Trojan
University of Southern California
Volume LXVI, Number 16_Los Angeles, California_	Tuesday, October 9, 1973
Caucus Studies Representation
Women Organize Center
The new Women's Center at the campus YWCA will be a source of information to serve the women of the USC community.
The organizational meeting ofthe center brought together approximately 50 women who voiced their ideas on what the center should offer.
Jane Wheatley, executive director, said, "Our primary purpose is to become a re-
source center where information about women’s activities, services, studies and interests can be pooled systematically and made available to all in the form of referrals, by phone or in person.
"Additional programming may also develop involving shared leadership with other campus groups."
Student Government Issue Remains Unsolved
BY BOB EVANS
Staff Writer
(Editor's note: This is the first of a series of articles on the problem of student governance—its history, the issues involved. and the steps that are being taken to resolve it.)
More than a year since the last elected student government ground to a halt, stu-
dents and the university are still wrestling with the problem of student governance.
The student referendum voted on last spring, and intended to resolve the problem, has apparently only raised more questions.
Students voted for a Voluntary Student Association (VSA) that bv definition can-
Financial Aid Policy Linked to Admissions
BY PETER WONG
Managing Editor
Because the admission of the brightest, most talented students was one of USC’s major concerns under its Master Plan of the 1960s. the availability of financial aid was also a top priority, too.
Although tuition in 1961 was only $900 a year, compared with S2.700 currently, most officials recognized that if USC students w ere to represent a wide range of economic, geographical and racial backgrounds, the university would have to assist those most in need of financial aid—no matter w hat tuition was.
A REPORT TO the University Planning Commission, the group appointed by President Norman Topping in 1958 to develop the Master Plan, described the need for student financial aid as it related to admissions policies.
The report. Student Life and St udent Services. 1966-80. issued in March. 1967. said:
“For a university to assure itselfof a student body w hich
is capable of profiting from its program, it must find ways to enable students from many walks of life to enroll, as ability and potential in young people are not distributed according to the socioeconomic level of their families.
"THE PROVISION of a financial aid program for students whose financial resources fall short of meeting the costs of private higher education affirms the belief that qualities sought in students are to be found in every social, racial and economic level of society.
"When possible, students should be accepted for college-level study on the quality of their achievement, their future promise, and their character.
“Financial assistance to those w ho have problems in meeting educational costs should be a next consideration.”
HOWEVER until 1961. USC did not even have an office to administer financial assistance.	(Continued on page 5)
not be a student government, at least in the traditional
sense.
AND WHILE the 436 students who voted for the VSA plan approved its provision for a voluntary student programming fee. more than 600 students voted for proposals that didn't call for a voluntary fee.
So. while students disagree among themselves and with the administration, about just what the referendum results establish, the
(Continued on page 2)
The Student Caucus will consider backing a subcommittee proposal that calls for changes in student representation on the University Council, at its meeting Wednesday at noon in the Student Activities Center.
The caucus will also consider a request from President John R. Hubbard that it assess student opinion and recommend how7 the student governance problem should be handled.
The subcommittee proposal is aimed chiefly at increasing representation of undergraduate students, who hold only three of the 19 student seats on the council. It would increase the number of seats by eight.
THE SLBCOMMITTEEE recommends representation through living and interest groups, while graduate students would continue to be represented by academic units.
The proposal answers three student criticisms of the council—that there aren't enough student members, that undergraduates are underrepresented, and that undergraduates do not identify with the academic units through which they are elected.
If the Student Caucus approves the subcommittee proposal, it will be recommended for adoption by the full University Council.
The caucus will decide at its meeting whether or not it will act on Hubbard’s request to develop a recom-
mendation requesting student opinion on governance.
HUBBARD made the request at a meeting of the University Council's executive committeee last week.
"I asked that the caucus call in the members of various student organizations to discuss the situation and, hopefully, come up with a recommendation that would represent as broad a student consensus as possible,” Hubbard said in an interview.
(Continued on page 2)
Food Price Cut Takes Effect Today
A decrease in the price of food served in the Commons building takes effect today.
Fourteen items have been reduced in cost by an average of five cents. Ken Bridges, director of Food Services, cited a decrease in wholesale costs as the reason for the lower prices.
SOME FISH items, however, have been slightly raised in price.
Phase IV federal price regulations require retailers to analyze their prices in relation to wholesale prices quarterly, but Bridges said that campus food costs will be reviewed more often, probably every two weeks, in order to pass savings on to the students.
He predicts a continued reduction in prices.
It’s a Dog’s Life
Because of the proliferation of dogs at the university and the recent student fad of taking a canine to class, it would seem the animals are secure in their campus social status.
Not so—there are still even more social barriers yet to be breached. Due to a state
health ordinance forbidding the presence of dogs in a food establishment, this lonely animal was tethered by its master to a nearby door at the entrance to the Grill.
According to its collar, the dog is registered to F A. Treffinger of Bel Air. DT photo by Danny Alaimo.