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University of South Carolina FDIHAV QFDTFK>RCD C OHHO VoL96No.11 www.dailygamecock.com irvIL'Mij OLr I E_ IV D t. r\ 0 , ZUUZ Since 1908 ------------ ---------— - PHOTO BY ROY DOLLAR/THE GAMECOCK From front to back, Senators Alex Kronsteiner, Tyler Odom, and J.D. Shipman listen to debate over campiagn finance reform at the Student Senate’s weekly meeting Wednesday. Senate avoids ' decision on campaign bill BY ANNA LAKE THEUAMECOCK The Student Senate dodged the issue of campaign finance re form again Wednesday night in its weekly meeting. The Campaign Finance Reform Act, a bill by Senator J.D. Shipman and Attorney General Brook Bristow, propos es a spending limit for candi ” dates running for an office in Student Government. The bill has been buried in committees and is supposed to return to Senate next week. According to Shipman, “the bill will make it possible for more candidates to run for office with an actual chance of victo ry.” Candidates riJjjning for an executi>nfltficft*vill be given a limit o^SSfo^he general elec tion, while those running for Senate can spend $75., “It’s a travesty that.a great bill like this is being buried in committee,” said Bristow, who spent less than many candi dates in a failed bid for presi ? dent in last year’s Student Government elections. “I think everyone should have a fair shot.” USC is one of the few schools in the nation that does not al ready have strict spending lim ♦ SENATE, SEE PAGE 3 USC police crack down on open-container violations BY ALLYSON BIRD THE GAMECOCK One glance at the police reports says it all. Alcohol violations, name ly open-container violations, are hit ting the campus hard this semester. First-year student Tavish Hanlon knows first hand. On Aug. 24, he and a friend were arrested after police notified Hanlon that he was parked in a fire lane and discovered open containers. After being handcuffed for what Hanlon says was four hours, he was issued a $350 ticket for having an open contain# of alcohol and for pos session cf alcohol by a minor. Hanlon thought campus police were “too harsh.” “I cam* here from Texas, where they don’t really enforce that law,” Hanlon said “Ten cops searched through my car.” The open container policies at USC are as follows: ♦No one can Possess alcohol in a moving vehicle. Alcohol must be stored in the trunk or luggage compartment, according to state law. ♦No one may have alcohol on the common areas of campus. According to Major Eric Grabski of the campus police de partment, open-container viola tions have always been taken se riously and this fall has been fair ly standard with regards to the av erage number of arrests made. - “I haven’t seen an increase in violations,” Grabski said. “Most of the time, we’ve already stopped a vehicle for something else when we find open containers.” Whether the death at Patterson has tightened security is not an is sue, Grabski says. “We were as prepared before the incident as we are now, but if folks are more security-conscious now, then I guess that’s a good thing,” Grabski said. Awareness is the key. The Student Judicial Programs Web site lists violations that can per manently remove a student from university housing. Repeated al cohol violations is one. Violation of university policy while on con duct probation is another. First-year students, who ac ♦ OPEN CONTAINER, SEE PAGE 3 Spreading the word ■ "JPlijriF ' '1 BMUMlwwnUr PHOTO BY DAVID STAGG/THE GAMECOCK University ambassador Gloria Simpson hands Information about the organization to Cheryl Reynolds. The Student Organization Fair on Wednesday on Davis Field allowed groups from all over campus to showcase their work and recruit new members. Athletes’ group proposes bill of rights BY KIM HUNT THE GAMECOCK The National Student-Athletes’ Rights Movement is proposing a Student-Athletes’ Bill of Rights through the NCAA. The bill, 36 years in the making, is championed by retired University of Kansas coach Bob Timmons, and includes issues such as freedom from discrimina ? tion and the right to work. “During my 24 years as a colle giate coach, I became concerned about those policies and proce dures of the NCAA that infringe on the fundamental rights of stu dent-athletes,” Timmons said. The bill restates NCAA regula tions now in effect, but the differ ence is in the proposal’s delivery. “This