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on the Horseshoe your1 waj^ to the to BY TIM MCMANUS THE GAMECOCK America was in a state of flux in March 1974. The country had yet to begin healing from Vietnam, Patty Hearst had been kidnapped, The Godfather II was in theaters and Richard Nixon was five months shy of resigning the pres idency in shame and scandal. In times like these, running naked with 500 people can seem like a pretty rational idea. It was neither too hot nor too cold that Monday evening in March — Perfect weather for the 508 USC students who made their mad dash across campus and into history books. The 1974 Garnet & Black summed up streaking as “the art of shed ding one’s clothes and making a mad dash from one part of campus to an other.” For about two weeks in 1974, streaking was the ultimate colle giate pastime. u was jus i a naiunu, nuarious nigu, uso aiumnus aunon Sinclair, 49, said. Sinclair, a banking consultant, was a first-year journalism stu dent when he decided to bare all. Sinclair said he had heard whispered rumors of the plans in the few days of naked fever that had been sweeping the nation. Streaking had be gun in small doses months before and was beginning to seep into the national conscience. As legend stands, two USC students had been caught streaking at the State House one Sunday and were told by police they wouldn’t care about streaking as long as they kept it on campus, Sinclair said. The next night they led USC students in an exhibition of over 100 USC students’ bodies—mainly athletes’. That very day, rumors spread of a plan for an even larger streak. These rumors invited students to meet on the Bates House ramp the next evening, March 5,1974. Sinclair, his roommate, and 506 other students heard these rumors, and before he knew it, he was carrying his shorts and glasses, running from the ramp wearing nothing but half a woman’s stocking over his face and a pair of tennis shoes. Two students planted at the end counted the disrobed students as they left the ramp. A student, bearing a burning broom and wearing tennis shoes and a necktie, led them. Their next destination was Greene Street in front of the Russell House, k where a crowd of more than 5,000 spectators had gathered, including f two well-dressed elementary school teachers who would not give their names to the 1974 Gamecock student newspaper. They had just left a cocktail party. Sinclair said Greene Street was too crowded to run, and people had to snake through the crowd. “It was like being at the airport,” he said. “After the crowd, you started running,” he said. When the streakers started running, they dispersed into smaller groups and made their way to various points on campus. Sinclair and about 40 others ran over the Horseshoe to Barnwell Street, where they ran though the lobby of Columbia Hall and, according to The Gamecock, delighted the female desk assistants. Four displeased female residents looked on at the spectacle in the lobby, screamed and made for the elevator. One streaker joined them. Sinclair recalled that later this young man told him the girls stopped the elevator a couple floors up, kicked him out and made him walk down the stairs. Another group of students went to the Horseshoe where they made an appearance at the president’s home. The next day USC President Thomas F. Jones released at statement saying he “instructed law en forcement officers to do whatever is reasonable to protect the majority of our students from abuses or interferences within their basic rights” and that it was time for the students who streaked to “return to accept able values.” jfly 'iwii'ijj ..toy --■ --- USC’s then-assistant director of public information Sig Huitt told The Gamecock that he heard only four complaints about the streaking. Eventually Sinclair and others made their way to what is now the Thomas Cooper Library. “Going into the library was kind of weird,” Sinclair said. “People were in there trying to study, and naked people were running around.” Streakers stood in front of the library’s glass windows to give on lookers a view, he said, and ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” captured the whole thing. The next day, Sinclair said, such a large group of streakers climbed on top of a Volkswagen bus that the roof caved in. “The owner didn’t seem to be around,” he said, “Because nobody seemed angry.” Streaking continued at USC for the next few days but not to the same extent as on that record-setting Tuesday. The record was broken three days later with 1,543 streakers at the University of Georgia. Sinclair said the record wasn’t the point. “It just seemed like something fun and crazy to do,” he said. “It didn’t really matter who held the record.” FILE PHOTO FROM GARNET & BLACK On March 5,1974, 508 students streaked their way from the Bates House ramp across campus to the Horseshoe. Strict schedules, poor food, BY MEG MOORE THE GAMECOCK lthough South Carolina College was char tered Dec. 19,1801, the first students didn’t enroll until Jan. 10,1805. Maximilian LaBorde, an early professor at the university and president during the Civil War years, remarked later, “Most gratifying is... the first person admitted into the college (was) one of the most distinguished of its alumni. ” That first aspiring schol ar was William Harper, who later became a statesman. The first students at Carolina had to be skilled in Greek and Latin, have a solid grasp of English grammar and writing, and have a general knowledge of arithmetic. All nine prospective first-year students had to take entrance examinations their first day on campus. Applicants were rarely rejected. Isaac Smith was the first to be turned down by the acceptance committee and, according to administrative records, was the only student rejected through 1809. By the