•_ Carolina News
Vice President
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with the administration.”
Smith thinks that the university should be i
source of support for its students, ami he would like
to implement a 24-hour hotline to reinforce this be
lief. Smith said the hotline could be coordinatec
with the schools of psychology and sociology anc
do everything from helping a student suffering froir
stress to helping a student who has been a victim ol
a sex crime.
“Coming to the University of South Caroline
should be the greatest experience of these students
lives, and the way to that is through Student Gov
emment,” Smith said.
Smith stresses that he wants to be the voice ol
the student body. He says that without the support
of the students, SG isn’t properly serving its con
stituents.
“I view the bureaucracy of Student Govern
ment as the vehicle to getting things done, anc
that should be reflective of each student,” Smitl
said -
Winslow shares similar ideas with Smith. Winslow
is the president of Carolina for Kids and the co
founder and vice president of Spring Board
“I am here to represent the ideas of the student
and not the ideas of the Student Government,” he
shid
Winslow thinks that the key to student in
volvement lies in the sharing of information.
* “Students need to stay informed” he said “Ir
oder to be involved with the USC community, there
needs to be a way to stay in communicado with the
schooL The Student Government office should be
a resource for students to become involved Studeni
Government should be a resource for students.”
In addition to the shuttle bus, Winslow would
also like to see more safety measures carried out by
theUSCPD.
“I propose that we have a USC polite officer in
centralized locations on campus. Wb spend money
to keep the security guards at the desks of the res
idence halls, but we don’t do much for safety out
side these residence halls,” he said.
Winslow endorses the beautification aspect of -
the university’s Master Plan. He would like to see
the Assembly Street tunnel repainted and several
other projects carried out. Winslow thinks that hav
ing a campus a student can be proud of is crucial
to the university’s overall success.
Winslow would also like to see die “fickle” na
ture of the senate done away with.
“As a student, I have heard from other students
about the lack of accomplishments in Student Gov
ernment,” he said. “I want to make sure things get
done.”
Winslow said he thinks himself the ideal can
didate to accomplish not only the goals of the stu
dents, but also the goals of the entire university.
“The reason for attending any academic insti
tution, such as the prestigious University of South
Carolina, is to learn. USC has made great strides
to become a member of the elite Association of
American Universities. However, the faculty can
not accomplish this goal without the assistance of
every student on this campus,” Winslow said.
Dixon, who served on the committee of acad
emic affairs, wants to see a student body that would
be more trusting of its SG.
“Students don’t feel close to their Student Gov
ernment,” he saidC’They don’t take advantage of
the true power that their Student Government lias.”
Dixon says he’s very fitmiliar with the rules of
parliamentary procedure, and that no one could run
a senate meeting better than he. Dixon said he hopes
his familiarity with the rules will get things done
more quickly and efficiently.
Dixon wants to enforce an open-door policy
that would invite any student to walk into the SG
offices and voice his opinions and concerns.
In addition to encouraging the students to come
to the SG, Dixon is planning to go to the students.
“I want to visit at least one student organization
a week,” Dixon said. “Then, we will know what
they want us to do, and we can get them excited
about Student Government.”
Dixon wants students to know that their ideas
and opinions count
“I probably walk by people with some of the
best ideas for improving this campus, but I won’t
know of them if they don’t come to me. Die pur
pose of the student is to serve the student, and an
open communication will promote this,” he said
Safety is another important issue for Dixon. His
wallet was taken during the rash of Capstone crimes
more than two weeks ago. Dixon would like to
see parking garages manned 24 hours a day and a
more active and visible foot patrol.
“The university police department needs to
be a visual deterrent on this campus. If you are plan
ning on walking around at night and causing trou
ble, you should expect to bump into a police offi
cer,” he said.
. Dixon also wants to see some changes made in
the students’ academic arena. In addition to push
ing back the add/drop date for classes, Dixon wants
to see all university professors post their syllabus
es online.
“I am prepared to meet with all of the deans
to make this work if I have to,” he said.
One major project that Dixon endorses is the
upcoming “Clean Carolina” campus beautifica
tion project. Dixon said the project is modeled af
ter the “adopt a highway” system where student or
ganizations would be responsible for keeping then
designated area on campus clean.
Dixon would also like to foster a better rela
tionship with the administration. He thinks this
would help make change for students more acces
sible.
All candidates said they have been impressed
with the efforts and accomplishments of Vice Pres
ident Brandon Anderson and the current senate.
“The job of the vice president is to propose ideas
and run the senate,” Winslow said. “I think An
derson had done this job veiy well.”
Smith agrees.
“I believe he has attained some of his goals, and
he has matte student senate more student-friendly,"
Smith said. “He did an adequate job, but there is al
ways room for improvement"
Ford said lie admired Anderson’s ability to keep
the student senate together through the impeach
ment hearings for SG Treasurer Elizabeth Fordham
earlier in the term. He says the impeaclunent real
ly slowed down the senate.
“I wish we could have done more, but that re
ally took the steam out of us,” Ford said.
Dixon saidhe was pleased with Anderson’s job
as vice president.
“He went into that race as an average student,
and he did nothing but good things from there on.
I think he set the ball rolling on many good ideas,
and he saw some of them through to the end,” he
said.
