Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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TVT 1 1 _ ^p>< ^ ina Community since 1Q08. www.gamecock.sc.edu University of South Carolina Columbia, s.c. Professors dissatisfied with low salaries Faculty say higher pay would make USC cPiore competitive by Patrick Rathbun Assistant News Editor Some professors say they’re dissatisfied with their salaries, although South Carolina universities continue to raise faculty salaries, with USC at the forefront of these raises. According to USC’s most recent information on faculty salaries, the current average for a full time professor with a nine-month contract is near ly $80,000. The average salary for associate professors is listed at nearly $60,000, and assistant professors make an average of nearly $50,000. The average salary for instructors at USC is listed at less than $40,000. Salaries for instructors at the USC School of Medicine are excluded from the data. However, Dr. Ezra Greenspan, an English pro fessor at USC, said he thought that faculty mem bers believe that their financial reward is insuffi cient. “There is a widespread sentiment that the fac ulty is indeed underpaid,” he said. “[This is] an opinion shared by the faculty and the administra tion. One obvious sign is that we’re losing top notch faculty to other universities that pay bet ter. “It will unquestionably continue unless some thing changes.” English professor Dr. Benjamin Franklin, who has been at USC for 24 years, said he thought pro lessors are “grossly underpaid.” He also said people don’t understand the dili gence or amount of time that teachers put into their profession. Faust Pauluzzi, who teaches Italian and has worked at USC for 23 years, said he believed that faculty salaries haven’t improved in modem times. “I don’t think [pay] has gotten any better or any worse,” Pauluzzi said. “In some places, [teach ers are] doing great; in some places, they’re not.” English and film studies professor Susan Court ney said she thought USC could improve the qual ity of faculty by being able to offer better salaries. “I don’t know that it’s catastrophic,” she said. “But if we could be more competitive [fi nancially], we would retain better faculty.” Courtney added that the teaching profession is unique in tliat professionals go to school for many years and still make less than $40,000. A professor who wished to remain anonymous pointed out the discrepancies in salaries of differ ent disciplines, asking how these dramatic differ ences could promote learning. He said the real issue is that there are certain disciplines where people are treated less honor-' ably. The professor also said Hie average salary doesn’t mean anything because of the wide range of fac ulty salaries. In the 1989-1990 fiscal year, South Carolina professors made an average salary of slightly more than $55,000. Associate professors made just more than $40,000, and assistants made more than $35,000. Instructors made an averse of nearly $25,000 dur ing that year. For the 1980-1981 fiscal year, professors made Salaries see page aj 'I don’t know if it's catastrophic. But if we could be more com petitive [financially], we would retain better faculty.' Susan Courtney English and film studies professor cast 'Quad to open for fall 2000 by Charles Prashaw Senior Writer South Quadrangle East will be open for applications when housing registration begins March 22. The new 440-person capacity resi dence hall’s design was based on South Quadrangle West, its sister building. o o u i n Quad East, which took 16 months and $ 19.2 million to build, will be open to all students with 60 credit hours or more. It will cost students the same amount as South Quad West. Both dorms are projected to cost $1,730 per semester. The new four-story building will have coed apartment-style rooms similar to South Quad West, with four private bed rooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room. The new building will also * house a classroom similar to other hous ing classrooms around campus. Built just off Blossom Street, the South Quad East replaced the old Booker T. Wasliington high school building, which USC used as a biological research center. “East Quad will be a special place for students to live with a sense of indepen dence," Director of Housing Gene Luna said. According to Luna, 500 students who wanted on-campus housing last year were put on a waiting list. With South Quad East, Luna said he hopes that the demand will lessen this year. If students sign up witliin a reasonable time, they’re virtually assured a place on^ampus, Luna said. m- ® Although students who have previ ously lived on campus will have the ad vitniage in housing placement, that doesn’t mean that students who have lived off campus won’t be able to get housing in List Quad, Luna said. According to Luna, when South Quad West opened in 1997, almost 200 students who li ved off campus the year before got housing there. Some rooms in South Quad East have been allocated for scholarship athletes. Luna said Bates House and South Qiutd also have about the same amount of space East Quad SEE PAGE A3 President-elect signs