end of the first session, USC had 29 students and continued to grow. The school held its first com mencement exercises in 1807. Most of the students at South Carolina College hailed from the Midlands — Gov. John Drayton attributed the lack of Lowcountry students to their "general practice... of smoking and chewing tobacco,” which was looked down upon, Drayton explained, in “genteel company.” Genteel or not, students were bound to a strict dai ly schedule. At 6 a.m., students attended a prayer ser vice in the chapel. The students returned to their rooms to study until 8 a.m., when breakfast was served. From 9 a.m. until noon, they were expected to be studying in their rooms unless required to attend a lCLliauuii -d Class or lecture. Lunch was served at 1 p.m., and the afternoon was again ded icated to studies and recitations. Dinner was | served at 5 p.m. follow ® ing prayer, and students were free until their 9 p.m. curfew. Instituted to provide “good fare at the lowest possible price,” the col lege’s board policy aimed to keep students from venturing out to town boarding houses where they were often overcharged. However, the “commons” fell short of student expectations, and they often headed to 29 students: USCin 1805 the taverns for meals despite the compulsory policy. In Daniel Hollis’ history, unhappy diners described the meals as consisting of meat “so raw as not to be fit for eating... worms have been seen in the salt meat.” Greens were also served often — “these frequently having worms in them” as well. Student dissatisfaction during the early years of ten resulted in uprisings. Faculty and staff property was often damaged, animals were stolen, and in the case of the Great Riot of 1814, students burned an ef figy of hated professor George Blackburn. As LaBorde noted at the time, “The relation of faculty and students was not the relation of friends.” Another important aspect of campus life was the collection of oratory societies. Just weeks after the school began its first session, the Philomathic society organized, providing a forum for debate and literature discussions. The group soon divided into the Clariosophic and Euphradian societies as member ship increased. According to HoEis, “No accomplish ment was more respected in the South than oratory.” The Clariosophics met in a room above the chapel whEe the Euphradians occupied the thyd floor of the Old North BuEding. The groups moved to Legare and Harper CoEeges, respectively, when the buEdings were completed in 1848. Group meetings usuaEy included two speeches by orators and two or three debates. PoUtical issues—namely slavery, high tariffs and nul lification —were hot discussion topics. South Carolina CoEege students in general were very aware of state, national and world events and were expected to pre pare extensively for their debates. One of the most re spected honors a student could receive was to be named the anniversary orator. The selected student would then speak at the club’s annual anniversary meeting. PHOTO COURESTY OF USC ARCHIVES The Horseshoe, as it looked when USC was the South Carolina College, was home to many fewer stuents and buildings. 1 PHOTO COURTESY OF USC ARCHIVES Whenever snow hits Columbia, U5C students flock to the Horseshoe to play In the snow before it melts. Life comes to a standstill on the rare snowy day BY JUSTIN CHAPPELL THE OAMECOCK ’"T”! lake by flake through South Carolina's jgJ unfamiliar air. mingling between tree limbs and sparse leaves, falls the rare ’JL fluffiness that patiently turns bleak greenery into photogenic winter scenery. To an area so unaccustomed to white accumula tions, snowfalls and their chilling temperatures are greeted with warm excitement. It’s a chance to see a real-life illustration of the scenery in “A Christmas Story” or “A Charlie Brow Christmas.” It’s a chance to feel crystallized water land on the palm of a hand oV the bridge of a nose and instan taneously change from solid to liquid. It’s a chance to experience the present moment, knowing the memory will evoke sweet nostalgia 20 years later. And there are few places on USC’s campus that capture snowfall with the same perfection as the Horseshoe. It could be the contrast between brick buildings and the whiteness of a snow blanket; or it could be the neatly organized trees with their over hanging boughs and snowcapped topsides; or it could be that all the open space is appealing to the eye. Either way, students flock to the Horseshoe to catch a glimpse of "winter” before it melts away. “You rarely get li chance to see the Horseshoe covered with snow,” said Kimberly Hartig, a third year marketing and management student. “So it’s worth seeing, when it’s possible.” Just as the Horseshoe’s aesthetic value varies among sightseers, its effect is as different as each flake of snow. Some feel compelled to take pictures: others make snow angels; and some just sit and watch. But overall, the mix of snowfall and the Horseshoe’s atmosphere prompts free-spirited at titudes and a desire for fun. “We were just throwing snowballs — me and a group of friends — and all of a sudden five or six random people showed up and joined in,” second year media arts student Chris Martin said. “It was a Horseshoe-wide war.” Unlike the pictures and memories of snow an gels and snowball fights, the blanket of snow only lasts a few hours, melting away and leaving a moist ened version of the bleak scenery as the sole rem nant of snow’s inhabitance. For those who flocked to the Horseshoe and caught a glimpse of USC’s white blanket, its return would be welcomed. And for those yet to see the Horseshoe in its winter’s finest, it’s a sight worth seeing — and photographing, and snowball mak ing, and watching, and a whole list of things only seldom possible, and captured best on the Horseshoe.