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www.dailygamecock.com _MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15,2004_ Since 1908 IN THIS ISSUE ♦ NEWS Fighting in Mosul Rebel fighters attacked two police stations in Mosul. Photo by Luis Sincoforthe Los Angeles Times. Page 4 ♦ VIEWPOINTS Empty nest ♦parties Chase Stoudemire explains that when kids move out, it’s party time for the parents. Page 7 ♦ THE MIX Fresh faces for cinema First Fest features flicks from aspiring auteurs. • Me Master hosted the newbie festival. Page 8 ♦ ♦ SPORTS Swamped The Gamecock staff gives an in-depth analysis of USC’s 48 14 loss to the Florida Gators on Saturday in Gainesville. Page 14 WEATHER ♦ TODAY ♦TUESDAY □□ Low 41 Low 35 FOR EXTENDED FORECAST. SEE PAGE 2. INDEX Comics and Crossword.10 Classifieds.13 Horoscopes.10 Letters to the Editor.7 Online Poll.7 Policje Report.^2 BLOOD DRIVE ' JASON STEELMAN/THE GAMECOCK Students and Red Cross volunteers set up Sunday for the annual weeklong USC-Clemson blood drive in the Russell House Ballroom. Rivalry mixed with blood JASON STEELMAN/THE GAMECOCK The Red Cross mascot sits in a box, awaiting the start of the USC Clemson Blood Drive. USC has won the last three contests. By JON TURNER THE GAMECOCK The USC vs. Clemson Blood Drive beginning today at 11 a.m. serves a vital role for South Carolinian hospitals, its success fueled by students’ competitive spirit. The annual drive pits USC against Clemson in a race to collect the most blood before the Saturday football game between the two schools. USC is the returning champion, having won the last three contests, but Clemson dominated the ‘90s, fourth year public relations student Bethany Human said. “They used to win all the time,” she said. “I’m very confident we’ll win again this year.” Human, co-chairwoman of the drive, said volunteers have been working on the project since January. “We’ve made a huge push to get student organizations involved,” she said. “This year we’re having, like, a Greek Day, where we try and get all the Greek organizations to come out, and a Housing Day, where we try to get everyone to come out and support their residence hall.” Cheryl Austin, a donor recruiter for the American Red Cross, said she thought the element of competition helped make students more enthusiastic about the event. “It’s a great thing,” Austin said. “It’s the biggest blood drive we have in Columbia.” Austin said the USC vs. Clemson blood drive came at an opportune time. “It’s really going to be helpful going into the holiday season with Thanksgiving and Christmas,” she said. “Mind you, we need 500 units of blood every single day to support the hospitals and the patients, and we’re not doing that. Last year we had to import 20,000 units of blood from other states.” The war in Iraq has made blood harder to find, Austin said. “When the war effort began last year, the military decided that they need to look after their own,” she said. “So we can’t go to Fort Jackson, and we used to go every weekend and they’d give us three, 400 units of blood every week. So this year we’ll be missing out on 10,000 to 12,000 units of blood.” Human said the drive had set a goal ♦ Please see BLOOD, page 6 J ewish f' fraternity waiting on OK By TAYLOR SMITH STAFF WRITER Eleven USC students are possibly days away from founding the first Jewish fraternity on campus, something local Sigma Alpha Mu colony leaders said they are excited about. “I think it is very important that all campuses have something like this diversity,” said Danny Chassen, colony vice president and second-year political science student. “In bringing that diversity to campus, I think that it will help attract students to campus.” Ira Klein, Sigma Alpha Mu colony president and second-year print journalism student, said he decided to start the fraternity about a month ago, which involved national and university recognition. Klein said he spoke with Matt Wittenstein, the associate executive director of Sigma Alpha Mu, who came to campus several weeks ago to help organize the chapter. He returned recently to officially colonize the 11-member group. “The process has been pretty efficient and they have done a good job with communication between school and national chapter,” Chassen said. “From my understanding, it is going pretty well.” Klein said the group has assembled so quickly it has raised some eyebrows of the Interfraternity Council, which determines the destiny of any aspiring fraternity. After being brought to the attention of the council two weeks ago, the proposed charter for the new fraternity was postponed and then postponed again last week to remain on the council’s agenda. “As far as we are concerned, we are functioning as a fraternity whether they recognize it or not,” Klein said. “We are still serving in that capacity.” Chassen said the council could be hesitating because it has a tendency to wait before granting charters to fraternities that are not yet established as school organizations. The group has created a constitution, Chassen said, and they have the 10 people mandatory to be a ♦ Please see FRAT, page 3 MESSAGING USC professor employs virtual office for students By ADAM BEAM THE GAMECOCK Kent Sidel’s office is tucked away in the bowels of the Carolina Coliseum — a tiny cinderblock space in a hallway of a hallway — the only sign of life a plastic placard bearing his name pasted on the wall by his door. But on any given weekday, Sidel meets with the more than 230 students in his Journalism 201 class one on one, sometimes five at a time. That’s because Sidel has discovered instant messaging, and his virtual office hours are changing the way he interacts with students. It started three semesters ago when one of Sidel’s colleagues, Tim Brown, mentioned he used instant messaging to communicate with his students. Sidel decided to check it out, and was amazed at the technology. So he set up virtual oflffce hours — Monday through Thursday, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. — and excitedly told his class about this new way of communicating. “Laughter throughout the hall,” Sidel said of their reaction. While students have been using instant messaging for years, the concept of instant messaging a professor is relatively new to USC. But after three semesters of use, Sidel said only a handful of students have made the trek to his coliseum office, while hundreds have chatted with him online about homework and tests. But with.more than 230 students in just one of his classes, it takes some juggling to reach out to everyone. “I can be conducting three to five conversations at once, which took a little practice, but I understand now that students are also doing other ♦ Plefese see IM, page 3 Youth shunning guns, take up other hobbies By ADAM BEAM THE GAMECOCK As a third-year college student from Augusta, Ga., Jimmy Drawdy fits most of the stereotypes for hunting — if it weren’t for that whole gun thing. As a child, Drawdy spent his summers at church camps that dealt with outdoor activities, basically everything except hunting. By the time he got to college, Drawdy was a full blown outdoorsman, spending his weekends in a tent and his 2004 spring break with four friends driving cross-country nonstop in a Volkswagen Golf to hike the La Gila National Forest in New Mexico. Drawdy has rejected the organized youth sports leagues that have taken over suburban American, opting for caving instead of football, rock climbing in place of soccer. “You’re doing it on your own time, your own rules,” Drawdy said. “Safety is at your own risk. That is probably something that entices kids, too.” But not enough to pick up a gun and go hunt. In fact, youth hunting has declined 26 percent from 1990 to 2000, according to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association. Most hunters come from hunting families, but only 25 percent of those youth are actively hunting. But America’s youth aren’t shunning the outdoors. In the same study, the * ♦ Please see HUNTING, page 3 MIKE WINTROATH/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A group of travelers tour a cave at Blanchard Springs Cavern in the Ozark National Forests near{viountain View, Ark. Young people are' opting for alternative outdoor sports to hunting.