Dixon said Anderson and Student Body Presi
dent Malik Husser also matte a better line of com
munication with the student senate and the presi
dential Cabinet.
“That matte it a lot easier to get things done,”
Dixon said.
Sprinklers
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in recent years.
“The advantage you have in adding sprinklers is
that small fires are extinguished at the place of ori
gin,” Columbia City Assistant Fire Chief Bradley
Anderson said. “They control the fire until fire
fighters can arrive.”
Anderson said sprinklers help significantly re
duce both the amount of toxic gases released from
a fire and the amount of heat in surrounding areas.
Luna said Housing considers fife safety a top pri
ority when looking into building needs and follows
guidelines established by a 1992 study by the Rolf
Jensen company.
:>“What we’ve been doing for the past few
years is basal on recommendations from the study,”
Luna said.
Improvements have included upgrading the fire
alarms in and adding central reporting systems to all
dorms, although the Towers still need minor addi
tions.
The central reporting system enables firefight
* ,
ers to reach a residence hall more quickly because
the police department is notified as soon as a fire is
detected.
•The university is now focusing on installing sprin
kler systems in high-rise dorms “because they
have a longer route of evacuation for students to fol
low,” Luna said.
Capstone House, Bates House, Patterson Hall
and Columbia Hall will eventually be installed with
sprinklers; Bates Wfest and more of McBryde will
get sprinklers in the summer when they’re reno
vated.
Anderson said some people worry that sprin
klers cause water damage to personal property. He
said only one sprinkler head is activated in most cas
es, so that shouldn’t be a factor when deciding whether
to jpstall sprinklers.
“I absolutely think that sprinklers need to be
added to all dorms. If you have sprinklers, it will
help decrease the spread of the fire,” English sopho
more Maureen Deegan said. “There might be
damage, but not as much as if there were no sprin
klers and people would have died.”
Anderson agrees on the importance of sprin
klets. “There has been some progress to install sprin
kler systems in domis,” he said. “I’m heartened by
it, but it’s a very slow progress. People just don’t
understand that sprinklers save lives.”
Luna said that regardless of the installation, cam
pus residence halls are safe and follow current safe
ty regulations. About $5.5 million has been spent
on fire safety in residence halls already, he said.
In 1997, the Commission on Higher Educa
tion estimated that USC would need $15 million to
add sprinklers to all dorms. Tire commission asked
the Legislature to provide $45 million for all state
supported universities to install sprinkler systems.
The Legislature, however, decided against do
ing so.
“As far as we can tell, the Legislature wasn’t se
riously approached about this,” Anderson said.
“Frankly, we were disappointed that South Caroli
na schools didn’t take the fatal fire in Chapel Hill as
a wake-up call to improve fire precautions in resi
dence halls.”
Luna said the installation of sprinkler systems
would be easier with the money.
“We would like to be able to expedite the plans
if the money was available,” he said.
Anderson, however, said that even if the mon
ey became available, it would still take two to three
years to add systems to all residence halls because
of contracting problems.
So far, for the 1999-2000 school year, there has
been only one small fire in a trash can in Capstone.
Luna said there was “no significant damage and noth
ing that threatened students’ safety.”
But some students think that the rarity of such
threats can sometimes be just as dangerous as the
event itself.
“Right now I feel safe, but if a fire happened
right now, I’d be totally suprised,” chemistry sopho
more Edith Gadsden said. “I think things are like
that until it actually happens. No one is prepared.
“I think those two incidents [the dorm fires in
New Jersey and at Clemson] show that we need to
be more informed about fire safety,” she said.
Luna said students can help prevent fires like
that by adhering to university policies and advice,
such as not using drop cords or hot plates, not burn
ing candles and using suige protectors.
Students should also follow rules regarding evac
uation procedures, Luna said.
Students are required by law to leave their room
when a fire alarm sounds and must stay outside while
firefighters check the location of the fire and clear
away smoke.
There’s a fine for disobeying this policy.
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ONLINE
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dents select their classes at registration
time.
“This is going to help in making
class selection” he said. Under the sys- |
tern, according to Dixon, a student
might be able to view the professor’s
syllabus online and make a more in
formed decision based on that.
Riser agreed that the new links
would help students choose their class
es.
“Otherwise, you’re just kind of
shooting in the dark,” Riser said.
Dixon said that would help with
what he sees as USC’s too-short
drop/add period.
“One of the problems... I see on
this campus is the brevity of the
drop/add period,” Dixon said.
“When the professors who have
Wfeb pages link them up through Com
puter Services... that’s going to be a
great, great tool,” he said.
Dixon also encouraged student sen
ate to work on the project again next
year.
“I think it should be a major goal
for the incoming senate,” he said.
Dixon, who is running for the vice pres
idency, said he would “absolutely”
make it one of his priorities in office.
Bradley
from page A1
date. Bradley’s backers include Charleston
Mayor Joseph Riley Jr. and Comptroller
General Jim Lander.
Kevin Geddings, Hodges’ main po
litical consultant and former chief of staff,
said the governor’s endorsement of Gore
isn’t inevitable. He could decide not to
endorse anyone.
“That’s what he has to weigh,” Ged
dings said. “Does he want to get out in
front with somebody who isn’t going to
spend a dime in this state?”
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