News Scrapbooks 1977-1979

Fr day, July 6, 1979

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THE SAN DIEGO UNION

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SD Fund- aiser To Star

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(2) TH TRIBUNESa 11 Iliego~____ B_-1 Colleges stri e to slow exodus ol dropouts By JO EPH THESKE~ TRIBUNE EdUCG!.onWriter How do you keep studenl~ from dropping out of colleges and unlveJ'Slt1es? That'· a question to which San Diego educators are seeking answers. have easier access to them In d1scussmg academic or personal problems. Wedne$day, July 4, 1979

Uon m educational fund the me effect tt t here else· It sharpens th(' - mak s It a better insti- ls William L. Pickett, '1oe pres1d nt for univ r- s Pickett, who has a gher education from the of Denver, offlrially Aug. 1 Previously, he :>re tdent for umvers1ty at the University of •s competition for those tmg around, he wCI lov Few cities m the nation ny worthy cultural C'du- d rhantable mstituUons er a limited supply of s fires at the Old Globe pace MJSeum came at me th San Diego Opl'ra ng an international repu- 1 th symphony was r bull mg camp:ugn ltural n 1tutlons w re the1r efforts sharply, instltL mrs Jumped m, 'iva~e d p c unlver- taced lean tun In the - and m Callforn.a, 13 has put a tioud OV(. r I eleemosynary lnslltu-

for prtvate Lniversltlrs ent up I3.1 percent versus IS.7 percent for pub- lic. Th preV1ous year, it had been pulJUc up 17.l pcrC<'nt and private up 9.6 percent," he aid Private uni- versities 111 corral two-thirds of voluntary funds, but their leadr.rship is In danger. Last year was a watershed of sorts: Harvard, that quintPssential pri te lm,t1tutlon, was displaced at the top of the fund-rai ing race. ' The UnlverSity of California sys- ten: got $67 million, topping Han>ard's $63.5 mtllion Harvard had been the perennial leader," Haire said. There are a number of reasons for the ~ady gams of public universi- ties. One is the shift in student bod1e : "Twenty years ago, the ratio of pubhc to private enrollment was one to one - 50 per · nt publir, 50 percent private. ow It's 4 to 1 in favor of lhe publtc institutions," id Paul R \filler executive director of the Committee for Corporate Sup- port of Private Univ rsttle , o ton. Also, as fr ral an 6tat govern- ments have f It th rconomlc sq ~. "The public inst1tut1ons In th pa'>! few year have set up first clas development teams and gone Into the fund ra1Slng busin£>ss," he said :rt p I\ a universities arc gain g momentum again, said Miller, cltmg a recent poll of 292 b In s 1 aders About 82 percent favor In- creased support of private u versl tie and 37 .percent say vcm- ment support of h gher education should b reduced instead of increased "Prlv,tc Industry and pnvate universttl have a bf'Urr undl'rstanding of ch othPr's prob- I ms, uch sgovemment regulation and overregulat1011, ·said M11!Pr. (!n the last 15 years, corporations have given about '47 percent of their con- tribution dollars to education.) U D has some fl('('lal problems, Pie ell notC'd Becau Its stud nt popILation has soared 80 percent 1n

