RECORDS SOUGHT FOR CAMPUS LIBRARY
Former student requests files on university from CIA
By Robin Oto
SUfT Writer
Files on the university with the Central Intelligence Agency have been requested under the Freedom of Information Act by Daniel Brandt, a former student.
The files include any contractual arrangements or agreements or any other relationships between the CIA and the university.
Brandt, who wants to give the files to a university library, needs letters of endorsement from university groups to waive the processing fee of approximately $500 that the CIA charges for compiling the information.
In order to waive the fee, the CIA must have evidence that the request for the files is on behalf of the public interest or a public group.
Individuals, as well as groups, can support the information request, and Brandt hopes to have enough endorsements to begin processing the application within one month.
Documents would arrive within six months.
Although anyone can request the CIA files on the university, Brandt wants to be the sole sponsor of the request in order to keep control of the complicated legal aspects in processing the request.
Under the Privacy Act, names and any other information the
CIA feels are sensitive can be deleted from the files before they are made public.
The deleted information may be obtained through a series of appeals to the CIA and the federal courts, a process that Brandt said he is especially qualified to handle.
“You have to do it stage by stage — I don’t trust any campus group to be persistent and do it intelligently enough to get the maximum amount of information. The way I'm doing it will result in getting the most information from the CIA," Brandt said.
An administrative appeal to the CIA is first filed, but if officials still refuse to disclose the deleted information, a federal judge will decide if the material should be released under the Freedom of Information Act.
The process can take almost two years, and if the case is not properly presented in the early administrative appeal phase, it could make a weak case in court.
Brandt said most individuals or groups do not have the ability or time to follow the appeals over a long period of time.
“You have to make sure you do everything right. With USC, especially, it’s very important to do this thing right because if you don't, the first mistake you make gives the CIA an excuse to hold the information back.
“The CIA is not too enthusiastic about having this stuff exposed, and they will try to weasel out of it,” Brandt said.
Brandt originally approached the religion department to cosponsor the request for information.
But Brandt said he became disenchanted when the department voted to drop Brandt’s name and support the issue on
By Mike Schroeder
SUff Writer
When Steve Nuccio was approached by his wife to sell a book of tickets for a fund-raising drawing sponsored by the Wo-
its own initiative.
At a meeting last week, Robert Orr, chairman of the department, said the religion faculty decided not to take a stand on what they felt was a political, not an academic, issue.
The issue was not in legitimate faculty interest because none of the faculty members were involved in research work concerning the CIA, Orr said.
men’s Athletic Department, he asked what the prize was.
“A Mercedes Benz 450-SL,” his wife answered.
“We need one of those,” he answered. “Why don’t we buy the book?”
He proceeded to give Beverly,' his wife, $10 for the tickets, which may have been the best investment Nuccio will ever make.
In a drawing held April 16, one of his 11 tickets was drawn by Rod Dedeaux, baseball coach, to end the six-month effort to raise funds for the university’s women’s athletics program.
But it certainly took time for Nuccio to find out about the big win.
He and his wife were out all day Sunday visiting with his wife’s parents. Representatives of the Women’s Trojan Club, sponsor of the drawing, attempted to reach Nuccio at the same time.
Sam Tsagalakis, an alumnus and friend of the family who heard Nuccio’s name called at the drawing during the USC-celebrity baseball game, put in a call to Nuccio’s parents to joke about their son winning the car. Unfortunately, the winner’s parents didn’t have any idea of what Tsagalakis was talking about.
“He (Tsagalakis) ribbed my parents for about two minutes — but they didn’t have any idea what was going on,” Nuccio said. “When they found out, they really came unglued.”
“There’s a difference between research and political activity. Danny was asking for political activity and we felt it was inappropriate,” Orr said.
“The mood of our meeting w‘as certainly not one of criticizing Danny. We were simply talking about what was an appropriate departmental role and what was not,” he said.
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Nuccio’s parents were finally able to locate the winner. Upon hearing the news, Nuccio “was flabbergasted. I couldn’t even remember what kind of car it was,” he said.
“We drove home in a daze. When we got home, I started calling people and telling them about it — but all I got was people calling us names.” They evidently thought he was kidding.
