Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Vol. 94, No. 11 Wednesday September 20, 2000 --— j 1 ~'w College of Journalism Search for dean narrows ■ Candidates tfrom S.C., Utah, Nebraska remain by Brock Vergakis The Gamecock The search for a permanent dean for the College of Journalism and Mass Communications is closer to comple tion. USC released the names of three finalists Monday who it plans to bring to campus for formal interviews: Dr. William Norton, dean of the journal ism and mass communication program at the University of Ncbraska-Lincoln; Dr. Edward Pease, professor and head of the department of journalism and cummuiiiiauuii ai uum Jiaiu uiuvci sity; and Ronald Locwcn, vice presi dent for strategic development at (^Liberty Corp. and Cosmos Broad casting of Greenville. The new dean will have the re sponsibility of putting USC’s entire journalism program at a competitive level with the best schools in the coun try. President John Palms said he hopes the new dean will be selected this fall, allowing Interim Dean Ronald Farrar to retire. Farrar said he understands that the candidates will be brought onto campus in October, when they are ex pected to meet with faculty, students and administrators. Loewen’s primary credentials lie within the broadcasting industry. He served as general manager of Colum bia’s WIS television from 1990-1997. ^Randy Covington, news director for AVIS, said Locwcn has a considerable record for success and is the former chairman of the journalism school’s partnership board. “Ron is a strong candidate,” Cov Dean SEEPAGES Broken cable disrupts Web access by John Huiett The Gamecock A severed optic fiber line yesterday led to a complete loss of campus Internet access for sever al hours, resulting in thousands of USC students and employees being unable to access anything on the World Wide Web other than the university’s Web site. Around 1:35 p.m., an oversized tractor-trailer on Catawba Street led to the ripping down of a fiber optic cable enabling USC Internet access, said Rick Jordan, USC director of communications. “The truck was too high or the cable was too low, we’re not sure,” Jordan said. According to Jordan, USC purchases its fiber optic cable from South Carolina Net and then links it to InfoAve, the campus Internet service provider. The line severed was the University’s connection to InfoAve. “If InfoAve has a problem, the whole state has a problem,” Jordan said. A memo from USC Computer Services called the loss a “global Internet outage” and said “we are doing everything we can to resolve this prob lem as quickly as possible, liowever, we may be looking at an outage of at least a couple of hours.” The projected time for restoring service ex panded to four hours by later in the afternoon. Jordan said this was because SCANA crews had to splice fibers and test lines before Internet access would be available, a process he said could take sev eral hours. However, Internet service was restored by 6 p.m. Jordan said the University is taking steps to ensure an Internet outage of this magnitude doesn’t happen again. Through the use of a redundant path, service could continue even if one line were severed. Jordan added that InfoAve plans to increase ser vice bandwjdth to create faster and more efficient campus Internet access. Representatives of USC Computer Services could not be reached for comment because they were at a Myrtle Beach computer conference, a Computer Services spokeswoman said. The university desk can be reached at gamecockudesk@hotmalLcom. ‘Reading with Rachel’ enters second year by Lindsey Marshall The Gamecock Reading with Rachel, the South Carolina chil dren’s literacy promotion that thrives on donated books, started Sept. 12. Reading With Rachel, named after and created by South Carolina First Lady Rachel Hodges, tar gets children in preschool through second grade. The program features story time at the Gover nor’s mansion, which invites students from various counties to visit with the first lady. The program promotes a different book each month. This month’s book is “Lilly’s Purple Plas tic Purse”by Kevin Henkes. The program’s found ing sponsor, Penguin Putnam Inc., and other spon sors donate up to 200 books. According to Shaw, the program signed on four new sponsors this year that plan on donating a to tal of 600 books a month. The giveaway program sends a message that books should be easily acces sible to children. “The program is going very well. We’re excit ed about a new school year,” said spokeswoman Ashley Shaw. Hodges also hosts her own television special tied into the reeling program. The show airs the last Tuesday of every month and is shown throughout South Carolina schools. The live show can be seen weekly on SCETV on Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. Each show highlights one school for its audience. While airing, students can call Hodges to ask questions about reading in general or about the fea tured book of the month. Since the promotion began in April 1999, Hodges has visited 26 counties, 150 classrooms and more Ilian 3,000 books have been given away statewide. Shaw said South Carolinians should be on the lookout for displays with a listing of the featured books promoted in bookstores, libraries and schools. Shaw said tips on reading with children will be mailed out to parents. Hodges said visiting libraries is also an excep tional way for ingniting cliildren’s interest in read