The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 24, 2003, Image 1
www.dailygamecock.com _MONDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2003 Since 1908
Surge blacks out part of campus
BY MICHAEL LAFORGIA
THEIIAMECOGK
An electrical explosion in an
equipment room of the Graduate
Science Research Center caused
power outages on Sumter Street
on Sunday but probably didn’t in
terrupt campus television or
Internet connections, a USC po
lice officer said.
The USC police department re
ceived several calls about power
outages on campus Sunday after
noon after nre
alarms cleared
the Graduate
Center about 3
p.m.
On-campus
Internet and
cable television connections were
also briefly interrupted at around
3 p.m. Sunday, but USCPD officer
William Bond said he didn’t think
the explosion affected those ser
vices. The USC Intranet also went
offline Sunday but was back up by
8 p.m.
Staff members at Computer
Services were gone for the week
end and could not be reached to
explain the other problems.
“A transformer exploded, and
then smoke filled a couple of
floors,” said Paul Thompson, a
chemistry professor who was
^feding on the fourth floor when
science center was evacuated.
Thompson said several fire
trucks responded but left after
firefighters determined the build
ing wasn’t on fire.
He estimated that about 30 peo
ple were in the building when the
explosion happened.
Joe Maxheimer of the USC Fire
Safety Department was on the
scene at the science center about
30 minutes after the explosion. He
said he was waiting for an electri
cal repairman to evaluate the sit
uation and call the fire depart
ment with an
update.
“All they
know is there
was some type
of power
surge,”
Maxheimer
said.
Clyde Mevens, an employee of
the USC Maintenance and
Building Modifications depart
ment, was working weekend duty
in the Graduate Science Center
when the building was evacuated.
He said he was well away from the
equipment room when the fire
alarms went off and that he didn’t
know what could have caused the
explosion.
“I don’t mess around with that
high voltage,” Mevens said.
At least two buildings,
Douglas and Snowden residence
halls, lost power for about an
♦ POWER, SEE PAGE A2
“A transformer exploded,
and then smoke filled a
couple of floors.”
PAUL THOMPSON
use CHEMISTRY PROFESSOR
PHOTOS BY MORGAN fORD/THE GAMECOCK
At left, Joe Maxheimer, of the USC Fire Safety Department, takes a look at the damage caused by the power surge Sunday
afternoon. At right, firefighters knocked out part of the ceiling, but left after they didn't find a fire.
Students from Clemson,
USC vie for scholarship
BY ALEXIS STRATTON
THE HAMEOOCK
Two South Carolina college
J^lents represented USC and
_Jmson this weekend in
Washington, D.C., for the final
round of Rhodes Scholarship in
terviews.
Although neither Amanda
Marshall, a fourth-year Spanish
student from USC, nor Chris
Welch, a fourth-year biology and
chemistry student from Clemson,
were selected to receive the schol
arship, Welch said she was hon
ored just to be a South Carolina
State Rhodes Nominee.
Marshall said the 12 applicants
were all highly qualified.
Both Marshall and Welch
found out they were the state
nominees after a state-level in
j^ciew on Wednesday.
^^fhe applicant pool at that lev
el was also very competitive,”
Marshall said. “I’m tremendously
proud to be the school’s nominee
and be able to represent USC at
this level.”
Marshall said the four recipi
ents of the scholarship were from
Harvard, Princeton, Yale and
Northwestern.
Welch said he was told by
competition officials that in 12
years, this group was the tough
est to decide.
Although Marshall received a
ticket to the USC-Clemson foot
ball game for the first time in her
college career, she said she was
able to watch parts of the game at
the Washington Bureau of The
New York Times, where the in
terviews took place, and also back
at her hotel. Marshall said Welch
was good-natured about the ri
valry but that “he might have had
a better day than I did.”
The Rhodes Scholarship, cre
ated in 1902 by the will of Cecil
Rhodes, is the oldest internation
al studies award for American
students. Recipients are awarded
two to three years of study at the
University of Oxford in England,
during which they study for a
bachelor’s degree in Human
Sciences to prepare for a medical
career.
Rhodes Scholars are selected
in three stages. First, candidates
must be endorsed by their college
or university. Next, candidates
are interviewed and state nomi
nees are selected. Finally, the
scholarships are awarded to four
candidates within eight regions
of the United States. At most, 32
scholarships are awarded per
year.
The most recent USC student
awarded the Rhodes Scholarship
was Caroline Parler in 2000, but
nine Rhodes Scholars have been
selected from USC. Parker is now
working on her doctorate at
Oxford.
There were 16 District
Finalists who went on to compete
at the state level in South
Carolina, and Marshall and
Welch were the two state repre
sentatives. Competing against
them in the final round of the se
lection process were students
from Kentucky, Maryland,
District of Columbia, North
Carolina and Virginia.
