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www. dailygamecock. com _WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2003_ Since 1908 Visitor Center to move onto Horseshoe Sharing a building with McKissick offers opportunity for collaboration BY MARY PINCKNEY WATERS THE GAMECOCK The USC Visitor Center will move onto the Horseshoe to share a building with the McKissick Museum this spring because its current location, the Carolina Plaza, will be undergoing renova tions for the public-health school’s new complex. The relocation decision, which raised some concerns about the availability of space in the shared building, was made by President Andrew Sorensen, USC Spokes man Russ McKinney said, and the move is set for May. The merger was first recom mended to former USC President John Palms on Jan. 11, 2002, when a Strategic Directives and Initiatives Committee report sug gested closing the museum to cut university costs. After the uni versity questioned whether the museum was worth its annual op eration cost of $900,000, McKissick was nominated from thousands for the National Award for Museum Service last spring. Then, in the fall, Arnold School of Public Health Dean Harris Pastides announced that, along with receiving a $4.5 million grant, the school would be moving into a new complex, part of which would include an almost entirely reno vated Carolina Plaza with con struction starting Oct. 23, forcing the Visitor Center to find a new home —and fast. However, the McKissick build ing must be modified to accommo date the center’s functions, McKinney said, such as making the facility more accessible and upgrading the existing elevator and public toilet facilities. For the project, the committee has re quested the Board of Trustees’ ap proval for a $250,000 budget to be funded by the university, McKinney said. The museum occupies the ground, first and second floors of the McKissick building but will move to the second and third floors to make room on the first for the Visitor Center. The Office of Media Relations, which occupies the third floor, will be moved elsewhere, officials said. Museum Director Lynn Robertson said that instead of maintaining three changing exhi bition spaces as it does now, the museum will only be able to show case two after the move. Visitor Center Director Denise Wellman said she does not antici pate having to cut any of the cen ter’s services as a result of less space in the McKissick building. She said the center might even gain a few hundred square feet at the new location. “I don’t think there’s anything magic about the amount of square footage we have here” at the Carolina Plaza, she said. “It was a building we were offered, it was a good location on a busy street, and it worked.” Wellman said the center is ea ger to move to a spot more cen trally located on campus, espe cially considering the impression it will have on visitors. “We’re particularly excited about being able to start the first image that students have of the university right on the historic Horseshoe,” Wellman said. “That was very much what they wanted to do was find a place for the Visitor Center that spoke best of the university,” Robertson said. Both directors agreed that co operative programs between the Visitor Center and the museum would be beneficial for visitors of both facilities. Robertson said each has about 45,000 visitors an nually. She said she hopes that through the shared building, both can serve more people. She said she sees “the ability to create a central university information center.” “The strongest selling point for the university is its ability to com bine a vision for the future and cutting-edge science and research along with the fact that we are such an old institution with such an esteemed history,” Robertson said. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com PHOTO BY JASON STEELMAN/THE GAMECOCK The Carolina Plaza, the Visitor Center’s current location, will be renovated for the School of Public Health's new complex. Gamecocks take flight . • ■ ~ ~ w . j1 mi, , T INCO/ I nc UHIVICWV,r\ Forward Kerbrell Brown slams the ball home to score the first points of the regular season for the USC men’s basketball team. ♦ FOR THE FULL STORY, SEE PAGE 12 RA won’t move to impeach Hark BY MICHAEL LAFORGIA THE GAMECOCK South Quad RA Hazel Matthews said Tuesday she won’t continue to pursue the impeach ment of RHA President Adam Hark because of his personal Web site, which contains partially naked pictures of Hark and his friends. Matthews spoke about Hark’s Web site before the RHA Senate during a meeting in the Russell House. She said she first sat down to talk the matter over one-on-one with Hark and that he seemed dis missive during the conversation. “I felt he was shoving me off,” she said. “I felt he was mocking me.” But, after the RHA meeting