Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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GPA keeps candidate from running for VP BY GINNY THORNTON THE GAMECOCK This year, Nathan White won’t be allowed to make it complex. White filed to run for Student Government vice president but was told he doesn’t meet the grade requirement. A political science graduate student, White would need a 3.0 GPA to be considered in good aca demic standing. White ran for vice president last year but lost to Nithya Bala in a runoff. He picked the cam paign slogan, “Make It Complex” in contrast to Bala’s “Keep It Simple.” “I’m a little dis appointed, but this isn’t a life or death thing,” White said. “ I White wasn’t running to win, anyway. I just wanted to draw attention to the fact that Student Government is a joke.” White said Student Government Coordinator Angela Dusenbury called him to tell him he would not be allowed to run. White said he plans to use the time he would have spent cam paigning working on his master’s thesis, although he’s not sure how much effort he would have put into the race. “I wasn’t going to go to any meetings. I found out that was a waste of time last year,” White said. Qualifications for SG office candidates can be found in the SG Constitution. White failed to meet the re quirement that states, “All elect ed or appointed Student Government officials must main “In my view, anyone who’s enrolled in the university and pays tuition should be allowed to represent other students.” ADAM BOURNE SG ELECTIONS COMMISSIONER tain the cumulative GPA re quirement for graduation and re main in good standing in their re spective college and shall cease ♦ WHITE, SEE PAGE 2 ◄ ► X ft Back Forward Stop Refresh Home Candidate: __*____:_mswm_____mm_i-i-m , McFadden: your average Jim SG candidate wants to make campus safer by reducing crime, campus traffic BY KEVIN FELLNER THE GAMECOCK Jim McFadden says he is the average student at USC. Now, the third-year politi cal science student from Mt. Pleasant is saying the average student will make for a different face in student government. McFadden said he didn’t want to run a big campaign for president; just a few ad visors would do. But he didn’t want his smaller campaign to send a smaller mes sage. “I think it’s dangerous when a student government becomes disenchanted with the university,” said McFadden, who named his ability to listen to his fellow students as one of his best qualities. McFadden said his primary goals as president would include moving some parking off campus. He said the move would pose less danger to pedestrian stu dents and create more of a campus at mosphere in the downtown area. “It would just make the campus look a lot nicer, and [the traffic] gets to a point where it’s unsafe. I almost got hit by a car the other day,” McFadden said. “We need more perimeter parking,” he said. “It seems like there’s more space out in those areas rather than finding somewhere on campus to put another garage up.” He said a less congested campus would promote more ♦ FULL STORY. SEE PAGE 2 Jim McFadden, a candidate for SG president, runs a small campaign but has big hopes for Improving USC.He says he Is good at listening to students. PHOTO BY TRACY CAMERON Vote in Student Government Elections: http://vlp.sc.edu/ Student ___ About this series: Over the next three weeks, The Gamecock will profile the five candidates running for Student Government president. Old profiles, along with a list of all candidates running, will be available at www.dailygamecock.com from the day they appear in print until after the election. WEDNESDAY: Ankit Patel ♦TODAY: Jim McFadden ♦ MONDAY: Kaleta Brown ♦ FRIDAY 2/15: Brook Bristow ♦ MONDAY 2/18: David Bomemann — PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK Peace Corps volunteers offer assistance to less fortunate people in foreign countries. SERVING YOUR WORLD Peace Corps gives students different option after college BY ADAM BEAM THE GAMECOCK Riding the wave of a 12 percent increase in applications from po tential volunteers in the Southeast, the Peace Corps visited USC this week looking for stu dents to participate in what re cruiter Les Etinne called “real-life graduate school.” “I think the numbers are going to even grow as we get more to wards the end of this year,” Etinne said. “It’s just that there’s no jobs out there and people look for alternatives, and this is the perfect alternative for someone who maybe wants to hold on be fore jumping feet first into the job market.” The Peace Corps is preparing for a jump in interest thanks to an endorsement by President Bush in his State of the Union address. “That affected us immensely,” Etinne said. “The day after (the address), I was assigned to answer phones, and I didn’t get to eat lunch that day. Every two min utes, the phone was ringing.” Over 161,000 Americans have worked with the Peace Corps since 1961. There are currently 50 South Carolina residents serving overseas. Potential Peace Corps volun teers go through an