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mam.SPOKO: Dave Odom WfciApril 3’2002 * VoL 95>Na 77 ^ reflects on the basketball season V V CU.llvuv4.dj University of South Carolina ♦ www.dailygamecock.com ' AMECOCK Sumwalt problems on the mend PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK Students Duntap and Walker said this asbestos warning sign was not posted until hours after construction had begun. Complaints by students led to safety changes BY GINNY THORNTON THE GAMECOCK Two students’ complaints have caused changes at Sumwalt College, and officials say more changes are in the works. Among health and safety con cerns voiced by public health stu dents Katy Dunlap and Sam Walker were broken smoke alarms, mis placed building keys and a failure to notify Sumwalt users about as bestos removal there. Dunlap and Walker reported these events after a break-in at their lab and the discovery that keys from Sumwalt had been lost by a maintenance employee and were possibly in the wrong hands. Areas of Sumwalt are being renovated for a new nanoscience center, which has involved re moving walls and floor tiles. A cir cuit broken during construction last fall broke smoke alarm wires. Campus architect and Facilities Planning and Management director Charlie Jeffcoat said he had not heard about any of the concerns un til last Friday. However, he has provided some temporary solutions and is looking into permanent ones that will pre vent similar problems on campus. “My preference would be nev er to renovate a building while there are still people in it, but we don’t always have that luxury,” Jeffcoat said. Health and Safety has now in stalled temporary, battery-pow ered smoke alarms that do not alert. Jeffcoat said permanent ones will be put in place when the construction is finished. Jeffcoat said that, while the uni versity had violated posting regu lations while removing asbestos, no people were ever in danger. “There was no friable asbestos in the building, which is the harm ful kind,” he said. Jeffcoat said he plans to work closely with the Health and Safety Department during the planning of future construction projects. He said the departments currently work together occasionally. “We’re going to give them all of .our construction documents to re view so they can look for potential problems with hazardous materi als and fire safety,” he said. Dunlap and Walker said they are pleased with the administra tion so far. “They’ve been excep tionally responsive,” Dunlap said. Walker went on to say that he is frustrated the problems he and Dunlap reported were pre ventable. “I’m interested to see what measures they take to pre vent these problems in the fu ture.” Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com ' USC offers new degree program Plants are in need of nuclear I engineers BY ADAM BEAM THE GAMECOCK With the economy leaving col lege graduates scrambling for employment, USC plans to re spond to the nation’s growing need for nuclear engineers with a new graduate degree program. The Board of Trustees’ acade mic affairs committee voted on Monday to accept the program for the fall 2002 semester. “It means it goes on, but the cru cial vote will be the Commission on Higher Education,” said Elmer Schwartz, former engineering col lege dean and member of USC’s ^ nuclear engineering programs ad ” visory board. Because it is a new degree program, it will have to be approved by CHE. Schwartz said the commission’s approval is “95 percent likelv.” Schwartz, along with the rest of the advisory board, has been working on the new program since last summer. The new graduate degrees will include master’s in engineering and sci ence and doctoral degrees in nu clear engineering. The master’s degree will require 30 semester hours, and the doctoral degree will require 60. Richard Meserve, chairman of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, wrote to $ USC President John Palms on March 4 that he was “very pleased to see (USC) recognize this need and take action. I hope that it may signal the revival or establish ment of other such programs.” Seven nuclear reactors pro vide 56 percent of South Carolina’s electricity. The state's largest employer, the Savannah River Site, has a proposal to es tablish a university research re actor at the site. “Many people who went to work in the nuclear industry in the ‘60s and ‘70s, like I have, have now reached retirement age,” Schwartz said. “And there has not, in the last 25 years, I been an influx of young people * into nuclear engineering be cause it’s not been an attractive field.” A study done by the Nuclear Engineering Department Heads Organization backs up Schwartz’s claims. The project ed supply of nuclear engineering graduates in 2001 was 165, ver sus a demand of 587. This year looks no better, with 174 gradu Nuclear engineer degree program Despite high salaries in nuclear engineering, there aren’t enough'graduates to fill all the jobs available. In South Carolina, nuclear power plants are expected to need engineers for the next 20 years. MEDIAN ANNUAL SAURIES Top 25% $87,090 Top 10% $105,000 Average salary $74,600 ates to fill a projected demand for 627. Figures for 2003 predict a need for 468 more graduates than the projected 174. A recent study from Bisconti Research, of Washington, D.C., revealed that more emphasis is being put on hiring nuclear en gineers right out of college. According to the Labor Depart