Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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University of South Carolina FPinAV QFPTFMRFP R OfiflQ Vol.97,No.l5 www.dailygamecock.com > IlML/MT, OLr I L.IVIDLn Z.VJUO Since 1908 Provost Odom will step down BY ADAM BEAM THE GAMECOCK USC Provost Jerry Odom an nounced Wednesday that he would step down as the university's top academic officer to concentrate k on his family " and teaching chemistry. This year marks Odom's 35th year in higher educa Odom tion, 16 of which have been in ad ministration. He said he would like to end his career in the classroom. “I've always planned to do this,” Odom said, who said he told the chemistry department to keep an office available for him. His personal life also affected his decision. Odom said he would like to spend more time with his wife and adopted 6-year-old son, Ben. In his time as provost, Odom helped to navigate the restructuring of the university in 2001 as the chairman of the Strategic Directives and Initiatives Committee. He has been provost since 1997. “His knowledge of the univer sity and his insights have been ♦ ODOM, SEE PAGE 2 Faculty, staff disagree on ' college merger BY ADAM BEAM THE GAMECOCK The committee investigating the creation of a college of arts and sci ences said it wanted input before making its recommendation to the president — and that's exactly what it got Wednesday afternoon. About 25 faculty members, staff and a handful of students showed up at Gambrell Hall on Wednesday to ask questions and give their opinions to the 10-member com mittee, made up of faculty mem }, bers from both colleges. The feeling from a majority of faculty members at Wednesday's meeting was that the merger was not needed and would only create a headache as the college tried to piece together the administrative staffs of the two colleges. “I live in a neighborhood where I barely know my neighbors. The solution my neighborhood has is to not move us all into one house. The solution they have is to have fish fries,” said chemistry profes sor Michael Myrick. “I'm all for the fish fry.” The discussion was the first of two public forums the committee has scheduled before it makes its recommendation to USC President Andrew Sorensen by the end of September. Sorensen created the committee in July and charged it with gathering information to de termine whether a merger of two of USC's biggest colleges would have a positive impact. “This is like trying to mix wa ter and oil,” said Chinese profes sor Chuck Alber, his body shak ing with emotion. “I wonder how ♦ FORUM, SEE PAGE 3 PHOTO BY TRISHA SHADWELL/THE GAMECOCK Carolyn Bookter, who knows Frye’s grandson, signs the register of "Sarge" Frye during the viewing Thursday night at Dunbar Funeral Home on Devine Street. Frye, a groundskeeper at USC, died Wednesday. The USC baseball field bears his name. Legendary ‘Sarge’ Frye’s funeral to be held today BY MICHAEL LAFORGIA THE GAMECOCK Mourners paid their last re spects to USC groundskeeper and beloved local figure Weldon B. “Sarge" Frye Thursday night at the Dunbar Funeral Home on Devine Street after Frye died from congestive heart failure at Providence Hospital on Wednesday. He was 90-years-old. Funeral services will be today at 10 a.m. Burial will follow at Greenlawn Memorial Park on Leesburg Road. The public is in vited to attend. “Sarge Frye was a Carolina legend who touched the lives of countless coaches, students and staff members alike,” USC President Andrew Sorensen said through the media relations of fice. “His legacy will live on in the hearts and lives of those who knew him.” Frye was born May 7,1913 in Medon, Tenn. He joined the U.S. Army in 1931 and fought in World War II and the Korean Conflict. Frye met his wife Ruby while sta tioned in Alabama. Frye earned two Bronze stars and a Purple Heart before leaving the Army in 1953, when he took over as groundskeeper of USC’s athletic facUities. “If everyone did their job the ♦ FRYE, SEE PAGE 3 PHOTO BY TRISHA SHADWELL/THE GAMECOCK The Alcohol Enforcement Team in downtown Columbia received $200,000 to target underage drinking in areas such as the Vista on Gadsden Street. Grants to help local police fight underage drinking BY Z’ANNE COVELL THE GAMECOCK Police will be cracking down on underage drinking in downtown Columbia with the help of two grants totaling $350,000. The Lexington/Richland Alcohol and Drug Abuse Council of the Behavioral Health Center of the Midlands is expanding its Multi-Jurisdictional Alcohol Enforcement Team into the down -- _ town Columbia area. The team’s expansion project was made possible through two grants totaling $350,000 from the Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws initiative. Officers from the Richland County Sheriff’s office, the USC Police Department and the Columbia University Police Department will try to deter un derage drinking by using sever al methods, including party pa trols, where officers check out various parties; drivers license checkpoints; community polic ing; casual contacts, where offi cers randomly check bars and restaurants; and compliance checks of locations that sell alco holic beverages. “The grants allow us to dedi cate a certain number of officers each week and pay them overtime, ♦ EXPANSION, SEE PAGE 3 USC earns nanoscience funds BY ALEXIS STRATTON THE GAMECOCK £ The National Science Foundation has awarded the University of South Carolina a $1.3 million grant to study the so cietal and ethical implications of nanoscience. The grant will fund a multi-de partmental research team made up of 18 faculty members and led by philosophy department chair man Davis Baird. “Our aim is to work with sci entists and engineers who are developing this new science in order to understand this new technology and the social changes it will bring about,” Baird said in a news release. “Together we want to address the societal implication of this emerging science so we can ac curately convey to the public, how nanotechnology may change society.” The four-year grant will ex amine the consequences that nanotechnology brings and will address how nanoscience, which seeks to make technology small er, should be communicated from the scientific field to the public. Harris Pastides, dean of USC’s Arnold School of Public Health and interim vice president for re search, said in a news release that not only will this project help researchers find valuable information regarding nan otechnology but that it will bring more attention to USC’s NanoCenter, making it a nation al leader in the field. “This award demonstrates that USC is becoming a national leader in answering questions that society is posing about what nanoscale technology will mean in our everyday lives,” Pastides said. The grant comes just over two years after the university found ed its NanoCenter in June 2001. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotma il. com Index Comics and Crossword 6 Classifieds 8 Horoscopes 6 Letters to the Editor 4 Online Pol[ 4 Police Report 2 Weather TODAY TOMORROW High 84 High 85 Low 67 Low 64 Vi Inside ♦ ON THE WEB Check out state, nation and world briefs online. www.dailygamecock.com ♦ VIEWPOINTS Joey Oppermann says students should be more concerned about the college merger. Page 4 ♦ THE MIX Shouldering a burden? Let The Mix be your backpack-buying guide. Page 5 ♦ SPORTS The USC football team takes on its first ranked opponent by facing No. 15 Virginia. Page 7 4