MSA
Muslims will defend
any place of worship
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
gions, and races are now all “forced
to know each other,” he said.
Shaheed also said members of
the Muslim faith believe all hu
mans are made from the same
soul and see people as “humanly
the same, culturally different.”
Shaheed described Mohammed,
the Islamic prophet, as a “lover of
life.” In the Islamic religion, Mo
hammed is believed to be the mes
senger of God.
“Islam did not come to liberate
Muslims,” said Shaheed. “It came
to liberate all people who were de
nied religious freedom.” He con
tinued to clarify that the responsi
bility of Muslims includes defend
ing Christian churches, Jewish
synagogues or any other places of
worship that may fall under attack.
Shaheed concluded his speech
by saying Muslims who are true
followers of the faith wouldn’t
have been involved in terrorist
attacks. “Would Mohammed, the
peace upon him, kill innocent
men and women?” he asked.
After finishing his speech,
Shaheed opened the floor for any
questions the audience mem
bers wanted to ask. He said he
was pleased with the response
he received from the crowd.
“I felt that the audience asked
very excellent questions, and ,
many did not ask [their ques- i
tions] because we answered them
[during the speech],” Shaheed
said. “I feel that the audience was
receptive to the message.”
“The questions indicated to
me that the desire of the individ
ual for clarity concerning Islam,
Muslims and where we stand in
relation to terrorism,” he added.
“This is an event to condemn
the evil acts and to prevent fur
ther backlash,” Syed said.
There are 1.2 billion Muslims
in the world, and Islam is the
world’s fastest-growing religion,
[slam came into existence in the
seventh century when the
prophet Mohammed brought the
scripture of the Quran, the Is
lamic holy book, to the Arabs.
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'.amecockudesk@hotmail.com.
FBI
USC students choose
to remain overseas
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
9
nia Democrat, has suggested a six
month moratorium on issuing stu
dent visas.
Even before the recent terrorist
attacks, the Immigration and Nat
uralization Service has been
preparing a computerized database
of the estimated 500,000 foreign stu
dents in the United States on stu
dent visas. Still in development,
the system is designed to catch
students who stay illegally after
finishing their studies.
Though some foreign students
are leaving the country, Hey
Kyung Coh, a spokeswoman for
the Institute for International
Education, said only a few Amer
ican students have asked to come
home or cancel their plans.
“We don’t really expect huge
numbers of students to cancel, and
if they do I don’t think it’s because
students feel there is imminent
danger in going abroad or staying
here,” Coh said. “It’s more that
they want to be closer to their fam
ilies.”
McKinney said that no USC stu
dents currently studying overseas
have requested to come home early.
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gamecockudesk@hotmail.com.
Salary
Market economy
determines pay
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Former Faculty Senate
Chairwoman Caroline Strobel
said that the faculty salaries
at USC are not the main at
traction. “People come to
teach here because they want
to and because they love the
University of South Carolina.”
Faculty pay is a complex is
sue for the USC; ' dministration,
“It’s a market economy on
salaries,” Strobel said. She said
professors in some departments
get paid more than others be
cause of the demand for person
nel and the competitive salary
range in today’s economy.
“I think that most of the
faculty thinks they’re under
paid,” Strobel said. She said
that having nationally com
petitive salaries at USC is not
a primary goal. “We try to be
competitive with our peer
group in the Southeast.
Salaries have been a No. 1 pri
ority with legislatures [in
South Carolina] for a while.”
The state appropriations bill
for fiscal year 2001 was coupled
with reductions in higher edu
cation funding, which were lat
er vetoed by Gov. Jim Hodges.
In a letter to the South Car
olina House of Representa
tives, Hodges justified his ve
toes of the attempted budget
cuts that would have helped
, —-m-T .1 — "I
balance the state budget. “We
cannot afford to balance the
budget on the backs of stu
dents and their parents.”
Some at USC and in the
general assembly have raised
concerns that next year’s
state appropriations bill will
contain the same proposed
budget cuts. In the event of a
cut, all institutions and agen
cies will receive the same per
centage reduction, Strobel
said.
USC faculty members view
salaries with mixed reactions.
In a survey last year, several
professors listed income as a
concern, but Strobel said
there was not a negative re
sponse.
The Gamecock contacted
several professors in different
departments about their sat
isfaction with their income.
Some professors character
ized their salaries with the
same simplicity as biology
professor David Lincoln: “I
wish it were better.” Law pro
fessor James Underwood said,
“[My salary] is basically com
petitive.” Other professors
simply said they were satis
fied for now.
Vice President Jameson
said President Palms and the
university administration
will continue to urge the
state general assembly to
consider the value of public
education.
“Every year since Dr. Palms
has been here, his goal has been
to give as much as possible to
our faculty,” Jameson said.
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gamecockudesk(cvhotmail.com.
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STATE
BRIEFS
Corps to improve
Clemson dams
CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) -
Work will start next week on
a plan to improve two dams
on Lake Hartwell that protect
parts of Clemson University.
