USC began notifying 1,600 people by letter and telephone Wednesday that their checks for a summer orientation program had been stolen and that they should call their banks to stop payment, a university spokesman said.
The checks were being prepared for deposit when they were stolen from a campus office, said USC spokesman Alfred G. Kildow. The theft was discovered Monday, he said.
USC will pay the stop payment fees, and those whose checks were stolen may attend the orientation program free, he said.