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Pakistani president expands his powers with amendments BY MUNIR AHMAD THE ASSOCIATED HIIKSS ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN Despite widespread criticism, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf unilaterally amended the Pakistani constitution Wednesday, granting himself sweeping powers, includ ing the right to dissolve parliament, and extending his term in office. “Pakistan is passing through a very crucial transitional period,” Musharraf told reporters in an nouncing:his decision to imple ment the amendments, which were first unveiled in June. “We are taking Pakistan from demo cratic dictatorship to elected democracy. I want to introduce a sustainable democratic order.” Critics, however, claimed the 29 amendments were a blow to the very democracy that Musharraf promised to restore by holding elec tions Oct. 10 for the national par liament and provincial legislatures. “We don’t believe that an indi vidual or group has the right to amend the constitution,” said Raza Rabbai of the opposition Pakistan People’s Party, led by for mer Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. “This is the sole preroga tive of the parliament.” Other amendments formalized an additional five years in office for Musharraf that he won in a controversial referendum in April. He also gave the military a formal role in governing the na tion for the first time by setting up a National Security Council that would oversee elected rulers — and include military officials. “Musharraf has grabbed all the power and the next prime minis ter will be helpless,” said Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, head of the opposition Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy. Musharraf seized power on Oct. 12,1999 in a bloodless coup that top pled Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The Supreme Court ruled that the coup was legal but insisted that civilian government be restored within three years. Musharraf called elections for Oct. 10 — two days short of the deadline. Musharraf, however, has ac cused previous elected adminis trations of failing to govern prop erly. He has promised to build a “guided democracy” in which elected leaders would be held ac countable through a series of “checks and balances” contained in the amendments. USC Death CONTINUED FROM PAGE A1 USC President Andrew Sorensen met with Horton’s fam ily around 10 a.m. at the hospital to express the university’s sym pathy. “I was preparing my remarks for the (new student convoca tion) the next day, and then I get these telephone calls,” he said. Sorensen described the week end as an “emotional roller coaster.” Horton died just one day after a similar incident at the University of Georgia. The Red and Black, UGA’s student news paper, reported that university police found Robel Soloman, 18, of Atlanta, dead in a loading dock behind Creswell Hall, a nine-sto ry residence hall. In 1998, Courtney Cantor, a first-year University of Michigan student, died after falling out of her window while trying to climb a ladder to her loft bed or while operating the window, according to the Detroit Free Press. These deaths raised concerns about the safety of high-rise buildings, particularly residence halls, at universities. Pruitt said a full safety review is already under way for every building on USC’s campus. “We need to realize that we have 26 residence halls on cam pus — some of them for 200 years — and this is the first time that I’m aware of that we’ve had this situation,” Pruitt said. University officials said the review would take a considerable amount of time because the build ings were built in different years and have different building codes. Patterson Hall, built in 1962, has windows measuring 90 inch es high by 40 inches wide. “It opens with no screen,” said first year student and fourth-floor Patterson resident Elizabeth Bell, from Greer, S.C. “It goes up to where the latch is where you pushup.” One possible safety precaution would be to install window mon itors, which are restricting de vices that would not allow the window to be opened more than a couple of inches. Such devices are already in place at Capstone House. “It sounds very simple to say, but each building has a dif ferent code,” Pruitt said. “You have to make sure that you don’t do something that is in violation with the code be cause, if you do, you may try to fix one problem, and you create another.” Funeral services were held yesterday in Camden, S.C., at the Lyttleton Street Methodist church. Burial was conducted at the Forrest Lawn Cemetery off Highway 521 in Camden. McKinney said no university memorial services were planned, but are usually put off until after the funeral. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotma il. com Greek Village CONTINUED FROM PAGE A1 will be home to 160 students, most ly sophomores, juniors and se niors. Freshmen may move into the village as soon as rush is com pleted. The lone female representative in the village this year, Zeta Tau Alpha will be reinforced by seven other sororities next fall, giving women the majority. The extra housing couldn’t have come at a better time. Because each house is expected to hold 28 to 36 students, the univer sity will have 500 extra spaces next year in which to place Greek upperclassmen, and will give the resulting vacancies to incoming freshman. This year’s large freshman class has prompted the employ ment of 44 recruitment counselors from the Greek councils on cam pus in addition to the seven full time staff involved in running campus Greek life. Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraterni ty has received 500 applications to join this year. Jack Carrington, president of the new ly rehoused Sigma Alpha Epsilon, said the fraternities were settling in well. The average cost of the village is still unavailable. Fraternity and sorority stu dents were involved at every level of the preparations and construc tion. These buildings were paid for by the Housing Corp., which manages all Greek housing on campus. 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