ing “[Libraries are] a great source for books and reading material, and also, the most important tool to better literacy is a library card,” Hodges said. In addition to visiting numerous schools and hosting many events, Hodges will visit the South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind, where she will present it with a national award. Further information concerning the award is confidential, though Hodges said further details would be released soon. Partial inspiration for Reading with Rachel came from a 1985 statement by members of Becoming a Nation of Readers, a division of the U.S. Depart ment of Education, according to Reading with Rachel’s Internet site. “The single most important activity for build ing the knowledge required for eventual success is reading aloud to children,” the statement reads, a precursor to the Reading with Rachel slogan, “Books Build Better Brains.” The program is designed to promote literacy, parental and community involvement in education throughout South Carolina, Hodges said. Not on ly is it crucial to read to children, Hodges said, I but she also believes parents should be active role models by supporting and practicing voluntary read ing. More information on the program can be found on the recently updated “Reading with Rachel” Web site, www.readingwithrachel.org The university desk can be reached at gamecockudesk@hotmalLcom. -1 ■K_Bfl_ — i — n | Special to The Gamecock Special to The Gamecock Governor and Mrs. Hodges receive an award from the Palmetto Book Alliance for their commitment to education and Improving literacy. Using others’ IDs carries harsh penalties by Greta Hale The Gamecock At every football game, an average of 25 student IDs are confiscated as non-USC students try to get cheaper tickets into the game, said a USC tick eting supervisor. “A lot of people think we won’t look at the IDs,” said John Ogle, su pervisor of ticket takers at the stu dent gates of William-Brice Stadium. Up to 40 IDs have been taken at games in past seasons. IDs arc taken be cause they don’t belong to the person carrying them, Ogle said. Students try to get their non-stu dent friends into the games for free by using an ID from someone who re sembles the non-student, Ogle said. People aren’t really thinking clear ly after they’ve been tailgating, Ogle said, which might account for sonic lousy attempts. “I’ve seen blond-haired people car rying brown-haired people’s IDs,” Ogle said. According to Ogle, he has even seen girls carrying male students’ IDs and white people carrying black people’s IDs. USC Judicial Affairs Director Scott Lewis said a mother recently tried get ting into a game using her daughter’s ID. According to Curt Derrick, the tick et manager, a drunk student tried to get in with someone elsc’s ID and it was confiscated. He then came back five minutes later and tried to get in with a different ID, which was also confis cated. Ogle said after the ticket takers con fiscate the IDs, the cards are turned over to the magistrate at the football game, who processes the IDs and then turns them over to Student Judi cial Affairs. When they get to Judicial Affairs, the confiscated IDs arc destroyed and a record is made of them, Lewis said. Judicial Affairs puts a freeze on the IDs so students can’t get another ID made until they come to the Judicial Af fairs office. The office sends students a reminder of the ID policy, which the students take with them to have their new IDs made at a cost of $10. If an ID is confiscated more than once, the Judicial Affairs office will take more disciplinary action than the $10 penalty. Ogle said the process is necessary in order to allow only USC Columbia students the privilege of free football games. “It’s really not fair to the students that do pay fees for the football games for other people to get in free,” Ogle said. Without confiscating IDs and enforcing the rule, USC would have many more problems with over crowding in the student section at the football games, Ogle said. More IDs might be confiscated at games where students are going to bring non-student guests, like this weekend’s Homecoming game against Mississip pi State, Lewis said. There is an option for students who legitimately forget their IDs, Ogle said. They can go to gate 11 on the east side of the stadium and get names checked against a list of students who have paid their fees for the semester. A student must have his name and other identifi cation to be able to get into the game through the east side. Ogle said. Students can get their tickets vali dated for $20, which allows a non-stu dent to use a student ticket to get into a football game, Derrick said. This can be done at the Russell House during ticket distribution, the ticket office or at the box office at the football games, Derrick said. The university desk can be reached at gamecockudesk@hotmalLcom. 19TH CENTURY PRINTING Amy Goulding The Gamecock Dr. Scott Gwara demonstrates old-time printing techniques on Maxc/s 19th century cast-iron press. Maxcy College will host a seminar on the history of the printing press at 7 pm Thursday night In room 123. See story, page 3. Weather Inside Quote of the Day Date book Tod\y 89 73 Thursday 86 69 Are you getting enough sleep? Page 7 Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth. Alan Wilson Watts Wednesday •Homecoming Week •Jamfesi, RH Ballroom, 7 p.m. Thursday •Homecoming Week •Homecoming Showcase, 7 p.m., Roger Center P