adjourned, Hark said he took the talk with Matthews seriously, and he conducted himself appropriately. “I know for a fact I didn’t do anything to give her the impres sion that I didn’t care,” he said. In general, Matthews said, RHA has suffered under Hark’s administration, and she cited less programming and some divisive ness among South Quad residents as evidence of his incompetence. In addition, she said, the Web site is readily available to any of the number of students who have access to Hark’s AOL Instant Messenger screen name, which advertises the site in his online profile. Matthews said seeing Hark’s Web site might turn some prospective students away from Carolina. As president of RHA, Matthews said, Hark is bound by an obliga tion to personal integrity. “I do not believe he is practic ing personal integrity,” Matthews said. After Matthews sat down, one senator moved that Vice President Zach Scott temporari ly take Hark’s place as president during the discussion, and Hark was unable to respond to Matthews’ statements before the senate. Even so, Matthews had little support from fellow senators, and several Senators rose to speak on Hark’s behalf. “We don’t respect the leader ship of South Quad as much as we respect the leader of RHA,” Sen. Patrick Schunter said. Sen. Matt Eisel echoed ♦ HARK, SEE PAGE 7 USC professors get teacher-training grant BY JULIE LEDBETTER THE GAMECOCK USC education professors Mitchell L. Yell and Erik Drasgow have received a four year grant worth about $800,000 to train teachers to work with stu dents who have emotional dis abilities or behavior disorders. This grant, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, in cludes a master’s program offered through the College of Education for students who plan to special ize in teaching young people with emotional disabilities. The pro gram will fall under special edu cation in the Department of Educational Psychology. This program will be available in two different master’s degrees. Students who are not certified to teach yet or whose undergradu ate degree is in something other than education can get a Master of Arts in Teaching. A Master of Arts in Education will be offered for students who have an under graduate degree in education and have done student teaching. The program will prepare pre service teachers—teachers who are almost ready to teach — to meet new requirements by teach ing them research-based tech niques. “These are very difficult chil dren to work with, so it’s very im portant to understand what we call evidence-based practices in working with these children,” Yell said. Almost two-thirds of the grant money will go to stipends and tu ition, which means the students in this master’s program will re ceive $800 in support each month and have full tuition paid. The students must also work with a special-education faculty mem ber for 10 hours a week. This master’s program will be in compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. These laws are to ensure that students with disabilities are identified and have their specific needs met. “If teachers can reduce stu dents’ problem behavior using ♦ GRANT, SEE PAGE 2 Index Comics and Crossword 11 Classifieds 14 Horoscopes_ 11 Letters to the Editor 8 Online Poll _ • 8 Police Report 2 Weather TODAY THURSDAY & High 70 High 69 Low 45 Low 44 In This Issue ♦ NEWS Remaining tickets to the Clemson game will be available on a first-come, first served basis today. Page 4 ♦ VIEWPOINTS Julie Cook confesses to once being a Tiger fan. Page 8 ♦ THE MIX Columbia native Natalie Picoe brings her acting talent to the big screen. Page 9 ♦ SPORTS The USC men’s basketball team wins two, advances to the Guardians Classic Semifinals. Page 12 Java joints still thrive Local Starbucks hasn’t thwarted independent coffee shops’ business BY JUSTIN CHAPPELL THE GAMECOCK Entering Five Points nearly two months ago and bringing with it staunch opinions both dissenting and assenting, it ' Starbucks’ presence isn’t hurting inde pendent coffee shops as much as initial con cerns suggest ed. In a widely _'Ll 1-1_3 puuxxvucu opening on Sept. 27, Starbucks brought its second store to the area to compete alongside three other independent coffee shops. Starbucks’ nearest competi ' tor in Five Points, Adriana’s, isn’t experiencing a dramatic loss of business, owner Phil Norris said. “Mornings are a little bit slower,” Norris said. “But after noons have been busier.” the shift in business could be related to the start of USC’s fall semester. “I’m not sure if Starbucks had any ming uu uu with it,” Norris said. Norris also said Adriana’s has not been impacted severely ♦ COFFEE, SEE PAGE 4 PHOTO BY FORREST CLONTS/THE GAMECOCK Erin Coomer, a fifth-year public relations student, and Brittany Perrotta, a third-year public relations student, enjoy a cup of coffee at Starbucks. k’r„