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www.daiiygamecock.com _WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17,2004 Since 1908 USC apologizes for ZTA incident Janet Jackson impersonation upsets black community, sparks backlash nV 1 in . .. . > n V DC.MlVI TMKCAMKcock USC has apologized for a March 2 incident during Zeta Tau Alpha’s “Big Man on Campus” fund-rais er where a white student wore black body paint to impersonate Janet Jackson in her Super Bowl halftime performance. “The university regrets the in cident occurred and finds it sig nificant that the sponsoring orga nization, whom I believe was Zeta Tau Alpha, has provided a public apology for the actions of one of its ontestants who in their attempt to use a current event for humor was in fact offensive to attendees iu me auuienue, aaiu i^euiua Pruitt, vice president of student affairs. USC is investigating the incident. Pruitt spoke for USC President Andrew Sorensen, who was at a dinner Tuesday night with the president of the Medical University of South Carolina. According to Rodney Hollis, president of Kappa Alpha Psi, the fraternity was invited to partici pate in the ZTA event, a male beauty pageant that raised money for breast cancer research. Hollis said the group was supposed to perform a step show, but walked out after the Jackson imperson ation. Hollis said a white student, who ZTA representatives identified as Tim Tice, a second-year history student representing Alpha Delta Pi, walked on stage with his legs painted black, wearing a black, skintight T-shirt with the word “Janet” written across his stom ach. “We saw—and I don’t think this is an exaggeration—a modem day minstrel show,” Hollis said. “The whole show was done like it was making fun of black people.” In a phone interview, Tice con firmed that he did represent ADPi during the event and said, “All I’ve got to say is sorry for the misun derstanding,” before hanging up. ZTA representatives said they have contacted ADPi to tell them the skit was inappropriate. Pruitt said Sorensen has “in structed the university staff to continue to engage in dialogue to determine exactly what happened at this event.” Student Life Director Jerry Brewer said ZTA sent a written apology to Kappa Alpha Psi within hours of the event. Members of AAAS and Kappa Alpha Psi met with ZTA repre sentatives and Brewer Tuesday af ternoon in the Russell House. Five ZTA representatives attended the meeting, including president Lindsey Dupree, Big Man on Campus co-chairwomen Rebecca Long and Miller Bethea, legal counsel Erin Cook and adviser Heather B. Oana. Brewer didn’t mention a repri mand for ZTA or the participants in the fund-raiser, but did ask for a list of participants’ names. Oana said ZTA policy prohibit ♦ APOLOGY, SEE PAGE 5 PHOTO BY MORGAN FORD/THE GAMECOCK Student Life Director Jerry Brewer answers questions from concerned students and faculty members. St. Patrick’s Day festival comes to Five Points BY JULIE LEDBETTER tiie,'AMki;(x;k After having two celebrations °h the same day last March, there will be only one St. Patrick’s Day festival in Columbia this year. The Five Points Association and the St. Patrick's Day Charity Committee held St. Patrick’s Day festivals in 2003. This year, the St. Patrick’s Day Charity Committee will hold its festival in Capital City Stadium April 12 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and — will feature a carnival and rides. A ticket to the April 12 Capital City Bombers game will get you in. Geah Pressgrove, the public re lations director for the Five Points Association, said it’s better to have just one festival at a time. “To have two festivals for St. Patrick’s Day'on'one'clay in Columbia just creates two com peting events, and people have to decide where they want to go and ♦ FESTIVAL, SEE PAGE 3 i , Surf Yourself f £ * - ct?r, Check out the events at www.stpatslnflvepolnts.com v %j l*w* ttonfc P*g* Cp PHOTO BY MORGAN FORD/THE GAMECOCK Shops in Five Points get In the Irish spirit for St. Patrick’s Day. Symposium to feature rare MLK speech film BY Z’ANNE COVELL T1IK HAMKCOCK An obscure film 0f Martin Luther King Jr. speaking in Kingstree, S.C., will be screened during next week’s Orphan Film Symposium, the university’s an nual presentation of rare and ne glected films. The film, which will be shown 'i the Russell House Theater on •arch 24 at 8 p.m., is part of a film collection donated to the univer sity by WIS-TV. ITT t According to Orphan Film Symposium organizer Dan Streible, the film was originally shot as a clip for the news station when King visited Kingstree in 1966 to rally black voters. “This would have been big news in that little town," Streible said. “He was speaking in a place where news often didn’t happen." Streible said since the film was originally intended for television broadcast, it was shot using 16mm ♦ MLK FILM, SEEPAGES Rack ’em PHOTO BY MORGAN FORD/THE GAMECOCK William “Tank” Clark, a fourth-year business student, plays billiards in the Golden Spur in the Russell House basement. Golden Spur reopens for students BY MICHAEL LAFORGIA THE GAMECOCK The reopening of an old cam pus hangout in a new location is providing students and university staff alike with a place to practice ping-pong serves and billiard breaks. The Golden Spur, a new game room in the basement of the Russell House, opened Monday and is offering free billiards until Saturday to promote the new lo cation. The game room usually charges $.75 an hour for billiard table use and $.25 for ping-pong balls. Money made from the billiard tables and ping-pong ball sales covers employee expenses and fixed operating costs. The old game room, Cocky’s Comer Pocket, was closed April 2003. It was located on the second floor of the Russell House where the Student Government offices are now. The new room is roughly the same size as Cocky’s Corner Pocket. The Office of Business Affairs operated past game rooms, but the Office of Student Life took over last year. “We were able to take what they did and build on their sue cess," said Carmela Carr, direc tor of the Russell House University Union. Carr said the chance to shoot pool for free has attracted a lot of students so far. “It’s pretty much been packed for the last two days,” Carr said. “We’re hearing a lot of positive comments.” ♦ GOLDEN SPUR, SEE PAGE 5 Film festival flies, climbs BY JUSTIN CHAPPELL THE (iAMECOCK The Banff Mountain Film Festival is com ing to USC next Thursday as part of its world tour that showcases the “world’s best” visual footage on mountain subjects. The festival promises to bring scenes of ice climbing in Canada and paragliding in the Himalayas, as well as environ mental and cultural stories from around the —— globe — in cluding the story of Biscuit, a small rock climbing dog who scales mountain siHpq alnnp This is the first time Columbia will play host to the festival, which travels annually throughout 175 cities in North America since its in ception in 1976. Half-Moon Outfitters, 2930 Devine St., is spon soring the Columbia showing because of three vears of nast sue cess with the films in Greenville. “It’s sort of like the Sundance Film Festival, except it’s all mountain oriented," said April Breazeale, Columbia Half-Moon Outfitters store manager and three-time attendee. “It’s some thing you can’t go rent.” Shawn Hunter, marketing and communications manager for the Banff festival, wrote in an e mail that the films will “thrill ♦ FILM FESTIVAL, SEE PAGE 3 is FOR jT arts ^—:— ' a students are making a splash at national film competitions. FOR MORE SEE PAGE 5 ♦ NO EXCUSE Why the burden is on students to prepare for advisement. FOR MORE SEE PAGE 13 ♦ NEW TO YOU Music lovers cash in on cheap CDs by buying used. FOR MORE SEE PAGE 14 ♦ UNDEFEATED Baseball sticks it to Davidson 10-1. 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