Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Vol. 94, No. 12 ■ Friday September 22, 2000_-_ Senators criticize SG effort ■ SG senators •want to move on to other issues by Brandon Larrabee The Gamecock Little more than two weeks before the height of Student Government’s petition drive to extend the drop date, the SG Senate Academic Affairs Committee has “shocked” SG Pres. Jo taka Eaddy by writing her a letter al leging that she has spent too much time on the effort. “We unanimously agree that too much time and effort is being dedi cated to a project that does not guar antee any results,” says the letter, dat ed Sept. 13. “It is our opinion that the currct drop date is sufficient and does not need to be changed.” w> The letter states that, while the committee’s members “stand behind [Eaddy] personally” in her drive to fin ish her “Contract with Carolina” by changing the drop date, the amount of time Eaddy has dedicated to the pe tition drive has hurt other goals that are more easily accomplished by SG. “It is our opinion that while this is sue is relevant, there are more press ing issues on campus that have a better chance of being implemented and mak ing an impact on the Student Body. These include increasing school spirit and campus safety,” says the letter, signed by committee members Sens. C. Tyson Nettles, Shereef El-Ibiaiy, and Allison Whitworth. Eaddy received the two-page let ^ ter after the Senate meeting Wednes J day. The letter comes a little more than two weeks before the Oct. 5 deadline for students to withdraw from their classes without getting a “WF.” SG is planning a campaign-like push that day to get students to sign the petition. Eaddy said she was surprised by the letter. “It’s a bit shocking,” Eaddy said. “Wfe... felt that this was something pos itive that SG was doing.” Eaddy said the project was worth the effort even if the proposal to ex tend the date students can drop a class without getting a “W” on their tran script fails. “Even if the drop date doesn’t get ► extended. Student Government can say we did our part,” Eaddy said. Eaddy said she was concerned about whether the committee had done any research into the issue before they had written the letter. She took issue with the letter’s contention that the schools current policy is lenient and “the cur rent drop date is sufficient.” “I’m not sure that they did not know that there were classes that didn’t even meet” before the current drop date had passed, Eaddy said. Eaddy also said that, while she thought issues such as school spirit were - important issues for SG to address, she didn’t think they were as important as the drop date. “1 honestly do not put Garnet and Black Friday over this petition to ex LfclltR SEEPAGE2 Jamfest 2000 Amy Gouloing The Gamecock Tau Kappa Epsilon and Chi Omega performing to the music of Michael Jackson's Thriller at this year's Jamfest 2000. Grand jury requested in investigation ■ Prosecutor asks for panel to look into USC institute * by Charles Prashaw The Gamecock The investigation into corruption at USC's Institute of Public Affairs moved ahead yesterday with Fifth Cir cuit Solicitor Barney Giese officially requesting the assistance of a statewide grand jury in to hear evidence about al legations of misuse of funds at the USC think tank. Five USC employees who work for the institute have already been sus pended without pay in connection with the allegations. The grand jury is part of the South Carolina Attorney' General's Of fice and is available to give assistance to local law enforcement agencies for investigative reasons. Giese stated that he made the de cision to move towards a statewide grand jury after consulting with At torney General Charlie Condon and SLED Chief Robert Stewart. "The statewide grand jury works on big cases," USC law Professor John Freeman said. "They take the cases that affect multiple counties, like drug of fenses, public corruption and election scandals." Freeman explained the grand jury would either suggest an indictment of those charged with the misuse of funds or dismiss the case for lack of evidence after review. He said that if the jury moves for an indictment, then the institute case would go to trial. Although neither SLED nor the At torney General’s offices would release any new information on the case Thurs day, SLED spokeswomen Catherine Richardson said the fate of the case no longer rests with law enforcement. "This is totally in the hands of the statewide grand jury now," Richardson said. "There is nothing more we can say." However, Giese did release a state ment saying that because of the nature and complexity of the case, he had de termined the appropriate