Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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. .. ... ■ - • •••- .1’ •. .. • > INSIDE* Sexual Responsibility Week kicks off today S.C. House enters SDI fight Rep. Jake Knotts ♦ asks board not to close College of Criminal Justice BY BRANDON LARRABEE THE GAMECOCK The South Carolina House of Representatives waded into the fight over the College of Criminal Justice’s fate last week and passed a resolution defending the college, with Rep. Jake Knotts, R-Lexington, pleading that the Board of Trustees keep the college independent. Knotts, who visited a meeting of the board’s executive commit tee on Friday, told the committee that the training provided by a freestanding college was too valu able for the state to lose. The Strategic Directives and Initiatives report issued earlier this year recommended folding the college into the College of Liberal Arts. Knotts said running the school was "a valuable service, not only to this community, but to commu nities all over the world, i and that he had received letters of support from around the world. Knotts said the college had edu cated police offi cers about how to do their jobs bet ter. “By providing that knowledge,” Knotts Knotts said, “you have protected, you have provided a great service to this state.” Knotts recalled the training he and fellow officers received from the college, saying many of them would attend classes when they weren’t on the job. “It took me 14 years to get my degree,” Knotts said, adding that he took classes while raising a family and holding a job. “And I didn’t do that just because I want ed to come to Carolina and play and have a good time.” Knotts said he didn’t think there was any reason for the board to consider folding the college as long as it was performing as well as it has. “I understand that it is a college that’s making money, and it is a college that can stand on its own,” Knotts said. He said folding the college into liberal arts could hurt the value of a degree. “A liberal arts degree, in law enforcement, is not a criminal jus tice degree,” Knotts said. Knotts’ appearance before the board came a day after the House approved a nonbinding resolution calling on the university not to carry through with the proposed merger. Knotts said the resolution passed unanimously. The resolution says merging the college would be “an unfortu nate and irreversible mistake.” “During this period in which all South Carolinians are impacted by terrorism and rising crime rates, when our troops are fight ing dangerous forces in “A liberal arts degree, in law enforcement, is not a criminal justice degree.” REP. JAKE KNOTTS R-LEXINGTON Afghanistan and President Bush is supporting every possible move to strengthen the criminal justice system, it is incomprehensible that the role of the College of. Criminal Justice should be mini mized,” the resolution states. Trustee Herbert Adams, an SD1 ♦ KNOTTS, SEE PAGE 4 . r " = ◄ ► W o:# Back Forward Stop Refresh Home Candidate: Kaleta Brown wants answers from USC PHOTO BY MACKENZIE CLEMENTS Presidential candidate Kaleta Brown speaks with friends at the GMP. I Vote in Student Government Elections Feb. 20-21: Brown seeks better explanations from USC officials about budget, other issues BY ADAM BEAM THE GAMECOCK Kaleta Brown has a lot of questions. “We can beautify the campus, but we can’t find the money for teachers to teach an extra section? I don’t un derstand what is going on with that. I mean, where is this money coming from, this being beautified?” she said. “And if that’s the case, why are we having budget cuts? I mean, the two don’t add up... I just don’t understand how, if we’re having budget cuts, we can afford to put down grass every ♦ THE GAMECOCK/SG DEBATE: 5 P.M. TUESDAY, RH BALLROOM A time you turn around. That’s a mys tery to me.” And, like most people, Brown wants some answers. “There are a lot of questions that we don't get answers to,” she said. “I’m not going to take that ‘just be cause we’re doing it’ answer. No, I need a better answer.” Brown, a third-year marketing stu dent from the small town of Traveler’s Rest, graduated from Blue Ridge High, where, according to her teachers, she was a “big fish in a small pond.” USC changed that. “We’re a big school in the middle of the city,” Brown said. “And people want to come here to be a part of that.” ♦FUlk STORY, SEE PAGE 2 uoiumoia Hall Kesident Adviser 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 2/5: Ankit Patel ♦ FRIDAY 2/7: Jim McFadden ♦ TODAY: Kaleta Brown ♦ WEDNESDAY: Brook Bristow ♦ FRIDAY: David Bornemann Board decision helps USC with BellSouth buy / 7 1 • • uirier