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University of South Carolina MPMnAV OPTflRPR OP OPHR Vol.97,No.33 www.dailygamecock.com IVIUINUAY, UUIUDLK ZU, ZUUO • Since 1908 USC plans to build parking garage Building could add 1,000 spaces; parking fees to increase in June BY KEVIN FELLNER tiie(jamk«m:k USC’s Board of Trustees gave preliminary approval Friday to build an $11 million, 900- to 1,000 space parking garage on a gravel lot that sits just south of the Bull Street Garage. The garage could open as ear ly as Fall 2005. Rick Kelly, USC’s chief financial officer, said stu dents could expect the board to approve an increase in parking fees next June to repay the por tion of the bond used to build the garage. “I think this is a luxury to the students,” trustee Edward Floyd said. “We have other needs on this campus, and I want to make sure that funds raised by these fees will go to pay for this facility.” Kelly said the campus has added more than 1,400 parking spaces on campus in the last four years. But enrollment is rising ev ery year, and many of the new spaces are located on the outskirts of campus at such places as the Colonial Center and the former BellSouth building on Barnwell Street. The proposed garage is part of a three-year, $126 million capital fi nancing plan that includes updat ing the campus energy system and renovating the Roger Center. The plan is the first step in addressing the more than $220 million in de ferred maintenance needs. Deferred maintenance is the list of campus maintenance and im provement projects that the uni versity hasn’t immediately ad dressed because they aren’t con sidered urgent and because the state’s consistent budget reduc tions over the past four fiscal years have left USC with limited main tenance funds. “Students have brought to us that their No. 1 concern with the campus is the lack of parking,” Chief Financial Officer Rick Kelly said. Trustees said they would con sider next year moving to a differ ential parking-fee scale. Spaces in garages closer to the center of cam pus would cost more than spaces on the outskirts of campus. Parking preferences would also be given to students living on cam pus rather than commuter stu dents. USC President Andrew Sorensen said plans for the new garage are a result of Student Government’s many requests for expanded and more accessible campus parking. “We’ve been working with them for a long time, and this is a best possible outcome for the stu dents, we feel,” SG President Katie Dreiling said. She said SG has shown support for the new garage’s proposed site. Dreiling said SG supports the concept of a differential parking fee scale. “I think it’s important that stu dents know that if they want the parking, that if they want the uni versity to help them out with this, then they have to be willing to give' a little more,” she said. More than $16 million will be used for updating the campus’ en ergy infrastructure. Campus buildings have already lost power ♦ GARAGE, SEE PAGE 2 ^Falling short PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK A USC defender tries to bring down LSU wide receiver Michael Clayton during Saturday night’s game at Willlams-Brice Stadium. The Gamecocks were held to zero rushing yards in the 33-7 loss. ♦FOR THE FULL STORY, SEE PAGE 7 Board mulls over merger BY KEVIN FELLNER THE GAMECOCK USC President Andrew Sorensen gave the Board of Trustees on Friday his initial recommendation to approve a merger of the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Science and Mathematics. Sorensen said combining the colleges would bring in more tu ition dollars to the single aca demic unit formed from the Value-Centered Management adopted last year and foster a more cooperative attitude with in the university. He said he would present a formal recom mendation to the board in December. Sorensen said the VCM model rewards colleges that offer classes with higher student enrollments. “What I predict will happen is that the faculty will create more courses so that they can attract students, which will, in turn, at tract tuition,” Sorensen said. “The enrollment figures that we have from the fall semester indi cate that that is, in fact, happen ing.” He added that large class rooms and auditoriums are of ten underused by some depart ments and should be assigned to certain classes by the provost, not individual deans, to be more efficiently used. Some of the most vocal con cerns came from trustees Robert McLellan and Helen Harvey. McLellan said he was concerned with how USC would fund the merger, especially maintaining the larger classes. He also asked administrators to study how ♦ MERGER, SEE PAGE 2 Ticket distribution ^changes to rely on student input BY MICHAEL LAFORGIA TIIK (JAMKCOCK Whether the student-ticket dis tribution system for the Carolina Clemson game gets changed de pends on USC students’ input, Student Government President Katie Dreiling said. Dreiling said SG officers are fo cusing on collecting student opin ions about the system in place Aow, which operates on a lottery ■ basis. Student Gamecock Club President Sean Bishop said the lot tery system often results in ticket surpluses. A revised distribution system would eliminate this prob lem, he said. In the past, Dreiling has said that a seniority-based distribution system or a system that favors avid fans would be better than a lottery. Bishop raised the possi bility of a first-come, first-served distribution system that would benefit those who make attending the game a priority. Dreiling and Bishop said they have had bad experiences with the lottery distribution in the past. “For the past two years at Clemson, I haven’t gotten tickets, and I’m the most die-hard Gamecock fan there is,” Bishop said. But, Dreiling said, SG can do nothing without strong student support. “As of now, we haven’t set any thing in stone,” she said. And, she added, SG will wait for significant student backing before moving forward. Dreiling encourages students to seek her out with their input on the matter. ♦ TICKETS, SEE PAGE 3 Index Comics and Crossword 6 Classifieds 10 Horoscopes 6 Letters to the Editor 4 Online Poll_ 4 j Police Report 3 Weather L lUtbUAY High 82 Low 53 In This Issue ♦ NEWS U.S. forces ambushed near Baghdad. Page 2 ♦ VIEWPOINTS Editor-in-chief Charles Tomlinson writes of his heavenly experience with syllabuses. Page 4 ♦ THE MIX Keeping in shape can be a daunting task. Find out how some ‘JSC students handle it. Page 5 ♦ SPORTS For the second year in a row, LSU dominates Carolina, this time with a 33-7 win. Page 7 . Homecoming week kicks off New king and queen selection process one of many changes BY MICHAEL LAFORGIA TIIKOA.MKCOCK Today marks the start of USC’s 2003 Homecoming week, and this year’s festivities will in clude a carnival, a cooperative clean-up effort between Carolina Productions and Student Government, and changes in the king and queen selection process, Scott Sowell, Homecoming commissioner, said this year’s homecoming theme is “Coming Home to a New Carolina.” Sowell said the Homecoming Commission decided on the theme as a way of recognizing the many new on-campus additions and improvements. “We’re kind of celebrating all the great things that have hap pened here at Carolina over the last year,” Sowell said. Sowell and his commission have been planning events since last December. “This really is a yearlong pro cess,” Sowell said. He said Carolina Productions members are most excited about this year’s improved version of Spurs and Struts, which Sowell called a “huge Homecoming kickoff car nival.” Sowell said the carnival will take place Monday on Davis Field from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. It will be open to everyone and will include booths, games, a dance competi tion and free food. And Tuesday, Carolina Pro ductions will team up with Student Government for Clean Carolina, an annual SG event. “We wanted to do it bigger and better this year, and it just worked to combine it with Carolina Productions,” SG President Katie Dreiling said. Sowell said the event’s timing is perfect this year. “There’s no better time for the campus to be looking great than ♦ HOMECOMING, SEE PAGE 2