Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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HAPPY HALLOWEEN AMECOCK __ ■ University of South Carolina FPIHAV OPTORFB 01 0000 Vol.97,No.38 www.dailygamecock.com irVIL/nl, \J\j I WDLIA O -L , ^UUJ Since 1908 SG bill tackles parking problems On-campus students would have priority for garage spaces BY JOCELYN MEYER THE GAMECOCK A parking reform bill being considered by a Student Senate committee seeks to remedy park ing problems on campus by re structuring the system for re served spaces. Student Senators say the bill would give priority to on-campus upperclassmen for garage spots. Freshmen students would be next on the list, followed by off-campus upperclassmen and then off-cam pus freshmen. The bill would also not allow students with garage stickers to have regular student parking de cals. Parking lots would be reserved for off-campus students that come to campus for class and then leave. The idea is the parking lots will have greater turnover for off-cam pus students coming and going on campus, making it easier to find a parking space. “There is way too much traffic on campus during the day,” said Sen. Patrick Walsh, a third-year sports and entertainment man agement student. “People can get more than one parking sticker, and they drive to each separate class because they can. If we con tinue to allow this to happen, the parking situation will never im prove. This bill has teeth that will actually make a difference. It will actually help the parking prob lem.” Walsh said that while off-cam pus students might think it sounds like they'll never get a chance at having a garage space, they will. “Not everyone on campus has a car, and not everyone on cam pus wants a garage spot,” he said. “The whole idea is to reform the current system and make the cam pus safe for everyone.” Sens. Ben Havird, Julie Kreisman and Walsh are the bill's authors. “We are throwing around ideas “There is way too much traffic on campus during the day. If we continue to allow this to happen, the parking situation will never improve” PATRICK WALSH STUDENT SENATOR A to find the best one that works,” Walsh said. “We do not know when the bill will come to the senate floor, so nothing is definite right now, but the bill is our top priority.” Walsh, however, said he recog nizes the complexity of the park ing situation.' “The problem is not going to be solved overnight, and no matter what we do, we can't make every one happy, but we are working on it,” Walsh said. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com USC launches first phase of research plan BY JUSTIN CHAPPELL THE GAMECOCK USC officials launched the first phase of the university's research campus by breaking ground on the $30 million complex for the Arnold School of Public Health and announcing a $4.5 million grant for the school. Initial construction on the five story, 105,000-square-foot public health building is the latest devel opment in an ongoing effort to make the public health school na tionally recognized. “Since the school was estab lished in 1974, faculty and re searchers have been dedicated to making this school one of the best in the nation,” said USC President Andrew Sorensen in a news re lease. “Today, their commitment to research on many of our most nrpssinp hpnlth nrnhlpms hac enabled the university to enter the next phase of education, research and outreach to the people of our state and nation and even the world.” Sorensen is also a member of the National Council on Public Health Preparedness for the Department of Health and Human Services. Harris Pastides, dean of the School of Public Health and inter im vice president for research, an nounced that, along with the Oct. 23 construction start, the school was awarded a $4.5 million grant payable over the next five years from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pastides said the money would be used by USC's Prevention Research Center to continue studying the link be tween physical activity and health. The grant from the CDC is an attempt to help government agen cies and communities develop bioterrorism-prevention methods as well as health-related pre paredness and response initia tives in the event of a terrorist at tack. “Our nation's schools of public health are on the frontlines in de veloping a better-prepared and more creative work force that can respond quickly to the changing public-health needs, including bioterrorism,” said Charles McQueary, undersecretary for sci ence and technology for the Department of Homeland Security, in a news release. McQueary also said the new public-health complex would sup port research, education and out reach efforts for American citi zens. He said the CDC's funding makes USC's Center for Health Preparedness one of only 21 schools to receive CDC money. Since 1993, when USC became one of the first schools in the na tion to receive CDC funding for a prevention center, Pastides said it_i_1 l_i__:_ LllC OVUW1 11HJ UVC.11 VU1 lllllg Ull XXX ternational reputation for re search on physical activity and health. “This most recent grant affirms the important role that USC has in this critical area of research,” he said in a news release. Ideally, the public-health com plex and its research campus will bring science-related industries and new businesses to the South Carolina economy. The initiative to earn national recognition for the Arnold school began in 2000 when Normal J. Arnold, for whom the school is named, established a $10 million endowment. The site for the new complexr the corner of Assembly and College streets, will be built in tan dem with the renovation of the Carolina Plaza. Together, the two buildings will form a 273,000 square-foot public-health complex for research areas, classrooms, ad ministrative space and housing for all the school's faculty mem bers. The expected completion date is fall 2005. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Index Comics and Crossword 6 Classifieds 8 Horoscopes 6 Letters to the Editor 4 Online Poll 4 Police Report 3 Weather TODAY TOMORROW High 80 High 82 Low 53 Low 55 -1 In This Issue ♦ NEWS The USC Law School is having its annual career fair today. Page 3 ♦ VIEWPOINTS Justin Simmons says that creationism is a valid theory for life. Page 4 ♦ THE MIX We’ve put a spell on you - local magician Lady Sarah lets us in on her tricks. Page 5 ♦ SPORTS USC travels to Ole Miss to take on Eli Manning and the Rebels this weekend. Page 7 —y Kathryn Vignone, a fourth-year interdisciplinary studies student, volunteers her time by driving the APO station wagon on weeknights. APO operates USC’s only point-to-point shuttle service. Parking officials say APO is here to stay BY JESSICA FOSTER THE GAMECOCK USC Parking Services Director Derrick Huggins said Wednesday he is not planning to discontinue Alpha Phi Omega's escort service, an issue that APO members and escort users have been concerned about since the announcement of a plan to incorporate a global po sitioning system into USC's shut tle system. Huggins said he wants to meet with APO leaders to talk about ex isting services, but it is simply “not the case” that he is planning on eliminating the service. He said the evaluation of the transportation systems around campus is part of a routine as sessment to ensure that the shut tles are working correctly. “We have to be accountable for providing the best service to our students,” Huggins said. “The only way we can do that is just regularly evaluate your service.” APO adviser Bryan Willis also acknowledged that he was un aware of the possibility of elimi nating the service, saying that the only thing discussed so far “is actually enhancing the program to better serve the needs of the students.” However, some APO members are worried USC may decide to do away with the service once a new and improved USC shuttle system, which Huggins said will start in April 2004, has been es tablished. Members fear their ser vice might be seen as an unnec essary expense because it over laps the shuttle service. The APO escort service is a point-to-point system, where stu dents can call a number from any where on campus, and the Duck van will pick them up and take them where they want to go. “We're the only point-to-point, on-demand transportation avail able on campus,” said Antonio DeRidder, APO escort chairman. He said the service is especially beneficial to women on campus who don't want to walk in the dark and averages about 75 pas sengers per week. According, Melissa Engle, APO president, discontinuing APO's service has been talked about in the past. APO sent out a questionnaire to its passengers several years ago in response to help decide whether to change the taxi system to a shuttle system. Of those who responded to the questionnaire, 71 percent said they favored the taxi system over a shuttle system. - Engle said that even though there have been no definite indi cations that APO's service will be eliminated, the APO executive committee and Willis plan to meet sometime next week for a brainstorming session to decide whether to change the service, and if so, what to do instead. “It's not a cut and dried — they're gonna get rid of us,” Engle said. “It's just, we're considering other options at this point.” Huggins said a collaboration ♦ APO, SEE PAGE 3 USC students head to D.C. for peace rally BY JON TURNER THE GAMECOCK A bus full of 56 South Carolinians, including a handful of USC students, traveled about 400 miles to Washington, D.C., last week to protest U.S. military involvement in Iraq. | The trip was organized by the Carolina Peace Resource Center, and the march itself was a joint effort, planned by the International ANSWER organi zation - Act Now to Stop War and End Racism - and United for Peace and Justice. “Everyone had to pay like 50 bucks,” said Eleanor Burke, a third-year English student. “But we filled up the whole bus, which was awesome.” Michael Berg is CPRC's Middle East issues coordinator and one of the trip's planners. He said the trip takes about 10 hours each J way-v People made a real sacrifice by going there,” he said. Vanessa Michelou, a fourth year marine science student, said she appreciated the CPRC's plan ning effort. “I know a lot of people don't go on these marches because they think, you know, I don't know where to leave my car,” she said. “It was really convenient just to get on the bus.” Michelou said she and her friends were not the only college students at the Oct. 24 rally. “Once we got there, we noticed that there were a lot of college aged people, so I guess more USC students could have come,” she said. “But other people were amazed that South Carolina got such a big group together,” she said. Once the bus arrived, the stu dents began to have a little more fun. “We went together, but we had the option of splitting up,' Burke said, “So I stayed with the group, and I had a really great opportu nity to be a voice for South Carolina.” After the rally, the march be gan, which Berg said gained a considerable amount of momen tum as the day progressed. Berg estimated that 100,000 people were involved by the end of the march. Burke said that she never really noticed the distance as she marched down the boule vard with thousands of other protesters. “It didn't seem like that long a time, but maybe it's because there were so many people, so many things to look at,” she said. “They had a Christian minister, they had a Muslim leader, they had like a teacher from the Philippines, they had a hip-hop group, they had a former soldier, they had the Raging Grannies, which was really entertaining.” Also in attendance were more than 1,000 families of U.S. soldiers. “There was a lot of good spir it. There are so many different groups because so many people are just fed up with wh'at's hap pening to our country, people from all walks of life. It's just re ally inspiring,” Burke said. Although they doubted that any direct action would come from the White House adminis tration as a result of the protest, the students who went felt that they had achieved something nonetheless. Burke said she thought more students ought to be willing to im merse themselves in their coun try's policy. “I think there is an issue of ap athy right now within people my age, and it just has a lot to do with education, educating yourself,” ♦ PEACE, SEE PAGE 3