The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 13, 2000, Image 1
_Vql. 93, No. 71 Mon March 13, 2000 _
ina Community since 1Q08
.. University or South Carolina . Cot™**.
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DMV
tracks
uninsured
drivers
A ssociated Press
Greenville — The state Depart
ment of Motor Vehicles is developing a
computer system to track who is driving
without insurance.
Under the new system, insurance
companies would electronically report
to state when drivers purchase, cancel or
renew their insurance. DMV would then
match that data against vehicle registra
tion records to determine who is driving
without insurance.
DMV officials hope to install the sys
tem by .October, replacing an unpopu
lar system of random sampling.
Currently, DMV employees choose
500 vehicle registration records at ran
dom every day, sending letters to own
ers demanding proof of insurance. Dri
vers have 45 days to get their insurance
agent to sign a form confirming the dri
ver’s insurance.
Judy Sharpe, DMV’s manager of fi
nancial responsibility, said random checks
are required by state law and will con
tinue under the new system. But because
DMV will have insurance information
for many drivers, it will only send letters
to those who are identified as uninsured.
Florida is one of 12 states with sim
ilar computer systems. Eght years ago,
Florida’s system was unable to determine
the insurance status of 35 percent of reg
istered vehicles. Cooperation with in
surance companies has cut that number
to 20 percent.
‘‘The system is a good system, but it
requires support from both the insurance
industry and the motor vehicle side to
make it work,” said Janet Dennis, spokes
woman for that state’s Highway Safety
and Motor Vehicles Department.
Eeanor Kitzman, president of Co
lumbia-based Driver’s Choice Insurance
Services, said the system sounds good if
programmers are able to avoid glitches
and mismatches.
“We’ve got to make sure it’s going
to work in the real world so we’re not
causing problems for consumers that they
don’t deserve,” Kitzman said.
Marion Cooper, of Greenville, said
he liked the idea of the state keeping track
of who is insured. Cooper said if insur
ance is mandatory, the state should make
sure everyone pays.
► “I have always heard there is a num
ber of people out there who don’t have
it,” Cooper said.
Gamecocks give valiant effort at conference tournament
File Photo
Samecock guard Herbert Lee Davis extends for a slam dunk earlier this season. USC made a strong showing at
be SEC Tournament in Atlanta last week by defeating Alabama, 69-59, Thursday and upsetting Tennessee, 75-68,
'riday. USC’s run was spoiled by Auburn on Saturday when the Gamecocks lost in overtime, 77-72.
I---——
Marriott
drops illegal
work rules
Handbook amendment
won't affect USC's
dining services
by Kelly Haggerty
Assistant News Editor
A change in work rules for Sodexho
Marriott will not affect USC even though
Sodexho-Marriott manages the universi
ty’s food service operations.
Sodexho-Marriott has agreed to amend
its employee handbook by dropping its il
legal work rules prohibiting employees
from'talking to outsiders about their work
ing conditions or talking to each other at
the work site before or after their shifts.
According to Food Service Opera
tions Director Brad Masteller, the policy
change will not affect USC because the
university has “never barred [employees]
from talking about their jobs.”
“Our employees talk as much as they
want before or after work. Believe me,
they talk,” Masteller said.
“What they do before or after work
is their business.
“However, we will monitor how em
ployees conduct themselves at work,”
Masteller said.
Masteller admitted he didn’t know
about the illegal rule.
He explained that all employees re
ceive a handbook from Sodexho-Marriott
and one related to USC policies.
He said he was sure the rule was in
the handbook and would only be brought
to attention if a problem occurred.
“You have to realize [the handbook]
covers over 100,000 employees. What
may be a problem elsewhere wouldn’t be
a problem here,” Masteller said.
Masteller said he thinks the policy
change won’t affect the university because
there aren’t unions on campus.
“I don’t think it’s a problem down
here as in the Northeast, where unions
have a strong basis,” Masteller said.
Director of Business Affairs Richard
Wetz, who had been notified by the Ho
tel Employees and Restaurant Employees
International Union about the settlement,
agrees with Masteller.
“It’s not going to have any affect on
USC. This was directed to hotels and for
places that are unionized.
“Since we don’t have either here [at
USC] it will not be an issue,” Wfetz said.
Pursuant to the settlement, Sodexho
MaRRIOTT seepage A3
Professor sues Web site for slander
by Lisa Fernandez
College Press Exchange
A college teacher’s quixotic legal bat
tle to halt vicious name-calling on the In
ternet could redefine the scope of re
sponsibility on free-flowing Wfeb sites and
chat rooms.
Daniel Cuizon-Brown, a 20-year vet
eran English teacher at City College of
San Francisco, is trying to shut down —
or at least change the nature of — teacher
review.com, which posts anonymous cri
tiques of instructors at the college.
The openly gay playwright and au
thor has been called a “homomaniac” and
“mentally ill” on the site, while other
teachers have been called racists and wom
anizers and accused of hav:ng oral sex,
according to his suit. Curzon-Brown is
challenging the site’s Webmaster, who he
says should be responsible for lies and li
belous material posted online.
The case is scheduled to be aigued
March 29 in San Francisco Superior Court.
Should Curzon-Brown prevail,
supporters of free cyberspeech fear the
case would set a precedent for curbing
the Internet’s unfettered, anything-goes
nature. They say Webmasters would be
come overcautious if held liable for every
thing posted on their Web sites. In addi
tion, the suit aims to hold the college and
its student government liable for having
linked to the site, which experts say would
be unprecedented.
