The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 25, 2004, Image 1

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

unvw.dailygamecock.com _ MONDAY, OCTOBER 25,2004 °L SirJe°908 liM THIS ISSUE t | ♦ NiEWS Striving for campus safety Eight members of a team including representatives from USC’s Office for Sexual Health and Violence Prevention and USC Police will attend a conference in San Diego about the lack of accountability for sex offenders. Page 3 ♦ VIEWPOINTS Clash of the ) chairmen The S.C. Democratic & Republican Party chairmen address issues of the upcoming elections. Page 6 ♦ THE MIX Ghost stories Storytellers haunt State Musei'm halls spinning tales cf South Carolina tied spooks. Page 7 ♦ SPORTS Gamecocks on a roll The women’s soccer team kept their SEC Tournament hopes alive with back-to-back wins. Page 10 tab EATHER High 82 Low 55 ♦TUESDAY High 76 Low 50 FOR EXTENDED FORECAST. SEE PAGE 2. INDEX Comics and Crossword.9 Classifieds.12 Horoscopes.9 Letters to the Editor.6 Online Poll..6 F|ice Report.^..2 Tenenbaum gets out-of-state help ■ Obama stumps for Democrat who hasn’t visited USC By MICHAEL LaFORGIA THE GAMECOCK Barack Obama, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate from Illinois and keynote speaker at his party’s national convention in July, joined U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn in Columbia Sunday morning to campaign for U.S. Senate candidate Inez Tenenbaum. The appearance by Obama, who leads his Republican opponent Alan Keyes 68 percent to 17 percent in polls reported by the Chicago Tribune, highlights the importance of the S.C. Senate race between Tenenbaum and Republican Jim DeMint. Experts predict that if Democrats can’t regain the seat left open by retired Sen. Ernest “Fritz” Hollings in November, the party will have a hard time in South Carolina, a state that historically re elects incumbents. A main focus of Sunday’s campaign stop at Bibleway Family Life Center was mobilizing voters, and Obama asked the predominantly black audience to support Tenenbaum on Nov. 2. With state newspapers reporting a dead heat between DeMint and Tenenbaum in the polls, both candidates are taking every available opportunity to campaign in the remaining days before the election. But while DeMint accepted an invitation by the College Republicans to campaign at USC on Oct. 4, Tenenbaum has yet to stump on campus. Katie Day, president of USC Young Democrats, said her organization invited the Democratic candidate to speak on campus as recently as last week. “She wanted to come but it just hasn’t worked out,” Day said. “Basically it was more scheduling conflicts than anything else.” She added that she’s concerned that DeMint has visited USC and Tenenbaum has not. “I would love to have Inez come out so she could have a chance to expose herself to students,” Day said. “I think it would obviously be a lot better if she could come.” Spokesman Adam Kovacevich said that while Tenenbaum hasn’t appeared on campus, several USC students have helped with her campaign, including members of the ♦ Please see SUPPORT, page 3 JASON STEELMAN/THE GAMECOCK Barack Obama, a U.S. Senate candidate from Illinois, came to South Carolina on Sunday to support Inez Tenenbaum in her race for the U.S. Senate. Board elects new chairman ■ Herbert Adams to lead trustees; group approves stadium study By TAYLOR SMITH STAFF WRITER The USC Board of Trustees elected a new chairman Friday and also discussed the new baseball stadium and issues with how USC counts donations to the university. Herbert Adams, an insurance company president from Laurens, was elected chairman. He replaces Mack Whittle, a bank president who has held the position since 2002. “I am happy and proud to have the respect Board of Trustees,” Adams said. “Next to my wife agreeing to marry me, this is the highest honor I have ever received.” Miles Loadholt, an attorney who joined the board in 1996, was elected vice chairman. The board approved a feasibility study for the new baseball stadium, which will help USC officials in determining the size and design for the structure. “We approved what we call ‘planning money’ where we will have an architect do a design and we will then decide where to place it,” Adams said. Adams said this collaboration between the building and grounds committee and the intercollegiate activities will help the Board decide which design for the $10 million stadium is most desirable. “They will first look at the footprint we decided and then they will decide exactly what different block we own it fits in,” Adams said. The proposed 6,000-person amphitheatre that could be a pan of stadium would be paid for by Columbia. Alumni Association president Rita McKinney said USC was in danger of losing a ranking in U.S. News and World Repon that stated the amount of alumni giving donations to USC was at 24 percent, but dropped to 21 percent ♦ Please see BOARD, page 3 STUDENT GOVERNMENT NICK ESARES/THE GAMECOCK Adam Hammond, Clemson student body president, left, and Zachery Scott, answer questions Sunday about the constitution and officers of the first South Carolina State Student Association. Uniting for education ■ Student government leaders form statewide lobbying organization By TAYLOR SMITH STAFF WRITER Three USC students were elected to the South Carolina State Student Association executive board this weekend during its inaugural convention, where student government officers from across the state convened at USC to write a constitution and legitimize itself as a statewide lobbyist group for higher education. USC Student Government President Zachery Scott was elected chairman of the association’s Board of Presidents; Meghan Hughes, SCSSA’s liaison for USC’s SG cabinet, was elected as vice chairwoman; and SG Liberal Arts Sen. Tommy Preston was elected as chairman of the association’s lobbying committee. The assembly was also able to spend three hours in writing a constitution for the organiza^m, which will put the 12 public school student government presidents on a Board of Presidents that will have a role similar to that of the most university boards of trustees. Scott explained that any policy will start in the Board of Presidents and then after approved will go to the conference assembly (made up of every representative at the conference) where each school only gets one vote and then the policy is passed. Scott said the association’s priority is attack statewide budget cuts “to stop the bleeding.” After establishing themselves though, Scott said that the organization would be able to challenge education policy with “the voice of students.” “We are not a group that holds demonstrations or fights boards of trustees,” Scott said. “We are there to educate the state legislature on the importance of higher education in South Carolina.” Approximately 70 representatives from 12 public schools across South Carolina assembled for a weekend of classes and forums on the need for higher education. The weekend started at 10 a.m. Saturday when the group gathered on the Horseshoe fo^- registration and then went to the president’s house where USC “We are not a group that holds demonstrations or fights boards of trustees. We are there to educate the state legislature on the importance of education in South Carolina.” ZACHERY SCOTT use STUDENT GOVERNMENT PRESIDENT President Andrew Sorensen talked about the need for higher education and the officers were able to become acquainted. “I think it is very important to meet,” said Steve Miano, president of USC Aiken Student Government. “Despite technology advances, it is always good to meet face-to-face and get on the same page.” After the lunch and a reception at the president’s house, the group then spent the afternoon in a number of sessions that helped the representatives on how SCSSA can affect higher education, recruit student volunteers and plan campaigns. In a session on the status of higher education in South Carolina, Julie Carullo from the S.C. Commission on Higher Education said, “The role for SCSSA at schools should be to.j^tay in partnership with SCCHE in figuring out how they can help with issues that face higher education.” SCSSA will have three meetings a year (spring, summer and fall) and Scon said because the majority of the schools involved elect their officers in the spring, the summer meeting will be a transitional meeting where the representatives conduct a forum over what was learned and what can be changed for the fall. “A year from now we should have this room (Gambrell 250) filled with representatives from all public schools,” Clemson student body president Adam Hammond said between sessions. Scott said there were student government organizations before this one, but they failed and the current SCSSA constitution was written after studying their problems. “The reason for the organization is because there is a power in numbers,” Hammond said. “When I can introduce myself to a legislator as part of SCSSA with a constituency of 100,000, it packs a punch.” Comments on this story? E-mail $ gamecocknetvs@gwm.sc. edu MUSC pharmacy merger official By KEVIN FELLNER SENIOR WRITER The USC Board of Trustees gave final approval Friday for the USC School of Pharmacy to begin integrating with the Medical University of South Carolina’s pharmacy school, with a full merger planned to begin in a few years. Trustees were quick to praise the administration on developing the final proposal, which calmed initial concerns from faculty members and students by stressing that changes would come slowly. “As a health professional, I think this is one of the greatest moves we’ve ever made as the Board of Trustees,” said Edward Floyd, a surgeon holding degrees from USC and MUSC. Trustee Darla Moore, who with her husband has investments in intensive care and other health care initiatives, said administrators recognized that funds and resources could be better spent through cooperation with MUSC instead of in competition with it. “I want to commend the administration for your stamina, your strength and your vision,” she said. Trustee Michael Mungo, who has served on the board since 1982, said the state is moving toward more consolidation in its higher education system in order to provide students what he said was the best it can offer. He said students should expect more consolidation among programs in the state’s 36 institutions in the coming years. Harris Pastides, vice president for research and the proposal’s chief organizer, said the merger wouldn’t be possible until faculties from both schools can come up with a unified curriculum. A search committee is expected to name an executive dean for the new school sometime next year with members from both universities involved with the hiring. Provosts from both universities will also have to hire a dean to oversee daily operations at each campus. “I can’t underestimate the importance of hiring a good executive dean, not only someone bright but someone who respects the traditions of both institutions,” Pastides said. The schools’ will be fully merged when they seek a single accreditation after the last class of the current curriculum is graduated and the new curriculum is fully implemented. At that time, the newly formed South Carolina College of Pharmacy will have a single application and a single admissions process, but students will still have the choice of which campus they want to attend. Pastides estimates because of curriculum committees and faculty hiring committees that need to be organized, the full merger won’t be possible until about 2010. But, he ♦ Please see MERGER, page 3 *