is now studying the situation. Von Allmen said.
The National Association for Foreign Student Affairs, which works closely with the government departments, was also working on the problem.
“Hopefully by the end of the week's directive should come down from the National Association in Washington,” said Brad Spencer, an international student’s counselor.
(Continued on page 7)
trojan
on
LJ
Staff photo by Martha Traager
THE CONQUEST GOES ON—A crowd of students gathered at the pep rally last Monday night near Tommy Trojan. The rally commenced Troy Week, the university's annual event, displaying the traditional cross-country rivalry between USC and UCLA.
Hubbard denies request for Berger investigation
By Pam Samuels
Staff Writer
The Black Student Union-MEChA coalition's request for an official investigation of Jay Berger, director of admissions, has been denied because the charges against him are too general, according to a letter submitted to the group by President John R. Hubbard.
The coalition charged Berger with racial discrimination in admission policies, and specifically, with discouraging recruitment of Afro-American and Mexican-American students from inner-city schools.
“The difficulty in responding to your letter is that it does not specify any denial or rights against individuals as a result of actions taken by Dr. Berger and thus does not represent a bonafide complaint,” said the letter, dated Nov. 16.
The coalition submitted a grievance letter to four university administrators Oct. 25 which called for an investigation of Berger and his subsequent termination as admissions director.
Copies of the letter were submitted to Hubbard, Zohrab Kaprielian, executive vice-president; James Appleton, vice-president of Student Affairs and Barbara Pearson, director of Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action.
(Continued on page 8)
Volume LXXXVII, Number 47
University of Southern California
Tuesday, November 27, 1979
Faculty Senate reaffirms stand
By Brandon Bailey
Assistant City Editor
The Faculty Senate reaffirmed its position on university governance last Wednesday in a five-point statement advocating a governance system which, unlike the President’s Advisory Council, would allow university constituencies to communicate more directly with the administration.
The senate also decided on the use of survey results gathered in a controversial evaluation of university deans last year.
In another vote, the senate also resolved to urge deans and directors to meet with their faculty and conduct a secret-ballot poll to measure faculty support for the senate's stand on faculty salaries.
That stand was taken in September, when the senate passed a resolution stating that its major goal for the academic year will be to obtain salary increases large enough to keep up with inflation
(as measured by the Consumer Price Index for the local area).
Wednesday’s statement on university governance was adopted in response to guidelines for a new governance structure, produced by an ad-hoc task force of constituency leaders. The guidelines call for a “university coordinating council” and coordinating committees with representatives drawn from faculty, staff, deans and students.
The guidelines are generally considered broad enough to allow a structure in which constituencies communicate both separately and jointly with the administration.
The statement neither endorses nor rejects the guidelines, but calls them “acceptable” provided they are interpreted as not requiring that recommendations from constituency organizations be passed through a central group before submitted to the administration.
There was some debate before
the senate voted on the five-point statement. “If you love PAC and you want PAC to continue the way it is, don’t support the motion,” said Donald Yett, professor of economics.
The senate voted unanimously in support of the resolution.
Yett has been a key figure behind the senate’s move to change the university’s governance structure. He introduced the motion passed by the senate last May which expressed dissatisfaction with faculty representation in PAC.
The guidelines for a new governance structure were produced by an ad hoc committee of constituency leaders chaired by David Mars, chairman of PAC, after the senate asked Mars to convene the task force.
The Student Senate and Staff Caucus both endorsed the guidelines. The Council of Deans (Continued on page 5)
STORY OF MEXICAN JAILS
“Gringo” — tale of a nightmare
By Carole Long
Articles Editor
"It was like a nightmare, like I was in another world and another time. I can hardly believe now that it was real.”
Four years ago Robert Miller was arrested in Mazatlan. Mexico, for possession of marijuana. He was tossed into prison and ended up spending three months behind bars without being sentenced. He was transferred to Mazatlan Civil Hospital when his left leg was crushed under a prison wall that collapsed during a hurricane. Later Miller was moved to a private hospital where, with the help of his mother, a cousin and an ex-roommate, he staged an escape by wheeichair on New Year’s Eve.
Since his sate return to the United States, Miller has appeared on Sixty Minutes and other television and radio programs, retelling his escape story. He also testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
This month, Miiler is touring coliege campuses and appearing in
the local media promoting a book that tells his story.
The book, Gringo, was written in collaboration with Fred Basten, and is available in the university bookstore as well as B. Dalton bookstores.
In testimony before the Senate committee. Miller described life in the main prison in Mazatlan, the Carcel Publico Municipal.
“The conditions there were appalling. Everyone was sick with something — from minor discomforts such as diarrhea and scabies to hepatitis, tuberculosis and typhoid.” Miller told the Senate committee.
“Everything costs money in a Mexican jail and most the American prisoners relied on money from home in order to live. If you don't want to sleep among bodies and rats on the crowded cement of the prison yard, you can purchase a cot. But you must also buy a space to put the cot. If that space is protected from the heat and rain, it will cost more.
“The charge to buy a key to the toilet is Sl6 and is is $8 to make a
collect telephone call,” Miller said.
Also in his testimony to the committee. Miller told of the inef-ficacy of the American consulate in Mexico and criticized the Mexican drug law about which he said, “young amateurs are being used as pawns in a political chess game.”
In an interview with the Daily Trojan, Miller said that since 1969 the United States has been pressuring Mexico to stop narcotics smuggling. Mexico responded by instituting a new law in 1974, sentencing anyone found in possession of narcotics to a minimum of five years and three months in jail.
There is no differentiation now between being caught with a marijuana joint or 35 kilos of heroin. It is only important to the federales (the Mexican police) that they arrest Americans so they have statistical proof that they are stopping smuggling. “Americans become numbers in a game."
(Continued on page 6)
CAT HOUSE—This lost kitten, who was found near the row and fed and tended to, seems to have taken literally the adage, “If the shoe fits. . •
Staff photo by Mark Sticht