Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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University of South Carolina T7D TT^ A V T A XTT T A D V ? Q 1 HO C VoL 98, No. 59 www.dailygamecock.com T -KlLy/AI , J /AIN U /AlV I ZO, ZUUj Since 1908 Students report 4 cars stolen in 9 days By ALLYSON BIRD STAFF WRITER In the last nine days, four students’ reported their automobiles stolen from USC parking lots and garages. While automobile break-ins might occur frequently around campus, grand larceny of automobile is not an everyday occurrence, reports indicate. However, sometimes students forget where they parked. Two of the four cars have since turned up as simply misplaced by their owners. A third was recovered by an off-campus police agency. Third-year sports management student Trevor Kyte reported his Chevrolet Cavalier missing on Jan. 25 from the Blossom Street Garage but later realized where his vehicle was. “I’d gotten a ride home from some guy, and I’d forgotten I drove to the place,” he said. First-year business student Meghan Gilchrist said a miscommunication with a friend led her to report her 1992 Toyota missing from the Bull Street Garage on Tuesday. Another student’s car reported missing from the Blossom Street Garage on Tuesday was recovered by a Forest Acres police officer. The student did not want to be identified because the case is under investigation in connection with similar larcenies. Tommy Porterfield reported his Oldsmobile Cutlass stolen from the Blossom Street Coliseum Lot on Monday. He could not be reached for comment. Chris Wuchenich, deputy director of support services for law enforcement and safety, could not discuss the status of the stolen cars, since they are under active investigation, but did say the police are “exhausting every possible lead.” As for two of the recovered cars, Wuchenich said, “The cases were unfounded. They forgot where they had parked.” He could not comment on which vehicles were recovered. Wuchenich said one student called the police ♦ Please see MISSING, page 3 JASON STEELMAN/THE GAMECOCK A newly released study has shown that public libraries, like USC’s Thomas Cooper Library, shown above, can be a major asset for businesses, investors and job seekers. Libraries add $347 million revenue By TAYLOR SMITH I staff writer The USC College of Library and Information Sciences has determined that South Carolina’s Public libraries impact the state economy by $347 million, a sum determined by interviewing almost 4,000 people off campus. Researchers Dan Barron, Bob Williams and Stephen Bajjaly interviewed three types of people to establish their findings, released on Wednesday. “The idea is that this is an aggregate figure of all the libraries in South Carolina,” Barron, the director of the college, said. “And if we looked at all the libraries in the state, this is the figure we Would come up with.” The research team interviewed nearly 3,700 people assigned into three groups: business community members, job seekers and personal investors. People “who use the library’s sources,” Barron said. The legislature spends approximately $77.5 million on public libraries annually and directly receives an economic impact of $222 million. Barron said the public’s perception of libraries as “the poor person’s university” has evolved into the idea that libraries are essential tools for business professionals across the state. “What we want to do is get people to think that the public library is also a place where people can go to get information regarding business and investment information,” Barron said. When the research team surveyed 3,689 adult public-library users, 37 percent said the library made them more productive at work, and 92 percent said the presence of the library in their community improves the overall quality of life. “We know that the numbers are very accurate, but the idea is how do you measure economic impact,” Barron said. “You have to ask them and then accept their perception what it has been to them.” , With the Internet’s reputation as “the information superhighway,” Barron said he feels no competition between the virtual media and the brick-and-mortar structure that defined the traditional experience. “We don’t see any competition between the Internet and the library,” Barron said. “It is the libraries’ full employment arm, and if you keep in mind that you don’t have to go to a library to use it, you can just go online.” Barron said 13 million people went to S.C. public libraries last year, a figure, which he claims, is 10 million more than went to all the Clemson and USC games last year combined. • “I like to call (the public library) an information utility, it is like turning on a light switch,” Barron said. “You flip on a switch to the local library, and it can be as close to you as your computer or telephone.” Despite its general uses for educational and traditional means, Barron said the primary purpose for the study was to determine that “if a person were going to pay for these services, what would they pay for it?” “This to make them aware that there is another use at the library,” Barron said. “That it is more than just about books. Even today the people are using the library for professional reasons.” With South Carolina’s reputation as a land of low SAT scores and literacy rates, Barron said the Palmetto State invests about $1 less than the Southeastern average at 82 cents per capita, which, he said, is less compared to the return the state is getting. “This is just a snapshot at how the libraries have been used from 2002 to 2003,” Barron said. Comments an this story? E-mail gatnecocknews@gwm.sc.edu • Guantanamo witness says interrogators used sex to break inmates By PAISLEY DODDS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Female interrogators tried to break Muslim detainees at the U S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay by sexual touching, wearing a miniskirt and thong underwear and in one case smearing a Saudi man’s face with fake menstrual blood, according to an insider’s written account. A draft manuscript obtained by The Associated Press is classified as secret pending a Pentagon review for a planned book that details ways the U.S. military