Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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University of South Carolina FRIHAV FFRDMADY1Q OC\C\A Vol.97,No.63 www.dailygamecock.com rrxIL/rW, rL-DlAUMlM -LO, Z.KJKJH . . Since 1908 - -- 1 1 11 . ■."■TJT.a-1”:- ■■■ ■■ ■■■ - : ' ■ . - --.,■■■■ . ■ 1— " " ■ 1 Gay marriage discussion comes to USC r Pride Movement sponsors meeting in light of General Assembly bill BY ASHLEE RICKARD THEfWMKCOCK The South Carolina Gay and Lesbian Pride Movement held a town hall meeting to discuss mar riage equality Wednesday in Gambrell Auditorium. The meeting was the first public forum in South Carolina dis cussing issues pertaining to same sex marriages. It was also the first event scheduled for Marriage Equality Week. In May 2003, the Federal Marriage Amendment was intro ■ duced to define marriage as a union between a woman and a man. On Tuesday, a bill was present ed to the S.C. House of Representatives that would make gay marriages recognized in oth er states void in South Carolina. Almost 70 house members agreed to support the bill. Seventeen other states are con sidering bills with similar provi sions. The proposal isn’t lawmakers’ first attempt to prevent gay mar riage in South Carolina. In 1996, a law was passed forbidding same sex marriages. Jo Wyrick, a national activist for gay and lesbian rights and a member of the Human Rights Campaign, said she hopes the tide will change for gay couples. Activists are pushing for legal ized same-sex marriages so both “Separate is not equal. Same-sex couples deserve the same as heterosexual couples” HECTOR VARGAS LAMBDA LEGAL partners can receive more than 1,000 federal benefits, which are currently not extended to gay and lesbian couples, including social security stipends, access to part ner’s insurance coverage and fed eral tax benefits. As of now, if a same-sex couple raises a child and one of the part ners dies unexpectedly, the child and surviving partner receive no social security death benefits like those extended to a child and par ent in a heterosexual marriage, even though the deceased partner paid a portion of their paycheck to social security. “Why are we punishing the child because we don’t like the parents? It is their money, their payrolls,” Wyrick said. Such manifestations of in equality deeply concern the gay population, according to Hector Vargas from Lambda Legal. “Separate is not equal,” Vargas said. “Same-sex couples deserve the same as heterosexual couples^-’ National surveys are begin ning to echo Vargas’ opinion. In a November 2003 survey in The Boston Globe, 50 percent of those polled were in favor of same-sex marriage, while 38 percent were opposed. Fifty-eight percent of U.S. college freshmen surveyed in 2001-2002 supported same-sex marriage. • MARRIAGE, SEE PAGE 3 PHOTO BY KATIE KIRKLAND/THE GAMECOCK Jo Wyrick spoke during the forum held Wednesday at Gambreil. Ballroom blitz PHOTO BY MORGAN FORD/THE GAMECOCK Carmen Keigins of Isle 9 sings at Carolina Productions' Bring Your Own Band, isle 9 came in first place at BYOB. Business school to increase grad fees BY KEVIN FELLNER THE GAMECOCK The Board of Trustees approved Thursday a request from the Moore School of Business to in crease fees for graduate business students effective in May. Provost Jerry Odom, speaking on behalf of business dean Joel Smith, who was visiting interna tional business students in Vienna, said the dean requested the fee change outside of the reg ular fee change process because some of the graduate business courses for the 2004-2005 school year start in May. The most significant increas es are for International Master of Business Administration stu dents who will pay $32,000 per academic year in Columbia and $47,000 in Vienna, compared to the previous fees of $26,500 and $44,400. Other full-time graduate stu dents will pay as much as $3,400 or as little as $400 more than the increase depending on the pro gram of study. Part-time students will see rises of as much as $145 ♦ GRADUATION, SEE PAGE 3 Board gets enrollment advice BY KEVIN FELLNER THE GAMECOCK A consulting group presented its recommendations for enroll ment management to the Board of Trustees Thursday and agreed with administrators that the ini tiative is crucial to be an aca demically competitive universi ty Jim Mager, associate vice pres ident for Noel Levitz Inc., told trustees the university needs to understand its dire fiscal situa tion and adequately direct exist ing funds toward financial aid and scholarships. “Most institutions do not reach their goals because of that dis connect of what we want to be and how we are going to fund it,” Mager said. USC President Andrew Sorensen sought consulting for his fall 2002 push to better man age the university’s demographic and academic profile through a sustained strategy he said is “ab solutely critical to the universi ty’s needs.” Mager said USC has taken pos itive initial steps over the last two years by increasing the av