Amy Gouloing Photo Editor President-elect Jotaka Eaddy signs the “Contract for Carolina” last Thursday after learning that she won the Student Government presidential runoff. SG candidates will be Inaugurated on March , 22 at the Rutledge Chapel. uroup explores women's role in four religions by Amanda S’ilva Staff Writer USC started celebration of National Women’s History Month with a seminar on the role of women in religion, spon sored by the Women Students’, Associa tion, that filled a Preston College class room to capacity Tuesday night. A panel of four women from differ ent religious backgrounds discussed the political and spiritual roles of women with in their denominations. Adilah Shabazz, a Baptist turned Mus lim, discovered her faith while “trying to find the same peace and satisfaction she had as a child” with her religion. After college, she journeyed to Africa “in search of her roots” and was greeted by a group of Muslim women who re peated “welcome home, sister” upon her arrival. She then believed that God was di recting her toward the Islamic faith. Islam, which means “submission to the oneness of the Lord,” stresses the po litical and, more importantly, sprititual equality of men and women. According to Shabazz, the role of ‘women in the Muslim faith is equal to that of men. However, men can marry outside of the Muslim faith, while women cannot. The Muslim religion considers women to be the teachers of the faith. Therefore, they must not marry outside of the Muslim religion. Sliabazz regards die wife of tlie propliet Mohammed, the founder of Islam, to be a true role model for women in the Mus lim faith because of the suffering she en dured as one of the first Muslims. Sharon Rachel represented Catholi cism. She was raised a Catholic and remains faithful to her religion, despite unanswered questions she has. “As I get older and think about more things, there’s a lot of church teach ings that I don’t necessarily agree with,” she said. Rachel remains an active member in her faith because she said she feels com fortable with it and can’t imagine not hav ing it in her life. “It’s a place where I feel like I be long,” she said. She describes the Catholic faith as very patriarchal. According to Rachel, some individ ual members might support the idea of to tal equality between men and women. Religion see pact as Scholarship dinner offers opportunities by Kelly Haggerty Assistant News Editor The Office of Fellowships and Sum mer Programs was host to the fifth an nual University Fellowships Dinner on Tuesday night in Capstone’s Campus Room. The purpose of the dinner was to in troduce and encourage qualified uni versity students to consider competing for national scholarsltips and fellowships. Students had the chance to speak with faculty who assist students in the appli cation process and with students who have won such awards. Keynote speaker Caroline Parler, Goldwater and Rhodes scholar, gave a speech, “It’s Show Time,” wltich relat ed her experiences as a dancer and as a student applying for scholarships. She said in both circumstances, she was al ways performing. ■ Parler gave students some key ideas to keep in mind while “performing” dur ing interviews. She said there’s no spe cific formula for success, and that stu dents shouldn’t cater to what they think the interviewer wants to hear. She also said students should realize their weak nesses. She said students should go to an in terview hopeful, but shouldn’t expect to receive an award because that could set them up for disappointment. She also offered her best advice to the crowd of 120 students and 30 fac ulty and staff members. “Always keep in mind who you are and what you want out of life,” Parler said. Program director Novella Beskid said students could be like Parler if they took advantage of the Office of Fellowships and Summer Programs, which she said was the only one of its kind in the state. Since its establishment in 1994, more than 100 university students have won more than $2.5 million in schol arships and fellowships. “Our students are doing really well. This record indicates to me that our stu dents can compete with students at any university,” Beskid said. “But because they [the scholarships and fellowships] are so competitive, we encourage students to start thinking about applying as early as possible.” Chemistry freshman Jason Morton planned to get a head start by attending the dinner. He said he hopes to gain the hands-on undergraduate research expe rience offered by S.C. EPSCoR. “1 came to find out anything I could about research or scholarships. 1 know who to go talk to now about things,” Morton said. Political science junior Jessica Hem said the office has continued to help as she prepares to compete on Friday in At lanta against three other students from Scholarship see page as Miranda LaLonoe The Gamecock Weather Inside Datebook Online Poll Encore looks in Irene’s Kitchen. ■HH Encore! Wednesday • Student senate, 5 p.m., RH Theater • University Ambas sadors, 8 p.m., Visitor Center ► Thursday • NAACP, 6 p.m. • SALA, 7:30 p.m. Do you feel safe on campus? Vote at www.gamecock.sc.edu. Results will be Dublished Friday.