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
â–¡â–¡
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.