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University of South Carolina WFHMPQnAV MAP PH R OHPQ VoL96.No.65 www.dailygamecock.com “Vl_ Lm \l LO L/MI, IVIMr\L»n U, Z.UUO Since 1908 ___ _ _ • .Students could lose HOPE aid after cuts * Forum held at Columbia College discusses budget woes, possible elimination of HOPE scholarship BY JESSICA FOSTER ' TIIKUAMKCOCK Columbia College sponsored a forum Monday afternoon to dis cuss budget cuts and the possi ble eradication of the HOPE Scholarship. The panel consisted of state Reps. Chip Huggins and Ted Pitts, both from Lexington County, and Linda Salane, pro fessor and executive director of the Leadership Institute at Columbia College. The forum, ♦held in the Breed Leadership Center at Columbia College, fo cused on the future of the HOPE Scholarship and the almost 2,000 students who currently receive this scholarship. The proposed cut of the schol arship results from a loss of rev enue from the state lottery, which is the scholarship’s only source of funding. The lottery generat ed $180 million this year, down from last year’s $259 million. The HOPE scholarship was designed for students who do not qualify for the LIFE scholarship but have the potential to succeed in college, Salane said. The sole requirement for the HOPE schol arship is a 3.0 GPA, while the LIFE scholarship requires that the student meet two out of three criteria: a 3.0 cumulative GPA, a score of at least 1100 on the SAT or ranking in the top 20 percent ♦FORUM, SEE PAGE 2 Students optimistic about new fitness center U“l anticipate a variety of new equipment and more space.” CORI ALSTON THIRD-YEAR CRIMINAL-JUSTICE STUDENT “From what I’ve heard, everyone says it’s really nice. I plan to go.” ANNE DAVIDSON FIRST-YEAR ADVERTISING STUDENT n“l think it’s really cool. There’s a lot to do there, and it’s fun to go because you get to scan your hand.” BRENT SMALL FIRST-YEAR SPORTS-AND-ENTERTAINMENT MANAGEMENT STUDENT “I haven’t been there yet, but I plan to go. I hope to see more facilities to help students reach their goals physically. “ AMANDA ANDERSON SECOND-YEAR PSYCHOLOGY STUDENT Ej Amanda Dorn, a fourth-year criminal justice student, works out on the new, |j state-of-the art free 3 motion machines at the Strom Thurmond Fitness and Wellness Center, which opened Saturday. Regular operating hours will begin March 16, with the center open Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to midnight and Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. PHOTO BY TRISH SHADWELL/THE GAMECOCK Study says simplistic Web sites work best *BY ADAM BEAM THU fSAMECuoK Mark Thalhimer has a message for all of the TV news stations that want to have an interactive Web site: Keep it simple. The senior project director for the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation spoke to a group of journalism students Tuesday afternoon to reveal for the first time the results of a ma jor study on how TV news used the Internet to cover the 2002 elec tinns “In putting all this together, do it as simply as you can so you don't need a lot of the Internet bells and whistles in order to be • successful," he said. “Simple is al ways better.” The foundation received a $2.5 million grant from Pew Charitable Trusts to conduct the study. Ten TV news stations from around the country were chosen for the study and given $70,000 each to hire someone to run the project. The foundation developed Internet tools for the stations to use, such as streaming video of debates and live Web chats with candidates, and then measured their effec tiveness through Nielsen TV rat ings, Web site traffic, focus groups and Internet pop-up surveys. “Each station retained com plete editorial control, and we studied the audience,” he said. The study found that people 55 and older have a higher interest in politics, but a lower knowledge •of the Internet. In contrast, people 18 to 35 had a lower interest in pol itics, but a higher knowledge of the Internet. “If there is the hardest nut to crack, it’s the young audience,” he said. “That’s the most difficult thing for everybody in the news business; newspaper, broadcast, everybody would like to find out how to get young people a little bit more interested in this.” ♦ STUDY, SEE PAGE 3 HOLD OFF ON THAT GAS MASK Ives Townsend Lecture rsity of South 