FAVORITISM OR RACISM?
Staff cites systematic discrimination in admissions
‘El Rodeo’
The 1979 El Rodeo will be available from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today in a trailer in front of the Student Union building. Students must have an El Rodeo coupon from an activity book in order to receive a yearbook.
The trailer will remain open Monday through Friday as long as the supply lasts.
$ trojan
University of Southern California Volume LXXVI, Number 61 ,	Wednesday. May 16, 1979
By Teresa Watanabe Some call it favoritism. Others call it racism. Whatever the label, many students and staff members believe it infests the Office of Admissions, permeating admissions decisions, personnel practices and the student recruitment process.
Black and chicano students have protested the admission of white students over minorities with higher grade point averages and test scores. The administration said these are exceptional cases made in the best interests of the university and students. But some staff and former staff members believe it occurs more often than suspected and represents a systematic discrimination against minority applicants.
"I wasn't around that long, but long enough to see a pattern," said Benjamin Wade, a former financial aid evaluator
Teresa Watanabe, a Daily Trojan staff writer, is a junior in journalism and East Asian languages and culture.
who also recruited students for the admissions office.
An assistant director in the Office of Admissions believed there were probably "hundreds" of such cases, which an examination of admissions records would reveal. Jay Berger, director of the Office of Admissions, refused access to the records, calling it inappropriate.
Judy Mayes, a college adviser at Los Angeles High School, agreed there were
apparent inconsistencies in admissions standards. Mayes cited as examples a Latino student and a Jamaican student with grade point averages of 3.2 who were both rejected. Although their Scholastic Aptitude Test scores were low, it was no indication of the students' potential because English was not their native language, Mayes said. She pointed this out to Berger who then admitted the Jamaican, she said.
"I don't believe USC should be a feeder school for Los Angeles but I feel there should be some consistency in our knowing what their rules are," Mayes said.
Mayes and a group of other inner-city school counselors met with Berger and James Jones, director of Student Administrative Services, to discuss what they believed were discrepancies in admissions standards. They also discussed the problem of lost applications and the financial aid policy, Mayes said.
"Berger and Jones said they would look into it but this year I have not seen an appreciable change in the things we were complaining about," she said. "Perhaps it takes time."
Inconsistencies also exist in admissions standards to the Freshman Access Program, staff members said. The program, which admits "high-potential" students who do not meet regular admissions standards, is often used to insure that wealthy students with normally unacceptable grades are admitted here, they said.
The list of students admitted to the Freshman Access Program as of March, ‘ 1979, shows that the overwhelming majority of white students had not requested financial aid, although about 60% of all university students do.
The grade point averages of minority students in the program were generally higher. Staff members believe if these students were white they would have been admitted under regular admissions.
Berger pointed out that since the SAT scores of the minority students were lower, it "balanced out." He also said it was coincidental that the majority of white students in the program had not requested financial aid. He maintained that color or wealth were not factors in admissions decisions.
"People don't believe this, but we are not trying to reject anyone," he said. "Color has no bearing at all on who is admitted."
But staff members in the admissions office have been occasionally pressured to admit normally unacceptable students of wealthy parents. An assistant director said he once told a student with very low grades and test scores that he had "no
chance" of being admitted. An hour later, he said, he received a phone call from an irate administrator who said, -"Why did you tell that kid he had no chance? Do you know who his parents are?"
Personnel practices have been said to put two senior assistant directors on the bottom of the staff hierarchy. One is black, the other is chicano.
Bobbie Rodgers, senior assistant director, came here in 1970. She was the first female recruiter and one of the first of two minority recruiters for the university. She has extensive experience in counseling minority, low-income and "wayward-type" youths, including five years in Watts and five years at the Los Angeles Job Corps Center.
Armand Reynolds, second in seniority, graduated from the university in 1959. He came to work here in 1974 with 15 years of management experience. He said he is the only assistant director with management experience.
Reynolds said he recruits at more schools and has been cited in a survey of incoming freshmen twice as often as any other assistant director as the reason why students chose to attend the university. To do this kind of job, Reynolds said he works until late at night and often on weekends.
