Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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YV7 1 1 _VOL, 93, No. 60 Wednesa February 9, 2000_ e Carolina Community since 1Q08 •— .. .—..."'wrwnr.—........n.—....nr www.gamecock.sc.edu University of South Carolina Columbia, s.c. % 5> v s, wSvA ' '"s '</■. -. ,, < ' s',-. < -yis-s. > jZ>i %y,' < '.-x,. ■> ivomomo&c -Z/o&c y/cs&i/Mts/ixs&A&X. -s,ssss-s ss<~.<kMo"t, ss,s",vs, ■. <, " , v<,Sby",s s ., ,-s<s<,, 's, , "s/s -i, /,"-.„, s„,,'s. 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 ' 45 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.