The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 14, 2005, Image 1
www.dailygamecock.com _MONDAY, FEBRUARY 14,2005_ Since 1908
IN THIS ISSUE
♦ NEWS
Kurds, Shiites
' dominate
Iraqi election
Shiites get 48 percent
of vote, forcing Iraqi
Sunnis into a
governmental minority
for the first time in
modern history.
Page 3
♦ VIEWPOINTS
Choosingyour
SG officials
The Gamecock editorial
board interviews and
endorses candidates for
Student Government
executive offices.
Page 5
♦ THE MIX
Come
together
Unity Week starts with
musical performances
from diverse groups and
an appearance by
Cocky. It will end with
Dance Marathon.
Page 6
♦ SPORTS
Baseball takes
opening series
The USC baseball team
rallies around strong
pitching to sweep
Longwood in the season
opener at Sarge Frye
Field.
Page 9
WEATHER
♦ TODAY
High 6 1
LOW 4 6
FOR EXTENDED FOR
♦TUE.
High 7 2
Low 4 8
[CAST. SEE PAGE 2.
INDEX
Comics & Crossword.....8
Classifieds.11
Horoscopes..8
Letters to the Editor..5
Online Poll.. 5
Police Report..fi
SG official predicts
increased turnout
By JON TURNER
THE GAMECOCK
Elections workers are gearing up for
Monday’s Student Government elections,
as candidates work to promote student
turnout.
Elections Commissioner Stacy Rainey
said SG had invested in a variety of projects
to arouse interest among students, and that
she expected a higher turnout than in
previous years.
“We had a lot of promotional items this
year, so we’re hoping that will help get the
word out, and we’re giving out more
promotional items Monday and Tuesday,”
said Rainey, a fourth-year nursing student.
She said that about 10 percent of USC
students voted in last year’s elections, but
that turnout would probably be higher this
year, and that the number of participating
students has increased every year she
attended USC.
“With so many more candidates, I
think that more people will be involved,”
she said. “They’ll think, ‘Oh, I know
somebody that’s running, or, oh, I saw this
person or that person.’”
First-year business student Shea
McKenna said campaign dedication was
the biggest factor in his voting decisions,
adding that his choices basically depended
on “who wants it most.”
“I often see Justin Turner outside the
Russell House, so I’m impressed with his
dedication,” McKenna said.
Voting begins at 9 a.m. Monday and
will continue until 5 p m. Tuesday.
Students caji vote by signing on to the VIP
Web site at http://vip.sc.edu and selecting
“Elections” under the “Personal” tab.
McKenna said he would definitely vote
Monday, and that he already had an idea
who he would vote for.
Rainey said SG would be passing out a
multitude of promotional items.
“We gave out litde basketballs, hackey
sack-sized basketballs after the basketball
games. We’ve been giving out pens and
mints. And we’ve given out some
ChapStick, but most of those will go out
tomorrow and the next day. We’re giving
out fortune cookies and fake roses,” she said.
Second-year business student Stephanie
Grainger said she knew about the elections,
but that she hadn’t yet picked any
favorites.
“I do know they’re on Monday and
Tuesday and that it’s on VIP,” she said,
but she added that she hadn’t yet examined
the candidates’ platforms on the SG Web
site, http://wvvw.sg.sc.edu/elections.htm.
“I’ll probably vote Tuesday,” Grainger
said.
McKenna said he’d made up his mind
about his vote for president and treasurer,
but that he wasn’t sure about his choice for
vice president.
He said he was hoping for a candidate
to sway him before he cast his vote.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe I’ll see
something before then.”
Comments on this story? E-mail
gamecocknews@gwm.sc. edu
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PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK
Student Government Elections begin at 9 a.m. Monday and run until
5 p.m. Tuesday. Students can vote by logging on to USC’s Visual
Information Processing Web page at http://vip.sc.edu.
CLEAN-UP DUTY
KATIE KIRKLAND/THE GAMECOCK
USC junior firstbaseman Neil Giesler, right, flips the ball to starting pitcher, senior Zac McCamie, in Saturday’s 5-1 victory over Longwood.
Delays halt nanoscientist’s research
By KEVIN FELLNER
THE GAMECOCK
A construction delay has been
holding up completion of a renovation
project in Sumwalt College for a new
laboratory to be used by one of USC s
top scientists and the highest paid state
employee.
Richard Webb, the first faculty
member to be hired under USC’s state
lottery-funded endowed chairs program,
has been waiting since July to move into
his lab and continue research he was
working on while a faculty member at
the University of Maryland.
“We’re six months and counting
now, so it’s been a significant delay,”
Webb said.
The stakes are high for USC to get
Webb into the lab, as the administration
has focused on nanoscience as one of its
top priorities for research funding. USC
received $4 million through the
endowed chairs program in summer
2003 for the NanoCenter and must
support it with matching funds.
Webb is also the highest paid
employee on South Carolina’s payroll,
with an annual salary of $247,200.
