The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 09, 2004, Image 1
w
University of South Carolina FRIDAY APRII Q OC\C\A Vol.97,No.35
www.dailygamecock.com rr\IL/nI, Ml l\IL C7, Z.kJKJH - Since 1908
.Bands can play live
in new WUSC studio
BY MARJORIE RIDDLE
THE HAMMOCK
USC’s student radio station is
installing new equipment to al
low live, electric performances. -
WUSC is eyeing April 30 for
starting the live shows and plans
to feature bands I am the World
Trade Center and Paper Lions.
Station manager and fourth
year philosophy student Elyn
Blackman came up with the idea
W* for the Russell House studio after
she realized that musicians
couldn’t perform their music on
WUSC live because qf small space
and a lack of equipment.
“We’ve only had live acoustic
music with the equipment we’ve
had. Now we’ll be able to do elec
trified music,” Blackman said.
The previous live perfor
mances WUSC featured consist
ed of a musician with an acous
tic guitar next to the micro
phone.
Now, in a room next to the an
nouncers studio, musicians can
set up their instruments and
play with the sound controlled
with a soundboard across the
hall.
“We’re hoping to schedule a
specific block once,a week for live
music, starting in the summer,”
Blackman said.
The equipment costs between
$2,500 and $3,000.
The operating budget, along
with the allocation from Student
Media, paid for the equipment and
set up.
The studio will require no con
struction, and the equipment will
have no effect on the station’s
broadcasting and airtime.
The connection cables will be
routed through the production
room and sound checks will be
run through there.
“We have everything now. It’s
just a matter of training the staff
and testing it all through, making
sure we have all the kinks
worked out,” Blackman said.
Public Affairs Director and
second-year electronic journal
ism student Marti Hause said
she’s looking forward to the posi
tive effects the addition will have
for public affairs.
“Our job is to bring in inter
views. With the studio conver
sion, it’ll be more worth their
while because they’ll be able to
play live,” she said.
Hause said the station is also
in the process of interviewing
other potential bands to try out
♦ WUSC, SEE PAGE 3
A view through the WUSC
radio tower on the Russell
House roof.
Carjackings prompt
student safety scare
BY KALYN PALMER
THE GAMECOCK
l
Days after USC issued a securi
ty alert stemming from two recent
^ armed carjackings, many students
W are re-evaluating the safety of
USC's parking facilities.
Campus safety has always been
a hot topic with students, and
Student Government candidates
almost always use safety as part
of their platform
Second-year political science
student Josh Bellamy said he has
never really thought about the
chance of being the victim of a
crime.
“I’ve never really felt safe, but
I’ve never felt like I should fear for
my life,” he said.
Bellamy said lack of lighting is
a problem for students.
First-year business student
Sarah Bjorkman agreed.
^ “I park in the Blossom Street
W garage, and I feel uncomfortable
with the lack of bright lights. It’s
really dim and scary,” she said.
Another concern is the distance
between the garages and some of
the university dorms leaving stu
dents vulnerable to criminal ac
tivity.
“Many students park in garages
and then have to walk three to
four blocks to their dorm. And of
course, the farther you have to
walk, the more your safety is jeop
ardized,” first-year pharmacy stu
dent Tammy Kim said. She sug
gested police show a more pro
nounced presence around areas
such as garages and parking lots,
which are more prone to theft.
The USC Police Web site has
many safety tips posted for stu
dents. Officials insist that students
should never travel alone and al
ways try to park in well-lighted ar
eas. While in their vehicle, stu
dents should keep their doors and
windows locked. Officials also say
never to resist a robber, especially
if he or she is brandishing a
weapon. Students should also be
aware of the locations of more
than 90 emergency call boxes
placed around campus that imme
diately alert USCPD. .
Many students, like third-year
advertising student Lauren Gray,
make sure to follow these sugges
tions in order to ensure personal
safety.
“I park in the outside part of
♦SAFETY, SEE PAGE3
PHOTO BY MORGAN FORD/THE GAMECOCK
Gervais Street is home to the many stores and businesses that gave Columbia its No. 50
ranking out of more then 400 in the new book, “Cities Rated and Ranked."
Columbia basks
in top 50 ranking
BY JULIE LEDBETTER
THE GAMECOCK
A new book has ranked
Columbia one of the top 50 cities
to live.
“Cities Ranked and Rated,”
by Bert Sterling and Peter
sander, ranked Columbia No, 50
out of more than 400 listed in the
book, using criteria such as cli
mate, education, culture, cost of
living, economy and jobs.
Sterling, creator of Money
magazine’s “Best Places to Live”
list, compiled the data and
Sander wrote the book. Sander
also wrote, “Value Investing for
Dummies” and “The Pocket
Idiot’s Guide to Living on a
Budget.
»
City leaders said USC helped
boost Columbia’s rankings, and
first-year electronic journalism
student Katie Seifert agreed,
USC “is such a focal point of
downtown Columbia,” she said.
Leshia Utsey, director of
public relations for Columbia,
said USC brings a lot to the
city.
“Not only is it a very presti
gious university, but also the
fact that USC has been one of
our local leaders in the technol
ogy field and of course in tech
nology research and develop
ment, and they’ve worked very
closely with the city of
Columbia,” she said.
