University of South Carolina Libraries
_vol. V5, jno. 12 1X1 del y SEPTEMBER j, ivvy_ ft ^ Serving the Ca rolina Community since 1Q08 WWW.GAMECOCK.SC.EDUUNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAR O L I N A _ Bicentennial Campaign USC nears $3 million fund-raising goal by Brock Vergakis News Editor USC’s bicentennial fund-raising campaign has al ready raised 80 percent of its $3 million goal. University President John Palms announced Wednes day at the Carolina Leadership Luncheon that USC’s do nations have already reached $236 million. The bicentennial campaign, which was publicly an nounced in April 1998, is scheduled to end in Decem ber 2001. “This generous support for the university is the key to achieving our goals and fulfilling our mission as the state’s flagship university, and we appreciate the confi dence that donors have demonstrated in that mission,” Palms said. More than $25 million came from corporations, the largest share coming from PMSC of Columbia. The Col lege of Engineering and Information Technology will use the $3 million donation from PMSC to start an infor mation technology program. “These gifts have an immeasurable impact on our ability to become a great university,” Palms said. Last spring, the College of Business Administra tion was renamed the Darla Moore School of Business after the school’s namesake made a $25 million dona tion to the school. Sonoco of Hartsville added to the business school’s fortunes this year, with a $1 million donation. The money is intended to create a visiting profes sorship for the international business program, where company presidents and CEOs will be guest lecturers. Dennis Pruitt, vice president of Student and Alum ni Services, said he was enthusiastic about the amount of money already made and is confident that the original goal of $300 million will be met, with a little more than two years remaining. “Private donations have been pouring in by loy al contributors,” he said. “People don’t give money like this unless they know it is really going to make a differ ence.” Palms added, “Our university is raising the standards for higher education.” The USC Family Fund, which solicits donations from faculty and staff members in the university community, has raised $3 million. “People closest to USC that work on a day-to-day basis are the first to give,” Palms said. “This is a part nership that says big things for our university.” Student Body President Malik Husser said that the funds will benefit the university for years to come through the technological advances that are about to take ef fect. “In the future, technology at USC will be better than at any other public university in America,” Husser said He said he believes that USC will be better off tech nologically than other public universities like the Uni versity of Viiginia and the University of California at Berkeley. The bicentennial fund has also helped to increase the university endowment. In the fiscal 1999 year, the en dowment grew from $219 million to more than $240 million. “At the announcement of the bicentennial campaign in 1998, no one knew that it was going to grow this fast or to this much in such a short period of time,” Palms said Fund raising is a major concern at all elite institutions of higher education, especially public ones where state funding isn’t always adequate. Palms said he realizes that a great deal of progress has been made, but that much more is needed to be com petitive with other universities. “There is still a lot of work to be done, and the fac ulty, staff and students of the university will continue “ to work to achieve our goals,” Palms said - The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill raised more than $132 million last year, and its faculty attracted more than $300 million in competitively award ed research funding. Brad Walters graphics editor Students seek out careers at fair by Amanda Silva Staff Writer The Career Center and the GSA co sponsored the annual Career Fair Thurs day at the Coliseum. The fair, which graduate programs were involved with for the first time, is designed to brings students, employers and graduate schools together to discuss students’ options after graduation, both academic and professional. Representatives from more than 40 graduate schools attended, including eight different departments from USC’s grad uate program. More than 120 employers from across the country also attended the Career Fair. By coming to USC, graduate schools hope to lure graduates into ftnthering their niuvauuiu. “They [graduate schools] are looking for recruits into their schools,” said Mau reen Durkin, of the Career Center. Andrea Campbell, the Career Ser vices program manager for engineering, thinks that the quality of the students di rectly influences recruitment strategies. “They [business and graduate schools] come because of the wide variety of stu dents and because our students tend to be not only well-prepared, but well-round ed,” Campbell said. Just as the Career Fair benefits re cruiters, so does it offer a great deal to stu dents, especially seniors. According to Amethia Crockett,the personnel manager for Budget Car and Truck Rentals, attending the fair and talk ing with business representatives can help students broaden their views and increase their understanding of the opportunities available to them. Linda Reece, office manager for the Career Center, said it “mostly orients the FAIR SEE PAGE 2 1 “The toughest job you'll ever love.'' Jess Matthews The Gamecock Students sign an interest form Thursday at the Peace Corps information table. The service organization was at the Career Fair in the Coliseum to recruit students. Ten USC graduates are working for the organization in nine different countries. Peace Corps recruits at USC by Patrick Rathbun Staff Writer The Southeast chapter of the Peace Corps is recruiting volunteers for missions stretching around the globe. Started in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, the Peace Corps is a large gov ernmental volunteer organization dedicated to promoting world peace, promoting the un derstanding of Americans, making the world a better place and strengthening the United States’ understanding of the world and its in habitants. Its motto is “the toughest job you’ll ever love,” and the organization poses the question, “How far are you willing to go to make a difference?” Julie Kaminsky, Peace Corps recruitment coordinator for the Southeast, said she’d like to see the organization expand. “We are actively recruiting to increase PEACE CORPS SEE PAGE 2 The tragic tower of Texas University reopens after 33 years by David Zeman Knight-Ridder Newspapers AUS'IIN, TEXAS - For 33 years, the ghost of Charles Whitman has peered down at the University of Texas’ red-tiled cam pus, a deer rifle in his hands. They remember him, a flat-topped graduate student and former Marine, the nice young fellow with the pretty wife. He ascended the university tower one blazing August morning. Calm, polite, smiling even, he lugged a footlocker up the stairs, loaded for Armageddon. When the gunfire ended, 16 people plus Whitman were dead, 31 others were wounded, and America would never again feel entirely safe in a public place. “Even today, I can’t walk across that campus without feeling that that tower is looking at me,” said Bill Helmer, a graduate student who narrowly escaped death on Aug. 1,1966. Whitman’s perch, on the tower’s ob servation deck 231 feet above campus, has long been closed to the public. But after years of lobbying by students, the deck - outfitted with metal detectors, guards and protective cages - is to re open Sept. 15. University President Lar ry Faulkner said that in opening the tow er, UT hopes at last to cleanse itself of Whitman’s shadow. “This community has had a lot of psychological difficulty with what hap pened in 1966,” Faulkner said. It was time to create positive memories, “to get people thinking about the wonderful ex periences they’d have at the top of the Tower.” Even though school massacres . have become numbingly familiar to day, Whitman’s acts were simply un thinkable in 1966. Whitman, a freshly scrubbed student from an affluent family, did not fit the portrait of a sadistic madman. “Whitman put a face on mass mur TOWER SEE PAGE 2 Knight-Ridder Newspapers The University of Texas is taking security precautions for the reopened tower. Included are security bars and metal detectors. Weather Inside Datebook Online Poll Today 85 _66 Saturday i Preview of | USC’s first : game of \ the season I Page 8 Saturday • Football vs. N.C.State, 7 p.m. at Raleigh. • Round Table Gaming Society, noon to 11:45 p.m., Russell House • No classes Monday, Labor Day. i [September] TUESDAY • Gamecock News Meeting, 5:15 p.m., RH 333. • AAAS, 6 p.m., RH Theater. • RHA, 7 p.m., RH 307. * How will the Gamecocks do this season? Go to www.gamecock.sc.edu to vote in this week’s poll. * -