As of last June, Reynolds was the lowest paid among ten assistant directors, he said. He may still be. "I do know he (Berger) brings in inexperienced Anglos (continual on page II)
University decides to halt northward growth
By John Frith
Staff Writer
The university apparently has no plans to acquire land north ol Adams Boulevard to build student housing, said the director ol the Adams-Normandie redevelopment area.
The redevelopment plan was adopted by the Los Angeles City Council on May 3. It encompasses the area between Western Avenue, Adams Boulevard and the Harbor and Santa Monica Freeways.
There have been some fears on the part of community residents that the university would buy property between Vermont Avenue and the Harbor Freeway foi student housing.
"We constantly hear, 'You're in cahoots with USC,' " said Massey Herrera, project director.
A university spokesman said it has no plans to acquire land north of Adams Boulevard.
'The only land we are seeking is from willing sellers," said Guy Hubbard, executive director of Auxilliary Services.
"We intend to expand mainly
south of Adams Boulevard," he said.
Hubbard said the only plans the university has to expand are ones already announced — Portland Estates on Portland Street and Adams Boulevard, Kerckhoff Estates and an expansion of Troy Hall.
"There are no plans to build or buy at all," Hubbard said.
Herrera said the residents of the surrounding community often fear that redevelopment means the university will move in.
While this did happen in the Hoover Redevelopment Area immediately adjacent to the university, Herrera discounts the possibility.
"One of the first things they (the residents) wanted us to do was to make a study of who ow ns what. USC doesn't have much property," he said.
The city's community redevelopment agency has been active in planning the Adams-Normandie area in 1978. It began housing rehabilitation last March and expects to renovate 100 units
Faculty to determine if chairman should resign
The chairman of the President's Advisory Council has asked the faculty to determine whether he should resign as head of the university' s governance system.
David Mars, associate dean of public administration and a faculty representative to the PAC executive committee, called for the survey after the Faculty Senate voted in a special meeting not to participate further in the council.
The special meeting of the senate May 9 resulted in a call for the overhaul of the governance system, including drastic changes in the structure of the council.
In a letter sent along with the survey to 2,300 part and full-time faculty members, Mars quoted one faculty member as telling him "Your colleagues are telling you not to participate (in PAC)," at the senate meeting.
Mars said in the letter that the Faculty Senate's position on the issue was clear, but that he was not sure of the total faculty's opinion as to his position as PAC chairman. The survey was an attempt to gauge that opinion, he said.
In explaining his position, Mars said he could see the reasons for some of the faculty actions in relation to the governance issue.
Marks asked the faculty members taking part in the survey to vote as to whether he should remain the chairman of the council and stated that he would resign if a majority thought he should do so. He is presently ending the first year of a two-year term.
Mars will announce the faculty's decision at the June 1 meeting of the council based on ballots received by May 21.
Although all faculty members have been sent surveys, only full time faculty will be considered in the final tabulation.
Commuters cope with gas crunch
By Randy Oliver
Staff Writer
"The gas situation has been really inconvenient, but Americans are somewhat spoiled," said Paul Krekorian, chairman of the Commuter Student Organization. "Hopefully, it will have good consequences. It may cause consumers to cut down on consumption and make them aware of alternative transportation."
Other commuter students are less optimistic about the current shortage of gasoline. Some have missed classes because of the long gas lines, and others have been forced to change many of their driving patterns.
"Having to wait in line has been a real hassle," said Cathy King, a commuter senator. "I missed one class last week. I got up for class, but couldn't make it because of the long gas lines."
King, who lives in Santa Monica, said she has not been hurt by the odd-even gas plan.
"I have out-of-state plates, which means I can get
gas on any day," she said.l "The odd-even plan makes things easier — the lines are shorter."
King has started to carpool to help conserve gasoline.
"I have just started carpooling," she said. "Students are starting to do it more and are asking other students to join them."
Krekorian said he didn't think the number of car-pooling students has gone up.
"We have been working on a comprehensive carpool system for a year," he said. "We have a commuter computer system that has been moderately successful, but the registrar no longer lets us put information in the registration packets."
Monica Townsend, another commuter senator, said she cannot carpool because her schedule is too erratic.
"Not many people drive here from Altadena," she said. "I've stopped going back and forth to school. Now I stay on campus with friends during
(continual on page 12)