Thumbs up/ Thumbs down
By Daily Bruin Staff
March 4, 1998 9:00 p.m.
Thursday, March 5, 1998
Thumbs up/ Thumbs down
Undergrad scholarships
Thumbs up to Lew Wasserman, who has pledged to donate $8.75
million to UCLA for undergraduate scholarships. Saying he wants to
provide poor students with the college education he could never
afford, the chairman emeritus of Universal Studios is also giving
$300,000 to support the Geffen Playhouse and turning over his
$700,000 weekend home along with a $250,000 maintenance fund,
bringing the total to $10 million.
Lobby letters to Congress
Thumbs up to UC Berkeley students and students from other UC
campuses for initiating a letter drive to Congress last week to
lobby for an increase in financial aid.
Members from the California Public Interest Research Group on
seven of the nine UC campuses organized the letter-writing
campaign. Members explained that they would send letters and
videotaped messages to Rep. John Kasich, R-Ohio, chair of the House
Budget Committee.
In the letter, students asked Kasich to take a series of steps
to "protect access to higher education."
The letter asked for more funds for graduate fellowships, a
decrease in student loan costs and a raise in the maximum for a
Pell Grant to $3,400 for the 1999 fiscal year.
School police shotguns
Thumbs down to the Los Angeles unified School District board,
which voted 5-2 to buy shotguns because school police have said
their patrols often take them into gang and crime-ridden
neighborhoods. The district will purchase 75 12-gauge Remington
shotguns, which the police will receive within the next two months.
The shotguns will be locked in patrol cars while officers are on
foot patrol. The officers will receive 16 hours of training.
It’s frightening to think school police officers need to arm
themselves with shotguns.
Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down represents a majority opinion of the Daily
Bruin Editorial Board. Send comments or suggestions to
[email protected]