“I finally realized that all I had was second-hand information — I couldn’t be sure whether we won or not. So I stopped calling,” Nuccio said.
He couldn’t get in touch with anyone at the university that night, and when he got up the next morning, he still couldn’t believe it.
“I asked my wife to tell me what happened the day before, just to be sure I wasn’t dreaming,” he said.
After trying to get through to some official source at the university, Nuccio finally was given the official news by Alyce Evert, president of the Women’s Trojan Club.
The Mercedes was delivered that afternoon but Nuccio still could hardly believe he won. He was also slightly disappointed.
“The car isn’t cardinal and gold like I had always thought,” he said. “It’s actually red, with a black interior.”
Nuccio plans to remedy that situation with a gold pin-stripe on the car’s exterior.
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Housing list revised to comply with privacy act
Students alleging violation of the Buckley Amendment bythe Office of Residential Life have prompted a revision of the priority list for fall housing.
The housing list posted April 20 included both the names and social security numbers of students requesting housing in the fall.
By posting the names along with the social security numbers, students felt their rights of privacy under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (the Buckley amendment), were being violated. Such information, they claimed, could be made public only upon consent of the student.
Complaints to Sharon Kettler, residential assignment coordinator, and Robert Mannes, dean for student life, initiated a revision of the list. Students’ names were removed from the list Friday, leaving the social security numbers as the only identification.
"Since the students complained we didn’t see any real reason to keep the names on the list. The names were of no use to us, so we decided to avoid the issue and remove the names,” said James Appleton, vice-president of Student Affairs, who approved the change.
Appleton did not feel the information given on the lists was in violation of the Buckley amendment but said it may be interpreted differently by law.
Hans Reichl. director of Residential Life, said the university was advised by legal sources to omit the names to avoid any complications.
Daily w Trojan
University of Southern California
Volume LXXIII, Number 47	Los Angeles, California	Tuesday, April 25, 1978
Campus Security officers charged at forum with racism, poor training
By Pamela Samuels
Staff Writer
Security officers were charged with racism and lack of training during a forum attended Friday by community leaders, campus security officers and students.
Marnesba Tackett, a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference said her organization had received several complaints from students, community people and university employees about racist behavior of security officers.
She said she talked to Anthony Lazzaro, vice-president of business affairs, and President John R. Hubbard about the problem but nothing had been done about it.
Tackett said she blames the university for not training security officers and that the university hires a majority of white officers in a community that is predominantly black and chicano.
“. . .This university has appeared through the years as a white oasis in a black desert,” she said.
Russ Peterson, president of the Security Officers Assn., stressed that better hiring practices are needed and that officers should receive extensive training.
Charles Robb, a security officer who is on suspension as a result of his appearance on the KABC-TV Crime on Campus series, also agreed that
training was needed. When questioned about racist activities by the officers, Robb said, “It gets down to the level of our supervisors and they actually suggest that these things happen.”
Robb said officers told him they “ ‘were going to go out and get some niggers’ or they ‘were going to go out and get some greasers.’ ”
Michael Bland, a black ex-security officer who was thought by other officers to be Armenian or Jewish, talked about the racist activities he witnessed.
“They are not police officers, they do not have police power, they are only security officers,” Bland said. “The university is not a closed structure that has signs posted that if you come on to this campus after a given hour you are trespassing.” He said Campus Security administrators, such as John Lechner, former director of Campus Security, James Bowie, Campus Security chief, and Capt. Burke, gave directives that blacks would be stopped if they were on the campus after sundown.
Bland said that during training he was told “niggers don’t walk this campus after sundown unless they are students. Niggers don’t walk 28th Street after sundown, where sorority and fraternity Row is, unless they belong there. And if they’re black they still don’t have any business there.”
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Alumnus ‘needs’ new Mercedes, buys $10 ticket book, wins car from drawing
SPIDERS FOR SALE—Susan Gove, right, offers a hanging plant for the inspection of Marjorie Gayle and Ingrid Williams, left. Proceeds from the plant will go
toward the Student Activities Center. The booth is located at University Avenue and Childs Way and will be operating through Friday. DT photo by Paul Rodriguez.