bill of rights breaks it down into what a student-athlete can do in a clearer fashion,” ju nior football defensive lineman Preston Thorne said. “The NCAA handbook is full of things student athletes cannot do. The founda tion is the U.S. Bill of Rights, and that keeps it simple.” The bill sets rules in concrete text. “The rules have never been spelled out like this,” said Kerry Tharp, USC associate athletic di rector. But the NCAA handbook isn’t light reading. “It’s so thick you don’t even want to touch it,” Thorne says. “Some student-athletes are not in formed. They don’t know what they’re getting into. Sometimes you have to mess up before you re alize you even did anything.” Right No. 10 mandates that stu dent-athletes understand rules and gives a voice to the student athletes, even if they are not NCAA officials. “All changes in rules have to be known by the athletes. If they are not aware, then it doesn’t matter,” Thome said. But some student athletes say the changes are not needed. “The bill wouldn’t benefit more because it is foggy,” junior base ball catcher Landon Powell said. “What we have now gives more description. It has to be specific so no one has an excuse. Lots more could be added to the proposal.” Tharp suggests detailing each right to get rid of the vagueness and gray areas. “This proposal would have to be closely studied by university and college presidents and ad ministrators to see how relevant it would be,” he said. “It has a way down the road before being adopt ed.” Tharp’s main concern is the student-athletes’ interpretation of ♦ ATHLETE RIGHTS, SEE PAGE 2 Army awaits word from Bush on Iraq BY ROBERT BURNS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — The Army re cently doubled the size of its war stocks in Kuwait to accommodate a little-noticed expansion of U.S. armed forces at a base near the Iraqi border, Army Secretary Thomas White said Thursday. White said the Army is ready for whatever action President Bush chooses as he considers how to fulfill his administration’s stat ed goal of removing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from power. White said the Army has not been given orders to begin preparing for an invasion. “We have done a lot with pre positioned stocks in the Gulf, making sure they’re accessible and that they're in the right spot to support whatever the president wants to do,” White said in an in terview with a group of reporters. ‘But we’ve done nothing specifical ly against any par ticular scenario for war.” Bush, who has said he will out line his case against Saddam in a Sept. 12 speech in New York, said Thursday that he would discuss Iraq on Friday in calls to the presidents of France. Russia. Bush will speak Sept. 12 In New York about actions against Saddam Hussein. and China. “I will remind them ♦ IRAQ, SEE PAGE 2 Index Comics 7 Crossword _ 7 Classifieds 10 Horoscopes_7 Letters to the Editor 4 Online Poll _4 Weather Tai>*w TAUADDnU/ ■ w un ■ High 88 Low 66 High 87 Low 69 Inside ♦ THE MIX Love Apple and Don Bravado open for Superdrag tonight at New Brookland Tavern. Page 5 ♦ THE MIX Athens band Of Montreal brings its ’60s influenced pop-rock to Columbia. Page 5 ♦ SPORTS Former Kentucky basketball player Jason Parker to transfer to USC. Page 8 ♦ SPORTS A preview of Saturday’s football game against Virginia. Page 8 Student volunteers serve as they travel the globe BY TARYN GOMULINSKI THE CiAMECOCK When summer comes, most students opt for trips to the beach, camping and relaxing. But a group of USC students chose the road less traveled by partici pating in the Dobson Global Volunteer Service program. The program was founded by Robert Dobson Jr. three years ago to enrich students’ aware ness of other cultures. A USC alumnus living in Greenville, S.C., Dobson donated money to the university to help students become more involved in com munity service. The funds cov er half the cost of a student’s trip. According to Sondra Weiss, coordinator for community ser vice programs at USC, planning the Dobson Program was a year round process. “Students must fill out appli cations in the spring to determine eligibility,” Weiss said. “There ♦ DOBSON, SEE PAGE 2 PHOTO BY REGINA GOODWIN/THE G Tom Kendall shows photographs from his trip to Togo, West Africa, to fellow Dobson Global Volunteer Service program partlcpants Emma Broom, Philip Brice and Chris Causey.