The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, December 05, 2001, Image 1
Gariane Phillips, a senior, receives an autograph and a
handshake from Dr. Patch Adams following his speech
Tuesday night In the Russell House, photo by regina goodwin
Laughters
• BEST MEDICINE
PATCH ADAMS PROVES HE’S
MORETHANACLOWN
BY GREG WHITT
THE GAMECOCK
A standing-room-only crowd
packed the Russell House Ball
room to hear Dr. Patch Adams
speak as one of the chosen per
sonalities in the Bicentennial
“Search For Six” campaign.
The line to enter the Russell
_ House Ballroom coiled past Taco
™ Bell into the student eating area.
Giddy students, parents, faculty
and other curious onlookers cre
ated an audible excitement
throughout the building. The ball
room itself was jammed beyond
capacity. Red clown noses pep
pered the audience. Even in the
room’s heat, a man donned a pink
wig; Adams’ style of medicine was
taking effect before he even made
his entrance.
Made famous by a 1998 movie
starring Robin Williams, Adams
proved his unconventionality at
his appearance. As he removed
the podium from the stage be
fore he began to speak, he said
he was “always trying to change
^ things.”
^ A former mental hospital pa
tient, Adams studied to become
a doctor in the late 1960s and ’70s.
He said he angered his profes
sors and university administra
tors with his unorthodox man
ner.
Adams is famous for his use of
humor and medicine to reach out
to humanity.
He described his technique as
“a gimmick to get people into the
university of human culture.” Be
fore he could make it to the stage,
Adams proved this by his dress
and demeanor.
Half of his long, ponytailed hair
was dyed a bright royal blue. His
handlebar mustache did all it
could to repress his infectious
smile. Long, mismatched orange
and green socks climbed his long
legs. He wore baggy multicolored
pants, a checkered tie and an out
landishly loud shirt.
Adams said he is “a political ac
tivist whose methods are medi
cine and clowning.” He expressed
all of these aspects of his charac
ter during the nearly three hours
he spent mesmerizing the ball
room crowd. He spoke about us
ing novelty dog droppings as an
alternative to Prozac for combat
ing depression. He told the crowd,
“If everything stays the same, we
will be extinct by mid-century.”
Adams expressed his distaste for
capitalism and a “society based on
money and power” — and argued
that ‘whoopee’ cushions are uni
versally funny.
Adams’ address showed he is
much more than a clown. He won
dered why Bill Gates has enough
money to end much of the world’s
hunger but doesn’t. He questioned
why “America’s No. 1 television
show is ‘Who Wants to Be a Mil
lionaire?’ and not ‘Who Wants to
be a Good Friend?”’ He asked
what the difference was between
the thousands of children who die
of hunger daily and the deaths
stemming from the events of Sept.
11. .
At the end of Adams’ lecture,
his effect on audience members
♦ ADAMS, SEE PAGE 2
Grads face job crunch
USC students
finding fewer
opportunities
BY ALICIA BALENTINE
THE GAMECOCK
USC students worried abou
job opportunities during the cui
rent recession can find little sc
lace in recent business surveys.
Manpower Inc., the nation’s
largest staffing company, has re
leased its quarterly survey of
16,000 American businesses. The
report revealed that, though 16
percent of companies plan to add
jobs during the first quarter of
next year, the same number an
t ticipate cutting staff.
Even before the Sept. 11 at
tacks, the nation’s economy had
started to lag. “It’s too early to say
what kind of effect the terrorist at
tack has had on hiring, but Sept.
11 would have sped up an already
downward trend.” said Jeffrey Jo
erres, chief executive officer and
chairman of Manpower.
Mike Reen, 3 chemical engi
neering major graduating on Dec.
17, has had two interviews but no
job offers yet. “I’m going to con
tinue looking for a job in my field,
but work anywhere until I find
it,” he said.
This employment crunch has
many college graduates in a fren
zy, and there aren’t as many re
cruiters on campus this year. But
they aren’t leaving altogether; re
cruiters want to maintain their
presence for when employment
outlooks improve.
♦ JOBS, SEE PAGE 2
THE WRITING ON THE WALL
And When it is Ro ugf I h
‘Cocks Get Going.
. M
Hail to Our Colors of Gai iu.s ,; * H?aek,#
1 ij t„#« arol i iii -* ^j|f,..
