The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 22, 2003, Image 1
wtvw.dailygamecock.com WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22,2003 Since 1908
* Event draws
volunteers
to clean up
USC campus
BY IRA KLEIN
- TilK GAMECOCK
The Clean Carolina litter pick
up kickoff event took place
Tuesday in front of the Russell
House and generated the largest
turnout in the event’s history.
Student Services Committee
Chairman Patrick Walsh at
tributes the huge turnout — more
than 500 students from 50 student
organizations — to the fact that
this year, for the first time, the
Student Services Committee
teamed up with Carolina
Productions to make the event a
part of the Homecoming festivi
ties. In addition, this year’s event
was co-sponsored by Palmetto
Pride, a statewide anti-litter orga
nization.
The event’s objective was to get
^ student organizations to sign up
* for Clean Carolina, an effort spon
sored by the Student Senate
Student Services Committee in
which participating organizations
are assigned locations around
campus that they are responsible
for cleaning at least once a month.
The kickoff event featured mu
sic, free food and drinks, balloons,
and free shirts for organizations
that signed up to participate.
USC’s beloved mascot, Cocky even
made a special guest appearance.
In addition, an announcement
was made at the event that a $5,000
grant award from Palmetto Pride
would be presented to one student
organization that completes the
“Clean Carolina Challenge.”
To complete the challenge and
compete for the award, organiza
tions must participate in the
Spring Semester Clean Carolina
Kickoff on Jan. 27,2004; continue
to complete their monthly litter
pick-ups at their assigned loca
tions; and take part in Palmetto
Pride’s Great American Great
South Carolina Cleanup on April
17, 2004, in which organizations
♦ CLEANUP, SEE PAGE 2
Clemson ticket
debate to involve
many interests
BY LAURA MOSS
^ TIIKCAMECOCK
The decision whether to change
the student-ticket distribution sys
tem for the Carolina-Clemson
game will be made by the
Athletics Department, Student
Government, the Student
Gamecock Club and student input.
“Hopefully, this decision will be
a shared effort between all those
involved. It’s important that we
havp all thpsp
the possibility of feuding between
classes,” Kronsteiner said. “I’m go
ing to be a senior next year, but I
don’t want to ruin the Clemson
game for other classes. We also can’t
just go to normal ticket distribution
because I know the university
doesn’t want students camping out
side the Russell House.”
Chris Massaro, senior associ
ate athletics director for ticket op
erations, said that if the current
system were to change, he would
favor one based
views represent
ed,” said Alex
Kronsteiner,
chairman of
SG’s athletics
committee.
^ Student
P Government
“Hopefully, this decision
will be a shared effort
between all those
involved.”
ALEX KRONSTEINER
SG ATHLETICS CHAIRMAN
on student use.
“I don’t see
any problems
with the system
we have now, but
any improve
ments are always
welcome,” he
President Katie
Dreiling has said SG has consid
ered switching to either a system
that would favor upperclassmen
or one that would reward avid
football fans.
Student Gamecock Club
President Sean Bishop has sug
gested a distribution system oper
ated on a first-come, first-served
basis.
“I think a new system should be
beneficial to students who really
want to go, and it should eliminate
said.
When the Carolina-Clemson
game is held at Williams-Brice
Stadium, 12,000 student tickets are
available. Only 1,000 of the 10,000
tickets are offered to USC students
when the game takes place at
Clemson.
Massaro acknowledges that the
current student ticket distribution
system sometimes results in ticket
surpluses, but he says that when
♦ TICKETS, SEE PAGE 2
Index
Comics and Crossword 12
Classifieds lg
k Horoscopes ' 12
Letters to the Editor g
Online Poll g
Police Report 4
In This Issue
♦ NEWS N.C. State student
fools international newspapers
with fake story about benefits
of fellatio. Page 8
♦ VIEWPOINTS David Stagg
attempts to save the English
language. Page 9
♦ THE MIX Charleston artist
Owen Beverly kicks off new tour
in Columbia. Page 10
♦ SPORTS The USC football
defense seeks its identity after
a harsh, unexplainable loss to
the LSU Tigers. Page 13
weatner
TnnAV TAMADDAUl
High 68
Low 42
T
1 Traditions continue
1 after years of change
I BY KEVIN FELLNER
THE GAMECOCK
This year’s Homecoming theme,
“Coming Home to a New Carolina,” re
minds students that while the university’s
personality changes from year to year,
Homecoming is a tradition.
