The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 06, 2003, Image 1
www. dailygamecock. com _MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2003' »
SG looks to RAs
k for tech support
BY JESSICA FOSTER
THE HAMMOCK
Student Government president
Katie Dreiling is collaborating
with Computer Services in hopes
of implementing a long-term plan
that would allow students to help
other students with their comput
er problems.
The plan would require
Resident Advisers to get training
from Computer Services that they
can help their residents secure
” and protect their machines. RAs
would become a reserve guard for
Computer Services so that if a ma
jor virus cripples the system
again, they can help control the
problem by fixing their residents’
computers rather than leaving it
all to the understaffed Computer
Services office.
Viruses such as Blaster, SoBig
and Nachi have already afflicted
the computers of USC students
this fall. About 1,500 students were
hit with viruses during the first
week of school alone, but the 180
person staff at Computer Services
didn’t have sufficient manpower
to look at all of those computers
and fix them one by one. Many stu
dents were left frustrated and
without a functioning computer.
But in many cases, these prob
lems can be prevented if students
would only install the proper crit
ical security patches and virus
software, said Computer Services
Director Lorie Edwards in an e
mail interview.
For example, a patch for the
Blaster worm had been available
for three weeks before the worm
hit USC on move-in weekend.
Those who didn’t apply their crit
ical updates were the ones at risk
of being infected.
It a virus strikes again, it could
cripple students’ computers for
days. Dreiling’s plan seeks to pre
vent such situations by having
RAs make sure students keep up
with security updates. The train
ing would take about one hour per
semester and would teach RAs
how to install critical Microsoft
security updates and McAfee
Virus Software as well as how to
to clean off viruses from infected
computers.
“I think it’s an awesome idea,”
said Sara Eaton, a first-year mu
sic education student. “It would be
a lot easier than having to wait
and schedule an appointment with
the Computer Services people.”
The idea of letting students help
each other with their computer
problems was conceived when
Dreiling took a tour of the
Computer Services facilities a few
weeks ago and talked with
Edwards. Dreiling has to talk to
University Housing before the
plan can be put in motion.
“It depends on what Housing
thinks of this idea,” Dreiling said.
“It depends on whether or not the
RAs will be willing to go through
with this training.”
If the plan isn’t feasible,
Dreiling said she will look into
other options, such as creating an
independent task force of comput
er-sawy students to help with any
problems.
The implementation of this
plan would not only prevent and
efficiently remedy frustrating
virus problems, but would also al
low Computer Services to focus
more on furthering USC’s com
puting capabilities.
“We have very limited re
sources, both in terms of people
♦ COMPUTERS, SEE PAGE 3
’ Vote might expand
newspaper program
BY IRA KLEIN
THE HAMMOCK
If a finance bill passes the
Student Senate this week, Student
Government President Katie
Dreiling said the popular newspa
per readership program would be
moved, providing free newspapers
. at such places as the Russell House,
* the Business Administration
Building and the Coliseum.
A finance bill before the sen
ate would give $45,000 to the pro
gram, which provides free copies
of The New York Times, USA
Today and The State on a first
come-first-served basis. The
$45,000 would pay for 1,000 papers
every weekday and would start
as soon as the bill is approved
and last until Spring 2005.
Dreiling said SG is near an agree
ment with the administration to
help fund the program for the
first year, but that nothing had
been decided yet.
For the past
month, USC stu
dents have been
getting the pa
pers for free by
participating in
a pilot program.
For this pilot,
surveys were
conducted around campus asking
students questions about their
newspaper reading habits.
Students were given a free candy
bar as incentive to participate in
the survey.
Surveys were taken again at the
end of the four-week period, in the
same locations, to see if having ac
cess to free newspapers improved
their reading habits.
The results of the survey have
not yet been re
leased.
But, accord
ing to USA
Today repre
sentative
Sandy Willi
ams, head of
the Collegiate
Readership Program at USA
Today, at the more than 300 oth
er campuses where the pilot has
been tried, there has been great
improvement in readership
habits as a result of having access
to free newspapers.
All three papers will be avail
able at each location, and if SG
sees that pickups have been slow
at certain newsstands, they have
the power to move them.
“College students who read pa
pers are more likely to be educated
about the world around them, and
as a result are more likely to vote,”
Dreiling said. “Instituting this
readership program shows the
state and local governments that
we’re educating and informing
ourselves and that young people
are an important voting bloc.
We’ve gotten a lot of positive feed
back from students, faculty, even
If the Student Senate
approves a finance bill
this week, it would fund
the readership program
for two years.
photo by Morgan ford/the gamecock deans about this program.
