The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, January 19, 2005, Image 1
www.dailygamecock.com _WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19,2005_ Since 1908
National chapter disciplines fraternity
■ USC spokesman
dismisses rumors of
hazing among KAs
By TAYLOR SMITH
STAFF WRITER
Fraternity members and USC
administrators have confirmed that the
national K.A. office took disciplinary
action against USC’s Kappa Alphas after
an early December incident but refuse to
discuss its extent or the severity of the
punishment.
While details about the violations
remain sketchy, USC spokesman Russ
McKinney took issue with rumors that
the fraternity has been cited for hazing
violations. McKinney, who also serves as
faculty advisor for K.A., said he would
not describe the misconduct as “hazing,”
adding that the fraternity’s national
chapter would likely “take exception to
that term.”
“I don’t think the national
organization is characterizing it as
hazing,” McKinney said.
Larry Weise, executive director of
Kappa Alpha’s national office in
Lexington, Va., could not be reached for
comment Tuesday night.
McKinney guessed the incident
happened in early December and,
because of its private nature, USC has
not addressed the violations.
“From the university level we are
aware of the information and have been
in touch,” McKinney said. “We are
following it closely, but it appears to be a
matter that the fraternity is dealing
with.”
Thomas Bowen, president of USC’s
K.A. fraternity, could not be reached for
comment Tuesday.
According to S.C. Code of Law Sec.
16-3-530, a conviction of misdemeanor
hazing can result in a fine of as much as
$500 and imprisonment no longer than
12 months.
Student Life Director Jerry Brewer
said his office, which oversees Greek
Life, has no knowledge of any
disciplinary action taken by the school
against KA., but the possibility is open.
“If I get a report that hazing has
occurred, we have a certain procedure
♦ Please see FRATERNITY, page 3
JASON STEELMAN/THE GAMECOCK
<Left) Emergency construction crew members work to fix the broken water lines that fill Maxcy resident's rooms. (Right) Alex Winters,
first-year undecided student, gathers his belongings to take out of his room flooding from a broken pipe on Tuesday night in Maxcy.
Students evacuate Maxcv
w
First-year residents struggled Tuesday night to limit damage from three burst pipes
By THOMAS CHANDLER
THE GAMECOCK
Steaming brown water pooled in
several rooms of Maxcy College last
night as pipes burst in three locations,
displacing residents concerned for the
safety of their property.
The breaks occurred above two
rooms in the basement and one on the
third floor. Similar incidents occurred
last semester in November.
“I was standing there when it burst.
It didn’t even start out slowly. I saw it
coming out in two different spots where
the wall and the ceiling meet,” first-year
English student Aaron Hayes said. “It
happened about 5:30,”
He and his roommate John
McKinney, a first-year accounting
student, said the damage could have
been worse.
“It wasn’t as bad as it could have
been. The electronics stuff we all got
out, my computer, my TV,” McKinney
said.
The Tuesday incidents weren’t the
first cases of pipe failure at Maxcy.
One burst in first-year business
student Katie Faulk’s room before
Thanksgiving last semester. She and her
roommate Diane Montague, a first-year
biology student, returned to find
repairmen already at work.
“Both of our computers, a printer,
telephone, the bedding too, had been
damaged,” Faulk said.
Faulk explained the school’s
reimbursement policy.
“They’ll give us the current value of
the computer as it depreciates. Not
even how much we had paid if it was
♦ Please see DAMAGE, page 3
USC cheerleaders
to fill in for dancers
By JON TURNER
NEWS EDITOR
While the Coquettes dance team did
not perform during Saturday’s
basketball game against Tennessee, it
was not prohibited from dancing as a
result of an overly sexual performance,
a USC athletics department spokesman
said Tuesday.
Some dancers had raised concerns
that the decision came because the
athletics department perceived the
team’s performance as “too sexual,” but
Sports Information Director Kerry
Tharp suggested the possibility of
miscommunication, explaining that the
Coquettes were sidelined to make way
for USC cheerleaders.
“It was not the intent to tell them
they couldn’t dance, just to make sure
the cheerleaders kind of took the lead,”
he said.
Coquettes captain and fourth-year
exercise science student Erin Widdle
had cited a letter from an unidentified
athletics administration member
warning that the Coquettes’
performance was too suggestive, but
Tharp said he “had no knowledge of
that.”
Widdle said the team had been
working hard on its image and that the
dancers had been distressed by their
perception of the athletics department’s
attitude.
“They were all pretty upset," she
said, “because we worked really, really
hard to improve our reputation with
the athletic department, because they
had a dance team in the past that was
really too much. So the athletic
department has had a bad taste in its
mouth since then.”
Coquettes dancer and third-year
hospitality, retail and sports
management student Kirby Springs
said the decision came without
explanation.
“Our coach just kind of told us we
couldn’t dance during time-outs
anymore,” she said.