USC’s Homecoming annually offers
many traditions that have lasted for
decades. Pictures of some of the annual
Homecoming week events are being dis
Dlaved this week in the ■
at Clemson University in previous years. ^
--- — TTSf! wpnt on to ripfpat thp H
lobby of the South
Caroliniana Library in a
special exhibit called
“Fanfare and Pageantry:
A Look Back at Carolina
Homecomings.”
The exhibit chronicles
the evolution of USC
Homecoming from its in
fj y Jr * i
Eighth in a yearlong series
~^—r--r- ^
University of North H
Carolina 14-6 that year, w
Earley predicted the event £
would be full of “fellow
ship and good cheer” and |
wasn’t disappointed.
Before the inaugural
year, the university
would encourage alumni
augural celebration in 1927 when Carolina to return to the campus for visits but never
Alumni Association President Barney scheduled large reunions on football
Earley proposed the idea much in response
to the success of homecoming celebrations ♦ HOMECOMING, SEE PAGE 2
Survey shows USC student drug use down
BY ASHLEE RICKARD
THE (JAMECOCK
Students from all over
Columbia took part in Red
Ribbon Week festivities on the
State House steps at noon
Monday. The kickoff celebration
was meant to show South
Carolina’s commitment to drug
abuse prevention, and it ended
with students signing pledges to
be drug-free.
Illegal drugs have been a na
tionwide problem for decades,
and the National Red Ribbon
Campaign, founded to honor the
memory of a DEA special agent
tortured and killed by a Mexican
drug cartel, seeks to eradicate, or
at least lessen, the effects of ille
gal drug usage. The annual cam
paign is only one example of the
campaign’s efforts.
It is understood that no place
is completely devoid of drug prob
lems, but how prevalent are
drugs at USC?
According to the Core Alcohol
and Drug Survey, administered
to a random sample of USC stu
dents each semester by a national
company in Illinois, use appears
to be declining.
The survey indicates that in
fall 2002,12.6 percent of the stu
dents were current marijuana
users and 5.4 percent used drugs
other than marijuana on a regu
lar basis. However, in spring 2003,
the percentage of marijuana
users dropped to 6.3 percent,
while 4.9 percent used other
drugs.
Whereas marijuana and co
caine use dropped among stu
dents, the usage of amphetamines
during the spring increased, go
ing from 2.7 percent of students
to 4.4 percent.
Despite less usage of illegal
drugs on campus, 50 percent of
students surveyed in spring 2003
thought that the average student
on campus uses illegal drugs at
least once a week, compared to
only 45 percent in fall 2002.
Ninety percent reported in the
♦ DRUGS, SEE PAGE 3
USC gets millions for coastal monitoring
BY ADAM BEAM
THE GAMECOCK '
USC’s Carolina Coastal Ocean
and Observing System just re
ceived a $2.5 million boost last
week, solidifying it as one of the
leaders in establishing a nation
wide coastal observation system.
The money is part of more
than $15 million worth of grants
from the National Ocean and
Atmospheric Administration to
fund 16 similar projects around
the country, including Alaska,
California and Texas. Alison
Smith ^communications special
ist for NOAA’s Coastal Services
Center in Charleston, said the
grants are an effort to spur the de
velopment of the Integrated
Ocean Observing System, which
would provide scientists with
data about the coastal areas of the
United States.
Smith said that once the re
gional systems get up and run
ning, the national system can be
gin to come together.
“We’re still in the baby steps
right now,” she said.
USC’s program, a joint re
search initiative known as Caro
COOPS, was crea<jg last year
with another $2.5 million grant
from NOAA. USC is partnering
with North Carolina State
University and the University of
North Carolina-Wilmington for
the project.
In August, the system de
ployed a number of moorings
about 30 miles offshore of the S.C.
coast. The moorings are equipped
with sensors that relay data back
to Columbia, where researchers
study the health of the ocean and
support flood predictions during
major storms.
Dwayne Porter, one of the
principle investigators ^jd an as
sociate professor at USC’s Arnold
School of Public Health, said the
grant money will be used to in
crease the number of offshore
moorings from seven to nine and
to enhance the current moorings.
“We are still chugging along
with evaluating the instrumen
tation that we have deployed,
working to ensure that we have
appropriate techniques in place
for data perception,” he said.
“We’re still very much in the
start-up phase for this.”
Porter said a national coastal
♦ COASTAL, SEE PAGE 2 )