Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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TODAY: Scattered June 19,2002 ♦ Vol. 95, No. 92 Thunderstorms, University of South Carolina ♦ www.dailygamecock.com High 85, Low 69. ... -- - ■— ■ 1 - -- ■ ; ' '■ ■■ - • . INSIDE VIEWPOINTS Column: Face lift for USC campus Jason L. Rapp argues that green space isn’t so bad after all. PAGE 6 THE MIX Damon claims new identity as Bourne Matt Damon turns in great performance in action hit. PAGE 7 SPORTS Gamecocks beat Huskers in ninth Yaron Peters’ two-run homer lifts USC to win over Nebraska. PAGE 10 INDEX Comics _ 9 Crossword9 Classifieds 12 Horoscopes_ 9 Letters to the Editor 6 Online Pol[ 6 Quote of the Day_7 USC Police Report 3 Dining at USC to undergo changes USC, Sodexho agree to 15 year service contract BY GINNY THORNTON THE GAMECOCK USC dining isn't often identified with Sunday brunch atop Capstone, trendy international choices or up scale brands. But to future USC stu dents, these options may be as common as Chicken Finger Wednesday is now. USC has issued Sodexho Campus Services a written intent to accept the proposal the company submitted this past spring to provide dining services at USC for the next 15 years. South Carolina law re quires USC to periodically is sue a request for proposal. This year, USC chose Sodexho over Chartwell’s, a lone competitor. “We’re taking our time on this because we want to do it right.” LIZ BOHLKE SODEXHO REGIONAL DIRECTOR While Sodexho has pro vided dining services at USC during the past 20 years and always has received contract renewal, Sodexho Regional / SUBVERSIONS’^ SMOOTHIE -CANDY/ ^TERRACE TREATS SEATING PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK Sodexho is planning for a new look to Carolina Dining Services in the next two years. Shown here is a floor plan for the Grand Marketplace. Included is a Cinnabon/Cafe Fresca stand, a Flower Cart/Walk-ln Cooler stand, and a Smoothie and candy stand. Also on the each wall of the cafeteria will have wall merchandisers. Director Liz Bohlke says the company approached the pro posal as if it were new busi ness. "We always want to take care of the customer," Bohlke said. "And we’ve found that there are some new ways for us to do that.” Bohlke said that while change won't come immedi ately, students will see a vari ety of facility and food-choice changes within the next few years. "There's not going to be a big splash in September, but by the spring and next sum mer, you'll be able to notice a difference," Bohlke said. "We're taking our time on this because we want to do it right." These Sodexho folks don't rush through any part of the process. Sodexho General Manager Mike Sheffries proudly dis plays a heavy, two-volume proposal, neatly packaged in its own box. "Two years," Bohlke says, looking at the weighty books. They contain the detailed proposal Sodexho presented to USC. The glossy pages are filled with descriptions and color ful renderings of ideas for a USC dining facility makeover, as well as photos of other colleges where Sodexho provides dining ser vices. Bohlke said the proposal process started with focus groups and surveys designed to find out what students wanted from on-campus eat ing. From there, they worked with branding experts and planners at the national lev el. Bohlke and Sheffries both were enthusiastic about the advantage they say the 15 year contract will give them, and the extra space USC has allotted for dining services use. "In the past, we’ve signed a 5-year contract," said Bohlke. "Now it will be easi er for Sodexho to justify in vesting in more drastic facil ity changes because we know we'll be around long enough to profit from the return." ♦ DINING, SEE PAGE 2 Judge orders Hodges to allow plutonium shipment BY BEN BRYAN THE GAMECOCK In the latest developments of the continuing debate over Plutonium shipments into South Carolina, a federal judge ordered Gov. Jim Hodges to allow the ship ments to enter without a standoff. This order came as a re sponse to Hodges' declaring a state of emergency on Friday, which banned any trucks carrying the radioac tive material from crossing the state line. Hodges does not want to allow storage of plutonium at the Savannah River Site (SRS) because no clear timetable for its removal has been outlined. Although the facility to be used for storing the plutoni um is considered safe by Westinghouse nuclear facili ty, who concluded a study of the reactor building in July of 2000, Hodges believes that such mate rial in the Palmetto State consti tutes a pos sible terror ist target. The plu - tonium is 6.5 tons Of weapons-grade material which will be shipped from Rocky Flats, Colo., so that it can be con verted to a form that can be used as fuel by nuclear power plants. Gov. Hodges filed a lawsuit to block the plutonium ship ments following the Department of Energy's April 19 announcement that the disposal of the plutonium would be held off pending re views of various methods of handling such material. Hodges has expressed con cern that the material would be stored in South Carolina ♦ PLUTONIUM, SEE PAGE 2