Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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TOie ©amecock Greek Housing from page A1 It is possible that all the slots in the Greek Village could be filled by frater nities while the sororities wait. “It could definitely pan out that way,” Runnion said. “It just completely depends on how that all turns out.” Because of the volume of funds that need to be raised to fund the building of a house, there has been no drop-dead date placed on entering the Greek Village. “Our plan is to have the money raised, the paperwork in and a lot selected by the end of this fall semester,” Tau Kappa Ep silon member John Floyd said. “We’ve received confirmation that several Alum ni will be making very large donations. “We've yet to focus on the smaller donations, but we hope to put together some activities in the fall that will allow us to focus on the smaller donations.” The Greek Village has its critics, but 'those inside of Greek Life think it will do a great deal for the University. Sorority Council Secretary Jessica Lentini thinks the planned Greek hous ing will be a boost for the Greek com munity and the University as a whole. “It would not only make the Greek community stronger but also make USC more appealing to incoming students,” Lentini said. ‘ ‘The Greek community gives a-lot back to USC in terms of leadership, service and academics. A housing com plex would give individual chapters more of a chance to come together and work as a unit in order to make more of a con tribution to campus.” Bonds thinks the houses will add to the physical image of the University as well. “Greek houses are a great thing to have on any campus,” Bonds said. “Not only will they be structurally beautiful and add to the overall image of the Car olina community, but they also offer ben efits that our current living conditions do not.” At present, the Greek population at USC is a small percentage, but the addi tion of houses might give that percent age a boost. “The Greek Village will have a phenomenal impact on Greek life at USC,” Bonds said. “I think once the hous 3S are completed, fraternities and soror ities will become even more visible on :ampus.” Bender agrees with Bonds, con cerning the impact of the houses on Greek Life. “I believe the construction of Greek housing will bring a whole new facet to USC,” Bender slid. “Not only will a Greek village bring about a sense of communi ty among all fraternities and sororities, it will attract new groups of students pre viously not interested in joining a Greek organization.” Floyd beligves that the house will have a definite impact, but that impact will go hand-in-hand with continued work on the parts of organizations. “If fraternities believe that just by building a home they are insuring suc cess, then they are mistaken,” Floyd said. “Fraternities must continue to strive for excellence and success if they want to re main on this campus.” Sororities given go ahead to build by Jeff Romig The Gamecock Earlier this summer, USC sororities were in a holding pattern because of re strictions that the National Panhellenic Conference had placed upon them, con cerning the building of sorority housing, in order to level the playing field between the oiganizations. These restrictions have now been in formally lifted by the NPC. “At this point, they’ve been given the clearance to go ahead and do that,” said Gena Runnion, director of Greek Life. “We haven’t received any official notifi cation that the agreement is over. But ap parently, informally, they have, which is fine, as Jong as they’ve been given the clearance to move forward.” The restrictions were lifted after meet ings among the national presidents of the 10 NPC sororities at USC. “Apparently, they had some type of conversation where they essentially gave each other the clearance to go ahead,” Runnion said. “That’s excellent news for our sororities, and for the university because now the women can be a part of this project.” Currently, Zeta Tau Alpha is the on ly USC sorority ready to build a house, thanks to an edge they have on other soror ities - a national house corporation. “Zeta could build any time that want to,” Runnion said. “But I think they’re playing it smart and want to see when some of the other groups might be able to come on board. They want to be sup portive of the other groups as well.” For close to 25 years, each ZTA chap ter nationally puts money towards the na tional house corporation. For quite some • time now, the USC chapter has been next in line for the funding of a house. “The Zeta Tau Alpha chapter at South Carolina is and has been next in line to receive funding,” Runnion said. “For some time, they’ve been ready to do this. They’re just waiting on it.” The effort is beginning to drawn lo cal alumnae groups together. “They’ve really been working with each other to try and identify some key alumnae that can help out,” Runnion said “It’s really been a unifying effort which has been nice to see.” Over half of the sororities at USC have active house corporations, and have be gun the fund-raising process. “A lot of that