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%ht ©amecock 2005 from page 1 “These are certainly reasonable goals, and these are goals you should strive to achieve in your sports programs,” Tharp said. He added that the conference USC plays in makes it a necessity to play at top 25 levels. “In order to succeed in the SEC, you have to have a top 25 team,” lie said. However, Tharp said making the board’s goal will be difficult. “Is that going to be easy?” Tharp asked. “No, but it’s something that should moti vate our student athletes and coaches.” The goals are part of working to ward admission to the Association of American Universities, a group that in cludes some of the best-known names in higher education. They are also geared toward surveys * such as the U.S. News and World Report annual rankings. While some of USC’s graduate and undeigraduate programs — notably those in the Darla Moore School of Business — make the maga zine’s annual lists, the university remains outside the top 50 universities in the na tion. “Ail these goals would begin to move us very close to what the requirements of the AAU would be,” Whittle said. The goals deal with everything from honors college admissions to average SAT scores to the fate of USC’s sports teams. They fall in eight broad categories — val ues, resources, students, faculty, campus, athletics, service and public awareness— and include achieving an endowment of $600 million. USC also wants to be one of the top five undeigraduate programs in the South and rank in the top 25 in all sports. John Huiett contributed to this report. The university desk can be reached at gamecockudesk@hotmail.coin. Whittle sets high goals for University by Brandon Larrabee The Gamecock If USC is to reach the goals for 2005 it released last week, a major player in the effort will have to be Mack Whit tle, who was elected chairman of the board of trustees at last week’s meet ing. Whittle, a banking president from Greenville, told The Gamecock Monday that he would make completion of USC’s goals one of his priorities. He said he would focus on a set of strategic plans in order to get the goals, which range from raising the mean SAT score to get ting all of USC’s sports teams ranked an nually in the top 25. “Any goal requires a strategy to get there,” Wliittle said. Whittle said former chairman William Hubbard worked toward improving the overall quality of USC and got the board r to focus on specific goals. “And he engaged the administra tion ... and the faculty to help achieve those goals,” Whittle said. One of the key differences between his term and Hubbard’s term. Whittle said, will be that Whittle will focus on a different stage in the board’s goals than did Hubbard. “We’re at a different... stage of ac complishing the goals,” Whittle said. “William kind of got us through the first phase of those.” Whittle said the university had “moved favorably toward many of the goals.” “Usually, you get some early suc cesses when you set goals,” he said. But Whittle said there was still work to be done. “We will reach these goals in steps, in plateaus,” he said. Whittle comes to-effice after the term of William Hubbard, who oversaw the planning or groundbreaking work on an array of construction projects, including the Vista Arena, Strom Thurmond Fit ness and Wellness Center and the new Greek village. Hubbard said getting things done was one of Whittle’s strong points. “One of his real strengths is follow through and milking sure things get done,” Hubbard said. Whittle lias USC Lies that stretch back for years. He earned a bachelor’s de gree in business from USC in 1971 and an MBA in 1975. He served as president of the USC Alumni Association from 1982 to 1984 and was recognized by the College of Business with the Distinguished Alumnus award. Whittle is also a member of the university’s Business Partnership Foun dation’s board of trustees. Whittle is president and chief exec utive officer of The South Financial Group and chairman and CEO of Carolina First Bank. He has represented South Caroli na’s 13th Judicial Circuit since 1990 and has served as vice chairman since 1996. The university desk can be reached at gamecockudesk@hotmaiLcom. I ‘We will reach these goals in steps, in plateaus.’ Mack Whittle board of trustees chairman Grad students to meet with Palms by Charles Prashaw The Gamecock USC President John Palms and Provost Jerry Odom will meet with grad uate students tomorrow to field ques tions concerning topics from housing needs to the graduate school’s role in USC entering the Association of Amer ican Universities. Some graduate students, especially those with families, expressed concern during the last grad meeting with Palms over the lack of university housing close to campus. | “Palms knows that sometimes there is just too much talk about under gads,” USC Spokesman Jason Snyder said. “This is Palms’ way of focusing at tention on grad students. We try to set up something like this as many times as possible. It’s a good way to reconnect with students.” The qucstion-and-answer session is intended to be another USC tradition, according to the graduate assistant to Graduate Student Association Emily Ley Shiley. “While we are honored to be at USC, some graduate students don’t feel like we get the attention we sometimes de serve.” Ley-Shiley said. “This is a real time for the administrator to reflect on what grad students must go through at USC.” Also attending the meeting will be USC Dean of Graduate Affairs Marcia Welsh, who said she wouldn’t ask any questions of the provost and the presi dent because it was the time set for stu dents only. “I think my concerns are shared with many graduate students. There seems to be a lack of support for graduate educa tion at many different levels,” Wfelsh said. Another of Welsh’s concerns is the need for the school to work harder to in crease stipends for graduate students. Welsh said some potential students have decided not to attend graduate school at USC because student stipends are so low. “We aren’t going to be able to get in to the AAU without a strongly sup ported graduate school,” Welsh said. “If getting into the AAU is a goal of the uni versity, then making a great grad school will have to go along with that.” There are nearly 7,500 students en rolled in USC graduate programs. Over the years, the administration at USC has given attention to the pro grams. Among the more recent im provements to the school have been the opening of the Graduate Science Re search Center on Sumter Street this year. The question-and-answer session will take place in the Campus room of Cap stone at 12:30 p.m. and is sponsored by the Graduate Student Association. The university desk can be reached at gamecockudesk@hotmaiLcom. Halloween2000 I UfaDDDDS ■□□□□□□□□□□■inHSEJQBElElHEJHESEiM Costumes Hats Popcorn Masks Decorations Favors Make-up Balloons Candy Wigs Candy Apples I _i_ www.cromers.com > .’ Cheap 2.5<t/Min. Prepaid Long Distance Delivered Straight to Your Desktop. 100% fiber optic communications quality. Delivered directly to your computer. No waiting, no cards, no reason to leave your dorm room — except for that pesky little thing called class. www.deskphone.com 1 We need your help beautifying our Carolina Community. Clean Carolina is a campus-wide clean-up event that will be fun and benefit our campus. Please involve your organizations, faculty, staff, friends, and fellow students. Questions can be directed to the Student Government Office at 777-2654. WHEN: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27 START TIME: 2:00 PM WHERE: GREENE STREET Sponsored by the Student Government and the Facility Services Department. (: