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College of Charleston to debate smoking ban THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CHARLESTON — The College of Charleston is considering a smoking ban in residence halls and other places on the downtown campus. The new smoking policy would divide the campus into smoking and nonsmoking areas. The student government association is scheduled to vote on the change later this month, and if approved, the proposal would move to the faculty senate and then to president Lee Higdon for final approval. Higdon favors the change, but wants it “to come from the students,” said Laura Lindroth, health educator with Counseling and Substance Abuse Services on campus. Lindroth said quality-of-life student surveys in the past few years indicate most would prefer a smoke-free campus. The most recent survey found as much as 70 percent of students favor a smoke-free campus. And 700 students signed a petition last spring supporting smoke free residence halls, Lindroth said. “There’s obviously a desire among the students,” she said. The city of Charleston has considered a smoking ban, and a committee recendy required restaurants to post their smoking policies. The committee also said the city should consider incentives for restaurants that go smoke-free. Less than half of the college’s roughly 10,000 students smoke and at least 43 percent have smoked a cigarette in the past month, Lindroth said. But some smoking students don’t like the idea. “I think that would cause a lot of controversy on campus, and I think people would resist it,” said Whitney Holt, a senior who smokes. “It’s going to be perceived as a limitation and as a ban.” The student government association will vote Tuesday on a temporary measure to post signs at building entranceways, asking smokers to puff elsewhere. That could clear the cloud of smoke senior Brandy Drake walks through on the way to class. “It definitely is something I have to deal with daily,” Drake said. Student welfare committee chairman Andrew Smeltzer said if the signs aren’t effective, student leaders have considered charging a $ 10 to $25 fine to smokers in restricted areas. “This is a serious health issue for nonsmokers,” Smehzer said. ■ SHOWCASE Continued from page 1 finalist to be asked a question, but before he went on, Jeffrey and Diana Marino, Miss Congeniality and a fourth-year public relations student, listened carefully to the other questions in hopes of gaining an edge over opponents. “I swim for USC, and I have never had a huge adrenaline rush like this,” Marino said. “I am nervous and excited.” The Cocktails’ and Coquettes’ performances on stage allowed the candidates to change clothes. The finalists socialized and discussed the event so far. All of the finalists said Showcase was an unforgettable experience. “How often do you get the chance to be in the spotlight, especially at such a big school?” said Amy Buchanan Feinberg, first runner-up for Queen and a fourth-year Spanish student. “This is an honor because this is a great group of people.” As the time came for the winners to be announced, the finalists lined up backstage, waiting to be presented as a group for the final time. Then the finalists faced the audience and judges. One finalist, Marie Connelly, a fourth-year biology student, was nominated by Omicron Delta Kappa to be in her first pageant. “This has been really fun and an opportunity for me to be a girly-girl,” Connelly said before going' on stage. Little did Connelly know that Strickland was about to name her the next Homecoming Queen. When she heard the decision, Connelly struggled to catch her breath, and tears streamed down her cheeks. “After hearing everyone tonight, I feel like there should have been five Homecoming Queens,” she said. Comments on this stoiy? E-mail gamecocknews@gwm.sc. edit Marie Connelly and Tyler Jeffries pose after being crowned Home coming King and Queen Tuesday night during the Carolina Showcase at the Koger Center. JASON STEELMAN/THE GAMECOCK ■ DEMINT Continued from page 1 Security, it is the people our age who are worrying about this.” DeMint talked about Social Security as something his generation will not be able to deal with, but rather something the students’ generation could. “They (the two politicians) were very excited,” Dargan said. “Any time we have had speakers come on campus, they have been happy with our enthusiasm and numbers.” After discussing Social Security, DeMint relinquished the podium to Armey, who continued to speak on Social Security and how DeMint was preparing to solve the problem with it. “We have no body in America today, who better understands how to fix this problem right now ... than Jim DeMint,” Armey said at the news conference. Armey emphasized this because he said the system is* in such disarray that college-age voters have little hope to receive any money from Social Security later in life. “We had a poll that said of 40 percent of young Americans today, more believe in UFOs than they will ever receive a dire amount of social security,” Armey said. Franklin Buchanan, co-chairman of the College Republicans, said the conference was not very difficult to schedule because it was DeMint’s campaign that contacted him. “I think it was very effective for him coming to USC,” Buchanan said. “It just shows how much he cares for young voters.” Dargan said the College Republicans had tried to schedule the event for the Russell House Ballroom, but were unable to get it. “This was very exciting,” Dargan said. “Whoever wins the senatorial race has a chance to be there for a long time because S.C. has a history of electing incumbent candidates.” Dargan said with its 1,300 members, the organization has a presence on campus, but that they are trying to become more visible to students. “If their campaign calls us with something to do,” Dargan said, “then we will be there to do it.” Buchanan said the College Republicans would probably not hold another news conference this election season, but the group might have some guests at their meetings, such as Gov. 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