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University of South Carolina WFHMFQnAY APPII QH OPlOQ Vol.96,No.86 www.dailygamecock.com V V \-\J\N LO Ur\ I, nriAILOU, Z UUO Since 1908 U.S. politics to converge on campus BY ADAM BEAM THEUAMECOCK With rumors of President Bush coming to speak at graduation ceremonies and a full-scale Democratic presidential ■debate this weekend, USC will be the center of the national political scene over the next few days. USC spokesman Russ McKinney said that if the president comes to speak, an announcement will come from the White House press office, not the university. “He has a standing invitation to come to the cam pus anytime he likes. He’s had that since he became president,” McKinney said. The White House press office did not return phone calls. Bush has South Carolina ties through his chief of staff, Andrew Card, a USC graduate and a past USC commencement speaker. South Carolina also has several military ties, with Shaw Air Force Base and Fort Jackson both playing major roles in the war in Iraq. Bush’s father spoke at the USC commencement services in 1990. A v>/l 4-V% __J . 1 i • _ill _ 1_1_ V/UlUlllUia Will JJ1WJ HUOI tv/ “Dem Weekend 2003,” which includes the Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate. ABC News is pro ducing the event, which will be held in USC’s Drayton Hall this Saturday at 8 p.m. ABC’s George Stephanopoulos will moderate the debate. “It’s a great opportunity to have a large national media pool on campus and a lot of national attention focused on the university,” McKinney said. The South Carolina Democratic primary election will be held Feb. 3,2004. Several events will be held during the weekend, in cluding South Carolina Rep. Jim Clybum’s fish fry on Friday night at the South Carolina Municipal Building. “It is a great opportunity for political science stu dents to sort of get plugged in to different campaigns,” ♦ POLITICS, SEE PAGE 5 STRESSED-OUT STARGAZERS _ PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK Tara O'Shea, a first-year print-journalism student, studies for her astronomy test while waiting In line. As of yesterday, only half of the 1,050 students in the class had completed the tests. Waiting until the last minute BY ALYSON GOFF THE GAMECOCK Procrastination comes in many forms, but for students enrolled in USC’s self-paced astronomy course, it comes at a high price. As of yesterday, only half the 1,050 students in the course had completed the required units, leaving roughly 525 students one day to get all their tests in. Astronomy Center Supervisor Melissa Hurst said this is normal. “On Monday, we gave 2,150 exams, but that isn’t even our highest number,” Hurst said. First-year business student Leslie Bums said she spends about two hours on each unit. For the past few weeks, Burns said, she has neglected her other classes in order to finish all her evaluations. “I’m going to be here most of the day,” she said. Originally, astronomy was taught like any oth er class at the university. “It was like all the others—actual teachers, class- j es and tests on paper,” Hurst said. ♦ ASTRONOMY, SEE PAGE 2 New tuition plan could start in fall BY ALEXIS STRATTON THE GAMECOCK USC will decide by June whether to charge tu ition on a credit-hour basis starting in the fall. The decision, which will come from a recom mendation made to the Board of Trustees in its June meeting, wiii determine “The lower the band, how students the more seriously it will be charged wou|d affect for their fall 2003 woulu alTecl classes. The uni- students pursuing versity is focus ambitious academic ing on two possi- _„ ble tuition sys- programs. terns: the credit- PETER SEDERBERG hour system, honors college dean . which would charge students per credit hour enrolled, and the bracketing system, which would charge students per credit hour if they are taking a number of hours below or above a certain range. “Nothing has been decided at this point,” Associate Provost John Olsgaard said. “I think there’s been some reaction that bracketing is the fa vorite of the two systems. By reaction, I’m talking about by students and by faculty and by deans.” Olsgaard said that while the decision is still “at the talking stages,” it should be known soon whether and how a change would be made. “If a recommendation is going to be made, it would need to be made before the Board of Trustees meeting in June,” Olsgaard said. While a new tuition system would help the uni versity’s accounting, some students and faculty are skeptical about how such a change would af fect use. Peter Sederberg, dean of the South Carolina ♦ TUITION, SEE PAGE 2 NEWSMAKERS OF THE YEAR I——flil—• ". ' '■• —i 5 aaLasammmmmm ——I s 7 —■=——— 1 PATEL JENKINS SORENSEN SMOAK BESKID LUNA PINNOCK ANKIT PATEL Love him or hate him, Student Government President Ankit Patel found his way into the pages of The Gamecock many times. In December, Patel announced a $15,000 surplus in SG’s budget that would be given back to stu dent organizations. In January, ^Patel faced subpoenas and an un Psuccessful impeachment attempt by SG senators over his conduct with the Board of Trustees. COREY JENKINS At the beginning of the year, Corey Jenkins was hailed as the next big thing in Columbia as ex pectations were high on the up coming football season. By sea son’s end, fans saw Jenkins