The U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers wants to make the
dams more resistant to earth
quakes, Corps spokesman
Jim Parker said.
The dams were built in 1961
to protect school facilities
from flooding.
The possibility of earth
quakes wasn’t considered when
the dams were designed nearly
50 years ago, Parker said.
“This is not an emergency,”
he said. “This is strictly
preventative maintenance. It
is designed to prevent an
emergency.”
The state is considered a
moderate earthquake area,
said University of South
Carolina geology professor
Pradeep Talwani.
Engineers will be at the
dams next week to take sam
ples of earth around the site.
The dams will be off limits
when construction starts next
summer. It’s expected to take
18 months to complete the
project, Parker said.
Dead eagles have
scientists worried
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -
Biologists worry the disease
that killed dozens of eagles at
two South Carolina lakes last
season might return.
Sixteen dead eagles were
found near Lake Strom Thur
mond, but scientists think that
number is just a fraction of the
total death toll. Dead eagles were
also found near Lake Murray.
Researchers have diagnosed
some of the dead birds with
avian vacuolar myelinopathy,
a nervous system disorder that
causes poor coordination and
brain lesions.
They worry the disease,
which has mainly been con
fined to inland lakes, might
move to coastal reservoirs. The *
disease has been found at about
a dozen other sites across the
Southeast.
The problem apparently
begins in coots, a duck-like
bird that’s the favorite food of
the eagles.
NAr [ON
BR 5FS
Attacked bus driver
receiving accolades
MANCHESTER, TENN. (AP) -
The Greyhound driver whose
neck was slashed by a passenger
just before his bus crashed was
hailed as a hero for crawling
from the wreckage to search for v
help. But his brother said he
“felt like he did what anybody
else would do.”
Six of the 40 passengers,
including the attacker, died
when the bus crashed early
Wednesday after Garfield
Sands was cut.
“From the side of my eye, I
saw a hand move toward me
real quick and cut my throat,”
Sands told WSMV-TV on
Thursday from his bed in the
intensive care unit at the
Medical Center of
Jr
Manchester. Bandages could
be seen on Sands’ throat.
Dr. Ralph Bard said Sands
told him that he managed to
crawl from the wreckage and
stumble through the pre-dawn
darkness toward a nearby
light.
“Everybody who could be
saved from that accident was
saved,” Bard said. “He gets out
and goes for; help. This is a
good guy.”
Bishops set to elect
first black leader
The U.S. bishops’ group
that sets religious policy for
Roman Catholics in America
and serves as the church’s
national voice on social and
political issues is poised to
elect its first black president,
Bishop Wilton D. Gregory of
the Belleville diocese in
southern Illinois.
Gregory, who also serves
as the vice president of the
United States Conference of
Catholic Bishops, is
expected to ascend to the
group’s top post when the
bishops hold their fall
meeting next month in
Washington.
Since 1966, every
conference vice president but
one has been elected
president. In that one
exception, the vice president
refused to be a candidate, said
conference spokesman
William Ryan, declining
further comment on the
election.
WORLD
BRIEFS
U.S. official says
missile downed plane
MOSCOW (AP)-A Russian
chartered airliner carrying
Israelis to Siberia for family
visits exploded Thursday and
xrashed off the Black Sea coast
with at least 76 people on board.
U.S. officials said an anti
aircraft missile fired during a
Ukrainian training exercise
appeared to have accidentally
brought down the plane.
A U.S. official, speaking in
Washington on condition of
anonymity, said “this looks to be
a military training exercise
gone terribly awry.”
, The Ukrainian Defense
Ministry, however, said none of
its weapons could have hit a
civilian aircraft, and Russian
President Vladimir Putin said he
had no reason to doubt the denial.
Earlier, Putin, who has taken a
high-profile position in the
international anti-terrorist
• coalition that has formed
following the attacks on the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon,
said a terrorist act could have
caused the Tupolev 154 to explode.
The plane tumbled into the sea 114
miles off the Russian coastal city
of Adler on the Georgian border.
Elder Bush meets
pope, Italian leader
ROME (AP) — Former
president George Bush had
breakfast Thursday with Italian
Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi and then a private
audience with Pope John Paul II.
The former president has
tried to avoid interviews and
news conferences during what
the U.S. Embassy calls a “strictly
•private visit” to Italy. But when
asked if he was proud of his son’s
' handling of the terrorism crisis,
he was quick to reply.
“Yes, very,” he said.
Bush began the day with a
breakfast with Berlusconi at the
billionaire businessman’s palatial
private residence in downtown
Rome. Security, which has been
tight throughout his visit, snarled
traffic for blocks.
Bush then moved on to the
Vatican, where he met privately
with the pope. The pontiff later
said he had expressed his
sympathy with the terrorist
tragedy in the United States. He
said Oct. 11 Would be a day of
prayer in the Vatican.
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