Dreiling said SG has enough
Bates House is home to one of the readership program
newsstands. ♦NEWSPAPERS, SEE PAGE 3
Index
Comics and Crossword 6
Classifieds 8
Horoscopes 6
Letters to the Editor 4
f Online Poll 4
Police Report 2
Weather
TODAY
TUESDAY
High 76
Low 53
In This Issue
♦ NEWS State, nation and
world briefs. Page 2
♦ VIEWPOINTS Rachal Hatton
offers tough love to the College
of Liberal Arts. Page 4
♦ THE MIX Local band Silers
Bald looks to make a splash
nationally with its new album.
Page 5
♦ SPORTS Women’s soccer
team makes it an eight-game
winning streak with a defeat of
Alabama. Page 7
~~4
Chili Cook-off turns up heat
BY GABRIELLE SINCLAIR
THE OAMECOCK
There’s nothing like seeing a
grown man cry. Even if it is over
a serving of Southern chili.
“Good for clearing the sinus
es,” said recent USC graduate
Josh Haxton while trying to re
cover from Fiery Orgasmic
Death, one of the 60 types of chili
served at the 17th-annual Chili
Cook-off Saturday in Five Points.
Each bowl or cup required a
minimum donation of $1, but
many people gave more. All pro
. \
ceeds went to support the
Babcock Center, a private, non
profit organization serving men
and women with lifelong disabil
ities in Columbia.
Sponsored by local club Group
Therapy, Red Hook beer, The
Free Times, Pepsi and Com
mercial Maintenance, the event
included vendors serving such
chilis as sweet venison, seafood,
pirate chili, Devil’s Sphincter and
even filet mignon.
The entertainment, brought
by Roscoe Douberly, Solomon
Steel and the Soul Mites, was free
C
and lasted all day.
Rob Harper, whose team ran
the Fiery Orgasmic Death booth,
has been cooking for eight or
nine years, using hot chili as
their theme.
“A lot of things are subjective,
but heat is not,” Harper said.
The team, which has won five
out of the past six years and par
ticipates in other chili cook-offs
around the state, admits to going
slightly overboard on the heat
factor.
♦ CHILI, SEE PAGE 3
PHOTO BY FORREST CLONTS/
THE GAMECOCK
Brian Day, left, and Jamie
Donahue's “Flaming Moe’s
Chili” won first place.
*
Testing gravity
PHOTO BY MORGAN FORD/THE GAMECOCK
State Fair attendees test their endurance on one of the many gravity-defying rides during
Friday afternoon.
Kucinich phones USC
Presidential
candidate calls
to seek support
at S.C. rally
BY TRICIA RIDGWAY
THE GAMECOCK
Democratic presidential can
didate Dennis Kucinich spoke to
a group of about 20 supporters in
Gambrell Hall via cell phone
Friday about civil rights and his
stance on various political
issues.
He was unable to show up in
person at the event, which was
sponsored by the Carolina Peace
Resource Center, because of
transportation problems.
Kucinich came to South
Carolina to visit the Progressive
Network’s annual retreat in
Beaufort.
His speech was preceded by a
presentation on civil rights in
Colombia, South America, also
sponsored by the center. Human
rights in America and around the
world, in addition to rights of
workers and removing troops
from Iraq, are among the issues
Kucinich addresses in his
campaign.
He began by responding to the
previous speaker, Luz Marina
Becerra, who addressed Plan
Colombia, which involved U.S.
intervention in the Colombian
government. Kucinich chal
lenged Plan Colombia in
Congress, saying it “provides a
pad for repression instead of
liberation.”
Enforcing his promise to ar
gue against U.S. aid in Colombia,
Kucinich committed to Becerra
“a continued effort to work for
human rights, that we are to
gether in this for you and for the
people of Colombia and people all
over the world.”
Furthermore, on the issue of
Iraq, Kucinich spoke against the
war in Iraq, and voiced his
support of the removal of troops.
“We must live up to our moral
obligation. I will continue to in
sist that the United States plan a
quick exodus of our military
from Iraq and move forward and
engage the world community as
we try to create a transition for
Iraq,” he said.
His primary stance on inter
national relations is for a strong
world community beginning
with actions in Iraq. He said the
United States should turn over
all oil revenues and the contract
process to the United Nations,
saying they should be handled
in the interest of the Iraqi peo
ple. He also supports repealing
the Patriot Act, except for pro
viding funds for Sept. 11 fami
lies, saying it constitutes “un
dermining of our constitutional
principles.”
In responding to questions
from the audience, Kucinich ad
dressed recent budget cuts,
♦KUCINICH, SEE PAGE 2