Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

____Vol. 93, No. 79 Fri March 31, 2000_ ina Community since 1Q08 - NAACP, AAAS elect new officers by Kelly Haggerty Assistant News Editor The USC Chapter of the National Asso ciation for the Advancement of Colored Peo ple held officer elections for the 2000-2001 school year yesterday at 6 p.m. in Russell House room 205. Business administration junior Tracey vlobley defeated psychology sophomore iharika Boyd and business management fresh man Shannon Boyd for president in the elec tions. ^ “I’m overwhelmed and ecstatic. I had "been so anxious before,” Mobley said after the results where announced. She said she has no current plans for any major changes next year. “1 think the oiganization as it is works very well. 1 do want our committees to be more active though,” Mobley said. Engineering senior Troy Green will be vice president, and broadcast journalism sopho more Ilyina Grant will be secretary. Both candidates ran unopposed. Green said he wants to increase voter em powerment on campus next year. “Every student on this campus should be registered to vote, especially minority stu dents,” Green said. Grant said she wants to talk to as many students as possible to increase student in volvement in communities. “I want to get more involvement with I in all communities, not only African Amer ican communities. NAACP extends to all communities. I also want more people to come out at the meetings,” Grant said Math sophomore Jerome P. Bryant de feated biology sophomore Theodosha Gilliard for education chairman. Biology sophomore LaFaith Miller will be education co-chairman, psychology sopho more Chanitco Williams will be special events chairwoman, and criminal justice freshman Toniette Drayton will be voter empower ment chairwoman. Each candidate ran un opposed. All candidates had to have a 2.0 GR\ and had to apply-for the position. They made three- to five-minute speeches at the meet ing. About 30 members voted for the candi ► dates. The positions of treasurer, community ser vice chairperson, membership chairperson and publicity chairperson were not filled. Mobley will interview interested mem bers and choose one applicant for each po sition as soon as possible. Current NAACP President Doug Wilson offered his advice to the newly elected offi cers. “Stay strong, and stay on your feet. You have to listen. There’s going to be times when people won’t like you, and there’s going to be times when people are going to like you. Don’t give up if things don’t go the way you planned,” Wilson said. Wilson will step down as president when Mobley and other executive officers are in aerated at 6 p.m. April 13 in Russell House 205. Representatives from the state NAACP will be there. The Association of African-American Students also held officer elections for the 2000-2001 school year. Criminal justice sophomore Aisha Tay lor defeated liberal arts sophomore Tevra Johnson for president in the elections, which were held at the organization’s March 21 meeting. “There will be no major changes next year because our president now has built a strong foundation,” Taylor said. “I just want Elections see page 2 AAAS, NAACP elect officers rs^TT^rrjrs 3iv- .-:—mhh Am* Goulding Photo Editor In the past week, students have elected new officers for both AAAS and the USC Chapter of the NAACP. Above, a student stops to vote in the AAAS election held March 21 on the Russell House Patio. The elections were followed by a cookout Housing to propose 4% increase in dorm costs Horseshoe, South Quad to see greater increases by Clayton Kale News Editor The cost of living on campus will increase by 4 per cent next year for most students if the Board of Trustees approves a plan by the Department of Housing. The 4 percent, across-the-board change will apply to all residence halls except South Quadrangle and Horse shoe-area apartments. South Quad residents will see a 13 percent increase, to $1*950 per semester, and Horseshoe area residents will see a 9 percent increase, to $1,850 per semester. East Quadrangle, to be completed this fall, will cost $2,000 per semester. Computer science sophomore Ricky Joy is living on the Horseshoe this fall. He said he thinks the housing in crease will be an annoyance more than anything else. “I’m definitely still going to be living on the Horse shoe, but I’d prefer if the housing costs weren’t going up as much as they were,” Joy said. Woodrow resident Chris Ballou said “it’s sick that it’s more than tuition.” “I dont see how living here is worth that [much mon ey),” Ballou said. For the 1999-2000 academic year, tuition rates were $1820 for full-time, in-state undeigraduate students. Housing Director Gene Luna was sympathetic to students’ concerns, but he justified the increase by point ing outlhat Horseshoe apartments cany the same kind of distinction as South and East quads. “I understand where the students are coming from,” Luna said. Because East Quad is new, it will cost more to live there to help pay for its construction, Luna said. In about three years, East Quad and South Quad will cost the same. Luna said the 4 percent increase in the rest of the residence halls has been broken down into two parts. Inflation, operating costs and improvements to the res idence halls will account for 2.5 percent of the increase. One of the improvements the price increase will cov er is faster Internet connections in each of the dorms. Luna said the new Internet connections will allow for as many as four