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www.dailygamecock.com WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2003 Since 1908 Search for law dean narrows to 3 w Sorensen to choose from among final candidates by Thanksgiving BY TRICIA RIDGWAY THE CAMECOCK The USC School of Law has nar rowed its search for a dean to three candidates who have been presented to President Andrew Sorensen, who is expected to make a final decision by Thanksgiving. The search committee nar rowed the selection down to C. Peter Goplerud III, dean of the Drake University Law School; Burnele V. Powell, dean of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School; and Rodney J. Uphoff, associate dean for aca demic affairs at the University of Missouri-Columbia Law School. The search began in May with more than 100 potential candi dates, Committee Chairman William Hubbard said. The pro cess has been fairly quick for a search such as this, he said. About 40 schools across the country have also been looking for a law dean, and he said USC is probably among the first to announce its fi nalists. The committee looked at candi dates’ experience, enthusiasm, vi sions for what the law school can be, abilities to raise money and abilities to express the law school’s mission to the communi ty, Hubbard said. The committee comprises five faculty members and four nonfac ulty members. It has been meet ing throughout the summer and examining all the names brought to its attention. Once the commit tee narrowed the field to six, it in vited those candidates to USC for further interviews and so that they could meet faculty members. From there, the committee de cided on four, and each candidate was ranked by the members. Three were finally chosen and sub mitted with the committee’s rec ommendation to Sorensen. Professor Steven Hinckley, a member of the search committee, said the committee looked for the people that were strongest aca demically, active members of the legal community, people with fund-raising ability, and “people with good skills internally to be a good dean.” Each of the candidates has dis tinguished himself at his school and “appeared to be to us people who could come ... to this law school and do all of those kinds of . things for us,” Hinckley said. In addition to being dean of Drake University’s law school, Goplerud served as dean of the University of Oklahoma Law School and as a professor at the Southern Illinois University School of Law. He also has exper tise in sports law and environ mental law. * Powell earned his law degree from Harvard, where he was a Graduate Law Teaching Fellow, and was a law professor at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Uphoff had an active legal and governmental career before be coining an associate dean. He served as chief staff attorney for the State Public Defender Office in Milwaukee, Wis., before enter ing the education arena, where he was a professor at the University of Oklahoma Law School. While each has the combina tion of skills the committee looked for, each candidate varies in his experience. It’s like “apples and oranges when you try to compare these people,” said Professor Patrick Hubbard, senior faculty member of the search committee. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail. com p Forecasting the financial climate USC researcher regarded as one of state’s top economic authorities fcv KEVIN FELLNER THE HAMECOCK Every time the state economy turns sour it seems that all eyes turn to Donald Schunk. It’s not be cause it’s his fault, but rather be cause he is one of the state’s lead ing authorities in forecasting fu ture economic trends. The assistant professor and re search economist for the Moore School of Business publishes his analyses in the school’s quarterly South Carolina Economic Outlook anri mntrihn+oe ir». fluctuation of economic values. But the division relies on Schunk as a state economic expert to in terpret the discovered trends. “I have to have my knowledge of the state’s economy at the end to make sure the numbers make sense,” he says. The business school’s public analyses are typically among the most highly regarded economic studies in the state. In the past five years alone, the school’s research has studied certain industries — estimating the state beer industry frt Ho wrvrfh £ formation on relat ed economic trends in the monthly fcSouth Carolina Economic Indicators. “It’s an ongoing, ever-evolving kind of process,” he says about rollectine billion in total output and the cultural indus try in 2002 to be worth $1.9 bil lion — and state agencies — estimating that, in 2000, ITSP. will hflVP data and having to draw conclu sions on what the information might predict. While the latest figures suggest the state hasn’t left economic mediocrity just yet, thpre is some hope. Unemployment dropped to 7 percent in September but is ex pected to climb again after a wave of manufacturing layoffs. The leading index, a five-vari able composite tracking future growth, is the highest it has been Pince March. But nonfarm em ployment has been declining since February. Schunk’s latest forecast is that South Carolina will post positive job growth starting this quarter end that new home construction should post another record year for 2003. But he isn’t just guessing. The Division of Research keeps an adjustable state statistical mod el, which it processes in comput ers to find regular patterns in the a total impact of $3.8 billion on the state’s economy. “We like to maintain good rela tionships with the government and the community, and this is something that we do regularly to help those relationships,” Schunk