Trojan saboteurs attack; UCLA rally foiled
By Julie Fosgate
associate feature editor
It was very classy, very intelligent, very clever and not at all destructive.
That’s how Gerry Mouzis, one of the conspirators, described the fake letter written last week that made the UCLA football rally something of a flop.
Greg Hillgren, a senior majoring in business, was the brains behind the stunt and recruited a handful of fellow' Knights to help him carry out the plan.
“We took some chances,” Hillgren admitted. “It worked better than we ever imagined.”
He and Mouzis described the chain of events that caused the expected attendance of 5.000 to drop to about 500.
Friday before the rally Hillgren and Bill Mitchell visited the administration building at UCLA, attempting to get a list
of dorm advisers and presidents of Greek houses.
While Hillgren tried to convince the secretary that they were working on a psychology project, Mitchell wandered into the back of the office.
It was a stockroom area and Mitchell managed to acquire a single sheet of stationery imprinted with the university letterhead.
Both left the office at that time, but Mitchell returned later that night and convinced a janitor to let him into the office.
Hillgren said Mitchell was left alone in the room and subsequently a box of envelopes and more stationery disappeared.
Over the weekend Hillgren composed the letter and Mouzis, a graduate student in journalism, did some minor editing.
“I sat down and tried to think of what I would say if I were a dean. It had to sound official,” Hillgren said.
The result was a letter addressed to resident advisers and fraternity and sorority presidents that described a plan by USC students “to disrupt and undermine the pregame rally” in front of Janss Steps.
The scheme was supposed to be “of a nature that will cause serious property damage and personal injury to those in the near vicinity.”
The letter went on to explain that B.H. Atkinson, dean of students, had postponed the rally until Wednesday, the following day.
“We knew that the Daily Bruin would be announcing the rally for Tuesday. Our biggest problem in wording the letter was convincing them (the recipients) that the Daily Bruin was full of bull,” Hillgren said.
So in closing, the communique warned that the date change should not be communicated to anyone connected with USC.
“In accordance with this, the Daily Bruin will not publicize the change of date until the Wednesday, Nov. 26, edition,” the letter concluded.
It was “signed” by Atkinson with copies indicated for the chancellor, dean of residential life and vice-chancellor in charge of student and campus activities.
The letter was typed on an IBM machine, the type usually found in university offices, to add to its official look, Mouzis said.
Monday afternoon Hillgren, Mitchell and John Moulton delivered the letters that had been offset-printed to remove any mistakes.
(continued on page 6)
Plans for Nixon library await decision on ownership of papers
By Sherie Stark
staff writer
Further plans for a Richard M. Nixon library on campus are awaiting federal decision on the ownership ofthe Nixon papers, which is due sometime this spring, Richard W. Lewis, director of academic relations, said Monday.
“Whether the papers belong to Nixon or to the government is crucial to our plans, because until the outcome of the case is reached, nothing can really be done,” Lewis said. “But we are gathering background information and making as many preliminary plans as we can.”
These include Lewis’ trips in the fall to presidential libraries throughout the country, including the Truman, Hoover, Eisenhower, Roosevelt, Kennedy and Johnson libraries.
The initial proposal for the Nixon library was announced by the former president and the university last spring. The library will house Nixon’s pre-presidential and presidential papers and the Watergate tapes. An adjoining museum with memorabilia of the First Family was also proposed.
“It would be an enormous folly to succumb to the temptation to abandon this project because of current anti-Nixon sentiment,” Lewis said.
“It seems now that this is the most incredible thing to ever happen, and it may well be, but in another five years another villain will probably come along and another focus of attention will make the public view of Nixon more objective.” he said. “What can be done w'ith the library and the timing used will depend upon the climate of public opinion to a great extent.”
Lewis said other presidents have been very unpopular at the end of their terms, and that their papers are among the most valuable in the long run because ofthe controversy surrounding their presidencies.
LOCAL RESIDENTS SURVEYED
“The library is not just built to represent the president, but to reflect the period of history in general, with persons working under him donating papers as well.”
In his trip to the Johnson library at the University of Texas in Austin (the only presidential library established at a university) Lewis brought Roy L. Kidman, university librarian, to study the role of the library in university functions.
