Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Carolina News Comparing Carolina from page A1 of students are African-American. “Diversity is something the universi ty has worked on very hard over the years,” said Jerry Brewer, USC’s Student Life di rector. “We’ve got a lot of work to do to keep diversity on the level that it is and to even improve on it.” ( While USC has been able to maintain a healthy diversity, the university suffers from an epidemic plaguing many large, diverse schools - self-segregation. Brewer said he recognizes the exis tence of self-segregation on campus to an extent, but that it’s up to individuals to change that if they feel comfortable do ing so. “If I play lacrosse and I’m an engi neering major and you’re the same, we’re going to end up being good buddies,” Brew er said. “We all have our comfort zones, and we can’t define individuals’ comfort zones for them.” ENROLLMENT Enrollment at USC has traditionally been below most of its peers, and that gap has widened even further this year thanks to a sizable enrollment drop. Enroll ment at the Columbia campus decreased 7.2 percent overall between fall 1998 and fall 1999, and graduate enrollment dropped 18 percent in the same period. Despite the drop in enrollment, USC retained 81 percent of its freshmen in 1999, compared with 79 percent in 1998. USC still ranks fifth among the six uni versities studied in that category. Rob Smith, now a junior at Georgia, is one of those 21 percent who left USC after the 1997-98 school year. “I liked it here OK, but I just felt like my major wasn’t challenging,” Smith said. “It had nothing to do with the fact that Georgia was any better overall.” GREEK LIFE ' USC has among the lowest percent age of students involved in Greek life among the schools we looked at. Clem son’s Greek involvement was highest among all schools, at 20 percent According to Paul Kittle, associate director for Greek life at Clemson, the Greek program has been successful there despite the fact that the Greek system is only about 30 years old. Clemson’s small-town location might lead some to believe that a large percentage of students get involved in Greek life there because of a lack of other opportunities. But Kittle said he doesn’t think this is the case. “We’re sort of a rural campus com pared to downtown Columbia or Knoxville ... but I don’t think our being in a small town has very much to do with the size ’of our Greek population,” Kittle said. SAT SCORES Among the six schools studied, USC had the lowest 25th-to-75th percentile of SAT scores, while Florida and UNC topped the list. In the past several years, the average SAT score of students enrolled at USC has increased from 982 in 1993 to 1098 last fall. While the increase might seem dra matic, that change is universal to all schools studied and can be attributed mainly to the recentered SAT, which drove average scores up to 100 points higher. While cookie-cutter statistics tell part of the story about USC’s student body, it’s difficult to assess anything about the qual ity of student life without actually talk ing to students. The Princeton Review’s The 331 Best Colleges, abook for prospec tive college students, includes a survey of several hundred students at each school it profiles. According to The Princeton Review’s survey, students at USC classify the school as follows: •.Students are cliquish • Fraternities and sororities dominate the social scene • (Almost) everyone smokes • Hard liquor is popular • Lots of beer drinking • Students get along well with local community • Campus difficult to get around Many of those assessments were sim ilar to the five other schools studied. One survey in Princeton’s book rated Chapel Hill (where UNC is located) and Athens (where Geoigia is located) as great col lege towns, but the same group of surveys listed dorms at Florida, Clemson and Geor gia as “dungeon-like.” USC wasn’t on ei ther of those lists. Despite even these subjective de scriptions, the authors of comparative guidebooks like Princeton’s agree with many college administrators that the qual ity of student life at any school is difficult to assess because different students want different things out of their college ex perience. “Student life is unique to each cam pus - you’re never comparing apples to apples; you’re always comparing apples to oranges,” Kittle said. “Students’ experiences are different at different schools [because of] the dif ferent cultures and traditions at each uni versity.” Career Center sponsors Jobfest by Phil Watson Staff Writer The USC Career Center will spon sor a Jobfest from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 23 in the Carolina Coliseum. Jobfest is designed to put students in touch with a multitude of potential employers. Students will be able to find out about opportunities for summer internships, full-time employment and co-op positions. About 120 employers are expected to attend the event. On-site interviews will be conducted. The Career Center is offering Jobfest preparation sessions to prepare students for meeting potential employers. Ses sions held on Monday and Tuesday cov ered resume writing, job searching and networking. A session on job interview ing will be held at 4 p.m. today in room 602B of the Darla Moore School of Busi ness building. Several Columbia area colleges and universities are taking part in this event. USC, Allen University, Benedict Col lege, Columbia College and Midlands Technical College are all helping spon sor Jobfest. Some of the laiger corporations look ing for employees will be Alltel, Bell South, Blockbuster Inc., Blue Cross Blue Shield of America, Clemson University, the FBI, Foot Action USA, IMIC Ho tels, J.C. Penney, Kmart Corporation and Liberty Mutual Insurance Group. Mimi Hollingsworth, program man ager for special events at the Career Cen ter, pointed out what a good opportuni ty said students should wear casual busi ness clothes to Jobfest. 'Journalism freshman Derrec Beck er said, “I think Jobfest will give students a great opportunity to find jobs in the fields of their majors that they might br% mterested in. I plan to go to Jobfest just to see what opportunities there are, but I don’t know if I’ll actually apply any where.” For more information on Jobfest, call 777-7280, or visit the Career Cen ter on the sixth floor of die business build ing. Students can also find out more about opportunities through the Career Cen ter and Jobfest at www.sc.edu/career/jobfest. Honors students study in Capitol by Betsy Baugh Staff Writer Ten South Carolina students are studying in Washington this semester, with the Washington Semester Program, sponsored by USC’s Institute of Public Affairs. The Washington Semester Program allows honors students to attend com mittee meetings, respond to constituents, track legislation and write news releas es while working with members of Con gress during the day. At night, students take classes, including theater appreci ation, effective leadership and public pol icy internship. The program allows students to study in Washington and leam how the feder al government works, develop leader ship skills, network and live in a highly diverse community. “I think it is important for citizens, especially those likely to become ma jor decision-makers, to engage directly in the process of government,” said William Mould, academic director of the Washington Semester Program. “It is al so very important for as many of our cit izens as possible to have the experi ence of living in a multicultural, highly diverse environment.” Of the 10 students chosen this se mester, two students, Joann Johnston and Ashley Heaton, attend USC. Students who weren’t already members of USC were required to transfer to the univer sity for the semester. These students came from College of Charleston, The Citadel, Wofford, Winthrop and Clem son. “Most of our learning comes from working full-time in a politically charged atmosphere,” Heaton said. “Each per son’s learning varies according to where he or she is working.” The students are chosen through in terviews and a written paper about how the experience will relate to his life and career. Some of the skills that are looked at include communication skills, maturity, adaptability, political aware ness and ability to work with others. Students live in apartment-style dorms provided by Boston University. Each apartment houses six men or women with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, cable television and Internet access. “The Washington Semester has been one of the most meaningful semesters of my college career. The experience of getting to know and live with nine com plete strangers while working in what is arguably one of the most important of fices in the world is unlike anything I’d ever have found at USC-Columbia,” sai^ Walter C. Wbody, a past Washington Se mester participant. For more information about the Wash ington Semester Program, call USC’s In stitute of Public Affairs at 777-8157 or visit http://www.iopa.sc.edu/washmester/. nwm . Excellent Selection Minutes from Columbia Friendly, Professional Staff Test drive a Ford Focus And receive a Free CD case s.