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_VOL, 93, No. 60 Wednesa February 9, 2000_
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www.gamecock.sc.edu University of South Carolina Columbia, s.c.
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Student activism, safety concerns for VP candidates
by Kevin Langston
Encore! Editor
Student Government vice presidential candi
dates are focusing on campus safety and student
activism as their main priorities in the upcoming
election.
“1 want to make tliis campus the most safe and
secure campus as possible,” vice presidential can
♦lidate and social woik graduate student Elliot. Smith
said. “At night on this campus, you can’t find a uni
versity police officer.”
Smith said he wants to see an increase in po
lice activity at night, a time he considers the
most dangerous on campus.
Sophomore Dan Dixon wants to see a more
active response to on-campus crime. While he says
the passive safety precautions like lights and call
boxes are good, he would like to see more done.
Dixon said he would also like to see more police
officers patrol the campus on a regular basis.
International studies sophomore Tom Winslow
wants to expand the scope of safety to the Five
Points area. Winslow would like to see a shuttle
bus run from the Russell House to Five Points from
10 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Liberal arts sophomore Corey Ford said he
doesn’t want to see any more USC the university
police officers leave the for higher wages at Co
lumbia’s City Hall.
“Wfe’ve got good police officers, but we’re los
ing them to higher wages,” Ford said. Ford wants
to establish a fund-raiser for the USC Police De
partment that would eventually match the funds
with the government. He wants to taiget local at
tomeys and crime groups for this money.
In addition to the USCPD fund-raiser, Ford
would like to improve the quality of life for each
student. By working with the niversity’s Dining
Services committee, Ford wants to see the Coun
try Stores located in the Carolina Mall and Cap
stone House accept a student’s bonus bucks in
addition to their cash card. Ford would also like to
see these stores accept debit cards.
Ford is finishing a term as a student senator,
and he has plans to get the SG more involved with
multicultural events.
“We’ve done a good job, but we could do a lot
better,” Ford said. “We’re not responsive enough
to the minority student groups.”
By focusing on more of these groups, Ford
would like to see more involvement from them in
SG affairs.
• Ford also wants to see a university-wide ad
visement process modeled after that of the Darla
Moore School of Business. Ford thinks that stu
dents should have full-time advisers that, in addi
tion to guiding them with curriculum, assist them
in choosing a career.
Ford thinks that with more activism from the
student body, these goals can easily be achieved.
] !“I want to do something that has never been
dote before, something different,” Ford said. “In
the past, when Student Government has brought
ideas to the administration, it has just been Student
Government. I would like to see other organiza
tions behind us when we go to the administra
tion. Through collectiveTobbying, we can get things
done. There is strength in numbers.”
Smith also wants to see a more unified and ac
tive student body.
“We need to be more active in what goes on
at this university, and I think Student Government
should be leaders in this,” he said.
Smith is familiarizing himself with the rules of
parliamentary procedure and said he expects to use
its powers to the fullest of his ability. He would
like to work with a more aggressive SG. By taking
more stands on pressing issues, Smith believes that
SG would be leading the way to a more active stu
dent body.
“Student Government has done some excel
lent things,” Smith said. “Their resolution regard
ing the Confederate flag was impressive, but 1 don’t
think Student Government fully uses its influence .
Vice President see page m
Bradley
.asked
to step
down
by Leigh Strope
Associated Press
Presidential candidate Bill Bradley flew
into South Carolina, said the Confederate
flag should come down from the Statehouse
and then was told by the state’s Democrat
ic chairman to drop out of the race and
support Vice President Al Gore.
^ Dick Harpootlian hand-delivered that
message in a letter to Bradley as the candi
date prepared to lly out of Columbia on Tues
day. Earlier, Bradley spoke at Benedict Col
lege, a predominantly black school, and said:
“That flag should not lly another day over
the stale Capitol.”
Harpootlian said he was irritated that
Bradley came in with little notice, beat up
on South Carolina over the Confederate flag
and left. His “hit-and-run tactic doesn’t help,”
the suite chairman said.
“I think he needs to understand this isn’t
a place where you come in and slap around
the while rednecks and leave,” Harpootlian
said.
South Carolina is the only stale that still
Hies the flag, which was raised above the
| Stalehouse in 1962. The National Associa
tion for the Advancement of Colored Peo
ple wants tourists to boycott the state over
the banner, which it considers a racist sym
bol.
Bradley and Gore have said it should be
removed, while the Republican presidential
candidates have said it’s up to South Car
olinians to decide. The Legislature, which
has sole power to lower the banner, is strug
gling to find a compromise.
Bradley accused Republicans of “bot
tom-fishing for votes” from the most right
wing elements of the GOP by refusing to
take a stand on the flag.
Harpootlian said the primary fight be
tween Republican front-runners George W.
