Daily @® Troian
Vol. LXVI, No. 123
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California
Thursday, May 9, 1974
FIRING UP—A jewelry craftsman uses a gas torch to create his wares at the Funkee Junque Faire in Alumni Park. The faire, which brings together an assemblage
Plan links LAS improvement to other programs
BY PETER WONG
Editor
The strategy for USC’s centennial fund-raising campaign is clear —to use the strength ofthe professional schools to build the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.
This may be a disappointment to those in the liberal arts who believe their disciplines collectively should be the exclusive focus ofthe university’s second major development drive in two decades.
After the accomplishments under the Master Plan for Enterprise and Excellence in Education announced in May, 1961. in which graduate and professional programs benefited greatly, their academic units deserve attention, they say.
The academic plan adopted by the Board of Trustees in April, 1970—A Priority for the 70s—encouraged these expectations in that the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, the Graduate School and the University Library would get special attention.
In fall, 1969, after he became vice-president and provost, John R. Hubbard told the faculty:
“I believe we can never be a really distinguished university without a really distinguished College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and Graduate School to go along with the fine professional schools with which we are blessed.”
But in nearly four years of Hubbard’s presidency (he took over from Norman Topping in August, 1970), the strategy for development in the 1970s has changed—though Hubbard has pledged that his commitment to improving the liberal arts has not.
The interlocking elements of the new strategy for 1980 were presented at the 15th annual trustees’ conference in Santa Barbara. (Topping’s Master Plan, incidentally, was developed at the first trustees’ conference, also there.)
The presentations stressed the relationships between the professional schools and the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, opportunities for interdisciplinary research programs, and development of the academic environment.
Why this approach?
.. The academic master plan is more than a strategy for building upon the present strength of the university; it is a strategy for building USC’s academic program as a model for higher education,” a statement issued at the conference says.
“In the latter part of this century, universities will have to bring traditionally separate disciplines together to solve the problems man will face. The problems facing society simply cannot be tackled by narrow specialists trained in the traditional disciplines. “
“New disciplines will necessarily emerge to address themsleves to complex problems.”
Deans and faculty in elected academic units were asked to make presentations to the trustees in four sections. , 4. ,
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4!
of all types of artisans, continues today from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (See story on page 6.) DT photo by Dave Sonoda.
Affirmative Action: women are dissatisfied with law’s effects
Caucus did not approve fees as DT reported
The Student Caucus did not approve mandatory fees as indicated in Tuesday’s Daily
A
Trojan. The caucus recommended a constitution for a mandatory-fee-based government to the executive committee of the President’s Advisory Council, to be approved by students if they choose such a government in a referendum later this month. *_ J
BY LINDA CIRIGLIANO
Staff Writer
In 1971, the government stepped directly into the women’s rights issue.
It threatened universities with the loss of millions of dollars in federal contracts if discrimination in employing women was not ended.
It seemed at the time that the struggle for equal employment rights was over.
But between 1971 and 1973, women at USC became disillusioned as their status deteriorated, despite the new law.
The 1971 law demanded affirmative action in employing women.
“Affirmative action is the opposite of benign neutrality,” said Barbara M. Pearson, director of the university’s Equal Employment Opportunity Office and Affirmative Action Program.
“Under affirmative action, the government says you can no longer quietly fill job openings. Instead, universities must advertise available jobs to attract a pool of qualified candidates, and must go out of their way to look for and hire qualified women and minorities.”
In 1968, the phrase affirmative action first became a part of law, when universities receiving more than $50,000 in federal contracts were warned by Executive Order 11246 that they could lose their contracts if they did not follow affirmative action policies to end discrimination in hiring racial minorities.
In 1971, an amendment to that order required universities to follow affirmative-action policies in the hiring of women.
Affirmative action guidelines, which are set by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance of the
U.S. Department of Labor, do not stop with hiring, though.
They state that once hired, women must receive the same promotions, salaries and fringe benefits as similarly employed men.
Universities are required to inform the government of how they are planning to correct discrimination and how long it will take before women will be working on an equal basis with men.
In recent years, the university has received approximately $30 million annually in federal contracts, and so it has been obligated by federal law to improve the status of its women employees through affirmative action policies.
Slight improvement
But between 1971 and 1973, the status of women as administrators and faculty and staff members improved only slightly in some areas, and actually deteriorated in others.
In 1971, to comply with federal law, the university hired Pearson, whose job is to act as a liaison between the government and the university in making sure that affirmative action policies are made and carried out.
Pearson had worked for the university in 1969 and 1970. when she was called in to help draw up the university’s first successful affirmative-action report.
In 1969, Pearson said, "Things had gotten rather crucial. Two of the university’s big government contracts were delayed, and USC found it had been put on a list of ineligible contractors because its 1969 affirmative-action report had been rejected by the Department of Health. Education and Welfare.
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USC tries to become cultural center of LA
BY MIKE MEYER
The renovation and revitalization of the Shrine Auditorium will be the first visible accomplishment in the development of the USC area as a major cultural and intellectual center.
The auditorium could become the home of a new Los Angeles opera company, an exhibit center or the site of many attractive and unusual shops.
Donald L. Pyke, coordinator of academic planning, said the improvement of the Shrine Auditorium is just one phase of a project that the administration hopes will make the university one of the most attractive culture centers in the world.
The Hoover Redevelopment Project, the building of the Hilton Hotel, and the construction
of new performing arts theaters on campus are other innovations that are being planned. These are expected to become realities within five to 10 years.
Pyke said one of the major objectives of the culture center project is to get the entire Los Angeles community involved, as well as persons associated with the university.
“We want to make this area an exciting place to live—so exciting that nearly all students and faculty will want to live here, and the place will not be deserted as of 5 p.m. each Friday,” Pyke said.
Pyke said he hopes to see the building of art galleries, new book stores, libraries and new facilities in which the university and non-university groups could stage opera and drama produc-
tions, as well as lectures and discussions.
"Wre would also like to see scholarly and professional societies relocate in this area to further stimulate the cultural influence. Once things like this
get started, the groups involved tend to feed off each other, and more and more people become attracted,” he said.
Pyke said one of the primary concerns of the project is that it
hurts nobody in the surrounding area.
“We absolutely do not want to give the people of the commun-
ity the feeling that we are trying to take over or swallow them up, because we don't plan to do that.
“We want people in the direct yicinity to benefit from the project as much as the people of USC, even if the benefit is some-thing as small as increased safety on the streets at night,” Pyke said.
He expects the development of supplementary business enterprises in the area, in addition to the centers of cultural activity:
He said he would like to make the area available for people of the community to come and spend an entire day here, and this would emphasize the need for coffee shops, restaurants and various types of stores and shops.
Zohrab A. Kaprielian, vice-president of academic planning
and research, said. “We need to develop the environemtnt at USC. There is a vast cultural vacuum in Los Angeles, and we definitely need to develop something of a permanent nature in the center of the city.” Kaprielian feels the university is obligated to provide its students with more than simply a teacher and a chalkboard.
"We want to make USC a cultural attraction that all tourists automatically want to see when they come to Los Angeles.” Grant Beglarian, dean of the School of Performing Arts, believes USC can become the cultural and intellectual headquarters of central Los Angeles.
“With the improvements in the neighborhood, such as the Hoover Redevelopment Project.
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