Daily ip Trojan
Volume LXVIII, No. 28
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California
Friday, October 24, 1975
Foreign language interest still high here despite national trend
By Justin Fox
staff writer
A national survey shows that student interest in a foreign language has decreased, but at USC, which still has a language requirement, the number of students enrolled in language has not changed significantly.
Enrollment in French and German has remained the same, while it has increased in Italian and Spanish.
The question of why some have increased and others have not remains unanswered.
Juanita Mantovani, assistant dean of student affairs, said that the total number of students taking foreign languages has increased over the last year, but some departments said that they wouldn’t know for sure if there was an increase or not until the number of units paid for has been counted.
Mantovani said some students have realized that there is more to learning a language than memorizing lists of vocabulary. Also, students are becoming more aware of the different ways languages are being taught.
“Students are realizing that a language is not as
useless a subject as they used to think,” Mantovani said.
Students are becoming more concerned to find some relationship between what they are studying now and what they will be doing 10 years from now, she said. A foreign language can be part of their concern.
She said students are becoming more practical now. Many are taking foreign languages in addition to their majors, thinking that they are preparing themselves for a wider job market when they finish college.
However, Carl Herringer, director of career services, said that though a foreign language may be considered an asset, it doesn’t necessarily increase a persons marketability for international jobs.
“We have gotten word that a number of government agencies are looking for people with a background in economics,” he said. “But the government thinks that it can teach people a language quick enough, and that a university background in a foreign language isn’t all that valuable.
(continued on page 9)
Blackout on Row causes disturbance
New director tries to correct aid problems
By Dorothy Reinhold
staff writer
The Student Aid Office is continuing its mopping-up operation on what the office’s new director, Michael J. Scarpelli, hopes will be the last of this semester’s inaccurately determined financial aid packages.
Scarpelli arrived Sept. 29 to face what some administrators admitted was an ineffective and problem-ridden office.
He said his office has spent the past weeks “clearing up the registration fiasco. When many students want to pay their fee bills, the Business Office had no record of their financial aid award, even though the student had received an award letter.
“Often it’s a matter of playing detective. The student’s file or financial aid application had been misfiled or directed to the wrong office, and we just have to put a trace on it until we find it,” Scarpelli said.
The Student Aid Office has a history of foul-ups that created serious problems for many students, especially those whose enrollment at the university depended on a specific amount of financial aid.
William G. Wagner, special assistant to the president for academic record services, said the main cause of the problems was the fact that the office did not keep its records properly under its former director.
Scarpelli said the past problems of the office are not a concern to him. He said beside trying to correct the remaining aid packages, he has spent the past four weeks meeting the people he must work with in his office and the Admissions, Registrar and Business Offices.
Scarpelli said in addition to his other problems, his office was faced with an Oct. 17 deadline for the university’s request to the federal government for financial aid in the form of college work study, Federally Insured
Student Loans and Supplementary Educational Opportunity Grants for the next academic year.
“Usually the groundwork on this application is done during the late summer months. This year nothing was done by the time I got here, so we had to do a rush job. But it means millions of dollars to the university, so we got it done,” he said.
The office also formulated an entirely new aid application for incoming freshmen, which will be due Jan. 31.
He said the scholarship evaluation system that will be used is the college scholarship service— a standardized form used by many universities that includes a parents’ confidential statement and a students’ financial statement.
In addition to those documents, applicants for university aid must fill out a university application, which Scarpelli said will basically request biographical and demographical information.
All applicants for university aid must apply for a California State Scholarship (Dec. 6 is the deadline for new applicants) and a Basic Educational Opportunity Grant (applications available immediately).
Scarpelli said the aid office is also looking for more people who might be eligible for a work-study award.
Many of those students who were originally offered jobs under the work-study program did not take them, and there is an excess of work-study positions and funds available.
“Any student who wants a job and has a financial aid application on file in our office merely has to write his request on a piece of paper and submit it to me, and we will try to put that student to work within 24 hours,” Scarpelli said.
By Nancy Babka
staff writer
A disturbance on the Row during a power failure late Wednesday night resulted in the Los Angeles Police Department declaring an unlawful assembly, but no arrests or serious injuries occured.
John Lechner, director of Campus Security and Parking Operations, said that at 11:15 p.m., when the blackout occurred, between 300 and 400 persons gathered on 28th Street.
Lechner said, “Many of the people—they were mostly Row residents, I assume—started shooting off firecrackers, sky rockets and cherry bombs, and driving in the street without headlights.
“That, with the high winds (which caused the power failure), caused a fire hazard.
“Eleven LAPD units answered a call from the Row area. I assume the call was from a citizen. Campus Security also notified Dean Mannes, (dean for student life) who chose to accompany us to the scene,” he said.
Lechner said that, because of the fire hazard presented, LAPD declared the group of people to be engaged in an unlawful assembly and told them to disperse. The group then dispersed, and no arrests were made.
Bystanders said some people received minor burns from sparks from sky rockets, but Lechner said that no injuries were reported
to Campus Security.
Sgt. Richard Koskelin, ofthe LAPD said that the police received
a call about midnight.
“We received a complaint about excessive noise, and a claim of
(continued on poge 9)
A DOG'S LIFE—An ebony-colored canine warily sniffs a tidbit offered by Fay Shultz, a senior in architecture. While Shultz relaxed next to the Sidewalk Cafe Thursday under clear and windy skies, temperatures in Los
Angeles basin reached the mid-70s. Winds of 20 to 30 miles per hour were forecast for today, according to the National Weather Service. DT photo by Bob Selan.
.j&r .
DISTURBANCE—Los Angeles Police Department officers declared an unlawful assembly on the Row late Wednesday night where between 300 and 400 persons gathered a power failure. No serious in-
■«<-:
juries or arrests occured during the blackout, which was reportedly caused by high winds. DT photo by Alan D. Zanger.