Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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INSIDE THE MIX; USC celebrates IVTf^Tl H £1\7 April 22,2002 * Vol. 95, No. 85 32nd annual Earth Day 1V1U11U.CI V University of South Carolina ♦ www.dailygamecock.com tAMECOCK NFL DRAFT __, I PHOTO BY AARON HARK/THE GAMECOCK Kallmba Edwards, pictured with his parents prior to this year's Clemson game, was drafted by the Detroit Lions. John Stamper, below right, was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 5 USC football players get picked in NFL draft BY CHRIS FOY THKliAMKCOCK The NFL drafted 261 players from colleges across the country this past weekend, and five defen sive starters from USC's 2001 squad were taken by various pro football teams. The Detroit Lions acquired USC linebacker/defensive end Kalimba Edwards, who initially was pro jected as a first-round pick, with the 35th overall pick (third in the second round). Edwards at one time was projected as a top 10 pick. Lions head coach and former San Francisco offensive coordina tor Marty Momhinweg jumped at the chance to bolster his defense with Edwards. "With Kalimba Edwards, we just added more strength to our front seven, which makes your cor nerbacks better with a pass rush as well as stopping the run," Momhinweg said. Detroit helped out its secondary in the third round by drafting an other USC player, cornerback Andre Goodman. Sheldon Brown, another stand out USC cornerback, joined Edwards as a second-round pick. ♦ LADY GAMECOCKS CHOSEN IN WNBA DRAFT. PAGE 8 “I'm coming in with open arms. I'm going to bust my hump on special teams and do whatever it takes. I'm just that type of guy.” SHELDON BROWN DRAFT PICK FOR PHILADELPHIA EAGLES The Philadelphia Eagles chose Brown with the 59th selection. The Eagles are coming off of a strong season in which they made the NFC Championship game. Brown was thrilled with the op portunity to play for a team like the Eagles. 'Tm coming in with open arms," Brown said. "I'm going to bust my hump on special teams and do what ever it takes. Tm just that type of guy." The Minnesota Vikings picked up USC strong safety Willie Offord only two selections after Goodman. The Vikings, who had struggled this past year, lacked depth in the secondary. Defensive end John Stamper ♦ NFL DRAFT, SEE PAGE 3 Odom calls for more state money to pay professor salaries BY KEVIN FELLNER THE GAMECOCK Provost Jerry Odom said Friday that USC needs to work with state legislators to improve state allocations for professor salaries. "Faculty salaries at our uni versity are still low compared to our peers," Odom said. Odom said USC President John Palms regularly tells the higher education subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee that improving faculty salaries is his highest priority. State legislation determines the annual allocations for faculty salaries at state universities. Last year, 2 percent of USC's total allo cations were set aside for salaries. Odom, who recently attended a meeting with provosts from other southeastern universities, said budget problems are present across the region. "The economy has just been “Faculty salaries at our university are still low compared to our peers.” JERRY ODOM use PROVOST turning around much slower in the Southeast than in other parts of the country," he said. The universities of Kentucky, Oklahoma and Maryland are three of the dozens of state-sup ported schools nationwide that will receive no faculty pay in creases this year. "That's really where we are, too, right now," Odom said. He said state legislators are planning no salary increases at USC this fiscal year. Arizona State University plans to increase professor salaries by an average of 5 per cent this year. But that's possi ble only because university ad ♦ SALARIES, SEE PAGE 2 Parking Services leaves questions Department documents more overtime, spends more on postage BY CHARLES PRASHAW THE (iAMECOCK Though his department made about $1.2 million in the past fis cal year, Derrick Huggins, direc tor of Vehicle Management and Parking Services, says the de partment can’t atford to buy sur veilence cameras for campus parking garages. Because parking is one of the most-discussed concerns on cam pus, The Gamecock did a study of Vehicle Management and Parking Services. Waived tickets The percentage of parking fines waived has dropped to a four-year low. During the past fiscal year, $470,595 in parking fines were collected. Of that, only $14,984, or 3.18 percent of the fines for parking tickets issued, was waived after an appeal by the ticketed person. "We are simply getting better at writing tickets," Huggins said. USC’s 'Eraffic Appellate Court read only, on average, five ap ~ peals during its monthly meet ings last year. Most were over turned. Money earned, spent Parking Services makes mon ey through the school’s large mo tor pool, garage and parking space rentals, and parking fines. During fiscal year 2001, rev enues for space rental alone to taled $1,457,035. Interest earned on this money totaled only $56,575 — 3.88 percent. Huggins said most of the rev enue is put back into making parking at USC better. Huggins cited Parking Services’ plan-to remodel the Bates House and Bates West parking lots to i llus trate where the revenue goes. Huggins also said there wasn’t enough money in the budget for cameras in all of the parking garages. But in 2000, 29 cars were stolen from university parking lots and numerous other cars were broken into or damaged. USCPD doesn’t calculate year end numbers for vandalized cars ♦ PARKING, SEE PAGE 2 Number of tickets waived plummets Waived parking tickets have decreased by half since 1997. Fiscal year Fines collected Fines waived Percent waived 1998 $585,608 $43,610 7.45 1999 $534,885 $44,979 8.41 2000 $608,629 $30,376 4.99 2001 $470,595 $14,984 3.18 Professors say they were pressured not to testify COLUMBIA (AP) - The dean of USC’s School of Law has been accused by two professors of pressuring them not to testify against a Columbia firm because the university was soliciting a donation. Professors Rob Wilcox and Greg Adams testified in February that School of Law Dean John Montgomery asked them to stay out of a legal mal practice case against Nexsen Pruet Jacobs and Pollard — one of the state’s largest firms. “He said that they were in the midst of soliciting a major gift from Nexsen Pruet and that he couldn’t allow me to be an expert witness against them,” Adams said in a Feb. 25 deposition. “It was a very short conversation.” Wilcox said in an interview with The State newspaper that he understood Montgomery’s po sition and felt he hadn’t been asked to do anything unethical. “To me, it was not a big deal,” he said, ontgomery The two profes sors were asked to testify by Eric Bland, an attorney representing a Charleston developer who is accusing Nexsen Pruet of mal practice. The firm denies the ac cusation. At the same time, Bland con tends, another law professor, John Freeman, was allowed to be a consultant for Nexsen Pruet on the same case. “It would be one thing if the dean said, ‘All law school profes sors are off limits; we just can’t have that,’ ” Bland said. “But to condition it on whether they’re soliciting funds from the law firm flies in the face of everything we’re taught about legal ethics.” Montgomery, who is retiring as dean July 1, said he couldn’t recall asking the professors to stay out of the case and he didn’t ♦ LAW SCHOOL, SEE PAGE 2 “He said that they were in the midst of soliciting a major gift from Nexsen Pruet and that he couldn’t allow me to be an expert witness against them. It was a very short conversation.” GREG ADAMS LAW SCHOOL PROFESSOR Horseshoe goes high-tech PHOTO BY CANDI HAUGLUM/THE GAMECOCK Corinne Sheridan, left, a first-year mathematics student, spends an afternoon on the Horseshoe while typing a paper. Her friend, Bahiyyih Young, a first-year psychology student, talks on the phone with a friend. — TODAY’S WEATHER: Partly cloudy. High 90, Low 55. ! TOMORROW’S WEATHER: Sunny. High 77, Low 54. k»&til