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.Carolina News Florida colleges told to achieve diversity by Jack Wheat College Press Exchange Orlando - State universities entered a new era Friday when the board of regents directed them, by unanimous vote, to achieve diversity on campuses without taking into account the race or gender of applicants for admission. , After an emotional public hearing last ing four-and-a-half hours, regents approved, 12-0, Gov. Jeb Bush’s Talented 20 plan, which guarantees a spot somewhere in the 10-university system to public high school seniors who graduate in the top 20 per cent of their class and complete 19 col lege-prep classes. The policy now bans racial and gen der considerations in the admissions process, but allows the schools to use such factors as socioeconomic status, whether a student’s parents went to college and the quality of the student’s high school. State University System Adam Herbert said the plan creates “a climate in which everybody is being judged not on the ba sis of race or ethnic background, but what they have done with their lives.” The board changed admission rules despite the powerful objections of hun dreds of supporters of existing policies. Opponents said Bush, Herbert and regents are dead wrong in their pledge that the new policy will increase opportunities for minorities to attend state universities. Some said they fear a return to segrega tion on university campuses. In response, regents passed a resolu tion saying universities should continue aggressive affirmative action to increase diversity, such as using scholarships to re cruit more minority students. Before the vote, the state university presidents said they expect no problem in maintaining minority enrollments under the new policy. “A lot of people are focusing on a plan they’ve heard about, but haven’t read as closely as they might have,” said Talbot “Sandy” D’Alemberte, president of Flori da Stale University, the state’s second most selective public university.” I actu ally see the governor’s plan as a very competently drafted plan for us to take further steps for diversity.” But officials at the University of Flori da, the state’s most prestigious universi ty, worry that they won’t have tools to make sure significant numbers of minor ity students are selected when they eval uate more than 23,000 qualified appli cants for 5,900 freshman slots. UF Interim President Charles Young, who was chancellor of the University of California at Los Angeles when that state banned consideration of ethnicity in ad missions, said UF officials are consulting with counterparts at UCLA, California at Berkeley and the University of Texas at Austin to learn how those schools re sponded to similar policy changes. “We’ve got to do all the things to gether that will enable us to maintain di versity,” Young said. Critics of Talented 20 call this a sad day in Florida history. Q&A from page A1 yi rj*«? fr- '■ TflYLOR they are with someone and there is a venue and there is a place where that person can sit with another person and wait until APO physically comes to pick them up. Gamecock: I think it’s a safe assumption that both of you would want as much stu dent input as possible, should you be elect ed. What, specifically, do you have in mind that would let students know that your aoors are open ior mem/ JE: I am a very big advocate of student activism and student input. One thing I want to make sure of with the “contract for Carolina” is that students are aware of what it is that Student Government is try ing to do and to really get input from stu dents on these particular initiative^. And one way to hold ourselves accountable to the students is to have the contract drafted in public places, and as each ini tiative is met, we’ll have it checked off. But also I think SG has somewhat of an open door policy, but I thinly it’s impor tant that SG walk across that threshold and bring people into it. One of my pro posals ... is to have town hall meetings and let SG go to several different venues on campus and open up shop and find out what students want. And I also think that SG needs to be evaluated every year by an outside source. Wfe also need to get stu dent input from student organizations. And as president, I would like to visit each student oiganization on campus. You know, as a senator, I chaired “Meet Your Stu dent Government Day,” and this year was a lot bigger than it’s ever been. We real ly.tried to reach out to all the students, and we want to increase “Meet Your Stu dent Government Day.” We’re looking into wonting wun me Residence nan As sociation and creating an SG documen tary, having a television show and making sure that an SG newsletter goes out where students could find out what’s going on. Another idea is creating an interactive In ternet site and chat room, where students could meet. And I myself and members of the Cabinet would be there for the stu dents to interact online in an open venue. KT: I personally find that SG says that they’ve had open doors, but it’s not very open. As you’ve noticed, many of the stu dents on this campus feel that senate has not gotten in touch with its constituents. If you go into Gambrell and you look at the SG poster, it shows members of sen ate from {wo years ago, and it’s