Springs said the dancers had been
surprised by the announcement, which
was passed to their coach, Michele
Fields, by cheerleading coach Erika
Goodwin.
“We’re still allowed to perform
around the court before the games,” she
said. “Other than that we have to
perform on tne sidelines.
Tharp said he was sure the intent
wasn’t to prevent the team from
performing.
“We certainly love having the dance
team there, they certainly do a fantastic
job,” he said. “I think maybe we were
just looking at trying to get the
cheerleaders out on the floor more than
in previous games.”
♦ Please see COQUETTES, page 3
NICK ESARES/THE GAMECOCK
The Coquettes rehearse before their performance at the
Homecoming Showcase last fall.
KATIE KIRKLAND/THE GAMECOCK
Mike McGee, who has served as USC athletics director in 1993,
announced Tuesday that he will retire this summer.
Athletics director
McGee to retire
■ USC President Andrew Sorensen says he
will select a replacement without a committee
By JONATHAN HILLYARD
SPORTS EDITOR
As USC says hello to head coach Steve
Spurrier and a new era, it will say goodbye
to Athletics Director Michael B. McGee.
USC President Andrew Sorensen
announced Tuesday that McGee’s
retirement will take effect June 30, 2005.
This is not news to Sorensen, however,
as he said McGee notified him of this
decision in May 2004.
With regard to finding a new athletic
director, Sorensen had few definite
answers. He said that, despite knowing for
nearly a year of McGee’s plans, he had
interviewed no candidates, formally or
informally.
McGee said in a news release that he
hoped the university would promote from
within, and Sorensen confirmed that
McGee had recommended a replacement
from USC. However, Sorensen said
McGee would have no input in the actual
hiring of an athletic director.
On the process of hiring a new
athletics director, Sorensen is keeping an
open mind.
“It is absolutely imperative for all
searches that we have for all positions
within the university that the search be
wide open,” Sorensen said. “That is so
that we do not preclude people from
being considered. So I am wide' open to
any candidate who is interested in the
position.”
Sorensen emphasized there would not
be a committee appointed to carry on the
hiring process, but the decision would be
entirely up to him. He did mention that
he would consult Chairman of the Board
of Trustees Herbert Adams and Chairman
of Intercollegiate Activities Committee
Samuel Foster about possible candidates.
At a news conference Tuesday,
Sorensen said he was not aware of any
notification given to Spurrier of McGee’s
retirement before the coach’s hiring.
“This really doesn’t come as a big
shock to me. He told me that he was
giving strong consideration to retiring in
the near future,” Spurrier said in a news
release Tuesday. “I can tell you that coach
McGee has done an outstanding job of
putting our football program in an
excellent position to be successful.”
Sorensen also noted that he tried on
numerous occasions to convince McGee
to reconsider, but all attempts were
unsuccessful. He said the timing of the
announcement was entirely up to McGee
and that Tuesday was the time that
McGee had chosen.
Sorensen said he is sad to see McGee go.
♦ Please see MCGEE, page 3
SG adds Wall Street Journal
to camtius readershiti tiro pram
JL
By MINDY MOORE
THE GAMECOCK
Student Government has added
copies of the Wall Street Journal to
campus news stands already carrying
USA Today and The New York Times
as part of the Collegiate Readership
Program.
While SG implemented the
Collegiate Readership Program with
USA Today last year, it had to approach
the Wall Street Journal on its own to
draw up a one-semester contract.
Dean Joel Smith of the Moore
School of Business asked SG to add the
Journal and make it available in the
Business Administration building and
around campus.
X X
“Students need to know that there is
more to read about than what they’re
required to do. There is a lot going on in
our world today, and they ought to
know about issues to be able to form
opinions about them,” Student Affairs
Director Jerry Brewer, a strong
supporter of the Readership Program,
said. “The Wall Street Journal is the
business publication of business
publications. We’ve got one of the
highest-rated business programs here at
USC, so it makes sense that we are now
supplying students with it.”
Many students are not familiar with
the Collegiate Readership Program, but
most have seen one of its on-campus
♦ Please see JOURNAL, page 3
IN THIS ISSUE
♦ VIEWPOINTS
A modest rebuttal
Curtis Chow responds to the
backlash from his column
last Wednesday, stating his
true intentions for the gym
and its inhabitants.
Page 7
I \
♦ THE MIX
Inaugural
beginnings
Learn the history of
presidential inauguration
ceremonies going back to •(
the food fight at President
Ulysses S. Grant’s
inaugural ball.
Page 8
£
WEATHER
♦ TODAY ♦ THURS.
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High 4 6 High 5 7
Low 27 Low 31
FOR EXTENDED FORECAST, SEE PAGE 2.
INDEX
Comics and Crossword..9
Classifieds.12
Horoscopes.9
Letters to the Editor..6
Online Poll..6
Police Report..2