Marshall, a USC McNair
Scholar and a research assistant
in USC’s College of Pharmacy, is
heavily involved in campus ac
tivities, including Phi Beta
Kappa, Mortar Board Honor
Society and Golden Key
International Honour Society.
♦ RHODES, SEE PAGE A3
McCutchen House offers Southern cuisine
BY LINDSAY TYNER
TIIE CAMECOCK
Every Friday afternoon at the
McCutchen House students are
working hard to make sure lunch
is deliciously Southern. Many
people do not realize that the
McCutchen House is an entirely
student-run restaurant.
The student-run buffet comes
after the Faculty Club, which was
located in McCutchen House, was
forced to close because of USC’s
financial problems,
jjfehe student-run restaurant
L-J opened its doors for business
Jan. 30, 2003 and served 56 cus
tomers that day .The restaurant
is now serving authentic
Southern cuisine on Friday af
ternoons under the leadership of
executive chef Jules Pernell and
John Antun, who has served food
to several U.S. presidents as well
as the pope. He has also owned
eight restaurants and was the of
ficial caterer for the Lincoln
Center for the Performing Arts
and the governor’s mansion in
New York. Antun came to study
at USC in 1995, and he earned his
doctorate then stayed on to teach
in the College of Hospitality,
Retail and Sports Management.
He founded USC’s Culinary
Institute in 2001.
The McCutchen House has a
new Friday afternoon menu that
includes recipes chosen from
Southern Living magazine. This
new tradition was started two
weeks ago.
Antun said he is looking to
Southern Living for inspiration.
“We’re going to the pages of
Southern Living magazine, tak
ing recipes from there so that it’s
truly Southern,” Antun said. He
said the staff is hoping the new
Friday menus will sell better,
since the foods are those more
commonly served in the sur
rounding region.
The restaurant is run com
pletely by students under the tute
lage of Antun and Pernell in
USC’s School of Hotel,
V
PHOTO BY KATIE KIRKLAND/THE GAMECOCK
USC students run the McCutchen House for academic credit.
Restaurant, and Tourism
Management. These students
cook, clean; host and serve to
learn the trade of running a real
restaurant. The school uses
McCutchen House to provide stu
dents with real-world work expe
rience in the fields they have cho
sen. Meals are $7.95 a person and,
in addition to the Southern spe
cialties, there is a gourmet buffet
with soups, salads, side items and
desserts.
For more information on the
McCutchen House, call (803) 777
4450.
News editor Michael LaForgia
contributed to this report.
Comments on this story? E-mail
gamecockudesk@hotmail.com
Richland 1 gets
money to boost
PACT scores
BY VIVIENNE DECKER
THE GAMECOCK
Two USC professors will use
money from the federal
Department of Education to try and
increase statewide PACT scores.
Professors Lora Bailey, from
the College of Education, and
George Johnson, from the college
of Science and Mathematics, will
use a five-year, $577,000 grant to
help improve nine schools in
Richland County School District
One. The schools were chosen be
cause of their high poverty rates
and need for more instructional
education to second- and third
graders.
PACT, or the Palmetto
Achievement Challenge Test, is
given to elementary school chil
dren every year. The test includes
essays, math and editing para
graphs. Since the 2002 “No Child
Left Behind” legislation set na
tional standards for reading, math
and science, South Carolina has
been behind the national average.
“Many teachers, no matter how
good their intent is, don’t under
stand the national standards,”
said Bailey said. “The main point
of this initiative is to give teach
ers a better understanding of the
standards and provide ways they
can make or change their lesson
plans to adhere to the standards.”
The new national standards re
quire that the state make schools
responsible for their PACT scores
instead of the students.
“Obviously, because there are
national standards, we have to
talk about numbers and opera
tions,” Johnson said. “But we go
beyond that to why we do the
things we do so that teachers will
be able to design assignments that
directly address the standards.
There should be a seamlessness
from the national standards all the
way to what a teacher does on a
Tuesday.”
In achieving higher testing
scores, Bailey said he believes in
making a better connection be
tween in-class and at-home learn
ing. Various activities will now
push parents to unite with their
children, either at school educa
tion functions or by helping them
with their homework, so that the
learning does not stop in the class
room. New teaching methods pro
posed include using jellybeans for
multiplication and division and
coins for math problems involving
♦ PACT, SEE PAGE A3
Index
Comics and Crossword_A8
Classifieds A13
Horoscopes A8
Letters to the Editor A5
Online Poll A5
Police Report A2
Weather
TODAY TUESDAY
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High 74 High 57
Low 34 Low 35
Inside
♦ NEWS Two U.S. soldiers
beaten to death with concrete
blocks. Page A2
♦ VIEWPOINTS Allison Byrd
discusses the practicality of gay
marriage. Page A5
♦ THE MIX Thanksgiving isn't
just for the birds. Nontraditional
foods are the norm for some
feasters. Page A7
♦ SPORTS Men’s basketball
improves to 3-0 with big win
over Navy. Page A10