Students want library
to stay open 24 hours
BY TRICIA RIDGWAY
THE GAMECOCK
Finals week is approaching,
and USC students are once again
turning to last-minute, all-night
cram sessions. .
While some students are able
to study in their rooms, others
take to the Thomas Cooper
Library for some peace and qui
et. The only problem is they have
to be out by midnight on most
nights and 2 a.m. in the weeks be
fore exams.
“It would be great if the library
were open 24 hours. It’s good to
have a place to study other than
my dorm room,” said third-year
pharmacy student Ann Wiesner.
It’s often too difficult to pay at
tention in residence-hall rooms
and study rooms, students say.
“I usually come-to the library
to study. It’s quiet and convenient
between classes and stuff.... There
are too many distractions in my
dorm, especially during football
season, when the band practices
outside my dorm,” said Phan
Nguyen, a second-year criminal
justice student.
nuaiann ran, a nrst-year cnem
ical engineering student living in
Capstone, agrees that it’s harder
to study in her dorm and that the
library is the best place for peace
and quiet. She also said she would
benefit from having the library
available 24 hours a day. The first
time she came to the library, she
didn’t realize what time it closed
and had to come back the next day
to do her research.
She said Thomas Cooper being
open 24 hours would be nice be
cause “then I could come anytime
I wanted, whenever it worked out
for me.”
Thomas McNally, director of
Thomas Cooper Library, said the
administration has heard and un
derstands students’ need for
longer hours and that keeping
parts of the library open 24 hours a
day every day has been in the
plans for about three years. They
have considered keeping the fifth
PHOTO BY MORGAN FORD/THE GAMECOCK
Students study for exams in the Thomas Cooper Library.
floor, which has computer labs
and many study areas, open.
“We understand what life in the
dorms is like, and there are a lot
of people who, for whatever rea
son, like to study in the middle of
the night, and it’s not very quiet
in those dorms,” he said.
Renovations and funding have
been holding up the plan. But once
renovations begin, McNally said
extending hours wouldn’t be too
expensive, so it would be near the
top of the to-do list.
Other universities, such as
Emory in Atlanta, already have
their libraries open 24 hours.
Emory’s library keeps its main
floor open with a security guard
on staff, and students have to slide
their IDs to enter. The main li
brary stays open from noon
Sunday until 8 p.m. Friday, with
shorter hours on Saturday. Narci
Jeter, a graduate student in theol
ogy who works at the library, said
many students take advantage of
the hours.
“It’s very much a friendly envi
ronment for students, especially
right now. I think every comput
er is full with the exam crunch,”
she said.
Krissy Dunn, a graduate stu
dent in public history at USC who
earned her bachelor’s degree at
Emory, said she liked the ‘round
the-clock hours for the times she
was in “panic mode” trying to get
her work done. But she also said
many people would hang out in
the library to talk.
“Everyone always went there
during exam week. It was more
like a social thing,” she said.
For now, students will have to
fit in all their studying at Thoipas
Cooper before 2 a.m. during the
upcoming finals week.
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AIM
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
truly illegal virus,” Christopher
said.
The good news is that the
changes made by the virus aren’t
permanent.
Kaiser, who was first alerted
to the virus in late October, said
those with computers that are al
ready infected with the virus
_-:
could either contact Computer
Services or search the Internet to
find specific removal instruc
tions.
As for those students whose
computers are not infected,
Kaiser said they should fre
quently update their antivirus
software and run Microsoft
Update, which both would great
ly decrease infection chance.
He said Microsoft Update
MSO3-40 is the specific fix to
Internet Explorer’s vulnerability.
“People who patch have no
problem,” Kaiser said.
While this particular virus has
an antidote, the effects of its ma
liciousness still linger.
“If those fat cats at Time
Warner would start working on
some decent security features for
their software, perhaps we could
still save the children,”
Christopher said.
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Public forum to recognize
Interfaith Awareness Week
BY JULIE LEDBETTER
THE GAMECOCK
USC’s Department of Religious
Studies will sponsor a public fo
rum Tuesday to observe nation
al Interfaith Awareness Week,
the week of Dec. 7 to Dec. 13.
The free forum, titled “The
Changing Religious Landscape in
South Carolina: New Realities and
Challenge,” will begin at 7:30 p.m.
in Gambrell Hall Auditorium.
Carl Evans, chairman of the
Department of Religious Studies,
will be the key speaker at the fo
rum and said he will discuss the
recent immigration into South
Carolina and the different cul
tures and religions it has brought.
Evans said he will also discuss
some of the challenges that come
from this new diversity and ways
to respond to these challenges.
In addition to Evans’ presen
tation, the forum will include
representatives from nine dif
ferent faiths who will share
prayers and scriptures. The
faiths will include Hinduism,
Buddhism, Judaism, Islam,
Unitarian Universalism,
Bahaism, Native Americanism,
--.■««■— -,-——,
Sikhism and Christianity.
Evans said this forum is a first
hand experience. “It’s going to be
not only an academic kind of ex
ercise to learn about them, but
also an opportunity to meet and
encounter the folks from other
faith traditions,” he said.
Evans also said this is the per
fect time to hold such a forum.
“The highly publicized issues
surrounding the anticipated ar
rival of the Somali Bantus in
Columbia is only the tip of the
iceberg,” he said. “There are
many other groups who have ar
rived in South Carolina in recent
years, dramatically changing the
religious and cultural landscape
of the state.”
Evans has recently researched
the growing religious and cultur
al diversity in South Carolina and
has noticed many new changes.
Among the changes is the Sikh
Gurdwara, a place of worship
now located near Columbia. It
serves about 100 Sikh families
from India. An Islamic Center in
Charleston has members from 22
different countries, and a street
in lower Greenville county called
Kurdistan Way houses nine
Kurdish families who are
refugees from Iraq. In addition,
five different groups in Columbia
practice Buddhism.
A record number of Hispanics
and Latinos also have moved into
South Carolina communities.
More than half of Walhalla’s pop
ulation is Hispanic, and almost
90 percent of these newcomers
are undocumented.
“These are only some of the
new realities. The challenges
are enormous,” Evans said. He
said social, economic and politi
cal changes are taking place as
well.
Evans said there is much to
gain from the forum. “We should
be learning that in a multi-reli
gious, democratic society such as
ours, there are always challenges
for how we negotiate the rela
tionship between unity and di
versity,” Evans said.
Evans also said that Columbia
Mayor Bob Coble might issue a
proclamation declaring the week
of Dec. 7 to Dec. 13 Interfaith
Awareness Week.
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