Daily
Vol. LXVI, No. 68
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California
Controversial report on tenure to face debate
Friday, February 8, 1974
WALTER KARABIAN
’59 ASSC president runs for state office
BY STEVE HESS
Assistant City Editor
The date is Friday, April 17. 1959.
It’s student election day at USC. Nearly 2,500 students out of an enrollment of 6.000 will go to the polls to vote for a student body president.
The top contender for the prestigious position had laid his beliefs on the line the previous day.
A story written by then editor of the Daily Trojan and now part-time faculty member, Joe Saltzman, quoted the candidate, “At the present time I feel that USC student government is in a deep state of depression and it will take emergency action if anything is going to be accomplished.”
That statement could have been made by nearly any student today, but in 1959 it was made by Walter Karabian.
For those unfamiliar with the name, “Wally,” as his school-day chums call him, is now in his fourth term as a California State Assemblyman from Monterey Park.
And he hasn’t stopped running for office since he left college.
Karabian is now raising money to campaign for the Democratic party’s nomination for secretary' of state, a position that he announced he was running for yesterday.
In a press conference at the Los Angeles Press Club, the 35-year-old Los Angeles lawyer said he regarded the secretary of state as one of the most important public officials in California.
“As chief elections officer, the secretary maintains oversight of the political campaigns and contributions, a task whose relevance to the public interest scarcely needs emphasis these days,” Karabian said.
In 1959. Karabian carried 62r4 of the vote His most recent assembly victory netted him 607r. "I’ve got the best chance for the
nod of any Democrat so far,” said Karabian.
One of the youngest men ever elected to the legislature at 28. Karabian is a USC alumnus in the truest sense. He also graduated from the law school here in 1963.
In four short years he went from a law school student to deputy district attorney and then to a seat on the California legislature.
Being one of the youngest on the assembly would seem to hinder a candidate when it comes to
raising money for a campaign, but Karabian has kept close ties with his fellow USC graduates.
“Many of my friends from USC contribute to my ability to raise funds,” Karabian said in an interview before his press confer-
(Continued on page 9)
If you thought that was Colonel Hogan from Hogan's Heroes you saw running and shouting around Doheny Library yesterday, you were not mistaken.
It was Bob Crane, and the running and shouting he was doing was for a TV pilot. Second Chance, a comedy directed by Jackie Cooper.
The show is about a middle-aged insurance executive who gives up his $75,000-a-year practice and goes back to medical school.
Cooper said that about 22 hours of filming would be done on campus over two days, roughly 207r ofthe screen time of the pilot.
Nearly 70 actors, crew and extras worked on the filming around Doheny Library. Filming will continue today on the football practice field.
DT photos by Bob Chavez.
BY PETER WONG
Editor
A report on the university’s tenure and promotion policies that has been termed perhaps the most explosive issue of this year will be discussed at two important forums in the next few days.
It will be the topic of an all-day meeting of the Faculty Senate scheduled for Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Faculty Center.
It will also be given a preliminary examination by the President's Advisory Council, the new name for the University Council. Monday at 3:30 p.m. in Town and Gown Foyer.
The report, prepared by a task force appointed in October, 1972, by the Advisory Committee on Academic Planning, is divided into six parts.
The 12-member force was headed by Scott H. Bice, associate dean of the Law Center.
A subcommittee ofthe campus chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) has prepared an analysis of the report. It will be discussed Saturday, too.
Not all the recommendations made in the report are controversial but those that are will be debated at length.
The first part of the report summarizes and evaluates the debate in American universities about the tenure system.
It recommends that USC experiment with a system of fixed-term, renewable contracts for faculty members in certain academic units.
This recommendation is certain to be criticized by faculty members who say that despite its faults, the tenure system is better than the alternatives.
Another part of the report discusses the problem of steady-state staffing, which assumes that the expansion ofthe faculty
JACKIE COOPER
duringthe 1960s will not occur in the next decade.
Suggested strategies for academic units include tenure quotas, scholar exchange programs, lengthening of the probationary period for nontenured faculty and early retirement.
A third part examines the three basic criteria used to determine whether a faculty member is granted tenure and whether he is promoted —teaching, scholarly research and publication, and service.
It urges a clarification of such criteria.
It also suggests that faculty members primarily engaged in
teaching and service—but not research—be given fixed-term, renewable contracts.
The 58-page report also asks that the steps and procedures in the appointment and promotion of faculty members be made more systematic.
It urges continuing career counseling for faculty members so that they are able to develop their professional potential.
Finally, the report analyzes the relationships of these suggested policies to statements by the AAUP.
It recognizes the incompatibility of some of the proposals with the AAUP statements.
Staff women make job recommendation
The administrative and staff Women's Caucus has issued a memo recommending that all university supervisors grant permission to all employees under their immediate supervision to investigate other job possibilities without first receiving written permission for a transfer.
The caucus, which is holding an open meeting at noon today in Edison Auditorium, believes the current policy discourages inquiries regarding open positions because a request for a transfer could create problems in the supervisor-employee relationship.
The memo states that in cases where there is an opportunity for promotion, the current policy could be viewed as a detriment to the university’s affirmative action program.
Barbara Pearson, director of Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action, said the proposed action will give women and minorities a better chance for upward mobility.
The proposal will take effect in each department or school as soon as the memo is signed by the supervisors involved.
Revisions in the university’s equal-opportunity employment policy include requiring a preemployment audit of affirmative action hiring before an academic vacancy may be filled.
Under this policy, a request form must be submitted by the dean or director of a department or school to the appropriate vice-president before recruiting applicants for a specified position.
After the request is approved, the position must be advertised through as many media as possible.
“What it does is broaden the recruiting base,” Pearson said. “When there’s a job available, the guys call their buddies and ask them to recommend a bright young man. We need to let everyone have a chance.”
The preemployment audit has been approved and will take effect as soon as a request form is developed.
Bob Crane: hero in TV filming
BOB CRANE