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March 3, 2000 SG passes budget bill Bill passes unanimously despite protest by Brandon Larrabee Associate News Editor Afterpeppering the Senate Fi nance Committee with dozens of ques tions, student senate passed two fi nance bills allocating a total of $615,774 Wednesday. Tension was occasionally present dur ing the meeting, particularly when par liamentarian Austin Brown stood to give the Judicial Council report. After the senate voted to allow him to speak, Brown began to protest the Council’s allocation, saying that Judicial Council should have received more as the “third branch” ol Student Government. Senators took issue with Brown’s statements. “This is neither the lime nor the place to take care of this,” Senator William Frick said, Senators split on a second vote to de cide whether to allow Brown to contin ue. Vice President Brandon Anderson voted not to allow Brown to continue. “I don’t want to deal with this to day,” he said. Among the questions senators raised was a querie about the Judicial Council’s allocation. Finance Committee Chairwoman Sally Ballentine said the council would have access to senate’s special projects fund next year to help it put on events such as Creed Week. “They had access to additional [funds] being a third branch of Student Govern ment,” Ballentine said. “The precedent has been set, and there’s no reason why” the council couldn’t have access to the projects funding next year. She also pointed to the spending pat tern set by the council last year. “This oiganization hadn’t spent any money up until January and February,” Ballentine said. Ballentine also said council gave no specific costs for many of the items for which they requested funds. “Over half of their budget were blank pages,” she said. Other finance committee members said they couldn’t make a decision with out having more specific information. “We cannot fund unless we have spe cific items on what’s going to be fund ed,” Sen. Aesha Harrison said. Student Body Treasurer Elizabeth Fordham said the committee’s decision was fair. “I don’t feel like they were slight ed in any way, because they have ac cess to additional funds,” Fordham said. Ballentine also officially announced their decision on an appeal of student funding for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The appeal, by history senior Brandon Gaskins, alleged that the NAACP was a political oiganization. SG Finance Codes prohibit political oiganizations from receiving general fund ing. The Finance Committee decided to revoke all of the NAACP’s general funds, amounting to $800, and allocate $800 more to the organization’s Black Histo ry Month Event. Any organization can receive mon ey for general funding. “After serious review and consul tation, the Senate Finance Committee reconsidered the money allocated to the organization to attend their National Con vention,” Ballentine said in prepared re marks. “The Finance Committee feels this allocation is fair and in the best interest of every student involved,” she said. Budget see page 2 ‘The Finance Committee feels this allocation is fair and in the best interest of every student involved.’ Sally Ballentine Finance Committee Chairwoman - Where your fees are going Oistributiort of $615,774 in tuition and fees allocated for student programs and organizations for the 2000-2001 school year: Student Carolina Graduate, Student Under- Sport. Media Productions med, law Gov't graduate Clubs 30% 27% ‘clubs 13% Clubs 4% 15% 11% Week of programs warns students of spring break 'traps' by Amanda Silva Staff Writer Students were warned to “Beware of the Traps” this week in an effort to promote spring break safety. Beginning Sunday, the Office of Al cohol and Drug Programs and the de partment of Student Life sponsored a se ries of programs to raise awareness of and encourage students to consider safe ty issues. “We’ve had a really good turnout,” said Student Life representative Feli cia Law. The safety week focused on the pri mary traps for students on spring break: assault, DUl-related crashes, harassment, hotel room break-ins, predatory drugs, rape, regretted sex, sexually transmit ted diseases and sun risks. To prevent these and other problems i and situations during spring break, the OADP and the department of Student Life advise the following: • Drink responsibly. According to the OEAP, almost 30 percent of drinkers aged 18 to 25 reportedly become “ag gressive” while drinking. Innocent by standers often become the targets of alcohol-related assault. Drinking also in creases the risk that people will harass others because of their gender, race or sexual orientation. In addition, exces sive intoxication lowers one’s inhibi tions, impairing judgment and often resulting in regretted sexual incidents. • Drink carefully. Take caution when drinking and be aware of predatory drugs like rohypnol, or “roolies," and gamma & hydroxybutyrate (GHB), two of Hie most common drugs used to spike drinks. Both of these drugs are known to impair mo tor skills and cause memory blackouts. • Take turns serving as designated driver. • Limit the number of valuables you bring on vacations and double-lock ho tel room doors. • Be