University of Southern California - El Rodeo Yearbook (Los Angeles, CA)

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organization, and that a proposal for another office under the division would also have to be studied. But Appleton did commit one staff member this year to working on com- muter concerns and promised additional staff for next year. One possible solution, he said, would be to expand the Residential Life Office to include staffing in all residential areas-commuters, residence halls, the Row and apartment dwellers. ,If such a plan were implemented, Appleton said the commuter staff would work on such concerns as improved listings of off-campus housing, car pools and scheduling of events and classes. The students also took their proposal to President John R. Hubbard and Zoh- rab A. Kaprielian, vice-president for academic administration and research. where they received strong support for the future. While a Commuter Affairs Office such as the model proposed by Flan- agan may not be immediately feasible, the university has taken a major step in improving commuter life. But the commuters are working on smaller projects, such as eliminating the large, 8 a.m. class required for biology majors and having it rescheduled at 9 or 10 a.m. The group is looking into better lounges and study areas for commuters, as well as class scheduling so that com- muters don't have to have blocks of time 1 t u u 1 1 i l v .l : '1 'N i .Mi

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This year, the main goal of the corn- muter organization has been the estab- lishment of a commuter affairs office similar to the Residential Life Office. Such an office, said Joe Flanagan, co- founder and former chairman of the or- ganization, in an editorial in the Park- ing-Lot Paper last fall, would include a director, an assistant director, at least five student assistants comparable to resident advisors in the dorms, and an adequate secretarial staff. We believe some of the functions of such an office should include helping commuter students to develop and maintain a high level of programs for commuters, administer an overnight housing program for commuters who want to spend one night at the univer- sity, work to make other university departments more aware of commuter problems in such areas as scheduling of classes and the design of buildings, to publish informational materials de- signed to reach the commuter popu- lation that so often has no access to information about the campus events, develop and administer an ongoing orientation program for commuters that would try to orient new commuters to the university over a period of a few months rather than a few days, and work towards meeting commuters' transportation needs such as through a bus service to outlying areas, an im- provement of the already existing com- puterized carpool, improvement of parking facilities and so forth, wrote Flanagan. The commuters went to the Division of Student Affairs, where they were told that the budget would not cover a com- muter affairs office. Iames R, Appleton, vice-president for student affairs, said that the whole Student Affairs Division was being studied for a possible re-

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between classes with nothing to do. A survey taken by the Office of Insti- tutional Studies in 1972. showed that, with the exception of better parking facilities, commuters thought improve- ments in lounges and eating facilities and dining hours were most important. Also on the list, with almost as high a priority, were study rooms, special lunch-dinner arrangements to promote meeting other students, and a commuter club that would sponsor social activi- ties. Last on the list was more lockers. Z, L., Anya 'J F' . ml.sif'ffQ WiK 'G . G mm: :e ' A commuter lounge was established two years ago in the YWCA, but it was unsuccessful. UNO one could find the YWCA, said Flanagan. The commuter organization was suc- cessful, however, in implementing a computerized carpool in conjunction with the Office of Institutional Studies. Using university computer facilities, the organization was able to set up a carpool and get preferred parking for those utilizing the carpool. Anyone submitting an application would receive a printout of names and f L wil-.TT Y Y V phone numbers of persons living near him who had similar schedules. The carpool is open to faculty and staff as well as students, but the organi- zation found that fewer faculty and staff used the computerized carpool, and some of those that did didn't want to ride with students. The carpool is also open to people who don't have a car but need a ride. The carpool was only moderately popular when it was first started almost two years ago, but the energy crisis Luiw v., --f-ammeaseafw-fu'