Bush and John McCain is destructive, and
I flit Democrats will be hurt if Bradley and
Gore continue to fight for that party’s
nomination.
“As you visit our South Carolina to
day, I hope that the vitriol you see being ex
clianged between McCain and Bush will em
phasize how clearly destructive this kind of
campaign is being to them and could be to
our parly if you and A1 Gore exchange in a
similar effort,” Harpootlian wrote.
The slate’s highest ranking Democrat,
Gov. Jim Hodges, hasn’t endorsed a candi
BrADLEY~s£EPagTa2
A A AS lets students know what's going on
Amy Goulding Photo Editor
A member of Phi Beta Sigma, far left, looks on as Junior Tevra Johnson and sophomore Aisha Taylor sit at the Association of
African-American Students table Tuesday In front of the Russell House. AAAS sets up a table every Tuesday to remind students
of their Tuesday evening meetings and to let students know about other AAAS events.
USC focuses on fire safety in dorms
by Kelly Haggerty
Assistant News Editor
USC is among the colleges and universities nation
wide that have started to review their fire prevention
and evacuation plans for residence halls.
The review comes in wake of the fatal Jan. 19 dor
mitory fire at Seton Hall University in New Jersey and
the Clemson University fire over the weekend.
“Every time there’s a fire at a residence hall at a cam
pus in this country, it causes us to pause and review
our plans to make sure ours are up-to-date,” said Gene
Luna, director of Housing.
Luna said that specifically, USC was looking into its
safety plans concerning sprinkler systems.
When most university residence halls were built,
sprinkler systems weren ’l required to be installed. Old
er buildings without sprinkler systems still aren’t re
quired to add one.
Because of tliis, the only dorms on campus that have
sprinkler systems are Maxcy College, South Tower,
South Quadrangle apartments and parts of McBryde
Quadrangle, which were all either built or renovated
7 Sprinklers see page a2
If sprinklers had been installed...
Based on.4,067 fires in Richland County residential homes (campus dorms
included), from 1991 until 1998, the following might have been saved if sprin
klers had been installed:
$18 million
in damages
might never
have
occurred.
e $
33
lives
might
have been
saved.
* £
1 m
occupants
might not
have been
injured.
142
firefighters
might not
have been
injured.
Source: Richland County fire statistics
Online
syllabuses
one step
closer
by Brandon Larrabee
Associate News Editor
In a first step toward online syllabuses,
USC’s Computer Services division has be
gun linking professors’ Wfeb pages to the Mas
ter Schedule at the registrar’s home page and
to certain locations on the VIP Web site.
The new plan links professors’ Web sites
to the two sites after the professors give Com
puter Services their pages' URLs. Howev
er, the plan doesn't create a Wfeb site for pro
fessors.
“I think this is a great first step toward
having online syllabi across the board,” stu
dent Sen. Dan Dixon said.
Dixon chairs the Senate Academics Com
mittee, which has pushed for online syllabuses
since the beginning of the year.
“It’s a first step that lends itself to doing
something great,” Dixon said.
According to Informaiion Solutions Group
Manager Regie Riser, the Master Schedule
link appears when students enter a specific
category of classes, such as math or physics.
When the list of the classes in that cate
gory comes up, a blue More lnlo link ap
pears to the side of any section where the
professor has registered his Web page.
A link also appears when students hit the
“Academics” tab on the VIP system and then
look at their schedules, Riser said.
Clicking on either link takes the student
to the Web site of the professor leaching that
course.
The professor can give both a public URL
for the Master Schedule and a private URL
for the VIP system, Riser said. He said 40 sec
tions had both a private and a public URL
registered with Computer Services as of
last weekend. Thirty-six sections had only a
public URL registered, and 20 sections had
only a private URL registered.
Riser said few professors currently know
about the new service, which is less than a
month old.
“Because it’s such a new service, they
[professors] don’t know that this really ex
ists,” he said.
However, Riser and Dixon both stressed
that the program doesn’t create a Web site
for professors without one, and professors
must turn their URLs in to the Computer Ser
vices department for the links to be creat
ed.
“At this point, we’re not helping pro
fessors build their syllabi online or build their
class notes [online],” Riser said.
“This isn’t helping any class whose pro
fessors don’t have a Web page yet,” Dixon
said.
Dixon said the plan would help stii
Online see page a2
Tod\y
i 64
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Thursday
> 73
' 49
Encore!
reviews the
Elton John
concert
Encore!
Wednesday
• Student Senate, 5 p.m.,
RH Theater
• Condomgrams for sale,
Greene Street
Thursday
• NAACP, 6 p.m.
• SALA, 7:30 p.m.
• Condomgrams for sale,
Greene Street
f
Should professors be
required to post their
class syllabuses online?
Vote at www.gamecock.sc.edu.
Results will be published Friday.