3 March 200 _ PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK Donald A. Henderson, director of the Office of Public Health Emergency Preparedness, gives a lecture Monday at USC called “The Darker Side of 21st Century Biology.” The talk was part of the Townsend Lecture Series. Adviser says nation more prepared for bioterrorism Federal official cites new smallpox vaccine, special hospital rooms as improvements over a year ago BY PAMELA HAMILTON THE ASSOCIATED 1'HESS COLUMBIA — The nation is better prepared now to handle a bioterrorism threat than a year ago, the top adviser to the federal Health and Human Services secretary said Monday. “The fact is that your gov ernment is really doing a lot of things, and it’s not all obvious,” said Donald Henderson, direc tor of the Office of Public Health Preparedness, which was cre ated in 2001. So don’t panic. “We don’t recommend that anybody go out and get a gas mask,” Henderson joked while speaking at USC. “We don’t rec ommend duct tape. I wouldn’t get one of those bunny suits.” In the past year, the office has asked hospitals to be able to accommodate 500 people in case of a bioterrorism threat or any other type of emergency, Henderson said. Hospitals now have special rooms to accom modate people suffering from infectious diseases. Researchers have also devel oped a new vaccine for small pox that is in the final stages of testing and soon will enter the licensing process, Henderson said. Smallpox and anthrax are the two biological agents of greatest concern, the “big go rillas,” Henderson said. The federal government also is working with the biotech companies, which would mass produce vaccines developed by researchers, as well as research institutions and their schools of public health, Henderson said. USC in October received a $1 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control to develop a bioterrorism center to edu cate and train health care work ers and to work with 19 other schools in similar programs across the country. USC President Andrew Sorensen serves with Henderson on the Advisory Council on Public Health Preparedness. “To me, it was reassuring that the government is doing more than we know about, and more than he probably talked about,” said Cathy Roseveare, a 34-year-old master’s student in USC’s Arnold School of Public Health. Waltzing in denim i BY ALEXIS STRATTON THE GAMECOCK Dancers twirl in circles, sweep ing around the edges of the room in the Blatt P.E. Center while a waltz resounds within the walls. But with music coming from a stereo instead of a harpsichord and dancers learning their steps dressed in jeans and socks, this is anything but a typical storybook ballroom. Gamecock Dance Sport club. The Gamecock Dance Sport club is composed of USC students interested in acquiring and devel oping skills in ballroom dancing, “The purpose of the group is to expose people to ballroom dance in the variety of forms of dance that there are and to have fun” PAM MELTON GAMECOCK DANCE SPORT CLUB ADVISER including waltz, salsa, swing and merengue. Dancers entering the group come from different skill levels and backgrounds, but all work together with a common feel ing: a love of dancing. The group aims “to expose peo ple to ballroom dance in the vari ety of forms of dance that there are and to have fun,” said Pam Melton, the club’s adviser and ref erence librarian at the Law Library. Melton, who had been ballroom dancing for eight years before tak ing her job at USC in 1998, has act ed as club ad viser and in structor for the past four years. “I was look ing for way to expand my dance oppor tunities and to be involved with spread ing and get _i . :_ lUlg 111 volved with ballroom dance,” Melton said. “I saw that there was a club, and I went and just sort of ♦ BALLROOM, SEE PAGE 2 Index Comics and Crossword 9 Classifieds 12 Horoscopes__9 Letters to the Editor 6 Online Poll 6 Police Report 5 - - - —-- - Weather TODAY TOMORROW -r ■r High 72 High 70 Low 58 Low 41 % Inside ♦ VIEWPOINTS Brook Bristow reminisces about the Clinton years. Page 6 ♦ THE MIX Find out about Ash Wednesday, the Hajj and the month of Purim. Page 7 ♦ SPORTS The USC women’s basketball team will play Ole Miss in the first round of the SEC Tournament. Page 10 ♦ SPORTS The Gamecock baseball team beats Gardner Webb 11-1. Page 10