cautious, particularly if you’re female. According to the OEAP, one in four women will experience rape or at tempted rape by the end of their college careers. Ninety percent of these cases occur when the assailant, the victim or both used alcohol. • Practice safe sex. To avoid STDs or pregnancy, students should practice abstinence or use proper protection, like latex condoms. • Avoid overexposure to the sun. Drink plenty of nonalcoholic beverages to avoid dehydration. Avoid the midday sun and use sunscreen regularly to re duce the risk of sunburn. The Safe Spring Break Week began on Sunday with a baseball game against the College of Charleston. A Mardi Gras carnival, complete with mask-making and a traditional king cake, was held Monday. Students who attended the carnival received free spring break survival kits. Tuesday’s programs, “Spring Break Stock-Up” and “Happy Hour at the Blau,” featured contests and offered door prizes and free spring break goodies. Lat er Tuesday evening, Carolina Produc tions sponsored a masquerade ball in the Russell House Ballroom. The week ended on Wednesday with a continuation of “Spring Break Stock Up” and a workshop on campus alcohol policy. A meeting of Gamecocks Ad vocating Hie Mature Management of Al cohol later Wednesday afternoon ad dressed the personal and financial issues of DUI convictions. I ■ ■HiBL-. .'X -t hi . ■ 1 Photos by Amy Goulding Business junior Cale Johnson, above, Inspects SHARE’S table promoting sexual health. SHARE and several other groups had tables on Greene Street on Monday for the Mardl Gras celebra tion. Members of the USC Jazz Band, left, provided music for the Mardl Gras cele bration, which was part of Safe Spring Break Week. Safe Spring Break Week was spon sored by the Office of Alcohol and Drug Programs, and the department of Student Life. Parking director fields questions at Faculty Senate by Brad Walters Managing Editor Questions about the future of parking on campus were fielded at Wednesday’s Faculty Senate meeting. “I know we have a parking problem, and the only way we’re going to be able to solve it is with a perimeter parking scheme; that’s what we’re working to wards,” said Derrick Huggins, director of Parking and Vehicle Management. “Our goal is to make sure we have the buses in place so that when we start removing spaces from the campus core, we have a transit system that can bring people in.” The university recently bought two full-sized buses, and Huggins said four more would be running by year’s end. Once all six buses are in place, two buses each from the Coliseum, Bates area and the soon-to-be-acquired Bell South parking lot would run to and from campus — with a turnaround time of five minutes each, Huggins said. The bus running from the old Bell South lot on Pickens Street, four blocks north of campus, would probably also stop at McMaster, Huggins said, pro viding art students a closer place to catch the shuttle than the current shuttle slop more than a block away. As for current problems, Huggins provided few concrete solutions, but he did say some ideas are being explored - including the possibility of keeping the shuttles running until 7 p.m. and then asking Alpha Plii Omega escort service to run a van until midnight to increase safety. In other business, the senate approved a list of the courses to be offered by the newly formed Department of Com puter Science and Engineering. Course descriptions that had been written for those classes were not sent to a vole, however. Most computer science and com puter engineering courses, formerly la beled CSCI and EECE in the current Undeigraduate Bulletin, will be replaced with the CSCE designation, to denote the consolidation of the two departments. Faculty Senate see pace a Bull Street garage opens for free parking by Phil Watson Staff Writer Parking services has opened the low er level of the Bull Street garage for free parking every day from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. If students have not moved their cars by 7 a.m., they must pay a fine to get out of the garage. The lower level of the garage will hold 250 can, but Director of Law En forcement and Safety Ernie Ellis said the bottom level only has about 170 cars parked in it each night. He said the majority of the can are moved by 7 a.m. With approximately 80 spaces left each night, lack of parking spaces in the garage hasn’t been a problem. “We opened the bottom level to be sensitive to the needs of students; this way, they will have some type of park ing close to the dorms,” Ellis said. “We lost a lot of parking in the second phase of building housing facilities, so this helps.” A gravel parking lot was removed in order to make room for the new South Quad East dorm. Most of the students who use the lower level of the garage live in the Fra ternity Quad or the South Area, Ellis Parking seepage2 Weather Inside Datebook Online Poll Results Tomy 61 ' 47 Saturday 67 48 > * ‘Cocks fall to Gators 87-67 Page 8 Friday • Women’s tennis vs. Clemson, 2 p.m. • Spring Break begins ] Saturday MARCH * R°und Tabic Gaming Society, noon to 11:45 [J, p m., RH y Do you feel safe on campus? 40%-yes 60%-no Look for next week’s question in Monday’s edition of The Gamecock. 7