used women as part of tougher physical and psychological interrogation tactics to get terror suspects to talk. It’s the most revealing account so far of interrogations at the secretive detention camp, where officials say they have halted some controversial techniques. “I have really struggled with this because the detainees, their families and much of the world will think this is a religious war based on some of the techniques used, even though it is not the case,” the author, former Army Sgt. Erik R. Saar, 29, told AP. Saar didn’t provide the manuscript or approach AP, but confirmed the authenticity of nine draft pages AP obtained. He requested his hometown remain private so he wouldn’t be harassed. Saar, who is neither Muslim nor of Arab descent, worked as an Arabic translator at the U.S. camp in eastern Cuba from December 2002 to June 2003. At the time, it was under the command of Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, who had a mandate to get better intelligence from prisoners, including alleged al Qaida members caught in Afghanistan. Saar said he witnessed about 20 interrogations and about three months after his arrival at the remote U.S. base he started noticing “disturbing” practices. One female civilian contractor used a special outfit that included a miniskirt, thong underwear and a bra during late-night interrogations with prisoners, mostly Muslim men who consider it taboo to have close contact with women who aren’t their wives. Beginning in April 2003, “there hung^ short skirt and thong underwear on the hook on the back of the door” of one interrogation team’s office, he writes. “Later I learned that this outfit was used for interrogations by one of the female civilian contractors ... on a team which conducted interrogations in the middle of the night on Saudi men who were refusing to talk.” Some Guantanamo prisoners who have been released say they were tormented by “prostitutes.” Saar describes a female military interrogator questioning an uncooperative 21-year-old Saudi detainee who allegedly had taken flying iessons in Arizona before the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Suspected Sept. 11 hijacker Hani Hanjour received pilot instruction for three months in 1996 and in December 1997 at a flight school in Scottsdale, Ariz. “His female interrogator decided that she ♦ Please see INTERROGATE, page 3 Fitzpatrick would bring faculty unity, cooperation By KEVIN FELLNER SENIOR WRITER Mary Anne Fitzpatrick, the new dean of the USC College of Arts and Sciences, is settling into two offices until she finds one closer to the center of campus, but she’s already planning to begin meeting with students and faculty from those locations. Fitzpatrick points out to visitors that she already has artwork on the walls in her first week on the job and that it is helping her to feel settled in at USC because other university offices donated the work. Her challenge will be to acclimatize quickly as she begins her work as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, which was officially created this week as a result of a merger of the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Science and Mathematics. “What we’re trying to say in the initial months is ‘Think of the possibilities,’” Fitzpatrick, who was named as dean in October, said. “Deans do not ordain things to happen without the help of the college.” Administrators say the new college, which got approval from the Board of Trustees early last year, was founded to promote more interdisciplinary cooperation across humanities and science studies. More than 40 percent of USC students are majoring in one of the college’s 23 academic departments, which feature more than 500 faculty members combined. Fitzpatrick said she has already met with the department chairs and institute directors and looks forward to meeting with them in their offices to show her appreciation for the people and resources of each department. She said interaction among faculty members of different departments produces better teaching and research for the university because the needs of each discipline are more widely understood. “When you apply for these jobs and you have experience with these jobs, these challenges and differences are what you’re used to dealing with,” Fitzpatrick said. “(The departments) all have the same larger goals — and that’s the education of students and the conduct of research.” She added that the merger would foster the integratiQn of similar concepts to bring together, for instance, medicine with medical history, medical ethics, medical anthropology and public health in certain broad-based curriculum classes. USC President Andrew Sorensen proposed a plan for the merger in October 2003 and said at that time that USC would be following a trend seen at other universities of similar size and demographics. “If the enrollment starts to increase, then what we need to do is hire additional faculty members,” Sorensen said in 2003. “If the tuition revenue starts to go up, then we can afford to do that.” Provost Mark Becker said when Fitzpatrick * was hired that she stood out among other candidates because of her experience with a similar college at a much larger university than USC. Fitzpatrick agrees with Sorensen that the goal of a top-rated faculty ranks above everything else in the long run. “You need to bring the very best faculty here, and I believe that happens one faculty hire at a time,” Fitzpatrick said. And she will have plenty of opportunities, with dozens of faculty members in each department expected to take advantage of a state employee retirement program in the next few years. ♦ Please see FITZPATRICK, page 3 IN THIS ISSUE ♦ THE MIX ‘Million Dollar’ good as gold While not in Columbia yet, get a sneak peek into what’s behind the Oscar buzz for Clint Eastwood’s latest film. Page 6 * t> ♦ SPORTS Goin’ to Gatorville The men’s basketball team will travel to Gainesville on Sunday to battle Florida after defeating rival Vanderbilt Wednesday. Page 8 WEATHER ♦ TODAY ♦ SAT. m High 42 High 45 Low 24 Low 3 2 FOR EXTENDED FORECAST, SEE PAGE I -- ‘ ^ INDEX Comics and Crossword..7 Classifieds.10 Horoscopes.7 Letters to the Editor..4 Online Poll..4 Police Report..2 tf