“You would see a chilling effect on
the robustness of speech and less op
portunities to communicate,” said Eric
Goldman, in-house counsel for Epinions,
an online consumer review company in
Redwood City and an Internet law ex
pert at Santa Clara University.
Goldman and other legal experts say
for better or worse, the Web has its own
set of laws. Internet computer service
providers are immune from libel liabili
ty: They have a special status not enjoyed
by traditional media.
There have been about a dozen legal
opinions nationwide granting libel im
munity to America Online and other In
ternet service providers since 1996, when
the federal Communications Decency
Act became law.
There is no legal opinion specifical
ly defining the role of a Webmaster —
the person who maintains a Web site. But
experts, including Mike Godwin, First
Amendment lawyer and author of “Cy
ber Rights: Defending Free Speech in the
Digital Age,” aigue that a Webmaster
should be granted the same immunity
from libel as an Internet service provider.
Internet experts say that unlike news
paper publishers, who are responsible for
all material printed in their newspapers,
an ISP is not liable if a third party pro
vided the information. ISPs, they argue,
are conduits for others’ opinions, and
don’t really choose what they print.
But absolving Webmasters from all
libel liability is not a slam dunk to Jim
Slander see page A2
‘[Web) sites like this are the quintessential forum
for expression of opinion...The First Amendment
protects comments that are both unkind and flat
ter ing.’
Ann Brick
ACLU spokesperson
Back from vacation
With spring break completed, many USC students are returning
from trips to different parts of the country. The ten states listed
below were tops in the country for traveler spending in 1999.
State Total traveler spending (in millions)
California
Florida
New York _
awaCv
Illinois
Nevada
Hawaii
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Georgia
Source: 2000 World Almanac
Writers' Festival to begin Wednesday
Author Pat Conroy to speak
at Koger Center Wednesday
Staff Reports
The Gamecock
Novelist Pat Conroy will be among several novel
ists, poets and non-fiction writers who will give talks
and read from their works at USC’s annual writers’ fes
tival from March 15 to 17.
Conroy will replace Kurt Vonnegut, who was orig
inally scheduled to speak. Vonnegut is recuperating from
injuries suffered during a January house fire.
Conroy, author of numerous works including The
Lords of Discipline and The Prince of Tides, will open
the three-day writers’ festival with a presentation at 8
p.m. March 15 at the Koger Center.
All festival events are free and open to the public.
Readings on March 16 and 17 will take place in Gam
brell Hall, Room 153.
In addition to Conroy, festival particpants will in
clude USC distinguished Writer-In-Residence Jannette
Turner Hospital, South Carolina native and poet
Nikky Finney, Winthrop College Poet-in-Residence Su
san Ludvigson and writer Rick Bass.
The schedule for events is:
• March 16,3 JO pm. Reading by HospitaL An Aus
tralian native, Hospital has earned critical acclaim for
Oyster, which was a finalist in both of Australia’s ma
jor literaiy prizes: The Miles Franklin and National Book
Award. Four of her short stories have appeared in Britain’s
annual “The Best Short Stories in English,” and one of
them, “The End-of-the-Line End-of-the-World Disco,”
was selected for “The Best of the Best,” an anthology
of the decade.
•Match 16,8 pm. Reading by Finney. On Wings
Made of Gauze, Finney’s first book of poems, was pub
lished in 1985, followed by Rice, a collection of story
poems and photographs in 1995, and Heartwood a vol
ume of short stories in 1997. The University of Ken
tucky professor also wrote the script for the documen
tary “For Posterity’s Sake,” the story of Harlem pho
tographers Moigan and Marvin Smith. She is a found
ing member of the community-based writing collective,
The Affrilachian Poets.
•March 17,3 JO pan. Reaing by Ludvigson. A pro
lific writer of poetry, Ludvigson has published six vol
umes of poetry by Louisiana State University Press.
They include “Northern Lights,” “Beautiful Noon of
No Shadow,” “The Swimmer,” “To Find the Gold,”
“Everything Winged Must Be Dreaming,” and “Trini
ty.” This year, she will publish her collection, “Sweet
Confluence, New and Selected Poems.” Ludvigson has
represented the United States at the First International
Congress of Women Writers in Paris.
• March 17,8 p jn. Reading by Bass. Bass is con
sidered to be a literary anomaly. He is a Texan and a ge
ologist who worked in the oil industry before retiring
to Montana to write. Since 1985, he has published 15
volumes of fiction and non-fiction, most of which have
an environmental and conservative orientation. His short
Festival see page A2
Weather Inside Datebook Online Poll
Today
59
36
Tuesday
66
45
*
Columnist
questions
Health
Center’s
namesake
Page A6
Monday
• The Gamecock, 4 p.m.,
RH333
• Fraternity Council, 4
p.m., RH 322/326
• Sorority Council, 5
p.m., RH 322/326
• CP, 3:30 p.m.
'%
■;?
Tuesday
• AAAS, 6 p.m., RH The
ater
• FOCUS, 8:15 p.m.
• S.C. Student Legisla
ture, 9 p>m.
• RHA, 7 p.m., RH 307
• Spring Board, 5:30 p.m.
j • Dance Marathon, 8 p.m.
VI
As holidays end, should
USC make its residence
halls accessible earlier?
Vote at www.gamecock.sc.edu.
Results will be published Friday.