The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 20, 2003, Image 1
University of South Carolina MPMnAV OPTflRPR OP OPHR Vol.97,No.33
www.dailygamecock.com IVIUINUAY, UUIUDLK ZU, ZUUO • Since 1908
USC plans to build parking garage
Building could
add 1,000 spaces;
parking fees to
increase in June
BY KEVIN FELLNER
tiie(jamk«m:k
USC’s Board of Trustees gave
preliminary approval Friday to
build an $11 million, 900- to 1,000
space parking garage on a gravel
lot that sits just south of the Bull
Street Garage.
The garage could open as ear
ly as Fall 2005. Rick Kelly, USC’s
chief financial officer, said stu
dents could expect the board to
approve an increase in parking
fees next June to repay the por
tion of the bond used to build the
garage.
“I think this is a luxury to the
students,” trustee Edward Floyd
said. “We have other needs on this
campus, and I want to make sure
that funds raised by these fees will
go to pay for this facility.”
Kelly said the campus has
added more than 1,400 parking
spaces on campus in the last four
years. But enrollment is rising ev
ery year, and many of the new
spaces are located on the outskirts
of campus at such places as the
Colonial Center and the former
BellSouth building on Barnwell
Street.
The proposed garage is part of a
three-year, $126 million capital fi
nancing plan that includes updat
ing the campus energy system and
renovating the Roger Center. The
plan is the first step in addressing
the more than $220 million in de
ferred maintenance needs.
Deferred maintenance is the list
of campus maintenance and im
provement projects that the uni
versity hasn’t immediately ad
dressed because they aren’t con
sidered urgent and because the
state’s consistent budget reduc
tions over the past four fiscal years
have left USC with limited main
tenance funds.
“Students have brought to us
that their No. 1 concern with the
campus is the lack of parking,”
Chief Financial Officer Rick Kelly
said.
Trustees said they would con
sider next year moving to a differ
ential parking-fee scale. Spaces in
garages closer to the center of cam
pus would cost more than spaces
on the outskirts of campus.
Parking preferences would also be
given to students living on cam
pus rather than commuter stu
dents.
USC President Andrew
Sorensen said plans for the new
garage are a result of Student
Government’s many requests for
expanded and more accessible
campus parking.
“We’ve been working with
them for a long time, and this is a
best possible outcome for the stu
dents, we feel,” SG President Katie
Dreiling said. She said SG has
shown support for the new
garage’s proposed site.
Dreiling said SG supports the
concept of a differential parking
fee scale.
“I think it’s important that stu
dents know that if they want the
parking, that if they want the uni
versity to help them out with this,
then they have to be willing to give'
a little more,” she said.
More than $16 million will be
used for updating the campus’ en
ergy infrastructure. Campus
buildings have already lost power
♦ GARAGE, SEE PAGE 2
^Falling short
PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK
A USC defender tries to bring down LSU wide receiver Michael Clayton during Saturday night’s game at Willlams-Brice Stadium.
The Gamecocks were held to zero rushing yards in the 33-7 loss. ♦FOR THE FULL STORY, SEE PAGE 7
Board mulls
over merger
BY KEVIN FELLNER
THE GAMECOCK
USC President Andrew
Sorensen gave the Board of
Trustees on Friday his initial
recommendation to approve a
merger of the College of Liberal
Arts and the College of Science
and Mathematics.
Sorensen said combining the
colleges would bring in more tu
ition dollars to the single aca
demic unit formed from the
Value-Centered Management
adopted last year and foster a
more cooperative attitude with
in the university. He said he
would present a formal recom
mendation to the board in
December.
Sorensen said the VCM model
rewards colleges that offer classes
with higher student enrollments.
“What I predict will happen is
that the faculty will create more
courses so that they can attract
students, which will, in turn, at
tract tuition,” Sorensen said.
“The enrollment figures that we
have from the fall semester indi
cate that that is, in fact, happen
ing.”