Lewis said that the library there is used by the university socially and professionally to a great extent.
He also said that the Truman library in Independence, Mo. has about 360,000 visitors a year, and that the proposed Nixon library would be able to attract even larger numbers of people with its metropolitan facilities.
He said that under the Presidential Library Act of 1955, money to purchase the library site and to build it would have to be raised by public subscription. The finished library would then be deeded to the government, which would fund the staffing and maintenance of the library, he said. He said that the university has nothing to lose financially by the library, and a lot to gain scholastically.
Lewis said that the university was approached by a private institution last June offering to sell Nixon's law office in La Habra. The institution had bought the office and wanted the university to take over the payments, but Lewis said they had rejected the offer because of the accepted policy not to spend university money on the library.
N ixon told the Daily Trojan last year that he chose USC for his library because of the accessibility of the metropolitan area, the university’s competence as a major institution and its history of interest in international affairs. Many of the papers to be donated will deal with Nixon's activities in international relations.
USC rated highly in Field poll
A survey of Southern Californians financed by the University Relations Office shows that 20.5# ofthe people surveyed felt that the university’s quality of education is outstanding, said Leonard R. Wines, associate vice-president and executive director of university relations.
The survey also revealed that 35.8# of the people rated the university “excellent” and 29.5# rated it “pretty good.” he said.
The survey was conducted in August by the Field Research Corp., a marketing and opinion research firm.
The poll is based on the answers of 510 people w ho live in the Southern California area.
The researchers asked “how would you rate the overall qual-itv of education at USC.” Wines
said.
The same question was also asked about three other major research universities in the state. The university was ranked first in the results of the survey. Wines declined to name the other universities.
“It tells us how well we are regarded by the general public. It is not how professors feel about the quality of education.” Wines said.
"There are no perfect measures of educational qualities. What the general public feels about the job we are doing is important.
“The survey is broken down demographicallv. It tells us how the different strata in society feels about us.”
A similar survey was conducted in 1972 and the percent-
age of people who considered the university to be excellent, outstanding or pretty good rose by 4.7 percent in this year’s survey.
Wines said that the California Field Poll is conducted on a regular basis. The firm usually does research for marketing firms or political parties. Periodically they have a “Field Scope,” so that smaller organizations like the university can include questions on the regular survey at a low cost. Wines would not say how much the university spent for the poll.
President John R. Hubbard told the Trojan Family that he was delighted by the survey results, which indicate that “the very- real merit of USC is recognized by so many of our fellow California citizens.”
Bonfire cancelled as forest blaze raged
It was no-glow for the spirit-raising rally sponsored by the Trojan Knights last Tuesday night.
University of Southern California
Volume L VIII, No. 49	Los Angeles, California Tuesday, December 2, 1975
The bonfire that had been planned as part of the pre-UCLA game activities was cancelled when the Los Angeles City Fire Department refused to issue a permit for it.
Although the bonfires are usually no cause for alarm, the department felt that the fire covering the La Crescenta area of the county changed matters, said Captain Silas Clarke, a public information officer for the department.
“The fire had diluted our forces—we had 96 pieces of equipment working on it—and any chance of a fire was just too much,” he said.
“We had skeleton crews and no men available to help control another fire. Besides, we were afraid that the sight of more smoke in the area would frighten the surrounding community.”
Dwayne Foster, president of the Knights, said a bonfire would just have added to the smoke already covering the city and probably wouldn’t have helped raise spirits much in that case.
Meanwhile, another big bonfire was cancelled for slightly different reasons.
This time the setting was northern California—the game, Stanford University vs. UC Berkeley.
The Big Game Bonfire was a custom at Stanford until this year when environmentalists finally got the better of tradition.
They compromised, resulting in a bonfire one-tenth the usual size—a veritable weenie roast for the Cardinals.
THE FAITHFUL SUPPORTERS—In an effort to spark some spirit in the Trojan rooters, the marching band made their only entrance of the season through the Coliseum peristyle before the start of the USC-UCLA football game Friday. Despite the color and pageantry, the Trojans still lost to their crosstown rivals. DT photo by Bob Selan.
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