is driven by who has alumnae in the area that are willing to work on this project,” Runnion said. The groups have to draw up articles of incorporation to be incorporated with in the state of South Carolina. “The very basics would be starting there and then moving forward with some type of savings account,” Runnion said. Most of the oiganizations at USC have a apportionment of money per semester that is allocated for the housing project. “How much money that means remains to be seat,” Runnion said ‘1 think somegroups have been working on this a little bit longer. Essentially, each member would pay some sort of house corporation dues per semester.” Moms & Dads | Palmetto family values Sean Rayford Photo Editor This Palmetto tree, dedicated to moms and dads, is one of the many artistic additions to Columbia this summer. Sororities begin fall recruitment * by Jennifer Carter The Gamecock As the fail semester fast approach es, USC sororities are busy getting ready for Rusty, which will take place the week of August 20-27. This year, the process of gaining new members will be referred to as recruitment, while the actual week long event of recruitment will still be known as Rush. Recruitment is a mutual selection process that allows women to meet all 10 sororities at USC and allows the soror ities to attract new members. The Greek Life staff want all in coming freshmen to be excited about being at USC and to get involved on cam pus. "Rush is a great way for new stu dents to start meeting people and get ting involved," said Olivia Stafford, the Vice President in charge of Recruitment for Sorority Council. "Rush Week this year will empha size four general areas of importance to all USC sororities: scholarship, ser vice, leadership and sisterhood," Stafford said. "Even though recruitment is for so cial sororities, we want people to see that there is more to them than just the social aspect." Each day of Rush will be devoted to one of these four aspects of sorority life so.that the potential new members can have an overview of what sororities are all about. The first day of Rush, round one, will be devoted to scholarship. Sorori ties will emphasize the importance of grades and studying in college, stressing that the Greek women's average GPA is consistently above the average GPA of all college women at USC. The second day of Rush, or round two, focuses on service. It is a chance for women going through Rush to learn about each sorority's national phil anthropy, as well as what types of community service they might have a chance to participate in if they join. Before Rush actually begins, all po tential members will participate in a ser vice project to benefit Sistercare, an or ganization that helps victims of domes tic violence. A representative from Sistercare will speak to the women about the impor tance of service and motive them to be t come involved on campus by helping others. Sororities emphasize the importance of leadership during round tliree of Rush week. Most sorority members are also involved in other oiganizations on cam pus. They want the younger women tp know about all the opportunities to glp involved at USC. Sisters can share with the younger women experiences they have had being in different oiganizations on campus and how being in a sorority helped them to be more involved. The last day of Rush week is pref erence night. This is an evening in which sorority members share the meaning and importance of sisterhood. "Most importantly," Stafford said, "Rush is a tinie when all the sisters can share with others what makes their soror ity special to them." Recruitment culminates in Bid Day, in which sororities welcome their new members on the Horseshoe and then spend the rest of the day getting to know them and giving the new members a chance to get to know the sisters. The deadline to register to partici pate in Rush is Aug. 20, the day of ;4(| cruitment orientation for prospective new members. | No recruitment takes place on Thurs day, Aug. 24, since that is the first day of classes. Women interested in participating in recruitment are encouraged to get a Rush guide from the Office of Greek Life to read about all the chapters at USC and get more information about Rush week. Jennifer Carter can be reached at ganie cocknews@hotmail.com ——i—i—rim—T-rTemwri ■ USC graduate becoming national name in freelance journalism j by John Huiett The Gamecock Thomas Smith did as he was told. He pulled into Horace King’s driveway, killed his headlights and waited. Within moments, two hulking figures with shotguns greet ed him with a blindfold and a warning: If he told anyone what saw or heard that night, he would be dead. Hours later, he was initiated into the Ku Klux Klan. A vear earlier, in 1996, Smith was home less. For four days, he donned the rags and scent of a street person, living in dirty corner hovels among Colum bia’s most unfortunate. A little more than a year later, he found himself in the sands of the Judean desert, hun kered down in a Pales tinian Liberation Or ganization war camp, as Middle^Eastern blood was spilled on Jordan’s West Bank. For Smith, it’s all