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Carolina News Husser reflects on campaign promises by Kelly Haggerty Assistant News Editor When Student Body President Malik Husser leaves office on March 22, he says he will have fulfilled most of his campaign promises. This time last year, Husser’s campaign fo cused on the issues of campus safety, student fees, a community ser vice program and keep ing minority professors. i ininK mosi oi me HUSSER things I promised with safety I accomplished. As far as the other issues I dealt with in my campaign, I think I did a good job,” Husser said. With improving campus safety as his primary goal, Husser and the Student Gov ernment oiganized Safety Whlk and Night Out in the fall. For the Safety Walk, SG members, personnel from the Office of Facilities Management and other student oiganiza tion members walked around campus not ing areas of potential safety problems. Because of this event, some shrub bery outside of the Women’s Quad was cut back and better lighting was added, Husser said. For Night Out, SG memberswalked around campus from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m., handing out safety pamphlets and whis tles to students they encountered. Husser also said that about five call boxes were added around campus and phones will be added to three of them for students to call campus police or the Al pha Phi Omega escort service. “I wanted to focus on safety because I felt it was time students took back the campus,” Husser said. “I think the overall crime problem has gone down during my administration,” he said Husser said he hopes to start a pro gram called Campus Alert because Clem son University has had success with a sim ilar program. Campus Alert would allow students to buy small devices from the university that, if activated, could allow the uni versity to locate a student anywhere on campus and in the Columbia area. Husser said he would like more time to work on the safety issue. “I would have loved to have had more lights put up. I didn’t understand the fi nancial, electrical and time difficulties in volved” he said. If he had more time, Husser also said he would have liked to focus more on his community service project, www.education.com. Husser called this a “project in the works” that he wants to see spread across the state. Education.com is a mentoring pro gram that helps elementary through, high school students gain computer liter acy by emphasizing contact with mentors through e-mail and the Internet. “USC students would-be giving back to the Columbia community if they par ticipated in this program. It would show that we care about the future children,” Husser said. His other campaign promises in cluded notifying students about how their fees were divided. Husser didn’t notify the campus as a whole, but said he would have provided this information to students who asked. “The difficulty in notifying mass students was a problem,” Husser said. Husser also didn’t notify the campus as a whole of the findings in the investi gation of maintaining minority professors. He said the issue was discussed at a lead ership luncheon with USC President John Palms. “Wfe found that the university was try ing and putting forth an effort to hire minority professors,” Husser said. Overall, Husser said he thinks his term as president has been successful. “I think this administration has ac complished many of the goals set forth from the beginning. “There hasn’t been a meeting when we haven’t discussed doing something pos itive for the school,” he said. Husser spoke of several other projects SG accomplished, which he said made him feel as if he gave back to the university. For example, on Feb. 16 and 17, stu dents will be able to vote online for the SG elections for the first time. SG also added an outdoor basketball court near Wbodrow because the court at the Blatt P.E. center was taken away and helped the Residence Hall Association ^ place change machines near university laundry rooms. In addition, SG this year filled 90 to 95 percent of the committees, which Huss er said was a rare feat. Husser also said, “The gamecock we painted on Green Street during the sum mer was one way to show that SG and USC students have pride and care about the university.” Husser said that when he leaves of fice, he hopes the student body will re member that “Student Government was i and is dedicated to making sure students know what is being done for them.” Dole from page A1 “He’s running [for office] on a record, not rhetoric.” Dole highlighted Bush’s platform and gave examples of how Bush would achieve his platform goals. Dole said Bush wants to give the states and individual school districts control of education matters. “You can’t run schools by remote control from Washing ton,” Dole said. But, Dole said, with the flexibility of state-controlled edu cation, schools must set measurable goals to keep themselves accountable. Another goal Bush has for reforming education is to return discipline to the classrooms. Dole said that throughout her campaigning for her husband, herself, and now Bush most people she has talked to deem ed ucation as one of the most important issues facing the country today. “There is nothing more important than restoring public ed ucation to greatness,” she said. After the applause for her remarks about education sub sided, Dole began discussing tax cuts. Dole said that taxes in the United States are the highest they’ve been in 50 years. She said that cutting taxes would stim ulate the economy by encouraging investments. “[Cutting taxes] would keep driving the economy,” she said. According to Dole, Bush’s tax-cut plan includes reducing all tax rates so every American would benefit from the cut. Under Bush’s plan, the lower class would receive the hugest cut. “[The lower class] gets the biggest cut so they can move up into the middle class,” Dole said. According to Dole, 13,000 U.S. soldiers receive food stamps. And, Dole said, the military receives the lowest percentage of the gross domestic product in 50 years. Bush will ensure that U.S. troops receive the best equip ment and training, and that they will have the highest morale, so that if troops are needed, the United States will be ready, Dole said. Dole quoted former President Ronald Reagan when she summed up Bush’s defense plan: “peace through strength.” She closed her campaign stop by urging students to take part in the spirit of public service. Dole said working for a political campaign or an organization like the Red Cross is part of what America is. “Governor Bush represents that [spirit],” Dole said. Dole said the Republican primary Feb. 19 is very important for the Republican nomination. “It’s a tight race in New Hamp shire, [but] whatever happens, win or lose [in New Hampshire], South Carolina is key,” Dole said. Black History from page A1 2 p.m. Feb. 20, the Russell House Ball room. Susan Taylor, editor of “Essence” magazine, will lead the workshop and will be joined by the Gospel Jamboree with the Sanctuary Choir of Brookland Bap tist Church. • “Mandinka Epic,” 7:30 p.m. Feb. 22, The Koger Center for the Arts. Tick ets are $25 for adults and $ 18 for students. • “An Evening at the Foxhole,” 7:30 p.m. Feb. 24, the Russell House Ballroom. • Worship service, 11 a.m. Feb. 27, Rutledge Chapel. • “Jive Records Comedy Tour 2000,” 6 p.m. Feb. 29, the Russell House The ater. A variety of BET’s “Comic View” comedians will perform, as will comedi ans from HBO’s “Russell Simmon’s Def Comedy Jam.” Bruce Bruce, Barbara Car lyle and Rickey Smiley will be among some of the more noted names on hand. Bar more information on USC’s Black History Month, call 777-7716. 4 Everybody Scores! m . REGISTER WITH MYBYTES.COM PND SCORE BIG! GET A FREE SONIC ABYSS MULTIMEDIA CD and AUTOMATICALLY BE ENTERED INTO OUR a Score Big, Score Often Sweepstakes. YOU COULD WIN AN INSTANT PRIZE! Plus, you'll have a chance at $100,000 TOWARDS YOUR COLLEGE EDUCATION. ^SItten Sweepstakes CALGON mSNQi sSKECHERS SKECHERS.COM * A Ban TripHuh.com 9 Your Student Trevet Source /fT\ UNIVERSAL No Purchase Necessary. Void in Florida and where prohibited by law. Must be legal resident of the United States, (except Florida) 18 yrs video DISTRIBUTION or older, registered at a college or university during file promotional period. Sweepstakes ends 6:00 PM EST 03/17/00. 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