says. State agencies such as the Department of Commerce and the South Carolina Employment Commission, as well as private firms, seek economic forecasters largely for such single-topic pur poses as analyzing tax revenue or analyzing the economic impact of a single region or county. Schunk says the business school’s re searchers have been trying to look at how South Carolina fits into the national economy for years. “I think we are unique that we have had a forecasting program that has been around for several ♦ ECONOMY, SEE PAGE 2 Index Comics and Crossword 9 Classifieds 12 Horoscopes 9 Letters to the Editor 6 k Online Poll_ 8 ^ Police Report 4 Weathe TODAY High 75 Low 56 In This Issue ♦ NEWS Wildfires rage in California, kill 17. Page 3 ♦ VIEWPOINTS Wes Wolfe says that Bush’s reconstruction attempts in Iraq are starting to resemble Vietnam. Page 6 ♦ THE MIX “Dracula” dances its way onto the Koger Center stage. Page 7 ♦ SPORTS The USC football team will have its hands full with Ole Miss’ Eli Manning. Page 10 Caught by surprise PHOTO BY MORGAN FORD/THE GAMECOCK Brian Heyward, a second-year music student, hurries into the Russell House to escape Tuesday’s rain. Organizations, courses bring religion to USC BY JUSTIN CHAPPELL THE GAMECOCK Being that USC is located comfortably inside what is com monly referred to as the “Bible Belt,” it would seem that many students would have an inti mate relationship with religion. Campus-wide advertisements promote upcoming religious-or ganization events, and some times it seems a church stands on every corner of Columbia. But are college students really involved with religion? Steve Turner, minister of college and graduate students at Shandon Baptist Church, one of the largest Baptist churches in Columbia, said that of its 250 to 350-member student congre gation, at least 90 percent are from USC. Turner attributes this turnout to Shandon’s “con temporary worship” and “very college-specific Bible studies.” And, of course, while dining either in the Russell House or in another campus eatery, stu dents can’t miss those neatly folded triangular ads for PALM. The Partnership Among Lutheran and Methodists is geared primarily toward the USC student body, said the Rev. Tom Wall, Methodist campus minister. It is actually consid ered to be a student organiza tion, and because of its close ness to the campus, about 60 to 80 USC students are regularly involved with PALM, Wall said. Another one of USC’s stu ♦ RELIGION, SEE PAGE 2 Greeks join with Boys and Girls Club for Halloween bash BY JUSTIN CHAPPELL THK (JAMECOCK It’s that time of year again when kids, college students and even adults dress up in ghoul ish garb hoping to grab the per fect mix of sweet treats and haunted entertainment. But this year, some Columbia-area children won’t have to wander the city streets. USC’s very own Fraternity Council and Sorority Council will hold a Halloween event Friday called “Trick or Treat with the Greeks” — a joint venture with the Columbia-area Boys and Girls Club. Expect to see about 150 chil dren dressed as ghosts and gob lins running through the court yard in a spookily decorated Greek Village. The Greeks will present carnival booths and award prizes to anyone brave enough to look past the horrors and partake in the trick-or treating ritual. According to Sorority Council President Lara Bratcher, a fourth-year an thropology student, the Halloween event is one way the Greeks at USC strive to give back to the community. “We love helping others in the Columbia community, es pecially children,” Bratcher says. Even though the event promises to incite excited screams and wide eyes, Bratcher also says, “This will be a great opportunity for the kids to trick-or-treat in a fun and safe environment.” As scary as it sounds, Greek Council’s only goal isn’t ♦ TRICK OR TREAT, SEE PAGE 2 USC students volunteer for political causes BY IRA KLEIN THE OAMECOCK Though they might be from op posite ends of the political spec trum, there’s one thing that USC College Republicans President Kendall Robinson and USC Young Democrats President Lisa Flick can agree on: Volunteering to work in politics is a worth while venture. Both Robinson, a second-year finance student, and Flick, a fourth-year political science stu dent, are volunteering time to help out their respective political parties. Robinson works for the S.C. Republican Party, while Flick volunteers her time with democratic presidential nominee Wesley Clark’s campaign. Robinson works as an execu tive assistant to S.C. Republican Party Finance Director Sunny Phillips. Robinson is responsi ble for working with people who donate money to the party to make sure their donations are reported correctly to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Robinson also helps with the party’s fund raisers. She recently finished working on one such fund raiser called “G.O.P. on the Go,” in which the Republican Party leadership in the state — including the governor and lieu tenant governor — made a grand tour of the state in order to be more accessible to people who don’t normally come to Columbia. Flick’s duties at her volunteer job are more varied and range from phone banking to passing out literature and participating in efforts to raise awareness about Wesley Clark’s platforms and ideals. In both Flick’s case and Robinson’s case, it seems the key to taking advantage of such vol unteer opportunities is connec tions; it’s all about the people you know. Flick said she got her position through a friend she knew that was working on Clark’s cam paign. She said she was interest ed in learning what goes on in a ♦ POLITICS, SEE PAGE 2