The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 27, 2000, Image 1
VOL. 94, No. 26 Friday October 27, 2000_
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Serving the Carolina Community since 1Q08
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.WWW.CAMECOCK.SC.EDU UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA COLUMBIA, S.C.
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Palms,
provost
address
funding
by Brandon Larrabee
The Gamecock
Questions about health care and
stipends for graduate students, the con
ditions of the university’s buildings and
contaminated water dominated a Thurs
day question-and-answer session be
tween USC President John Palms,
Provost Jerome Odom and graduate stu
dents.
Palms stressed the need for funds at
the university and USC’s long-standing
goal of entering the Association of
American Universities, a group of pres
tigious research universities.
“They have the best faculty, the best
libraries, they do most of the research
that’s funded by federal money and they
have the best graduate students,” Palms
said.
Palms also talked about the univer
sity’s attempt to get more funding from
the slate legislature, which currently
funds the university at about 70 percent
of what the university needs to run on,
according to a formula used by the leg
islature.
The lack of funding at the state lev
el impacts the funding for endowed
chairs, named professorships and
graduate fellowships, which arc im
portant to the university’s aspirations,
Palme cniH
“We’re just not going to be able to
become an AAU institution without re
alizing this,” Palms said.
One of the things the legislature did
right, according to Palms, was to refuse
to allow all the slate’s institutions to of
fer Ph.D. programs.
“This suite cannot afford, really can’t
afford, three research institutions,” Palms
said.
Clcmson, USC and the Medical Uni
versity of South Carolina are the suite’s
three research institutions. Palms said
they had teamed up to lobby the legis
lature for more funding.
“We’re in this thing together,” he
said. “We’re sticking together. And we
have a lot of political weight together.”
One student wanted to know if con
tacting legislators would help in the uni
versity’s struggle for funding. Odom
said the university had tried taking groups
of students before the legislature.
“They say it matters, but it doesn’t
seem like it does when it comes time
for action,” Palms said.
Palms also faced questions about
contaminated water at some ol the uni
versity’s buildings, among them Hamil
ton and Barnwell.
One student said some water
fountains in Barnwell had signs indi
cating the water was contaminated with
lead, but not all of the fountains were
labeled.
Palms said another one of the build
ings where students said the water
was contaminated was scheduled to
be tom down.
“Demolition,” Palms said of the
building’s fate. “Don’t stay long.”
Odom said he was unaware of the
problems with the water, which stu
dents said was contaminated with lead.
“I was not aware of this, and 1 will
look into Barnwell, Hamilton and Ben
son,” Odom said.
The university desk cun he reuchedut
gamecockudesk@hotmail.com.
Rolling Stone Unleashed
Kevin Langston The Gamecock
Students dance to “The Time Warp” from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show" outside
the Russell House yesterday as part of the Rolling Stone.com celebration.
Governor
addresses
education
4t
■ Hodges discuss
es school reform
with USC students
by Gina Caruso
The Gamecock
Governor Jim Hodges discussed
teacher irtitiatives and educational sys
tem reforms Thursday with USC ed
ucation students.
While sharing his vision for the fu
ture of education in South Carolina
during Dr. Richard Hult’s Education
401 class, Hodges asserted the abili
ty to transform the slate lies in the
hands of schools.
“Where students excel, the qual
ity of life is better,” he said.
According to Hodges, the im
provement will be a result of diverse
thinking and a new focus on education
rooted in parental and prc-kindcigartcn
initiatives. He expressed great confi
dence in pre-school programs and em
phasized their reaping benefits.
“The first step focuses on getting
kids ready to start kindergarten,”
Hodges said.
He commended the use of the
TEACH program that the state has
adopted from North Carolina.
“TEACH provides scholarships for
people at child care centers who
prepare youngsters in their charge for
school,” Hodges said.
In addition to focusing on the readi
ness of children to Start school, Hodges
stressed the importance of improving
the conditions of public schools. He
said many of the public schools are in
poor shape.
Hodges explained the acquisition
of modern facilities and better work
ing conditions are a key factor in the
success of the reform. Furthermore,
teachers who arc computer literate arc
essential.
Aside from renovations and pre
school involvement, Hodges noted the
necessity of not only experienced
teachers, but new ones as well.
“The median age of current teach
ers in the state is 42 years. This means
that within 5 to 7 years, 8 to 10 thou
sand new teachers will be needed in
Hodges see page 2
Improving student
QUALITY AT CAROLINA
This is the second article in a series
by The Gamecock examining the goals
the USC board of trustees recently
agreed to try to achieve by 2005.
by Brandon Larrabee
The Gamecock
Students are perhaps the most
basic building blocks of a uni
versity. They are a source of pur
pose, funding and prestige.
With the latter in mind, the
university’s board of trustees in
cluded five goals in the list of
24 they agreed to little more
than a week ago. Three of these,
achieving a mean SAT score
of 1175, increasing Honors Col
lege enrollment to 1,200 and
enrolling 60 National Merit
Scholarship winners a year, deal
directly with student quality.
But with new standards come concerns.
Minority students don’t tend to do as well on stan
dardized tests, according to a number of studies,
and an effort to increase higher quality students
:ould force South Carolina’s flagship university
10 look for more out-of-state students.
The concern is particularly acute at a uni
versity where nearly a quarter of undergraduate
students arc minorities, including an African Amer
ican population of 19.3 percent in 1999.
Meanwhile, 87 percent of USC’s student pop
ulation comes from in-state.
Student Government Pres. Jotaka Eaddy said
:onccms about the effects of the goals and mi
norities were justified.
“I think that’s a fair question,” Eaddy said.
“I would hope lhal this university would make a
conscious effort to keep the level of diversity at
this university.”
Eaddy also said the question about in-state
students was one “that you would think about
when dealing with this issue,” but pointed out the
board had also committed to working to improve
education at the K-12 level in South Carolina.
USC officials said the goal for higher SAT
scores wouldn’t necessarily lead to higher re
quirements for those seeking admission to USC.
Students see page 2
U.S. Senate
approves
health plan
for military
■ Military health
care package also
includes pay raise
by Alicia Ballard
Tiii: Gamecock
A new military health care pack
age, including a pay increase, has been
passed by the U.S. Senate.
South Carolina Sen. Fritz Hollings
announced Oct. 12 that the Senate
passed the Department of Defense Au
thorization bill for fiscal year 2001 by
a vole of 90-3.
Hollings voted to adopt the pro
posal.
The defense authorization bill
includes several quality of life provi
sions for military personnel, such as a
3.7 percent increase in pay.
Also, it establishes a national health
care program with a prescription drug
benefit for Medicare-eligible military
retirees who have served at least 20
years in active duty and are 65 years
of age or older.
Alter the age of 65, the responsi
bility of health care for military re
tirees fell to Medicare, a Hollings’ aide
said.
Health see page 3
Weather Inside Quote of the Day Datebook
Today
78
61
Saturday
84
53
Spotlight
takes a look
ahead at
Halloween
Page 7
“If you don’t want anyone to
know it, don’t do it.”
— Chinese proverb
Saturday I
• Football vs. Tennessee,
1 p.m.
• Great Gamecock Tail
gate Party
_ . . .
SUNDAY
—~j • Daylight-saving time
ends (set clocks hack
one hour)
jgin • Wfomen’s Soccer v. Flori
da