While recruiting Webb in 2003, USC
President Andrew Sorensen often
compared him to the caliber of Nobel
Prize-winning scientists.
Vice President for Research Harris
Pastides said the circumstances for the
delay have been unavoidable.
“It’s completely a construction delay,
and it’s concerning the building’s
magnetic fields and putting his lab
together in the appropriate way,”
Pastides said.
Crews have been working for more
than four months to ground the
building and reduce magnetic
resistance. The process involves drilling
metal rods into the ground underneath
Sumwalt — and now the area next to
Wardlaw — to lower resistance
between terminals to a certain ohm
level.
“We’re having a technical problem
since one of his labs has to be grounded
— very, very precisely grounded,” said
David Pond, managing director of
USC’s Nanocenter. He added that USC
has hired the country’s top experts to
work on the grounding process.
While waiting for his lab to be
finished, Webb is teaching classes and
serving on faculty hiring committees
looking to hire similar researchers in
♦ Please see DELAY, page 3
Students find academic differences abroad
By ELIZABETH KELLER
the gamecock
GRENOBLE, France — When most
students make plans to study abroad, they
base their destination around the potential
for sightseeing or other attractions.
But students studying abroad still have
to go to class, as second-year history student
Austin Bersinger recently discovered.
While enjoying the Alps and adjusting
to French culture, Bersinger is taking
classes at the University of Grenoble 3.
“It’s a whole different world,” he said.
“You have to ^asp not just the concepts,
but you have to grasp them in a foreign
language. It’s more difficult.”
Before attending a single class,
Bersinger had to test into the appropriate
level in French. He remembers the oral test
as a daunting experience.
“The French woman just looked at me
in disbelief as to how little French I actually
knew,” he said.
Because Bersinger is participating in the
Language Intensive Program and his
language skills are limited, he skipped the
written portion of the test.
After all students had taken the
placement test, the ^professors ranked each
student within the group.
Bersinger was placed into a group with
another student from his program.
Through his program, Bersinger
attends four hours of class, five days a week.
“Before studying abroad, I thought a
two-hour lab at USC was difficult to sit
through,” he said. “Four hours of a French
woman telling you that you can t speak
French is another story.”
Bersinger said he takes weekly tests to
assess his progress in French fluency and
completes a half-hour of daily homework.
He said he is used to a test once a month
and hours of homework nighdy ati USC,
he said.
Bersinger describes the classroom
experience in France as stress-free
compared to American schools.
“At USC ifl don’t get an A in a class, it
really bothers me. Here, if I get a 10 out of
20,1 pass. I don’t feel stressed.”
Not even a full course load keeps
Bersinger from enjoying the Alpine snow.
He called his 8:30 a.m. classes “killer,”
but said, “At least I’m done at 12:30 and
can be on the slopes by 1 p.m.”
Comments on this story? E-mail
gamecockneivs@gwm.sc. edu
Scott calls
final term
pleasant,
poignant
By TAYLOR SMITH
STAFF WRITER
The days before the Student
Government election to replace him as
SG president have given Zachery Scott an
opportunity to look back at his
accomplishments and frustrations in
office.
“I have spent four years in Student
Government and have made my impact,”
Scott said. “It is now time to pass on the
torch.”
After a year as chief executive officer of
the student body, Scott has overseen
expansion of the Collegiate Readership
Program, helped create South Carolina
State Student Association and resisted
criticisms of his open-homosexuality.
That criticism has extended even to
the present. Randy Dargan, former co
chairman of the College Republicans and
SG presidential candidate, said Scott
misled USC students by not disclosing
his homosexuality until he was in office.
“I think it has affected his
administration a little bit,” Dargan said
of Scott’s sexual orientation.
bcott said he doesn t think his
homosexuality, which he said he
admitted long before any previous SG
elections, affected any of his campaigning
or election results. He said he has
received a lot of student support about
his sexual orientation, but doesn’t
appreciate when people criticize his
administration for it.
“1 have done well because of my
abilities,” Scott said. “I respect people’s
opinions; if they have something wrong
with me, that is fine, but keep it to the
topic it relates to, not Student
Government.”
Since taking the oath of office March
17, Scott promised two things to USC
students: to establish the Collegiate
Readership program and to further
SCSSA.
He and SG Treasurer Cameron
Burnette said they feel like they’ve
successfully accomplished these goals.
“I do think we were able to
accomplish what we wanted to do,”
Burnette said. “We all wanted to run on
the readership program and that was
hard, but Zach was the reason it
happened.”
Scott said one of his administration’s
highlights has beer to get the support of
all the deans for the readership program,
which supplies students with daily issues
of The New York Times, USA Today
and The Wall Street Journal.
“We are really happy about it,” Scott
said. “Our goal was to expand it not only
through the number of issues, but also
through diversity.”
Scott was elected to chairman of the
board of presidents in SCSSA in its
infancy, but he will be leaving the
statewide education advocacy
organization after the next president takes
office.
♦ Please see SCOTT. page^4