Daily m Trojan
University of Southern California
Vol. LXVII, No. 38
Los Angeles, California
Thursday, November 7, 1974
PAC approves tuition increase, calendar reform
"HARE KRISHNA, HARE KRISHNA"—Followers of the Hare Krishna faith performed songs and chants in Alumni Park Wednesday. The three-year-old daughters of the followers passed out orange slices and cards
inviting spectators to their local headquarters. They explained that by reciting these chants, an individual can enter into a relationship with Krishna, their supreme being. DT photo by Mike Martinez.
SUBCOMMITTEE INVENTORY
Administrative cost study set
BY STEVE HAWKINS
A Faculty Senate subcommittee will devote most of the next two years to studying an inventory of administrative costs at the university.
In the last five years, administrative costs have risen from$21/2 million to $4^2 million. The Inventory Subcommittee will determine if the increase is merited. said Milton G. Holmen. chairman of the Committee on University Administration.
In addition to the Inventory Subcommittee, the Committee on University Administration includes subcommittees on the method of selecting new ad-
Dorm food OK’d after health check
A reported case of food poisoning in Birnkrant Dining Hall prompted county health officials to check university food facilities early in October.
An investigator for the sanitation office of the county Department of Public Health who looked into the case gave the university a clean bill of health, said Ken Bridges, director of food services.
Nancy Townsene. a Birnkrant resident, was diagnosed by her doctor as having signs of food poisoning after she ate some beef stew in the dining hall. She was given medication by the doctor. who later asked the department of health to investigate.
“There were 455 servings of beef stew that night. This was the only case of food poisoning. If the stew was rancid there would have been many more cases reported.” Bridges, said.
Towsene’s father was contacted by the university. He was concerned about the reported food poisoning, but didn’t plan to take any legal action the university, Bridges said.
The county Health Department makes routine checks of large food service centers such as those here every 30 to 60 days.
ministrators and the evaluation of present administrators.
Holmen said the Committee on Universitv Administration is mainly concerned about the inventory. and will devote 90% of its time to the financial study.
The Inventory Subcommittee will determine the effectiveness of administrative costs through analysis of data supplied by the Budget Office.
Holmen said the subcommittee will collaborate with the administration to determine a financial analysis of the administration's needs.
The subcommittee will consider a planning model, which reflects the actual and anticipated costs, and an external comparison model, which compares administrative costs at this university with those of a similar institution elsewhere.
The subcommittee may conduct cross-comparisons of similar departmentsorschools atthe university to determine if any areas are under-budgeted.
The committee may find some administrative areas are being overbudgeted. Holmen said.
The Inventory Subcommittee will attempt to determine whether the amount of money spent to run an administrative office pays off in academic excellence in the university, he said.
Administrative costs include running an office, materials and supplies, expense accounts, and salaries, he said.
When the subcommittee concludes its study, it will make a recommendation to President John R. Hubbard. It may also inform the Faculty Senate ofthis recommendation, which may then make its own resolution. Any decisions will rest with President Hubbard, Holmen said.
The Inventory Subcommittee is also concerned with overcentralization of the university. Holmen said some decisions made at the administrative level should possibly be delegated to faculty or other staff members.
Although the format of the administration evaluation program has been approved, plans
for implementing the program have not been drafted yet.
The Evaluation Subcommittee must decide who will evaluate each administrator and when the evaluations will take place.
Three Faculty Senate representatives and three administrative representatives will meet Nov. 14 to make specific recommendations on implementing the evaluations.
The committee is satisfied with the method of selecting new administrators, Holmen said. The Faculty Senate has at least one representative on each of the university’s nine search committees.
These search committees create an applicant pool, screen applicants, and make recommendations to President Hubbard whenever an administrative position is open.
BV MARJIE LAMBERT
Associate Editor
The President's Advisory Council voted Wednesday to forward recommendations for a tuition hike consistent with the raise in the Consumer Price Index and for a change in the academic calendar to an early-semester system.
The recommendations of the Resource Management and Planning Committee and the Commission on Calendar Reform will now be sent to President John R. Hubbard and the Board ofTrustees.