just a day at the of- 7 fice. Smith is a freelance journalist, penning stories for nation al magazines such as George and U.S. News & World Report, as well the daily newspaper powerhouse USA Today. Assuming the identity of those he writes about is but one technique the 1982 USC graduate uses to put food on the table, food that just as easily end up in someone else’s mouth in the cut-throat business of freelance writing. "To be a freelancer, not only do you have to be a good writer, you have to be a good salesman," Smith said And Smith has learned to sell himself in a variety of in carnations. His first identity was that of college history major. Then, upon graduation, he morphed into a marine, which led to a stint as the member of a nuclear power plant SWAT teayn. ? Along the way, he also reinvented himself as a husband. _Howcvcr.Avhon his brief forav into holy matrimony came to an end, his newfound freedom inspired him to go after the one career that had always been his dream: that of a writer. Now, as the 41-year-old looks back over his life, he has no regrets, only the sense that a hand other than his own was guiding his steps. "In order to be a good writer, you have a lot of life expe rience under your belt," Smith said. "Everything I’ve done in my life to this point has come to this." Last year, Smith removed whatever income safety nets he had in place and devoted himself to being a full-time freelance writer. He has built up quite an impressive body of work, includ ing stories for The State, The Free Times, The Charlotte Ob server, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Business Monthly and Business Week. Currently, his recurring gigs as a freelance correspondent for both U.S. News & World Report and USA Today, have kept him busy covering stories such the seemingly infinite Con federate Flag flap the raising of the Hunley Civil Wir ship off the coast of Charleston. While he has come a long way from his meager beginnings as an aspiring poet doing anything to make a living other than what he really wanted, Smith refuses to see himself has some one who has made it to the top. "The plug can be pulled so easily," Smith said. "You can never rest on your laurels. Every single morning I wake up and know I have work to do. But that’s just because I’ve knocked on so many doors." Behind one of those doors was U.S. News & World Report Chief of Correspondents Gordon Witkin. Smith first approached him with a pitch to do a story on long-time friend, Columbia lawyer, former talk show host and occasional local political candidate Tom Tumipseed. Witkin liked what he heard and hired Smith for the piece. And although he has never personally met Smith, mostly on ly corresponding with him through e-mail and over the tele phone, Witkin said his decision to make Smith a regular con tributor to U.S. News & World Report is one that he has never regretted. "He is a strange and wonderful combination of being re lentless, yet unfailingly polite," Witkin said. Witkin added that Smith often stands out from his U.S. News comrades, totaling 150 freelance around the country, all competing for space on an issue-by-issue basis. "He’s one of our most energetic stringers," Witkin said. "Toniiis constantly in touch with ideas." > For Tumipseed, his praise of Smith is colored not only by being the subject of a national storv. but also by memories of Smith as a frequent guest on Tumipseed’s local talk radio show and from the 1998 Ku Klux Klan trial in which Smith’s testi mony front his time investigating the Klan aided in convict ing leader Horace King in the bunting of the Macedonia Bap tist Church. "He’s not afraid to speak his mind," Tumipseed said of Smith, a self-professed Christian. But the bulk of Turnipseed’s respect for Smith stents front Smith’s work as a journalist. To Tumipseed, Smith is almost unparalleled in his field, not only because of his dedication to his craft but also because of his business sense. "One of the great things about him is, as a journalist, he assumes the identity of the people he is writing about to get their perspective," Trunipseed said. "I really like hint because he is the essence of a free enterprise, entrepreneur writer." But Smith isn’t letting all of this praise go to his head. He knows whatever level of success he enjoys could stop at any I time. I “If you’re not out there pitching yourself every day, you’re M unemployed,” Smith said. And he still calls Columbia home, having been bom and raised in the capitol city. For now, he has iro plans to change that. ^ “People ask me, ‘Why don’t you move to Washington, | D.C., or New York?’ Why would I want to do that when IIH can live here and make New York money? I love it here,” Smith ^ said. " Besides, Smith has, according to him, the greatest job in the world. “Every morning you can do something esle,” he said. “Some thing bigger.” John Huiett is the fall City/Melro editor. He am be reached at ganiecocknews@hoinrail.com i -.J Special to The Gamecoc^j Smith wears his Gamecock baseball cap while living briefly in a PLO war camp in 1997, investigat ing a news story about Palestinian-lsraelie unrest _—^