erage SAT score, retention rate and percentage of out-of-state stu dents in each enrolling freshman class. A rise in the number of appli cants over the last two years has also made the university more selective, but Mager said a ca pacity study needs to be done to determine the sustainability of consistently growing freshman classes. “USC is now a selective insti tution and has already positioned itself in a highly competitive league and must invest even fur ther in its enrollment manage ment efforts” Mager said. Administrators say the initia tive embodies more than just rais ing USC’s academic profile but will also help decide a strategic, permanent balancing of demo graphics like gender, race, state ♦ ENROLLMENT, SEE PAGE 3 VP candidate strives to fulfill aspirations BY GABRIELLE SINCLAIR THE GAMECOCK Mark McLawhorn realized he wanted to be in politics when he was four years old. “I grew up with asthma,” said the second-year political science student and SG vice presidential candidate, “so I couldn’t really go outside and play basketball, so I stayed inside and watched CNN a lot and I saw President Bush and Dan Quayle on TV, and I saw the kind of power they had... and the initiatives they could do to affect people’s lives.” Ever since, whether serving as head of his academic team or as student body president of his high school, McLawhorn has made leadership a part of his life. Defining himself as a “people’s person,” McLawhorn has been on Freshman Council and serves on the executive board for the Association of African-American students. He also works as a page for the S.C. House of Representatives. He said he wants to bring Student Government back to the students. “I want to make it effec tive and accessible to all students,” _I PHOTO BY JASON STEELMAN/THE GAMECOCK SG VP candidate Mark McLawhorn, right, talks with a friend. —x he said. He hopes to eventually earn a doctorate in international relations and become a lawyer. But for now, the most impor tant things in McLawhorn’s life are family and religion. He visits home or calls his parents and sib lings every day. As a life philos ophy, he generally sticks with the Golden Rule. “I believe in kar ma,” he said. “Anything you do, it comes back at you ... I try to treat people with open arms and an open heart.” Some key issues for McLawhom’s campaign are safe ty, student organizations and class fees. He said the USC police sta tion, located on Senate Street, is too far from students, and that there should be “mini-stations” lo cated at central and southern parts of campus. As it is now, he said, “it takes a good five minutes for the police to come down to south cam pus. But if we have a sub-station you’d be able to control the flow of activity going all around the uni versity. Our parents send us to school first for education, but you also want it to be safe.” He also wants to extend the drop/add period for classes. ~ "You only have one week to choose what class you want to be in,” he said. “And it’s really less than one week because your Monday/Wednesday/Friday classes, Monday is your syllabus day, so you really only have two days to decide if you want to stay in that class... You’re paying for that. You might as well get a good say so.” McLawhorn said the 16-hour tuition bracket that USC enacted in the fall hinders students’ aca demic goals. “I believe that you should not be penalized for try ing to acquire knowledge,” he said. “That’s the purpose of going to college. So if you’ve got to take an extra class or if you peak your interest in another subject, why should you be penalized for that?” Ultimately, McLawhorn said he wants to connect to the stu dents and be a benefit to their uni versity lives. “No matter what I do in life I want to still have a con science,” he said. “I want to be a person with integrity. I want to be an ethical person.” Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocknews@gwm. sc. edu *CM> VMfRMMI USC organizations clean up campus. FOR MORE SEE PAGE 3 , +mmmAcumwai fa, South Korean scientists clone 11 human embryo. FOR MORE m SEE PAGE 3 Allyson Bird says that France is trampling religious liberties in the name of secularism. FOR MORE SEE PAGE 4 *MHMUBI i&tBft Why family television is no place to push the envelope of decency. FOR MORE SEE PAGE4 SUPS use joins in worldwide VDay rally with performances of “The Vagina Monologues.” FOR MORE SEEPAGES : .■ Si; • ' f. Students sound off on what makes a meaningful Valentine's Day present. FOR MORE SEE PAGE 5 *OttMQi&£MKBasketball coach Dave Odom discusses fan behavior. FOR MORE SEE PAGE 8 ♦SMBUyWomen’s basketball wins first SEC game of the year. FOR MORE SEE PAGE 8 ■■■■■■■ index Comics and Crossword 7 Classifieds_ 10 Horoscopes 7 Letters to the Editor 4 Online Poll 4 Police Report 2 Entertainment News_ 2 USC Calendar 2 Weatfcer visit us TODAY SATURDAY ^ online at: 61 54 www.dailygamecock.com tarn 42 Lam 38 Sunny, winds 70 percent, The Gamecock Is printed on calm chance of rain recycled paper.