decisions address Inferno, football tickets, renovations BY BRANDON LARRABEE THE GAMECOCK In a set of meetings Friday, the , , Board of Trustees and its executive committee gave USC permission to ask the state whether the univer sity could issue $8.4 million in | bonds and approved a lease allow ina tVio fnlnmEiia fnfornn tn tinue using the Carolina Coliseum. The board and its committees also approved an increase in tick et prices for football games and signed off on a set of transactions concerning various construction and renovations at several of the university’s eight campuses. BellSouth bond issue The $8.4 million bond issue ap proved by the board would help fund the purchase and renovation of the BellSouth building, which the university had long planned to buy. A resolution approved by the board allows President John Palms and board Chairman Mack Whittle to ask the state for permission to issue state institution bonds. According to a letter from Chief Financial Officer Rick Kelly to the Doara, me issue wui cover me $t>.y million needed to buy the building ■ in April “and additional funds to begin the renovation work.” “After June 30,2002, when ad . ditional bond capacity will become available, we will come back to the board with a resolution for long term financing to fund the full BellSouth Building purchase and renovation costs,” Kelly wrote. USC-Inferno agreement The board passed a lease that will allow the Columbia Inferno to continue to use the Carolina Coliseum. That lease had become a contentious issue between USC and Columbia, with city council threatening not to release promised funding for the Vista rtrena u me university anu me Inferno didn’t come to an agree ment. The city released the mon ey when the dispute threatened several city and USC projects. “It 's been a long and interesting negotiation with the hockey indi viduals,” Palms said at the execu tive committee meeting. The one-year lease, which ex pires on June 30,2003, leaves the Inferno responsible for converting the hockey rink back into a bas ketball floor until Dec. 20 if the are na’s opening is delayed. The uni versity and the Inferno would then split the cost until Dec. 31, when ♦ MEETING, SEE PAGE 4 the real international studies major PHOTO BY SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK Nicholas Young, Tommy Gremillion, Laura Anderson and Jeremy Wolfe are four of USC’s six Rotary International Scholars for 2002-2003. Not pictured are Martin Caver and Jeremy Gahm. Rotary awards send 6 USC students abroad for 3 or 9 months BY LOGAN BARLOW THE GAMECOCK Six USC students, all Honors College members, have been awarded Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholarships for the 2002-2003 academic year. The Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarships Program is the largest privately funded international scholarship program in the world. The pro gram, established in 1947, has awarded scholarships to more than 30,000 students since its cre ation. In the 2000-2001 academic year, the Foundation awarded more than $26 million in grants and scholarships. Laura Anderson and Tommy Gremillion are both recipients of the Academic-Year Ambassadorial Scholarship, which is worth $25,000 and given for nine months of study abroad. Gremillion, a fourth-year math ematics student, plans to use his scholarship to study in Ecuador. He was sponsored by the Florence West Rotary Club. Anderson, a fourth-year stu dent majoring in French, Spanish and international studies, was sponsored by the Spring Valley Rotary Club of Columbia. She chose to study at the Universidad Catolica Bolivia in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Her other preferences in cluded Senegal, Chile and the Ivory Coast. This won’t be the first time Anderson has traveled overseas. She spent a semester in France during her sophomore year and stayed with a Moroccan family for a summer. She will study in Argentina this semester. Of her time abroad, Anderson said she feels she “stretched the experience to the maximum,” and hopes to do the same in her future travels. “I'll be going into Rotary with much more wisdom, much more experience, both experience abroad and experience in lif?, that will help me really focus on what I want to do,” Anderson said. Martin Caver. Jeremy Gahm, Jeremy Wolfe and Nicholas Young will all receive the Cultural Ambassadorial Scholarship. These scholarships will cover three months of study abroad, and are worth $12,500. Caver, a second-year interna ♦ ROTARY, SEE PAGE 2 - -—— TODAY’S WEATHER: A few clouds in the morning, then sunny in the afternoon. High 62, Low 34. TOMORROW’S WEATHER: Sunny. High 61, Low 37.