He added that large class
rooms and auditoriums are of
ten underused by some depart
ments and should be assigned to
certain classes by the provost,
not individual deans, to be more
efficiently used.
Some of the most vocal con
cerns came from trustees Robert
McLellan and Helen Harvey.
McLellan said he was concerned
with how USC would fund the
merger, especially maintaining
the larger classes. He also asked
administrators to study how
♦ MERGER, SEE PAGE 2
Ticket distribution
^changes to rely
on student input
BY MICHAEL LAFORGIA
TIIK (JAMKCOCK
Whether the student-ticket dis
tribution system for the Carolina
Clemson game gets changed de
pends on USC students’ input,
Student Government President
Katie Dreiling said.
Dreiling said SG officers are fo
cusing on collecting student opin
ions about the system in place
Aow, which operates on a lottery
■ basis.
Student Gamecock Club
President Sean Bishop said the lot
tery system often results in ticket
surpluses. A revised distribution
system would eliminate this prob
lem, he said.
In the past, Dreiling has said
that a seniority-based distribution
system or a system that favors
avid fans would be better than a
lottery. Bishop raised the possi
bility of a first-come, first-served
distribution system that would
benefit those who make attending
the game a priority.
Dreiling and Bishop said they
have had bad experiences with the
lottery distribution in the past.
“For the past two years at
Clemson, I haven’t gotten tickets,
and I’m the most die-hard
Gamecock fan there is,” Bishop
said.
But, Dreiling said, SG can do
nothing without strong student
support.
“As of now, we haven’t set any
thing in stone,” she said. And, she
added, SG will wait for significant
student backing before moving
forward.
Dreiling encourages students to
seek her out with their input on
the matter.
♦ TICKETS, SEE PAGE 3
Index
Comics and Crossword 6
Classifieds 10
Horoscopes 6
Letters to the Editor 4
Online Poll_ 4
j Police Report 3
Weather
L
lUtbUAY
High 82
Low 53
In This Issue
♦ NEWS U.S. forces ambushed
near Baghdad. Page 2
♦ VIEWPOINTS Editor-in-chief
Charles Tomlinson writes of his
heavenly experience with
syllabuses. Page 4
♦ THE MIX Keeping in shape
can be a daunting task. Find
out how some ‘JSC students
handle it. Page 5
♦ SPORTS For the second year
in a row, LSU dominates
Carolina, this time with a 33-7
win. Page 7
.
Homecoming week kicks off
New king and
queen selection
process one of
many changes
BY MICHAEL LAFORGIA
TIIKOA.MKCOCK
Today marks the start of
USC’s 2003 Homecoming week,
and this year’s festivities will in
clude a carnival, a cooperative
clean-up effort between Carolina
Productions and Student
Government, and changes in the
king and queen selection process,
Scott Sowell, Homecoming
commissioner, said this year’s
homecoming theme is “Coming
Home to a New Carolina.”
Sowell said the Homecoming
Commission decided on the
theme as a way of recognizing the
many new on-campus additions
and improvements.
“We’re kind of celebrating all
the great things that have hap
pened here at Carolina over the
last year,” Sowell said.
Sowell and his commission
have been planning events since
last December.
“This really is a yearlong pro
cess,” Sowell said. He said
Carolina Productions members
are most excited about this year’s
improved version of Spurs and
Struts, which Sowell called a
“huge Homecoming kickoff car
nival.”
Sowell said the carnival will
take place Monday on Davis Field
from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. It will be
open to everyone and will include
booths, games, a dance competi
tion and free food.
And Tuesday, Carolina Pro
ductions will team up with
Student Government for Clean
Carolina, an annual SG event.
“We wanted to do it bigger and
better this year, and it just
worked to combine it with
Carolina Productions,” SG
President Katie Dreiling said.
Sowell said the event’s timing
is perfect this year.
“There’s no better time for the
campus to be looking great than
♦ HOMECOMING, SEE PAGE 2