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.

Carolina News_ Activism from page 1 i a*«aid he was taken aback by the unity of the event. « “It was amazing to see such a diverse group of people work ing together peacefully for a common cause,” he said. “The pro ^ testers were an extremely diverse group of people with very di verse causes, but we were all united by a belief in basic human ' dignity.” Edwards also said the World Bank’s benefits are overshad ~Jowed by its disadvantages. “jj,e World Bank is a for-profit organization that benefits Multinational corporations and Third World government elites .jflt the expense of these countries’ impoverished countries,” he said. “The World Bank causes increased poverty, unbearable la ,j)or conditions, horrific environmental exploitation and pollu tion, increased AIDS rates, and sometimes even unchecked acts abf genocide.” yl" The idea of social activism was also percolating when the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee commemorated »its 40th anniversary by holding a weekend-long conference in Raleigh, N.C., last weekend. Several USC students and USC jAfrican-American studies professor and SNCC member Cleve . land Sellers attended the conference to show their support for the oiganization and its founding members. Sellers said SNCC, an organization committed to civil rights and social justice, was instrumental in the legislation of the Civ il Rights Bill in 1964 and the 1965 Voters’ Rights Bill. He said* SNCC led to the “expansion of the participation of the disen franchised and the underrepresented,” thereby accounting for strategies that “changed society.” Sellers said the event told young people they need to “step up” because many racial issues still remain. Sellers said the preva lence of apathy intoday's students can be attributed to a lack of commitment to ideals and the lack of the generation of politi cal education. “Students don’t really understand the roles of students tra ditionally being involved in directly in social change,” he said. “They [students] haven’t observed the struggles that preceded them, [which were] oiganized and supported by young students.” Sellers said the event served to “assess where we are and where we’re headed.” Journalism freshman Kamille Bostick said she attended the event because she wanted to “meet people that changed histo ry” and to “be around people that [she] admired.” Computer science sophomore Nancy Leach said she went to the SNCC conference to honor those who shaped history. “[I went] to acknowledge the people that paved the way,” she said. Sherman Hollins, a biology senior who attended the con ference, said it might be harder to pinpoint current social issues. “Nowadays, you can’t p5ut your hand on the problem,” he said. “A lot of students don’t know how to react. We don’t have a clear picture of what the problem is. “[SNCC’s role] was to bring about social change,” he said. “It is up to us to make that more aware. A lot of things we benefit from came about through them.” Anthropology sophomore and event attendee Rachel Hel wig said the reason for her attendance was “to see some of the most involved and influential people of our time.” She said the original members of SNCC made great sacrifices in order to ac complish their intentions. She said the event was a “wake-up call,” which furnished her with the idea of the torch being passed to a younger generation of activists. She said SNCC members reminded the young activists that they must “take” the torch (by displaying a sense of social conciousness), rather than ac cept it. Senate resolution would change online housing sign-up process by Amanda Silva Staff Writer Student Senate A resolution recommending the re working of online housing sign-up so that it coincides with class sign-up has been passed by student senate. Many students with 60 or more cred it hours weren’t assigned adequate hous ing, despite being told that adequate hous ing would be provided for upperclassmen. Sen. Brian Hunter defined “adequate housing” as upperclassmen getting their own bedrooms. The resolution also calls for student access to available room numbers and floor numbers in prospective domis and for students to be able to pick their prospective suitemates. Hunter, who personally met diffi culty when signing up for housing, said: “It’s time to start doing resolutions that people actually want.” Another resolution called for the strengthening of the Collegiate Licens ing Committee, which has failed to ad dress stipulations for the independent monitoring systems of factories licensed by USC. Currently, the Collegiate Licens ing Committee allows for a local living wage, but not a living wage based on international standards. The Workers Rights Consortium ad dresses both the stipulations for inde pendent monitoring systems of licensee factories and provides for an interna tionally set living wage, but doesn’t change any further policy of the uni versity. Amnesty International approached Sen. Chrissy Stauffer when she tried to join the oiganization. Stauffer brought the resolution to the floor. “Student senate was an appropriate way to start dealing with it,” she said. Sen. Kenny Hinson raised questions about the possibility of an increase in cost of merchandise as a result of the res olution. “I just wanted some more informa tion,” Hinson said. “I’m not necessari ly supporting it, but I just wanted to hear more.” In addition to the two resolutions, Sen. Melissa Fletcher introduced an amendment to the legislative codes con cerning the conflicts that senators n^it encounter that would cause them to itoss mandatory senate meetings. Senators are only allowed to miss four senate meetings before being sub ject to involuntary removal. The amendment states that a sena tor may submit an absence form to the Rules Committee in the event of an ab sence from a mandatory senate meeting or function. The Rules Committee would then review the explanation for circumstances surrounding the absence and determine whether the senator will be excused. The senate also discussed an amend ment that would allow Student Gov ernment Vice President Corey ForWo move senators from one committee to another. The amendment would also let Ford remove a senator from his position as chairman. Both amendments will be voted on Wednesday at senate’s last meeting. Absences included Sens. Austin Brown, Justin Brown, Danny Cooper, Katie Lengel and Elise Tyndall. '3! Cheaper than Tuition... more fun than Body Piercing Special Student Airfares Great Travel Products Adventure Holidays Beds on a Budget Travel Insurance Eurail Passes Contiki Tours Student ID's 800-777-0112 I | travel] WE’VE BEEN THERE. Painless Self-Expression. i Your college years made for some W interesting ways of expressing * yourself. And just because you stand at the threshold of adulthood doesn’t mean you have to check your individuality at the door. So, express yourself with a new [Ford or Mercury vehicle and get $400* off select models from the Ford College Graduate Program. No pain. All gain. * Visit www.ford.com/collegegrad or call 1.800.321.1536 for all the details. ‘Must graduate from an accredited college or graduate school with at least a bachelor’s degree, or graduate from an accredited junior college, community college, nursing school or trade school between 5/1/98 and 1/03/01, or be currently enrolled in graduate school. You must purchase or lease and take delivery of your new vehicle by 1/03/01. Some customer and vehicle eligibility restrictions apply. See your dealer for details. *