course of ac tion is to use those unique methods of a statewide grand jury to achieve a thor ough examination of all of the allega tions. He added that USCPD investiga tors working on the case would con tinue to work with the SLED agents who are assigned to the grand jury unit. Although USC spokesman Jason Snyder declined to release an official university statement about the matter Thursday, he said the investigation could take several months to complete. As soon as the university believed it has Solicitor seepage2 Congaree swamp to hold day of public service by Jennifer Carter The Gamecock It’s not too late to volunteer to help with the Congaree Swamp Na tional Monument’s Public Lands Day and River Sweep tomorrow. This annual event gives people a chance to give back something special to public lands by helping to keep natural areas clean and beautiful, said Congaree Swamp National monument ranger Fran Rametta. National Public Lands Day and River Sweep will bring volunteers to work at more than 80 sites across the country in parks, forests, lakes and other public lands that are ma jor recreation areas for millions of Americans. Here in Columbia, volunteers can participate by assisting the park staff of the Congaree Swamp Na tional Monument in clearing de bris from around the park’s new visitor center and foot trails. Volunteers will also help by cleaning up litter along the Cedar Creek canoe trail. “This is a chance for people to gain a better appreciation of this land’s natural beauty,” Rametta said. “This land belongs to everyone, and we can all help protect and pre serve it." The Congaree Swamp Nation al Monument is recognized by the National Park Service and consists of 22,000 acres of land. Of these, 11,000 acres are an cient, uncut forests. For those who have never been there, Rametta said it is a truly wonderful expe rience. “To walk through this forest is like walking back in time. None of the trees have ever been touched,” she said. This National Park has board walks, picnic tables and walking trails that are available for every one’s use and recreation. It is also home to over 700 dif ferent varieties of plants. In 1999, more than 200 vol unteers from the Columbia area came to the Congaree Swamp for the event. This year, Rametta said, they hope to have even more volunteers. Nationally, thousands of vol unteers, which last year included families and people from various age groups, will spend the day at different sites around the country, participating in hopes of enhanc ing ana improving puDuc lanas ana learning more about the role of public lands in preserving a healthy environment. But, Rametta said, the event is more than just a clean up. Pro jects result in real and needed im provements to public lands, she said, and volunteers get to see first hand the effort that goes into main taining recreation areas. Anyone interested in volun teering in the National Public Lands Day and Kiver sweep mis Satur day can call the Congaree Swamp National Monument at 776 4396. Projects will take place between 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Volunteers can work the whole day, half of the day or any amount of time they choose. The city/state desk can be reached al gamecockdtydesk@hotmalLcom. i— ■ w&M^WdgBBMfflliillilli iMW—■— Special to The Gamecock The Congaree Swamp, shown above, will hold a public service day for vol unteers to help dear debris from around the new visitor's center and foot trails and pick up Itter from the canoe tralL Coliseum tunnel art vandalized by Brandon Larrabee The Gamecock Disheartening. That was the word used by Student Government officials when they learned that, for the second time in less than five months, vandals had found a tar get in the paintings SG added to the Coliseum tunnel in April. “I think that it’s a bit disheartening with all the work that went into it,” SG President Jotaka Eaddy said. Eaddy said the vandalism could point to signs of other crime in the area, and police might want to consider beef ing up their patrols of the area. “It hard to imagine what else is go ing on” around the tunnel, Eaddy said. Research and Development Co-Di rector Josh-Pruitt Mayfield, who helped paint the tunnel, said he wasn’t sur prised that someone vandalized the tun nel. "But, at the same time, it’s kind of disheartening that people have so lit tle respect for other people’s work and Vandalism see page 2 Weather Quote of the Day Datebook Friday 76 73 Saturday 85 68 Spotlight takes a look at Urban Legends Page 10 Give me a firm place to stand, and I will move the Earth. - Archimedes Friday Homecoming Parade, 3 p.m. Cockfest, 7 p.m. Saturday Football vs. Mississippi 12:30 p.m.