interview process. If selected, they are sent away for three months of train ing and a two-year stint in a for eign country. Work opportuni ties range from teaching literacy and word processing skills to coaching a local basketball team. While Etinne said most of his applications come from USC, he attributed the lack of interest at the informational sessions this week to bad weather. “I’m used to a lot of people coming out,” he said. “I’m used to, like, 10 people at mostly every event. I think the weather kind of did it to me this time.” About three or four people at tended each of the four sessions, he said. Originally from Detroit, Etinne joined the Peace Corps after grad uating from Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Ark. He joined because he “wanted to do something different.” “You know, I was sitting in my house ... and I had always want ed to do Peace Corps... but it nev er really manifested itself until I saw a commercial at like three in the morning," he said. “And I just called, and there it was.” Etinne completed his training sessions in Guyana, the only English-speaking country in South America. The sessions, which lasted three months, fo cused on cross-cultural, technical, and language training. Then, he was sent to the Kuru Kuru school, where he worked as an “urban de velopment worker turned rural.” “When we got there, they told us that no one was going to be that ♦ PEACE CORPS, SEE PAGE 2 NAACP meeting has low SG candidate turnout BY ADAM BEAM THE GAMECOCK Student Government execu tive candidates spoke at a meet ing of the USC chapter of the NAACP last night to express their platforms and views on var ious USC issues, including SG’s role in minority affairs. Five of the 11 candidates run ning for executive office re sponded to the invitation, in cluding four Student Senate can didates from the College of Liberal Arts. “It saddens me that not every one showed up,” NAACP Vice President Jerome Bryant said. “It was an open invitation, and it kind of shows me that if you’re not going to come to our meeting now, where’s your dedication go ing to be at later?” According to NAACP President Lee Gailliard, the in vitation was given on Monday to elections commissioner Adam Bourne, who was supposed to contact the candidates. “He said that he would contact them somehow; I don’t know how it was going to be done or if they were contacted, at least to let them know that there would be an op portunity to come and speak,” Gaillard said. She said a number of candidates’ staffs, including the staffs for David Bornemann, Ankit Patel and Brook Bristow, also contacted her this past week to ask for a speaking date. The chapter also announced it will release “report cards,” on “It saddens me that not everyone showed up. JEROME BRYANT NAACP VICE PRESIDENT each candidate on Monday, Feb. 18, to let students know where each candidate stands on issues. The reports will be based on can didates’ Web sites and personal interviews with the NAACP. The report cards will give the candidates 10 issues the NAACP deems important and will ask the candidates to rank the issues’ im portance. “It’s an opportunity to pro vide, in a very quick manner, a lot of platforms and the answers ♦ NAACP, SEE PAGE 2 Candidates voice mixed reactions Hopefuls say • person-to-person campaigning crucial to race BY BRANDON LARRABEE THE GAMECOCK Candidates for the Student Government presidency are di vided over the changes made to elections regulations by the Elections Commission. Some said the changes will help candidates get their names out, and others said the changes could turn off students already disgust ed with SG. The changes, which include an extended period for person-to-per son campaigning and a more le nient enforcement policy on post ing violations, are part of an at tempt by SG President Corey Ford and Elections Commissioner Adam Bourne to loosen the regu lations surrounding SG elections. Moore School of Business Sen. David Bomemann said doubling the amount of time candidates can take part in person-to-person cam paigning, in which candidates and their campaign staffs hand out ma terials introducing voters to can didates, could actually discourage students from voting. “I think that may actually turn away potential voters,” Bomemann said. Person-to-person campaigning should either start at the begin ning of the campaign or be limit ed, he said. The past practice of having two days of campaigning a year, instead of four, was more realis tic and posed less of an annoy ance to students, Bornemann said. Under the new plan, stu dents could be tired of the process, he said. “By the time elections actually do roll around, they’ll be sick of it,” he said. Senate Parliamentarian Ankit Patel endorsed Bourne’s changes by saying he supported “all of the things he’s done so far.” Patel said he believed the ♦ CANDIDATES, SEE PAGE 2 Bornemann Bristow Brown McFadden Patel TODAY’S WEATHER: Bright sunshine. Light W winds. High 66, Low 38. j TOMORROW’S WEATHER: Abundant sunshine. High 68, Low 46.