ven years, Jts alumnl aro relatively young, and contnbute only around I perrent of thf' mstltution' support, versus an average 27.9 per- cent for major private univl'rsltlcs This means that non-alumni indi- viduals (wealthy donors, etc ), foun dalions ancl corporations must pick up the slack - and thus far tht>y have been doing so In the most rer.ent year for which data are avall- ablP, businesses provided $170,000 of USD's $12 million funding and foun- dations gave $600,000. Now Pickett is looking for ways to bnng in more corporate money San Diego presents a challenge entirely differPnt from Detroit. ult will take more work to get corporate money here than in Detroit Then\ thr. strategy was to get a general chair- man out of thP. Big Three (GM, Ford, Chrysler) and thPn get ijle first c.-ontnbution from onr of them Then f'verybod_y else would scale their <'.Ontnbut1on to what the first of the Big Three gaw," he said. San DI go is lighter on corporate h adquarters and lacks the rirh manufacturing base. But Pickett says h feels USD has some comp('l- ling sales points. "First, this is San Dlego's university. Th, public sector ur1versities really do not control their destiny The kinds of programs w offer will bl' decided here in San f go in re ponse to the communi- ty's needs," he said. ThPn, USU will :.tress its optimum siz (not too big, not too small); the quality of its faculty and student body and its value-oriented educa- tion - "Here, there is an ethical dimension as well as a techmcal dimen ion," he said. Today, some business executives are saying that corporations should not give money to institutions which do not support thr free enterprise systPm In fact, the subject came up at the annual meetings of both Dow Chemical and Du Pont this year. According to the poll by the Commit- tee for Corporate SUP.port of Private Universities 78 perrcnt of ex cu- ttves believe corporations shoufd re- strain themselvts .:n .ntrrt ring in academic polic1rs when making fi- nancial contnbutions. (However, 82 percent said the ac ademlc eommum ty is too cntiral of bu incss.) Viewing the free market cnerita- tlon of USD's bu lness school, Pick- ett smiled, "That's not our problem. Our srhool is very supportive of free enterprise." Further, if the government's argu- ment that NASA employees ex- ercised discretion in relevant "Skylab" decisions at the "plan- ning" stage, rather than at the "operational" level prevails, the case may be bounced out of court as well. Those high-level "planning stage" decisions, right or wrong, are cloaked with immunity against claims for injury or damage Often, one engaged in ultra-haz- ardous activities which result in m- jury or damage 1s held accountable on theories of strict liability or abso- lute liability - without proof of negligence. The doctrines do not apply to the U.S. government, ac- cording to the Supreme r·ourt. One must prove negligence under the law. It can be done, but it will prove expensive, and a gamble. The United States Is, however, under a 1972 treaty, "absolutely lia- ble to pay compensation for damage caused by its space object on the surface of the earth or to aircraft in flight" to anyone except U.S. nation, als or foreign nationals participating In the Skylab project. Therefore, if an American living in France were hurt, together with a dozen Parisians, the American would still have to go the claim route, although all that would be left the Europeans would be to settle on an amount. Fault, under the treaty, is not to be contested. However, the U.S. government may intervene to provide methods of obtaining relief to American victims of fallen debris. The government, of course, need ,not and probably will not deny any valid claim for injury or damage, Irrespective of the soundness of its legal position. Before Skylab fell, NASA officials indicated they would exercise their statutory settlement authority to quickly resolve all valid claims. But the real Skylab is a closed book, leaving behind a world grateful to have been spared. - Donald C. Bauder J sun. Jult 1, 1979•

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The dropout rate at San Diego campuses varies, with UCSD and San Diego State University reporting 20 to 25 percent of their entenng freshmen class Jeavmg before the first year is O\er, and 40 to 45 percent by the end of the second year. 'ationally, it 11 estimated that half of the freshmen who enter a college or university make it to the graduation exercises. But there is a qualifier here that should be noted . As Dr. Pat Walc;on, director of academic services for thcJlniversity of San Diego, contends, a good number of students who leave one university go to another, yet they are called "dropouts." "I don't think the term "dropout" is accurate," ·he said . "Besides those who go from one campus to another, there are students we refer to as ·~top-0uls.' They are individuals who, for example, take a year off school to decide what they want to do, get their act together, as they say it. "The old idea of a four-year lock step through college isn't the thmg for a lot of today's students." See QUIT, B-3 new head

The glory days of bulging enrollments and surplus students are pa, t. Enrollments generally have leveled off here - nationally, there is a definite downward trend - so schools ha vc t1ad to concentrate on keeping the ~udents they have But admm!Strators are taking steps to stop the flow of students from the Jocal campuses. Among them are - Beefing up coun ling for those troubled by per on- al, financial or acad mic concerns. - Trying to make campus life more pleasant and fnenclly. Homes1ckness. particularly in freshmen, and loneliness are big factors in students' departures. - Expanding the curnculum to offer a widP.r ch01ce of studies. One of the complaints heard from departing .tudents is that they were disappointed with the n

USD name U D President Author E. Hughes announced the ap- pointment of William L Pi ckett , Ph .D., as vice pres ident for University Re ations. Dr. Pick t 1s current\y vice president for l:mversity Relations at the t:niversity of Detroit Prior to going to Detroit he held positions at Reg1 College as Director of Development and Foundation R lations, and as senior ad- m,m tration analvst at the Midwest Research ·1nst1tute in Kansas City, Mo.

Pickett was awarded Ph.D. in Higher Educabo the Uruversity of Denv • holds two masters: an from the University of I oun in Policy Planning Analy is, and an M.A. in English from Duke University. He earned his B.A. m English from Rockhurst College . Dr. Pickett will fill the office presently held by Dr. Gilbert L . Brown, Jr. Dr. Brown will assume the newly created post of Special Assistant to the President. e .P A

SAN DIEGO CLIPPING SERVICE EVENING TRIBUNE JUL 13 1979

MEXICA S LEARN ABOUT U.S. LAW

"Th_e Swing Years," a Jazz concert, with Dick Braun and ?IS ,band, will be performed at 7:30 p.m Tuesday at USD s Cammo Theater.

Speaking of birthday ce1ebrations, the Rev. Nick Rev- eles of the University of San Diego and his fellow pianists Ilana Mys1or and Michael Bahde have scheduled a Beet- hoven's birthday concert and party for Dec. 16 at the uni- versity.