got sen ate minutes from 1998.1 think it’s im portant for people to know what goes on and what bills are being passed. I think if Student Government has an online site, maybe senators can post the bills that are up in senate. Also, like Jotaka said, it is so important to get organizations in volved because you can’t really expect student organizations like AA AS [the As sociation of African-American Stu dents] and sorority and fraternity coun cils to fmd out what’s going on in SG. You nave logo 10 mem ana leu mem wnai you think and find out what their input is. Al so, part of my safety task force is wanti ng people to have input and having a town hall meeting where people come in and say, “I think we need this” or “I think we need that.” They’ll discuss privacy is sues, safety issues. And I think that’s the way to get students involved in one part of my platform. Another thing I think that’s really important is just to make sure SG doesn’t do things without talking to the students, because not many people re ally care about what goes on. And I think if they knew a little bit more, then maybe they would care. I think just saying that it’s an open SG is not going to bring peo ple in, because it’s been open and nobody really cares. There’s just a laige amount of apathy, and I really would want to try to change that. Gamecock: If you had to tell USC stu dents why they should vote for you, what would you say? JE: I think that experience speaks. It’s im portant that you have experience when you’re trying to lead an organization, because you can Want the necessary Q&A SEE PAGE A3 Feb. 21 • Suspicious fixe, Capstone. Officers re sponded to the incident location, where unknown persons set fire to a mag azine. An investigator was notified and responded The investigation continues. Feb. 19 • Burglary second degree, McMaster Collie. The complainant reported hear ing the sound of glass breaking and called USCPD. Officers arrived on the scene and found that persons unknown used unknown means to processed me crime ^ scene. An art department employee said nothing appeared to be missing. The in vestigation continues. • Simple possession of marijuana, Wide Hampton, Responding officers went to the incident location with the resi dence hall director to investigate a sus picious smell. When the suspects’ door was opened, a strong odor of marijuana was detected. The second suspect gave up two bags of a green, leafy substance believed to be marijuana. Both of the sus pects admitted to using marijuana and were arrested and charged with simple possession of marijuana. The evidence was placed in storage. Feb. 18 • Bomb threat, Russell House informa tion desk. The responding officer was met by the complainant, who said a male called and stud, “Yeah. A bomb is about to go off. Get out by 12:45.1 am going to blow the bitch.” Many USCPD em ployees were notified. The building wasn’t * evacuated, but was swept, with negative results. • Grand larceny of laptop computer, Rus sell House Book store. The com plainant said unknown persons removed a Macin tosh Powerbook, valued at more than $2,000, and a note book security sys tem, valued at $50, and secured the computer. The cuiuyuwi Witt I moved from the top of a display case. Feb,17 • Assault and battery of a high and ag gravated nature, Bates House cafeteria. An officer responded to a fight in progress at the incident location and found the victim in the cafeteria Hie victim com plained of pain in the left arm and was taken to the Richland Memorial Hospi tal. The officer picked up the subject at Wfirdlaw. The subject also complained of pain in his left arm and was taken to the Richland Memorial Hospital. An in vestigator was notified and responded. irimmi—j|—iiiiiiirniiiir>nTwrnii>iiiimiHiiinnima DUI from page A1 “What we want to do is send a clear and convincing message that we don’t want people to drink and drive,” said Sen. Mike Fair, R-Greenville, a supporter of the bill. But Hutto said if supporters were so concerned about highway safety, they ’ should ban the use of cellular telephones in cars and require seat belts. “What we’re saying is we really don’t care about truly improving high way safety,” he said. Fair asked why Hutto was trying to protect drunken drivers. “I’m trying to interject fairness,” Hutto replied. m . .<< > ▼ « ; * ' - 1 1 11 "'H _B9 Excellent Selection Minutes from Columbia Friendly, Professional Staff Test drive a Ford Focus And receive a Free CD case Cap. Cost $12,148.QQ, $500 Rebate back to dealer, Total due at inception $1,499.9s. Residual S7.026.BQ. i 2,000 miles per year. 15c penalty per mile over 45',000 miles. v' _ _ me idBii B^B AtL A iMMlB h »E. J3* ^ 1 % T •'’* ., ’ • - :■ : ■*‘-y% X • - ' V • •; rfy w/% HU ir/fj r/▼ «# ^/T* &.:., a v-•. .> • • Ian*#* ~ ^ ' <. ' ■ ^'~i - ~ -i ' ‘ ' '. ‘ • ', .' 5fe$jjg • - • • . - . ,"- . v- WErffqtm^!bT,£&!&&mfW$rweNn!a-y,» ^'h^ vwanPli ^‘:<*EilrmiVTiiiflflMHMlT>nnTT nP , • Y *4$ ? : ’ ■’ -*v~ j * t ■ *n* ,wy f f l? *wr «' -■' •“ / jf1 - &kMe &twi *, 7 * -•- ''. t < . «! ..“v .:■ ■-■ '• '- • • >*.-. ^ ^ 47 ,i.'>;.v .*: •• -,s ■_ i break out a glass pan el in an office door. The subject then used a chair to stand on, reached inside, opened the door, en tered the area and then fled the area. An investigator was notified and re sponded to and