“Knowing that there is a
high ratio of students that ac
tually when they graduate,
they look for employment in
the city where they attended
college. So by the ranking help
ing to improve economic de
velopment, that could possibly
mean more jobs in the area,
which would benefit students,”
Utsey said.
Seifert said Columbia’s na
tional ranking will draw atten
tion to the city and attract new
students to USC.
“I think that potential stu
dents will want to come see
what this town is about and why
it is so great,” she said.
First-year early education
♦ COLUMBIA, SEE PAGE 3
PHOTO BY MORGAN FORD/THE GAMECOCK
Matt D’Amore, a third-year public relations student, walks out
of Senate Street Garage.
Princeton combats grade inflation, other schools may follow
BY JUSTIN POPE
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON — College grades have
been creeping steadily upward for
30 years, but Princeton University
may try to break the trend by ra
^ tioning the number of A's that can
W be awarded. The proposal has aca
demics wondering already about
the possible impact at other
e-i : ~ ■
schools.
In what would be the strongest
measure to combat grade inflation
by an elite university, Princeton
faculty will vote later this month
on a plan that would require each
academic department to award an
A-plus, A or A-minus for no more
than 35 percent of its grades.
A’s have been awarded 46 per
cent of the time in recent years at
Princeton, up from 31 percent in
the mid-1970s. Since 1998, the New
Jersey school has been encourag
ing its faculty to crack down, but
marks have kept rising. Finally,
Princeton administrators decided
that the only solution would be to
ration top grades.
"I think it’s tremendously sig
nificant that Princeton is doing
this, and I do think it will have a
ripple effect,” said Bradford P.
Wilson, executive director of the
National Association of Scholars,
a group that has spoken out
against grade inflation, and also a
part-time teacher at Princeton.
"What goes on at the premiere in
stitutions sets the standard of
quality for every institution in the
country.”
So far, most schools that have
tried to stem grade inflation have
little to show for it. Harvard
University, criticized several
years ago for allowing more than
90 percent of its students to grad
uate with honors, cut back its hon
ors degrees but has not ordered
faculty to lower or limit grades.
Grade inflation seems to date to
Vietnam War era, when many pro
fessors were reluctant to flunk stu
dents and consign them to the
draft, said David Breneman, dean
of the Curry School of Education
at the University o'f Virginia.
Other factors made it snowball,
including competition to attract
students, and tuition increases
that have convinced some stu
dents and parents that good grades
are an entitlement when they pay
as much as $35,000 per year.
Rising
ticket
prices
affect
use
BY IRA KLEIN
THE GAMECOCK
The average price of a top-50
tour concert ticket has risen by 130
percent during the past 10 years,
and USC students could be affected
this month as several big acts are
coming to Columbia month.
Floor tickets to the upcoming
April 28 Shania Twain concert are
selling for $80, floor and lower-lev
el seating tickets to the April 21
Prince show will set students back
$75. Wednesday’s Aerosmith con
cert tickets went for $73 a pop, and
seeing Jimmy Buffet on April 29
costs $65 for floor seating.
The average price for a big
name concert ticket in 1993 was
$24.05, while the 2003 average was
$55.26, according to the Recording
Industry Association of America.
Even when adjusted for inflation,
this still represents a 50 percent
leap in price, according to the
Chicago Tribune in a recent sto
ry. It appears the trend is contin
uing since, according to figures
from Pollstar magazine, the aver
age admission prices for 2003’s top
100 tours rose by nearly 8 percent
over the previous year, not in
cluding service fees, convenience
charges or parking.
Laura Bundrick, marketing
manager for the arena, said the
Colonial Center’s ticket prices
“are lower than the (national) av
erage for most concerts.” While
this is true for much of the upper
level seating, the prices for most
lower-level and floor seats actual
ly exceed the national average for
the top-50 acts appearing at the
Colonial Center this month, except
for Kenny Chesney.
In a story about rising ticket
prices, The Chicago Tribune point
ed out that because many new mu
sical groups are making money off
the “one hit wonder” phe
nomenon, they frequently do not
have enough songs to fill a show or
do not have enough popular songs
to entice a significant number of
fans to come to the show. Thus,
promoters are increasingly turn
ing to older acts to fill seats; older
acts which tend to charge more for
their talents than the younger acts.
According to Gary Bongiovanni,
editor in chief of Pollstar magazine,
older artists, such as Aerosmith,
are charging their aging, wealthier
fans higher ticket prices.
Explanations for the increase
in prices differ, but many indus
try experts say the primary factor
driving the costs is how much
money the artist wants to make.
Although grosses are up for the
♦ TICKETS, SEE PAGE 3
L^Miafs.lriside
rtowfeciearCbannel pulls Howard
pm froxr* its stations _ thMime for good..
Rising textbook paces
~ ■■ —' of new
editions. WWW.DAILYGAMECOCK.COM
♦ SPELLING IS OVERRATED David Stagg
completes his series on the English
language. FOR MORE SEE PAGE 4
♦ HANKS FOR THE MEMORIES Tom
~v
Hanks steals the show in “The Ladykillers."
FOR MORE SEE PAGE 5
♦HIGH STAKES Students and athletes
participate in sports gambling. FOR MORE
SEE PAGE 8
Index
Comics and Crossword 7
Classified_ 10
Horoscopes 7
Letters to the Editor 4
Online Poll 4
Police Report _ 2
Entertainment News 2
USC Calendar 2
I
Visit us online at
www.dailygamecock.com