The majority report of the Resource Committee, which was approved by a 43-25 vote, called for an increase in tuition for 1975-76 equal to the rise in the Consumer Price Index, up to 13%, for the calendar year 1974 in the Los Angeles area.
A motion to substitute the minority report of the committee, which a recommended a 10% tuition hike, was defeated by a 37-29 vote.
The Consumer Price Index for the last 12 months is now at 12.4% for the Los Angeles area, and could top 13% by Dec. 31.
A 13% tuition increase would cost students in most schools an additional $380; a 10% increase would raise tuition $290 to $3,200.
Split Vote
The vote was mostly split along student faculty lines, although a few members of the faculty and staff voted with the students for the minority report.
Most of the discussion concerned the relevance ofthe Consumer Price Index to the university, as the index is applicable only to urban wage earners and clerical workers.
Students rate Social Sciences favorably
BV STEPHEN SASS
Students in the Division of Social Sciences and Communication are generally happy with the instruction they are receiving and feel that class size makes little difference in the way instructors do their jobs.
These areamongthe resultsofa standardized student evaluation of instructors conducted by the division during the 1973-74 academic year.
Each faculty member ofthe division was required to distribute the evaluation form. More than 1.000 students were surveyed.
The form consisted of 16 questions, each with a five-point rating scale, one being the highest.
The mean response for instructors for the past two semesters was 1.85. This showed the instruction to be above average.
Donald J. Lewis, dean, said the response to the item that asked students about the quality ofthe instructors themselves was, in general, one ofthe highest-ranked items. The question that asked if the instructor knew his subject matter received the highest rating.
The questions concerning tests received consistently lower ratings than the rest ofthe items. Low ratings were given both to the adequacy and fairness of the tests as well as to the way the tests were explained and justified.
Academic challenge ofthe subject matter also ranked consistently lower than other items. In general, students did not find the subject matter to be as challenging as they would like. However, the mean ranking remained above 3.0. which is defined as average throughout
the survey.
Faculty members who were given the special merit increases during the past fiscal year were singled out and their overall score as a group was compared to the mean ofthe division as a whole. Those who received the increases scored significantly higher than the rest ofthe
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Students were opposed to using the index, but faculty said that that particular index was the only one there was.
Allan Mathies, interim dean of the School of Medicine and chairman ofthe committee, also presented reports recommending a retroactive 5% pay increase forthe teaching assistants, and a report on faculty and staff compensation. but there was no time for the reports to be voted on.
An additional meeting will probably be scheduled for early next week, in order that the Finance Committee ofthe Board of Trustees can have the council’s recommendations by its mid-November meeting.
Compensation Pool
The resource committee voted Tuesday night to recommend a change in the compensation pool as close as possible to the increase in the Consumer Price Index, not to exceed 13%.
If there are not sufficient funds to generate the 13% amount, the committee recommended that increased income from all sources and internalized savings from units other than student aid make up the difference.
This pool would be used to provide merit increases, cost-of-living increases and equalization of salaries.
The council also voted to recommend a change in the calendar to an early semester system, with only five dissenting votes.
Under an early semester system. which would not go into effect before 1976-77, the fall semester would begin around Sept. 8 and run for 14 weeks, with finals ending by Dec. 23.
The spring semester would start around Jan. 20 or on the Monday closest to the day when the surrounding community colleges began their finals period.
The spring semester would run for 14 to 15 weeks, with a week for Easter vacation. Finals would be over in mid-May.
Attrition increase
The basic concern expressed with the change was a possible increase in attrition over the long break between semesters. Other colleges which have switched to this system have experienced attrition ranging from 0% to 4%.
The calendar commission suggested setting aside a reserve fund of $500,000 to make up for lost tuition payments ifthe attrition increased by 2%.
It also suggested increased recruitment efforts for mid-year transfers from junior colleges to make up for any loss due to increased attrition.
The Faculty Senate was polled on this matter prior to the meeting and responded favorably to the change by a 62-16 margin.
The subject had been under consideration by various bodies for about seven years, but this was the first time such an action was taken by a university-wide body.