ment, nuclear engineers held 12,000 jobs in 1999, with a medi an annual salary of $74,600. The top 25 percent earned $87,090, and the top 10 percent brought in $105,000 per year. in a iviarcn zz letter to Sen. Fritz Hollings, Palms said suc cessful establishment of the pro gram would require $500,000 an nually for the first four years. The Department of Energy Industrial Matching Grant Program is expected to cover $120,000 a year with both DOE grants and the matching grants from utility companies. USC has already received let ters from Duke Energy, Scana, CP&L and Westinghouse promis ing grants of $15,000 each. The rest of the funding would be cov ered by tuition from new students and reallocation of existing mon ey. The College of Engineering and Information Technology ex pects eight students to enroll in the fall for the master’s degree, along with two for the doctoral degree. Enrollment is expected to grow to 28 for the master’s and 12 for the doctorate by 2006. With the Nuclear Navy Training Center being located in Goose Creek, the engineering college is banking on hopes of re newed interest. “We would expect some of those commissioned officers to be interested in a graduate degree in nuclear energy,” Schwartz said. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Taking in the view Kurt Paschoal, a Columbia firefighter, takes In a USC softball game earlier this week from atop Ladder No. 9. While on call In the area, the crew of Ladder 9 enjoys watching games at Beckham Field. Israeli offensive enters sixth day BY LAURA KING THE ASSOCIATED PRESS RAMALLAH, WEST BANK - Israeli tanks rolled into two West Bank towns before dawn Wednesday, wit nesses said. The incursions followed a day of wild fighting as Palestinian gunmen forced their way into the Church of the Nativity, where tradi tion says Jesus was born. The Israeli moves into Salfeet and Jenin, a town that has been home to some of the suicide bombers who have ■ been terrorizing Israelis, came a day af ter Israel took control of Bethlehem and an other West Bank town. Wednesday’s in cursion by 30 tanks into Jenin opened the Sharon the sixth day of a crushing offensive de signed to root out Palestinian terror ists. On Monday, Palestinian gunmen forced their way into the Church of the Nativity, where tradition says Jesus was bom, and Israeli tanks and helicopters pounded the headquar ters of a Palestinian security chief. Amid the fiercest Israeli offensive in 18 months of conflict, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat angrily rejected an Israeli offer to free him from con ♦ MIDEAST, SEE PAGE 3 Getting Coquettish USC dance team is headed to nationals BY ADAM BEAM THE GAMECOCK At 11 a.m. Wednesday, the USC dance team will pull out of Columbia on their way to the na tional championships in Daytona Beach, Fla., not in a chartered bus, but in a caravan of cars. After qualifying for the na tionals, the group of 15 girls who call themselves the Carolina Coquettes raised $7,000 with car washes and sports-bar appearances for a chance to compete against 24 other Division I-A schools. Senior captain Valerie Gist took a second job to pay her way. We pay tor costumes, T shirts, shoes, everything,” Gist said. “We’re under the band de partment, but the USC Athletics Department doesn’t hold us in their arms.” Gist has been dancing for 12 years, beginning with ballet and tap in kindergarten. “It’s my passion,” she said. “Everyone has their release; that’s mine.” The entire team choreo graphed the routine, which in cludes a mix of slow techno songs and ends with Outkast’s “Bombs Over Baghdad.” “Every person put at least a jump in it or something,” Gist said. “First year, we didn’t want to hire a choreographer because Erin Woodle, Jada Bonnen and Lauren Mitchell practice for the dance competition. The 15 team members leave today to compete on Thursday and Friday. PHOTO BY ADAM BEAM/ THE GAMECOCK all of us are good. Our coach put together bits and pieces, threw in stuff we love. We just put it together.” At the beginning of the year, the team didn’t even have a coach. They were introduced to their new leader, Michelle Fields, at dance camp. “The team is just really progressed,” said Fields, a University of Kentucky graduate. “They’ve come a long way with what I started working with at beginning of year, in terms of talent, they just keep getting better.” The routine, which is just longer than two minutes, is judged on three sections: jazz, pom and funk. While the team is very strong in the jazz portion, Fields said some hard work has gone into the pom section. “(Pom is) sharp motions, what cheerleaders do, more fast-paced hip-hop type danc ing,” Fields said. The team will compete on Thursday in the Adam’s Mark Hotel with the top 24 programs in Division I-A, such as Kentucky and Memphis. The top 13 scorers in Thursday’s pre liminary rounds will advance to the finals Friday, which will be held on an outdoor stage on the beach and taped by CBS sports. The top five finishers will make the broadcast. “It’s the biggest of dance competitions on college level, and it is tough to get into, but it’s a big deal, and this is first time girls have competed down there for several years,” Fields said. USC placed seventh in their division three years ago. Fields said her ultimate goal is to get the program more re spect as a university sport. "Basically, USC is the only team that doesn’t have a dance team ♦ COQUETTES, SEE PAGE 3