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4 Web site offers simple way to fight poverty IOxfam America is sponsoring the America Collegiate Click Drive. Last year, the drive Involved 250 ^schools * and raised $28,000. PHOTO BY KATIE jJBANNEN/THE IGAMECOCK Clicklt program allows students to raise money for poor nations BY LADONNA BEEKER THE GAMECOCK For college students, joining the fight against poverty is just a click away. Starting Sunday and running through March 26, students can go online to www.povertyfight ers.com and click on their school. For every click, sponsors will do nate 25 cents toward a micro-cred it loan. - Once that step is complete, par ticipants will be transferred to an other Web page where they need to click on the “donate and win” icon. .There is no charge to par ticipate in the drive. Once that step is complete, a box will pop up on your screen that will allow you to know that your donation is now complete. The micro-credit loans give people, especially women, the chance to start their own busi ness in developing countries. Media Coordinator Marci Surkes said “Micro-credit loans have a 98 percent success rate with women in developing na I tions.” Once the drive is over, the to tal mouse clicks are added up, and the school with the most do nations gets a prize. One prize is a $1,000 cash prize that can be used to throw a party. Other prizes are still under negotia tion. Jessica Joyner, a second-year psychology student, said, “I would participate in the drive be cause it helps out everyone in third-world countries, especially women who are often over looked.” The Web page allows visits twice a day. A game hint given on the Web site is to make poverty fighters.com your home page. Robert Hinson, a first-year liberal arts students, said, “It will only take five seconds out of my day, doing something that is not so cial, for someone else.” Last year, more than 250 col leges in the United States partic ipated in the drive and raised $28,000. This year Oxfam hopes to double that amount. Participants included students and alumni. College students that partake in the event will have the chance to raise up to one million dollars. “This is something simple that can help others; it is worth it,” said second-year studio art stu dent Laura Jennings. Oxfam America has teamed up with povertyflghters.com—along with undergraduate student ac tivists at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass. — to begin the second annual Collegiate Click Drive. Oxfam America is an or ganization dedicated to ending hunger and poverty around the world. “The Click Drive brings the front lines of the war against poverty right into the dorm rooms of American students,” Surkes stated. Oxfam America’s youth lead ership program is pursuing this project along with the Oxfam Change initiative. The drive is co-sponsored by Choice USA, Bread for the World, National Student Coalition against Hunger and Homelessness, Center on Hunger and Poverty (at Brandeis University), The Sierra Club, Student Global AIDS Campaign, Circle K International and Hillel International. The Oxfam Change initiative is a training program for college students who are interested in making a difference in the com munity and on their college campus. All of these organiza tions are trying to end hunger and homelessness. More infor mation on all of these organiza tions is posted on www.poverty fighters.com. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com I Meeting CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 paradigm to an operation.” Davis said many entities were interested in partnerships with N.C. State when he first became involved in the campus planning. The businesses were mostly look ing for the operational basis and adequate facilities to do their nec essary research. Davis also said USC is at an advantage in that the adminis tration wants to use land it al ready owns for the campus. N.C. State was at a construction dis advantage in the way it had to build its campus 3.5 miles from its main campus and provide transportation for students and faculty. “You have a unique opportu nity because of the geography of the city and the location of the school to put a densification prac tice in place that could utilize your existing assets and take this into another realm for you,” he said. “You have much more ca pacity here in land that you al ready own than you think you do.” Davis cited the university’s 1994 Master Plan, which planned out USC’s building projects for the next several years as a road map for the research campus. Some of the plan’s goals have already been achieved, such as building the Carolina Center and Strom Thurmond Fitness and Wellness Center. Some are under way, such as the building of the West Quad residence hall. And some are still proposed plans, such as replacing the Towers complex wnn aieaeaiuii lauiiny and moving the Norman J. Arnold School of Public Health into a new facility at the current Carolina Plaza site. Davis agreed with Sorensen that the university would need to seek external funding to cover most of the campus’s costs. “I’ve been very impressed with the collaborative agreements with all the different entities here,” he said. “I will say to you that that’s going to be the thing that will hold you back. That will hold you back. If that falls apart, it’ll be very difficult to deal with it.” Sorensen and Davis said they would elaborate on the feasibili ty of the research campus at a joint boards retreat in two weeks. Davis also said they would out line a possible schedule for the de velopment of the project, which Sorensen said he would like to see in the form of a 10-year plan to completion. University Advancement Sorensen’s push for private fund raising in his first year as president has come with mixed results so far. Trustee Herbert Adams re ported that so far this fiscal year, which began in July when Sorensen began his tenure as president, the university has raised $22.75 million as opposed to the $27.5 million raised at this time during the previous year. It was noted, however, that the seven-year Bicentennial Campaign concluded in July. Adams also told the board that December 2002 was the second most successful fund raising month on record with $9.25 mil lion raised. Board Notes ♦ Sorensen said he has no bud get yet on the proposed baseball stadium that would be shared by the USC baseball team and the Capital City Bombers. ♦ Trustee Darla Moore sup ported Sorensen’s push for USC, Clemson University and the Medical University of South Carolina to be freed of some of the constraints of the State Commission on Higher Education. ♦ Board members approved a resolution to use University Housing and reserve funds to pro vide renovations on Gambrell Hall, South Tower residence hall, Patterson residence hall, Woodrow apartments and the Roost. Most of the repairs involve exterior or roof work. ♦ Sorensen said he made offers this week to candidates to fill the vacant positions of the Law School dean and the vice presi dent for advancement. 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