The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, January 26, 2005, Image 1
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26,2005 '“wwS
IN THIS ISSUE
♦ NEWS
Cease fire
The Hamas leader is
considering a temporary
truce with Israel on the
condition that the country
halt military strikes against
Palestinians.
Page 6
♦ VIEWPOINTS
Beam wants
fiscal discipline
Adam Beam says that
Student Government
hasn’t been doing a good
job of managing students’
money and too often looks
to raise student fees.
Page 8
♦THE MIX
* Man behind
the mask
The film version of
‘Phantom of the Opera’
lives up to the expectations
of the famous Andrew
Lloyd Webber musical.
Page 10
♦ SPORTS
Gamecocks to
battle ’Dores
The men’s basketball team
faces Vanderbilt tonight at
the Colonial Center. The
Gamecocks are 2-3 in
conference play.
Page 12
WEATHER
♦ TODAY ♦ THURS.
□LI
^ High 6 5 High 50
Low 3 8 Low 2 3
FOR EXTENDED FORECAST, SEE PAGE 2.
INDEX
Comics and Crossword..... 11
Classifieds.14
Horoscopes.11
Letters to the Editor..8
Online Poll..8
Police Report..2
Statistics show gender imbalance among faculty
By JON TURNER
NEWS EDITOR
Male professors at USC outnumber
female professors by more than six to
one, according to statistics from the
2003-2004 year compiled by the USC
Office of Equal Opportunity Programs.
The statistics show an obvious, if
inconsistent, improvement in both
salary and employment gender ratios
since the study began two decades ago.
However, compared to national
statistics compiled by the National
Center for Education Statistics, USC is
lagging far behind in the total
proportion of female faculty members
employed.
Assistant Vice Provost Sally Boyd
said the university’s progress has not
quite fixed its inequalities.
“It’s been better in some areas of the
university than others,” she said
Tuesday. “It’s been better at certain
times at the university than others. We
can certainly see that things now are a
lot different from how they were 30
years ago, but we still don’t have the
number of women faculty members
compared to men faculty members that
we should have, and we still have some
salary problems that look like they’re
gender-based.”
Bobby Gist, Executive Assistant for
Equal Opportunity Programs, said he
was sure that the number of female
faculty members had risen over the
years, and that USC did its best to
attract women and minorities to open
positions.
The Equal Opportunity Programs
Office’s 2000 report on affirmative
recruiting outlined USC’s strategy,
advocating the use of diverse search
committees and advertising plans as the
best way to achieve a diverse faculty and
staff.
“We send out letters any time there’s
a search committee, letting them know
women and minorities are strongly
encouraged to apply for faculty
positions,” Gist said.
According to the EOP report, the
“rule” for the multiple screenings of the
employee selection process is that the
selection rate of women to men should
be at least 4/5.
The report also recommended the
university advertise any open positions
in “predominantly minority or female”
as well as relevant occupation-specific
publications.
Although there are still fewer female
professors in math- and science-related
fields, Gist praised their moxie.
Boyd expressed a more guarded
enthusiasm, calling the move toward
♦ Please see DIFFERENCES, page 3
FEMALE FACULTY MEMBERS IN
50% NON-ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS
In 2003-04:
40 of282professors were female.
40% 84 of246associate professors were female.
92 of226assistant professors were female.
These differences were especially apparent
3 0 o/ i» traditionally male fields such as the sciences. 28. 6%
- ~ ~
1983- 1988- 1993- 1998- 2003
1984 1989 1994 1999 2004
CHARLIE DAVENPQRT/THE GAMECOCK
The Colonial Center tonight will reward its one-millionth sports fan with SEC Tournament tickets. The Colonial Center opened in 2002.
Colonial Center to reward
one-millionth fan at game
rs
By TAYLOR SMITH
STAFF WRITER
One lucky fan at tonight’s US
basketball game will be rushed by
dozen cheerleaders and a giar
gamecock, but the fun won’t stop tfijjj
The Colonial Center and the US'
athletic department will be surprisir
the one-millionth fan at the Vanderbi
game with a considerable prize packag
“We expect a sizeable crowd t
attend the basketball game th
Wednesday, and our records indicai
that we will certainly surpass the om
millionth fan mark at the Colon!
Center sometime before the gam
begins,” Tom Paquette, the Gener.
Manager for the Colonial Center, sai
in a news release.
The millionth fan will be greeted at
the ticket turnstile by Athletic Director
Z Mike McGee, Cocky and the USC
a cheerleaders, but the prize package,
t presented by McGee, will include
j. tickets to the SEC Basketball
Z Tournament, USHRA Monster Jam,
g the AND 1 Streetball Live Tour,
t Professional Bull Riding, Disney on Ice
and Rascall Flatts. The package also
0 includes T-shirts, gift certificates and an
s autographed basketball signed by Dave
e Odom, USC basketball coach and
2004 SEC Coach of the Year.
J “We scan tickets now, and when the
e one millionth fan comes through,
1 McGee will give the prize package and
1 there will also be a jersey given that says
one-millionth fan on the hack,” Abey
Coker, the Colonial Center marketing
manager, said.
Coker said planning for the event
had been going on awhile, but credit
for the idea should go to the athletic
department rather than the venue’s
managers.
“This is basically their baby,” Coker
said. “They own the building, but we
manage it.”
The Colonial Center is the largest
arena in South Carolina, and its 18,000
seats have played host to a number of
sporting and musical events since its
opening in fall 2002.
