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Minority Meeting Scheduled
\__________
A meeting for minority students will be held in the Student Activities Center today from 3 to 5
p.m.
The program will feature an introduction by Gloria Myklebust, director of student services, as well as talks on financial-aid information, the role of minority students in the classroom and minority student life on campus.
All students are invited.
_____________________________y
Trojan
University of Southern California
Vol. LXVI, No. 9	* Los Angeles, California	Thursday, September 27, 1973
Student Caucus Creates Panels
Some Freshmen Write Poorly, Study Shows
BY MIKE RUNZLER
Assistant Feature Editor
A recent survey of freshman writing ability has shown that inadequacy is prevalent in both the average high school graduate and the incoming college student. and that USC is no exception.
In the survey, the word "illiterate” was defined as the inability to write two unified sentences on the same subject correctly.
THE KATES SURVEY of College Freshman Composition Writing surveyed nearly 500 first-semester freshmen
at 11 Southern California colleges, including USC.
If the class sampled here last year can be said to be representative of any English 101 section, it can be concluded that 27% of the first-semester freshmen here are below average in their writing ability, and $}/z% write at the level of an “imbecile.” as one English 101 teaching assistant put it.
When asked how people with such a low level of writing ability can get into USC. Dean of Admissions Conrad F. Wredberg replied. “That's a good question.”
He explianed that the Scholastic Aptitude Tests used to test writing ability but no longer do so. Currently, the SAT includes only a reading comprehension test.
WEDBERG SAID one
would think this lack of ability would be reflected in a student's high-school transcript. but perhaps an English teacher gave the stu-
dent a higher grade to do him a favor.
In defending the university’s admissions policy. Wedberg said, "Any person that comes here would be very good.”
Then how do these poorer students gain admission? “I just don't know the answer,” he said.
THE STUDENTS were tested and analyzed in four areas—content, organization, mechanics and sentence structure, including diction.
Surprisingly, the tests showed overall that six out of every hundred students in freshman English courses were illiterate.
FOURTEEN PERCENT of the students in the sample were almost illiterate. This meant that they stood less than a 50% chance of passing their writing courses.
The papers were graded on a 1 to 9 scale, with a score of 1 being the lowest, and 9 the equivalent of an "A” grade.
(Continued on page 2)
The Student Caucus of the University Council created two subcommittees Wednesday to review issues it considers of major concern.
One subcommittee will develop ideas on the size and distribution of student membership on the council, while the other will develop a position on the student role in the council—and on where the student caucus stands in relation to student governance.
ALTHOUGH THE caucus has taken no position so far in those areas, many of its members have indicated their feeling that the present number of student seats on the council is not adequate.
The 87-member council is composed of 44 faculty. 19 students, and 24 deans and staff members.
Student councilors are also concerned about the
distribution of the student seats, 16 of which are held by graduate students, while undergraduates hold only three. The caucus hopes to develop a proposal for a mechanism that would guarantee more undergraduate representation.
MEANWHILE, the sub committee on the student role in the Council will be mainly concerned with the issue of student governance, since no student government exists. The status of the Voluntary Student Association proposal is in question, and the role of the Student Caucus has yet to be spelled out.
The caucus has never been charged with acting as a student government, although it is the only body elected by students to advise the president and represent the students in university affairs.
CAREER COUNSELING
Center Offers Job Aid
BY JULIE BECKLUND
The Career Planning and Placement Center offers many valuable services for students interested in part or full-time career-oriented employment.
Five full-time and four part-time staff members are employed at the center in Bruce Hall.
CAREER COUNSELORS are available to advise the student of what preparations
to make to obtain his desired career goal.
Some career areas require tests which must be taken this fall for jobs offered to June graduates. This is especially pertinent for students interested in government employment.
“You've got to start thinking early even if you're graduating in June,” said Acting Director Carl Her-rigner. “Our biggest problem is that we can’t stress how important it is for students to come to us as early as possible.”
AMONG ITS MANY
services, the placement center prints a schedule of organizations, graduate schools and government agencies which recruit on campus. The lists are printed every two weeks.
They are divided into the areas of accounting, business, liberal arts and en-
(Continued on page 2)
Grad Student Dies Of Unknown Cause
Andrew Michael Frehm. a second-year graduate student in education, died Wednesday in his Apartment Tower residence between 11 a.m. and noon.
Antonio Lorea, Los Angeles Council coroner investigator, said an autopsy is pending.
"I don't know exactly what happened yet. but he had a hemophiliac (disease of uncontrollable bleeding) identification card." he said.
"THERE W ERE no external wounds. Right now we are lacking an extensive medical history.”
Los Angeles Police Department detectives said Mr. Frehm, 27, had been ill for some time and had a history of internal hemorrhaging.
The detectives said they found medication prescribed by two different physicians in his apartment and that a possible accidental drug overdose might be involved.
Mr. Frehm was a resident of Port Chester, N.YT.
NOON MUSIC—A relaxed audience watches Gentlehood, the first performers in the Noon Concert series, at the
Student Activities Center patio. See story on page 5. DT photos by Gehrig Ikeda.