Daily ||p Trojan
University of Southern California
Vol. LXVI, No. 122	Los Angeles, California	Wednesday, May 8, 1974
Caucus votes its approval of mandatory fees
BY MIKE MEYER
A constitution for a form of student government which requires payment of programming fees was adopted Tuesday afternoon by the Student Caucus.
The caucus also discussed bal-loting procedures for this month's election, endorsed a plan for a new academic calendar. and endorsed the student lobby for independent colleges.
All student nominations to university committees were approved. and a possible increase in stipends for teaching assistants was proposed.
Before the constitution was approved, there was considerable discussion and debate over its wording.
Several changes were made when caucus members pointed out inconsistencies in the language of the constitution.
Joe Flanagan, a member of the Student Caucus and Student Programming Board, presented the objections of the board, which discussed the constitution Thursday night.
The constitution will be forwarded to the executive committee of the President’s Advisory Council for approval. If approved. it will be submitted to the full council and then to President John R. Hubbard.
The students will have the opportunity for final ratification, probably during registration week of the fall semester.
One caucus member suggested that the provisions of the constitution go into effect one month after its final acceptance.
Arrangements were made for the balloting procedures to be used in the student programming fees election, to be held later this month.
Although no specific date for the election was announced.
ballots will probably be mailed, Connie Seinfeld, Student Caucus chairman, said.
The voting was originally scheduled to be on campus, but Seinfeld said voting by mail would be less expensive and would probably guarantee a higher return of ballots.
The election is to decide whether students prefer mandatory or voluntary programming fees.
The caucus unanimously endorsed the student lobby for independent colleges, and caucus members said they hope to be able to send student representatives to Sacramento to lobby for financial-aid measures.
The lobby will attempt to protect the current State Scholarship and Fellowship Programs, and will try to make state financial aid easier to obtain for students who do not have them.
The caucus voted in favor of the 4-x-4 academic calendar plan, which would provide an optional interim period of experimental study and collaboration on academic projects between the fall and spring semesters.
The recommendation, which advocates ending the fall semester before Christmas vacation, will be submitted to the executive council of the President’s Advisory Council for consideration.
A proposal by Charles Benjamin, graduate student representative of the Student Caucus, to increase salaries of graduate-student teaching assistants was debated. It was decided the matter would be postponed.
The caucus members believe the issue needs further investigation. and it would be best to wait until a stronger argument can be presented.
DIRECT DIALING—Children learn to use the telephone at the day-care center sponsored by Project Small Fry. Volunteers staff the center from 5:30 a.m. to
COUNTY ADMINISTRATORS
Six disciplined
Six Los Angeles County hospital administrators have been disciplined for failing to crack down on an ambulance-chasing ring that operated at County-USC Medical Center.
The ring’s activities were disclosed in March in a series of articles in the Los Angeles Times.
Members of the ring, who operated as volunteers for a bogus charitable organization called the Friends ofthe Friendless, sought out auto-accident victims and signed them up with lawyers while distributing free cigarettes, candy and toiletries in the medical center’s orthopaedic wards.
For 18 months, high-level administrators knew of the ring’s actions, but failed to take decisive action until confronted by Times reporters.
The administrators, Leslie R. Smith, Aaron Lohr and Clara Haines, were demoted and reprimanded.
All three had held key executive posts at the medical center during the period in which Friends of the Friendless operated.
The disciplinary action was ordered by Liston A. Witherilll, health services director, who is also under fire for his handling of the affair.
He has been criticized by members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and was recently denied a salary increase because of the scandal.
midnight. Plans are being made to expand the program to include care for infants. (See story on page 2.) DT photo by Gehrig Ikeda.
at med center
Reprimands were issued to the remaining administrators, Paul Drozd, John McClurg and Leta Reynolds. They were also rated as needing improvement.
Under civil-service regulations, employees given these ratings have up to six months in which to improve their performance.
During that time they are barred from regular pay raises.
Drozd, Haines and Reynolds did not comment on the action, but all six officials said they intend to draft replies to the reprimands, giving their version of the events.
Smith, who was acting regional director of the Coastal Health Services Region, was demoted to assistant to Donald Avant, who replaced him in the post.
Lohr, acting executive director of County-USC Medical Center, was moved down to his former position as administrator at General Hospital, a division of the medical center complex.
Haines, acting administrator at General Hospital. was demoted to her previous post of associate administrator.
The reprimands, charging them with lax management practices or poor judgment, will become permanent parts of each administrator’s personnel file.
rBY MARJIE LAMBERT
City Editor
Connie Seinfeld, chairman of the Student Caucus, is an apparent contradiction.
While she disllikes the title chairperson and requests that people refer to her as chairman, she adheres to one ofthe major principles of women's liberation by refusing to let her husband pay for most of her living expenses.
She has been elected chairman of the caucus at a time when politics is a dirty word, yet she is almost naive on the subject.
She is passionately devoted to her causes, but worries constantly about whether she will have enough time for each.
These causes are many and don't seem to be on any priority list—the StudentCaucus and the President’s Advisory Council, the mathematics department where she is a graduate student, her husband, the newly formed Independent California College and University Students Association and the National Student Lobby.
She would like to believe any person can obtain a political of-
Caucus chairman devoted to causes
fice without political manipulation.
But she’s not sure.
“I'm going to have to develop some political sophistication,”
CONNIE SEINFELD
she says. First, she says she has to learn to recognize political activity, and second, she wants to learn to do it herself.
Basically, however, she doesn't want to get too involved in politics of the liberal-conservative type. “I have to stay out of politics,” she says. “I go to too many fund-raising dinners for schools where the trustees are conservative.”
But she’s interested. She considers voting for Jerry Waldie or Baxter Ward in the Democratic primary, doesn’t vocalize any objections to their philosophies, but decides a vote for either would be wasted because of their low poll standings.
She seems to settle on Bob Moretti, agreeing he is almost blatantly political in the worst sense of the word, but adding that he gets things done.
When Seinfeld has a strong opinion. she lets it be
known—over and over.
“Do you realize we've got one of the neatest governance systems ofthe university?” she says, after spending a weekend talking with student leaders from colleges and universities all over California.
She is very happy with the Student Caucus and the way it is working out.
But she is surprised to learn of the events that led up to the abolition ofthe ASSC Executive Council two years ago.
Seinfeld is now in her fourth year at USC—she graduated from Harvey Mudd College—and doesn’t remember anything about student government of years past.
But very gradually, she found herself getting involved. Beginning with little things, she has ended up as the closest thing USC has to a student body president.
She reiterates over and over again her pleasure with the President’s Advisory Council.
But she is unhappy with student apathy—not only toward the caucus, but the Independent
(Continued on page^
Measurements being taken for caps, gowns
Cap and gown measurements are being taken this week through Saturday in the Commons lobby.
From 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays and 8:30 a.m. to noon on Saturday, May 11, the tape measures will be getting the seniors ready for their graduation.
Caps and gowns will be issued June 5 and 6.
Payment of the total rental is required at the time measurements are taken. Of this rental fee. $5 will be refunded when the cap and gown are returned after the commencement exercises.
The charges for rental of the robes are $9.75 for bachelor's degree, $13.25 for master’s degree and $15.25 for doctor’s degrees.