“This is an incredible milestone to
pass in such a short time. It is gratifying
to see how Columbia, the Midlands,
and the entire state has received the
Colonial Center,” McGee in the
release.
The men’s basketball team’s 2-3
SEC record this season has troubled
some USC students, but fans like
second-year biology student Wright
Culpepper keep a different mindset.
“Well, I was actually considering not
going to the game tomorrow night
because of how bad the team was
playing,” Culpepper said. “But when I
realized what it means to be a real fan, I
didn’t really have an option, so I will be
going and I look forward to getting the
prize pack.”
Culpepper said he thinks the switch
♦ Please see FAN, page 3
Carolina
shuttles
to feature
USC news
By ALLYSON BIRD
THE GAMECOCK
Starting next Wednesday, the
Carolina Shuttles will be cruising to a
new tune.
The nearly 5,000 students who ride
on the buses every day will find that
their once-silent transportation will be
playing a medley of university news, top
40 songs, a WUSC-featured song and
advertisements.
This new infotainment is called the
MIX CD, which stands for music,
information and extras.
“It will encourage students to ride the
shuttle system and promote all services
we have in the core area of campus,”
Deputy Parking Services Director
Derrick Huggins said.
Huggins said the new CDs will
heighten the overall learning experience
on campus by keeping students abreast
of USC.news.
Since the university is footing the bill
for the CD, advertisements will only
promote university housing, the
university bookstore and Carolina
Dining Services.
Students can participate in monthly
promotions and discounts at the dining
halls and bookstore — such as 20
percent off sweatshirts — by saying they
heard the advertisements on the shutdes.
A group of students chosen as last
semester’s Marketing Scholars came up
with the idea for the MIX CD.
Justin Killian, a fourth-year
marketing and management student, is a
member of the group that decided to
complete the project now even though
the class is over.
“We didn’t want to just abandon it
at the end of the semester,” he said. “We
look for it to carry on long after our class
is gone.”
With USC as their client, the
Marketing Scholars were instructed to
create an internal branding campaign
that would give USC news and events
more exposure. Any leftover money
♦ Please see EQUIPPED, page 3
Social Security overhaul faces congressional critics
By NEDRA PICKLER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — President Bush
drew criticism from Democrats and
qualms from skeptical Republicans over
his politically sensitive plan to overhaul
Social Security. He promised to revqal
some details during next week’s State of
the Union address.
Republicans on the Senate Finance
Committee who met privately with
Bush for 45 minutes said his proposals
will be closely scrutinized along with
other options to shore up the nation’s
retirement system.
Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., said
Bush “understands the burden that he
carries” to sell his plan to the nation and
to Congress.
“There has to be a sense that the
public supports what we’re trying to
do,” Santostm said.
Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., said
that Bush “knows he has the bully
pulpit. He knows how laws are made.
Democrats will want him to move with
an open mind.”
Democrats lined up in opposition to
Bush’s proposals, concentrating their fire
Tuesday on a suggestion from a
prominent Republican lawmaker, Rep.
Bill Thomas, R-Calif., that Congress
adjust Social Security benefits to take
gender or race into account.
“I want to work with the president to
strengthen Social Security, but I hope
when the president and my colleagues
on the other side of the aisle say they
want to act in a bipartisan way, they
understand that some things are simply
off the table,” said Senate Democratic
leader Harry Reid.
“We cannot use race or gender to
determine benefits, just as we should not
pursue a privatization plan that will
make deep cuts in benefits and create $2
trillion in additional debt.”
Thomas, chairman of the House
Ways and Means Committee, made the
suggestions recently, noting that women
live longer than men as a group and
whites live longer than blacks.
Additionally, Senate Democrats
intend to hold a forum on Friday at
which witnesses will criticize Bush’s
proposal for personal accounts. Officials
familiar with the plan said witnesses
would challenge the president’s recent
statement that the program is in crisis
and argue that Bush’s plan would
involve large benefit cuts for future
retirees.
Bush’s proposals to overhaul Social
Security have caused some nervousness
among Republicans in Congress.
Republican senators at the White House
were told that Bush would provide more
information about his intentions when
he speaks at a closed-door retreat for
GOP lawmakers Friday.
Senate Finance Committee
Republicans who met with Bush said
that the discussion was freewheeling and
that some members of the group balked
at the costs involved. Bush promised to
spell out many specifics in his State of
the Union address, they said.
“This is the beginning of a very long
process,” said Sen. Olympia Snowe, R
Maine. “Obviously there is a lot of
speculation over what the president
intends to do. We’ll have an opportunity
to look at these issues in a very deliberative
way, and he understands that.”
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said
he is confident that Congress “will be
able to follow the bold leadership of the
president” and pass legislation to change
the current system, but that the White
House need to do more to win public
support.
“This body needs to engage the
American people much better,” he said
of the Senate. “And I would say the
administration does as well.”
Bush tried to get ministers and other
leaders of the black community behind
his agenda in an earlier private meeting
that lasted more than an hour. Attendees
said Bush told them his plan to add
private accounts to Social Security
would benefit blacks since they tend to
die younger than whites and end up
paying in more than they take out.
Private accounts would be owned by
workers and could be inherited by loved
ones after death.
Bush wants to let younger workers
put a portion of their Social Security
taxes into private investment accounts in
exchange for a reduction in future
guaranteed benefits. The administration
says retirees or those near retirement |°:e
would not have their benefits reduce^.