users per room to be on the Internet at the same time, without slowing down the connection. The computer labs in Patterson, Bates House, the Tow ers and Columbia Hall will be upgraded with new com puters, Luna said. More housing staff will also be hired, Luna said, es pecially in the freshman dormitories. He said they are hoping to have a 1-20 staff-to-student ratio. Woodrow and The Roost apartments will be getting new carpet and new furniture, and Bates West will be get ting new furniture. The bathrooms in Douglas and Snowden will also be renovated. And a renovation project in the basement of South Quad will create a “less formal game room for large gath erings of students,” Luna said. Safety improvements to the residence halls will ac count for 1.5 percent of the 4 percent increase, Luna said. The D and E sections of the McBryde Quadrangle and Bates West will have sprinkler systems installed this summer. All dorms will have sprinkler systems installed over the next three years. Luna said the Housing Depart ment tries to keep the housing-cost increase minimal. “We try to work below inflation,” he said. According to Luna, inflation is at about 3 percent. Also, Luna said USC’s housing cost increase is within the lowest third in the Southeast. “Other schools’ [housing costs] are going up by about 5 and 6 percent,” he said. Campus gridlock M In our third installment of Comparing Carolina, we look at parking. Many of our peer institutions face the same parking problems we do, but is there a solution? by Brandon Larrabee Associate News Editor It has become an almost daily ritual in student life at USC: complaining about parking. However, according to a study by Tbe Gamecock, USC is one of the schools where it is cheaper and,'in some cases, easier to park. TT»e Gamecock found that USC is the university with the lowest prices for parking of the six schools surveyed, with parking decals costing $20 and garage space. $320 a year. Tennessee parking decals go for $203 for non-com muter parking, $131 for commuter parking, and $60 for perimeter parking. The University of North Carolina's costs range from $128 to $337 a year for most students. The University of Georgia charges $35 a year for com muters, $55 a year for on-campus undergraduates and off campus graduates. The University of Florida charges $78 for parking decals. Clemson University charges $48. ~~~ Gridlock strrai Motorists watt In a parking lot near the Russell House for spaces to become available. The area Is known colloquially as the “Vulture Lot" because motorists often circle the lot several times before finding an available space. SHfA IiH'toKw I ■Jf9S*3s*!!.'5SSw '- *■ ’ “ . \.av -,sy »•& .^-.v- y^-j^-jawgffagsjffigMKfgaawKa. j Note: Most colleges surveyed oversell their parking lots, because of the fact that not all students go to school the same day. Except for UNC, parking spaces per thousand stu dents represent the number of spaces and not the number of permits. * Repeat offenders pay more ** Freshmen are banned from parking at UNC *** $15 for first hour, $5 for each subsequent hour 16,526 students Parking spaces/1,000 students: 762.4 Cost for a parking permit $48 Fee assessed for meter violation: $10* 29,404 students Parking spaces/1,000 students: 339.7 Cost for a parking permit $35-$55 Fee assessed for meter violation: $10 24,123 students Parking spaces/1,000 students: 138.7** Cost for a parking permit $128-$337 Fee assessed for meter violation: $15*** _ 39,863 students Parking spaces/1,000 students: 292.6 Cost for a parking permit: $78 Fee assessed for meter violation: $5 _ 25,517 students Parking spaces/1,000 students: n/a Cost for a parking permit $60-$203 Fee assessed for meter violation: $42 25,489 students Parking spaces/1,000 students: 447.3 Cost for a parking permit $20-$320 Fee assessed for meter violation: $5 Brad Walters The Gamecock Carolina Productions revives Cockstock by Charles Prashaw Senior Writer It’s back for the first time in three years, and it’ll cost less than an evening in Five Points. Cockstock, which hasn’t been held at USC since 1997, was brought back this year by Carolina Productions in hopes that the spring concert event will become part of Gamecock tradition. Cockstock will be held on the prac tice fields D and E near the Bates West apartments. Gates open at 3 p.m. today, and the event itself will run from 4 to 10 p.m. Admission is free. “I hope people take advantage of fun events like this that bring our campus together,” CP Concert Com missioner Ashley Albright said. In previous years, the concert has seen the likes of the Smashing Pump kins. This year, however, the event will feature only the local bands Gran Tori no, Simply as That, Stones Throw and King Kongie In addition to the music, Cockstock will have a volleyball court, a tug-of war and wrestling mats, and CP will be selling memorabilia shirts for $5. Also, 90.5 WUSC-FM and 93.5 FM, which plans to give out free CDs, will both have live remotes from the event. Albright said CP expects that the Carolina Cup horse-racing event earli er in the day will help bring out as many as 1,000 people to Cockstock, which is open to USC students as well as the Cockstock seepages Tod\y 70 49 Saturday 75 54 Gamecocks lose for the fourth time Page 9 Friday • Baseball vs. Alabama (home) 1 Saturday • Round Table Gaming Society, noon to 11:45 p.m., RH 1 n Should universities regulate students’ internet surfing? Yes-10% No-90% Look for next weed’s poll question in , Monday’s edition of The Gamecock.