JL $ r —
Members of Student Government and Freshman Council work from a transparency projection to paint the fight
song onto the walls of the Russell House Gameroom. photo by aaron hark
RH gameroom gets facelift
Students paint
murals to make
room a more
‘spirited place’
BY SEAN WALLER
THE GAMECOCK
The gameroom in the Russell
House is being improved with
newly painted walls and added
features.
The School Improvement
Committee, which is part of Stu
dent Government’s Freshman
Council, began working on the
gameroom on Nov. 25.
The School Improvement
Committee also worked on the
painted gamecock on Greene
Street in front of the Russell
House and the designs painted
in the tunnel leading from the
law school to the Carolina Coli
seum.
The School Improvement
Committee consists of nine
freshmen. Twenty-seven other
Freshman Council members and
several Student Government
members have worked on the
improvements in the gameroom.
“Our purpose is to beautify
the campus,” said Linsey Hock
er, a pharmacy major on the
School Improvement Committee.
The gameroom is getting a
whole new paint job. The game
room was stripped down and
then painted white. The stu
dents are painting the state flag
in garnet and black, the
gamecock in the design of the
American flag, the interlocking
USC letters, the USC fight song
and the USC seal on the walls of
the gameroom.
“We are painting the USC lo
gos to make it into a spirited
place,” said Manasi Sinha, a
third-year chemistry and psy
chology major who is a liaison
for the Freshman Council. The
gameroom is also getting new
carpet and some new features
♦ GAMEROOM, SEE PAGE 3
* Olympic torch to travel through Columbia
BY JUSTIN BACHMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTA-Carried by a crew of
gold medalists including Muham
mad Ali and Peggy Fleming, the
Olympic flame began a 46-state,
two-month journey Tuesday to the
opening ceremony of the Salt Lake
City Winter Games.
Starting in the last U.S. city to
hold the Olympics, the Summer
Games in 1996, the relay will in
volve 11,500 people lugging the 3
pound torches and their symbol
ic fire more than 13,500 miles be
fore the Feb. 8 ceremony.
^ ‘This precious, magical flame can
w illuminate us all with its hope of a
brighter future,” said Billy Payne,
who led Atlanta’s Olympic effort “In
its light, you can see the promise of a
world united, not divided.”
The relay left the downtown
Centennial Olympic Park after Ali,
a boxing champion at the 1960 Sum
mer Games in Rome, lighted a
torch from a massive cauldron and
passed it to Fleming, a figure skat
ing gold medalist at the 1968 Win
ter Games in Grenoble, France.
Ali lighted the flame that
burned over the Atlanta Games.
He and Fleming were joined by
other Olympic medalists - cyclist
Lance Armstrong, five-time speed
skating champion Bonnie Blair,
1960 figure skating gold medalist
Robert Paul and 1998 freestyle ski
winner Nikki Stone.
The closely guarded flame arrived
in Atlanta after an 11-hour flight
aboard a jumbo jet painted with “The
Soaring Spirit” and pictures of Blair,
ski jumper Ryan Heckman and luger
Duncan Kennedy.
Fleming and Paul, her former
coach, carried the flame on the first
leg of its journey through the park.
The flame then visited Coca-Cola’s
headquarters, a General Motors as
sembly plant and Athens, Ga„ be
fore arriving in Greenville, S.C.,
for an evening ceremony.
Since the Sept. 11 terrorist at
tacks, Salt Lake officials have been
promoting the Winter Games as a
rallying point for the nation and
an opportunity to demonstrate
friendship among countries.
Among the torch bearers will
be Lyz Glick, the wife of Jeremy
Glick, one of the passengers
aboard United Flight 93, which
crashed Sept. 11 in Pennsylvania
after passengers apparently strug
gled with hijackers. She is to car
ry the torch Dec. 23 in New York.
The torch will visit 80 cities in all.
The torch will arrive at the intersection of Bull and Harden streets at
10:41 a.m. It will reach the Harden and Gervais intersection at 11:12
a.m. D and will reach the State House at 12:02 p.m. □ before
making a stop in Finlay Park II and heading into West Columbia.
SOURCE: THE STATE
USG’S PAST
Dec. 5,1855
Francis Lieber, South Carolina
College’s most prominent
antebellum scholar, resigned
from the faculty after being
denied the college’s presidency.
WEATHER
Today Tomorrow
Sunny, Sunny,
78/48 80/54
INSIDE TODAY’S ISSUE
Freshmen survive
first semester
Five students tell the tale of
their starts at USC. ♦ PAGE 5
< Women stay solid
in top 25
Team slaps around Temple to
pick up win. ♦ PAGE 9
ONLINE POLL
Calling Volunteers
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