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.:JlA L'{ 1<; THE SAN DIEGO UNION LAW EXPLAINED I

MEXICAN LAW STUDENTS RECEIVE COM- PLETION CERTIFICATES FROM USO. THEY NOW RETURN TO MEXICO TO ENTER LAW PRACTICE.

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If Space Junk Hits You, Sue

I.EARN .LAW

Carlo Alberto Gabuardi Arreola, Jaime arti Itur- bide Juan Martinez del Ca.,.;po Rivero Ignacio f\l\Artinez del Rio Corona, Consuelo Millan Silva, Armando Moreno Cervan- te Elvira ReboUo Mendoza, Jo;ge Richaud, Gabriela Ma. Roel Trigo , Cesar Santo Cantu, Carlo - Enrique Silva Badillo, Mentor Tijerina Martinez, Lui Enrique Jose Vergara Aguado, and Ruben Zorilla Garza. To Ruben Zorrilla the biggest differences between U.S. Law and Mexican was the lack of Common Law in Mexico. Mentor Tijerina admired our "Checks and Bal nee "exi ting within our government. The cour e ended but the friend hip e tabli hed will la t and hopefully create bond of under t nding between the two countries.

The Act requires that a claim flrst be submitted to NASA itself. If that agency refuses to honor the claim within six months, or if it cannot be amicably settled, suit may be insti- tuted. If the claim is not settled before the parties are to appear in court, a plaintiff will be entitled to present proofs in a non-jury trial before a federal district judge If commencing a full-blown law- suit against the U.S. governmt>nt sounds easy, don't be too sure. The government is immune from liability unless plaintiffs can shoY. that it was "negligent," that s, that the conduct of one or more of its employees fell below the standard established by Jaw for the protection of others agamst unreasonable risk of harm, which failure was the prox• !mate cause of the harm suffered. The government could argue that the scientific advantages of the project were substantially greater than the risk of harm to anyone below, and that its actions were reasonable under the circumstances. Those arguments could.prevail. It could also urge that since the place in which the allegedly negli• gent act or omission occurred, pre- sumably Washington D.C., has no laws holding a private person liable for dropping debris from sky labora- tories on people and property below, the government is accordingly immune.

SAN DIEGO CLIPPING SERVICE DAILY

SENTINEL Jl:ll 4 1979 USD offering sports camp Weeklong day camps in sports instruction will be offered to youths this summer by the University of San Diego. The first, an all-sports program, features in- dividualized instruction in swimming, soccer, softball, basketbail, volleyball, raquetball and tennis. It's 3Cheduled from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. July 9 to 13. The coed program is open to youngsters 9 to 14. The $100 fee includes daily lunches and a t· shirt. Instructional day camps include girl's volleyball Aug. 6 to 10, basketball for grades 3 to 7 Aug. 13 to 17, basketball for grades 8 to 11 Aug. 20 to 24, and waterpolo Aug, 13 to 17 and August 20 to 24. For registration in- formation, phone 291- 6480 Ext. 4272.

Fortuitously, Skylab, America·s gigantic space vehicle that lost ds battle with sunspots, scaHered ifs potentially lethal debris over Australia ·s outback and the Indian Ocean. Bui Skylab as o generic term is not behind us. Off1c1ally lhe former space station was designated Objed 6633, o reninder that there are nearly 5,000 man- mo-:le ob1ects still 1n spoce. NASA reports thot at least one large one falls to eorth each day. So for, none has hurl a person or caused property damage, but the possibility 1emoins. In the following orl,de prepared for The San Diego Union, Hal Braff, a visiting I'!:! rofessor ol the · and Garris Leaten, o stu enl ass,stont, examine the legal implications of a lethal '"Skylab. · The principles they lay down would apply to any off.er celestial object launched by the United States that caused harm or damage. Any American citizen injured or suffering damage from American space debris may have a valid legal claim against NASA - an agency of the United States government - under the Federal Tort Claim Act. The Act permits the U.S. govern- ment to be held liable. "for injury or loss of property, or personal injury or death caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of any employee of the government while acting withm the scope of his office or employment, under circumstances where. the United States, if a private person, would be liable to the claimant rn accordance with the law of the place where the act or omission 'occurred."

TRANSCRIPT JUL 2 6 1979

S . errunar on aw In USD Courtroom A "How To Do It" seminar covering criminal law, personal injury and family law will be presented Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Grace courtroom of the University of San Diego School of Law. Sponsored jointly by the California Trial Lawyers Assn. and its San Diego chapter, the seminar will have a faculty of nine. The criminal law-plea bargaining session will be conducted by Superior Court Judge William T. Low, Tom Adler, and Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard D. Huffman. The faculty for personal injury discussions will be Superior Court Judge Gilbert Harelson, Daniel T. Broderick ID, and Thomas H. Ault. Family law will be explored by Superior Court Judge Gerald J, Lewis, Steven R. Striker, and Robert C. Baxley. For information call Harvey/ Levine or Robert M. Fox. / L ~\

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