in the defensive backfield. After his disappointing perfor mance at quarterback, many thought that Jenkins’ time in the spotlight was over. But Jenkins quickly proved his critics wrong with strong performances against Florida and Clemson at safety, cul minating with his being drafted by the Miami Dolphins. ANDREW SORENSEN USC President Andrew Sorensen started the year as the new kid on the block, but quick ly made himself at home by tackling a series of important is sues. His first semester was marked by several major grant announce ments, including research grants to study colorectal cancer and a federal grant to establish a bioter rorism research center. Sorensen also introduced his plan to build a 5-million-square-foot research center that would expand USC’s campus into the Vista. MOLD Perhaps nothing caused as much frustration this year as that pesky little problem known as mold. The fungus put the li brary’s collections in danger and gave many South Tower resi dents headaches as the universi ty scrambled to clean up the mess. JAN SMOAK AND NOVELLA BESKID Hardly a day went by that The Gamecock didn’t receive a news re lease about another USC scholar ship winner. By year’s end, 24 stu dents had received awards, in cluding several prestigious na tional awards such as the Udall and Fulbright scholarships. Smoak and Beskid, directors of the Office of Fellowship and Scholar Programs, led the charge in getting students prepared for these awards. GENE LUNA University Housing Director Gene Luna has taken an on-cam pus housing program that was falling apart and turned it into a fierce competition among students. Responding to student requests, Housing has invested more in apartment-style residence halls, increasing interest among upper classmen in living on campus. As a result, more than 500 upper classmen were put on a wait list for housing for the fall. As of yes terday, the list was trimmed to just fewer than 200 students, with all seniors expected to be offered housing before they leave for the summer. MIKE SCHEFFRES Dining Services General Manager Mike Scheflres has made eating on campus cool again. The expansion of the Russell House’s lower level has brought in a gourmet-style pizza and Italian restaurant and a popular smooth ie store that has students talking about boosters and grass juice. More is on the way for next year. ERNIE ELLIS Law Enforcement and Safety Director Ernie Ellis is the man who answers all the hard ques tions. When a female student was raped under the bleachers at Sarge Fry Field, it was Ellis who had to face the media and provide infor mation. When first-year studqnt Jessica Horton fell to her death from the sixth floor of Patterson Hall, it was Ellis’ department that led the investigation. DERRICK HUGGINS Parking Services Director Derrick Huggins receives a lot of complaints, but he is also in charge of a big problem. While parking is an important issue to students every year, the hot topic this year is the possible elimina tion of freshman parking. ANDREW PINNOCK The bullish fullback from Connecticut was supposed to lead the Gamecocks on the ground this year, but a series of early-season missteps almost sidelined the se nior football player. But Andrew Pinnock never lost his athletic drive and continued to pound away on defensive lines and even tually earned a spot in the NFL with the San Diego Chargers. Index Comics and Crossword 16 Classifieds 19 Horoscopes 16 Letters to the Editor 13 j| Online Poll _ 13 Police Report q Weather TODAY TOMORROW High 83 High 79 Low 60 Low 62 i In This Issue ♦ NEWS U.S. forces fire on anti-American protesters, killing 13. Page 5 ♦ VIEWPOINTS Brook Bristow pays a final farewell to Carolina. Page 13 ♦ THE MIX Not everyone goes to college. Not everyone thinks he should. Page 14 ♦ SPORTS Find out more about three of USC’s senior softball players from California. Page 17 Restoring the past BY ALEXIS STRATTON niK (iAMKCiOCK In the age of the Internet and 24-hour news coverage, some peo ' pie still have little appreciation for unavailable news, despite how inaccessible it used to be. Years ago, the only previews shown at movie theaters were newsreels. From Lindbergh’s transatlantic flight to beauty pageants, exploding ships of World War II and presidential speeches, the events of the world were represented in a few min utes of newsreels. Now, the Newsfilm Library at USC preserves and revives these films by storing and restoring them for public and private use. The Newsfilm Library was es tablished through the gift of 11 million feet of Fox Movietonews film from Twentieth Century Fox in 1980. This collection in cludes all existing outtakes from 1919 to 1934 and all associated outtakes from World War n cov erage from September 1942 to August 1944. “Only 10 percent of the footage that Fox ever shot was used in newsreel proper, so most of the film that we have has not been seen other than by the camera man that shot it,” said Andrew Murdoch, curator and chief re searcher at the Newsfilm Library. “It’s one of the world’s largest jigsaw puzzles — putting it all together and trying to dis cern, ‘Where does this piece go of this work?’ ” Because of the Movietonews Collection, which includes the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor and speeches by Winston Churchill. ♦ FILM LIBRARY, SEE PAGE 5 wmmmmmmmmmmm