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The University of South Carolina Monday February 13, 2006 Vol. 99, No. 62 • Since 1908 Polls open for Student Government elections from staff reports Student Government elections begin today and end at 5 p.m. Tuesday. Voting is open to all students and is accessible through VIP. There are nine candidates ^ vying for three Executive Council p positions. SG Presidential candidate Julian Raymond is sure he can make his laundry list of “cheaper, faster, safer” changes happen. He says his textbook rental program could save students a majority of their book costs, but funding and start-up costs may hinder its development. Safety plays a significant, personal part of his platform; Raymond has friends affected by sexual violence. He proposes sharpening sexual violence education and making self-defense classes free. Jarvis Jones will be the first to tell you communication roadblocks exist between graduates, undergraduates, and student government. Jones’ platform runs sharply on the idea of “communication,” which he says needs work after seeing examples cf disunity, including the cutting of the law school’s student budget. Jones wants to continue some current policies like lifting the 16 hour credit limit, and would also like to improve the law school facilities, which he says are in poor condition. Tommy Preston’s campaign, like his VP running mate Ryan Holt, bases his worth on the accomplishments of his term as treasurer. While a massive amount of programs designed to improve student’s academic and leisure lives have been started, a significant majority have yet to see fruition; Preston and Holt’s pet project, SGTV, has yet to go on air despite an original sign-on date in October. “We want to really see these programs go through,” Preston said. Vice-presidential incumbent Ryan Holt touts his abilities eicciien • i CHARLESTON AQUARIUM BECOMES | GUINEA PIG FOR PROJECT flshleigh Orthen THE GAMECOCK Two of Dr. “Augie” Grant’s Journalism 304 students traveled to the South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston on Friday to get ideas about a project for their mass media research class. Asnley Hart, a rourtn-year public relations student, and ^ Brooks Hearn, a third-year public W relations student, are the leaders of one of two groups in Grant’s class charged with helping a corporation or business. The goal of the media research class and the project is to gain experience and knowledge of what it takes to complete a researching task. Catherine Marshall, director of sales and marketing for the South Carolina Aquarium, met with Hart and Hearn on how to attract more South Carolina residents to the aquarium. The aquarium is about to embark on a year-long strategic ^ planning process, and Marshall ^ said she thinks it is necessary to get feedback from their target customers: women between the ages of 25 and 49 who have children and earn more than $50,000. This is where Hart and Hearn’s media research group comes into play. Marshall said she would be interested in conducting focus groups in Charleston, Columbia and the Upstate to attain feedback on awareness of the South Carolina Aquarium, what attracts people to the aquarium and what makes visitors return. “Many people visited the ^ aquarium once in five years, and I ^p want to know what they thought of the aquarium itself,” Marshall said. “Raising awareness would be to help uplift the market for tourism in downtown Charleston because the attraction for local Charleston inhabitants is extremely low.” Hart and Hearn concluded with Marshall that including testing on possible future aquarium exhibits and thinking about how families make choices on how to spend their leisure time would help focus their project on a more intrinsic level. “If you are trying to attract on ^audience from the Upstate, more PROJECT • 2 Melissa Hensley / THE GAMECOCK Ashley Moore, right and Betsy Heckert sort cans and bottles to use for Habitat for Humanity. Keystone Group’s Can Do Carolina uses recycling to help Habitat for Humanity Katie Bech FOR THE GAMECOCK This month, USC students can help Habitat for Humanity build homes for people who need them — and all they have to do is toss their cans into recycling bins instead of the trash. The Keystone Group’s Can Do Carolina campaign is an effort to collect aluminum cans and recycle them into money for Habitat. The Keystone Group is one of three teams from USC competing in the national Bateman Case Study Competition, sponsored by the Public Relations Student Society of America. According to the society’s Web site, teams must focus on raising brand awareness for Habitat, familiarizing people with its mission and new logo, and increasing volunteerism, especially among the 18-to-25 age group. “Our goal is to kill two birds with one stone,” said Ashley Moore, a fourth-year public relations student and Can Do Carolina’s account executive. “We want to create awareness for the Habitat logo and to get people to recycle.” The group had to find creative solutions to challenges related to its target age group. “College students don’t have a lot of time or a lot of money, and by bringing in cans they can help the community without giving up their cash or their weekends,” said Anna Fox, a fourth-year public relations student and media relations director for the campaign. The university has agreed to give the campaign cans collected from housing and academic buildings this month. The team also collects cans from local churches, as well as from residents at the Pointe West and University Commons apartment complexes. The Greek Village will also begin participating this week. Moore said the inclusion of the Greek Village was an accomplishment because previous efforts to establish a recycling system in the Greek Village have failed. The team will also hold events on Greene Street on Wednesday and Feb. 23 to encourage students and faculty and community members to bring in more cans. At the events or online, students can register for a raffle to win a Steve Spurrier-autographed picture, T-shirts and discpunts at local restaurants. Students are invited Wednesday to release their post-Valentine’s Day frustrations by crushing cans. At the campaign’s finale on Feb. 23, they can participate in drinking soda, belching, can-stacking and can-bowling challenges, which allow them to earn extra raffle tickets. Team members will be available each day to accept bags of £ans. Students can also help the campaign by volunteering to help sort cans, Moore said. The Can Do Carolina campaign has been endorsed by the Central South Carolina Habitat for Humanity; Student Government’s Director of Environmental Affairs, Drew Cutright; the USC School of the Environment’s Bruce Coull; and Kirs tin Dow, a USC geography professor and director of the West Quad Learning Center. “I believe that recycling is a good idea and doing it to support RECVCLE • 2 Justin Chapura NEWS EDITOR tudents will decide ort an increase in their student activity fees today and Tuesday as two referendums passed by the Student Senate last year are offered up for a vote in this year’s Student Government elections. Last semester, the Student Senate decided to let students vote for a $2 per-semester increase in the activity fee to finance the USA Today Readership Program, a free newspaper service for campuses. USC’s program puts copies of The State, USA Today, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal on newsstands in the Russell House, Gambrell Hall, the Close-Hipp Building and the Coliseum. The program costs an estimated $52,000. For its first year, the program was funded from the budgets of various USC deans. Last year, money from the university’s FEES • H -- Greeks unite to recognize togetherness, aid causes Flicole Colwell THE GAMECOCK Members of all chapters of South Carolina Greek Life came together Saturday to celebrate their common bond as Greeks and promote Greek unity. The event began at 4 p.m. with a barbecue hosted in the chapter room of the Alpha Delta Pi house, which opened its doors to shelter participants from the rain. “There were about 75 to 80 people, which was a great turnout, despite the rain and cold weather,” said Inter Fraternity Council President Justin Runager, a second year business administration student. T-shirts were supplied by Sorority Council President Laurie Miller, a fourth-year education student. Attendants then proceeded to the Colonial Center to watch USC’s basketball team take on Mississippi State. Greeks were able to purchase from 200 tickets set aside in the front rows to sit together during the game. “Greek unity is something 6RCCKS • 3 Viewpoints Today’s Section is dedicated to Student Government candidate endorsements. The Gamecock editorial board offers its choices. / The Mix Mimics Video game emulators are easy to use, but some legal concerns have industry experts shaking in their boots. Sports Solid win USCs men’s basketball team beat Mississippi State 83-61 at the Colonial Center. * Index Comics & Crossword..7 Classifieds.10 Horoscopes.7 Opinion.4 Police Report..2 i