U Magazine, Winter 1987

challenges to academe from without. Crime, drugs , transportation, housing, illegal immigration and pollu– tion are among the issues affecting quality of life in Southern California. What role do you see USD playing in addressing these issues? A : Here's where I feel a "value-centered" institution like ours plays an enormous role - and has an enormous responsibility to play that role. I think that the University's people, whether it's been through our professional schools or through campus committees. have taken the initiative to find solutions to some of these problems. We have, to give you an example, had several faculty members working with Immigration, trying to get at the root causes of illegal border crossings. Our people have tried to assist in drafting legislation. In the area of water and transportation and energy, I know of a number of both individual and group efforts extended by the University to the community. I have worked in all three of those areas with community-wide planning groups or community-wide action committees to look at the problems and to recommend various solutions. Others have done the same. Anumber of our law professors have worked on the water problem. Several worked on the energy committee when it was formed a few years ago. In the spring, we will begin serving the community through a newprogram - the USD Forum. The purpose of the forum will be to present to the community a platform for lively and timely discourse on the pros and cons of a particular issue of overriding community concern. It will inform the pub lic and act as a catalyst in getting commu– nity discussion going on both sides of an issue, all when an issue is still in the formation stage. We 'll try to separate the emotionalism and the fanaticism that sometimes accompanies these issues. We'll look at the cold, hard pros and cons of a problem like immigration or transportation or growth. I think this will be a service to the community, and hopefully, a first step in the resolution of some of the issues that do confront us. Q: The Pacific Rim holds much promise in terms of increasing bu siness, cultural and educational ties between East and West. What role do you see for USD as a leading Pacific Rim university? A: There is a campus-wide committee made up of faculty members and administrators whose purpose is to recommend ways of internationalizing the University's curriculum. The committee will suggest ways to better develop a global perspective among our students. The committee might recommend devoting segments of courses to the global perspective, or it might recommend adding specific courses dealing with world issues. That work is well under way and promises to infuse new energy into our perspective. Q: You've made a commitment to increasing the University's involvement in community service activities, and USD recently hired its first director of volunteer activities. Why that step at this time? A: The interest of the University in voluntary activities stems from its concern for the value of altruism. That links back to one ofmy earlier comments. There are values we think are not only important, but critical, to the survival of a free society. Altruism is one of them. The concern for the group as opposed to concern for oneself is the essence of that value. A lot of the sense of that value

"We also need to look at, very seriously , the involve– ment of minorities in this institution - especially Hispanic students ... We've got to develop some kind of outreach program to make college more attractive..."

Regarding the Tax Reform Act ofl986, it's too early to know how it will affect philanthropy. The predictions, of course, are all negative. There are several areas where we are affected. One example is: as the tax rate goes down, the cost ofmaking a gift goes up . For example, a 50 percent tax rate means it costs 50 cents on the dollar to make a gift. As that tax rate drops to 35 percent it will cost 65 cents on the dollar to make the same gift. So the tax incentive for giving is reduced. A second major area of concern to us is that prior to the Tax Reform Act , those people who did not itemize could still deduct charitable contributions from their income. That's been eliminated. So non-itemizers will not have the tax incentive they have had in the past. Another example pertains to the gift of appreciated assets. In the past, if an asset was acquired at $1,000 and had appreciated in value to $3 ,000, for example, the benefactor could deduct from his other income for the year $3 ,000 - the market value of the appreciated assets. Under the new act the benefactor can still deduct the full market value , including the capital gain. But starting next year, a minimum tax may be due on the capital gain portion of such gifts, depending on the income and number of other "tax preference" items a donor has. Overall, I think people will continue making gifts, because I think charity is the primary motivation for most people. The amount of gifts will change because in some instances it will become more costly to make a gift. Q: If the Carnegie report cites the challenges to Amer– ican higher education from within, we cannot ignore the

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