The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 03, 2002, Image 1
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^ 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