The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 21, 2005, Image 1
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2005 * —
Williams, Preston
win runoff elections
• Candidates thank
supporters for work
during campaigns
By JON TURNER
NEWS EDITOR
Voters elected Justin Williams,
a third-year public relations
student, as Student Government
president on Friday in a runoff
election.
Tommy Preston, a second-year
political- science student, was
elected treasurer.
Williams emerged from a dead
heat to beat fourth-year public
relations student Yvonne Miller by
about 11 percent of the vote;
Preston maintained his early lead
against third-year biology student
Jenna Cook.
Only 15 votes had separated
Miller from Williams after the first
election Feb. 14 and 15. Williams
more than made up the difference
in the runoff, topping Miller by
232 votes.
“We both received 17 percent,”
Williams said. “So I knew this
election, the runoff, was not about
our platforms or what we were
trying to do, really. It was about
getting those people who voted
once to vote again.”
Preston was in Washington,
D.C., Friday afternoon, but he
learned of his victory from a
campaign supporter on the scene
of the announcement.
“I think people here
appreciated the vision I have for
USC, and I think they realized I
would do a good job,” he said. “I
definitely have to thank all of
those people who voted for me,
worked for the campaign or even
just stopped to ask questions.”
Fourth-year nursing student
and SG Elections Commissioner
Stacy Rainey said the turnout for
the runoff had been almost as
pleasant a surprise as the regular
election turnout.
“For the first election 1 was very
excited, that was double last year,”
she said. “We were really, really
pleased with those numbers.”
She said the elections
commission had expected fewer
students to vote a second time.
“Runoffs always have a lower
turnout. By the end of the week a
lot of people are tired of hearing
about it,” she said. “When you
have fewer candidates, you have
fewer people getting the word out.”
Williams said his first job as
president-elect is to thank his
supporters, but after that he plans
to begin organizing a cabinet and
meeting with other officials.
“My staff did a great job,” he
said. “I worked really hard, but it
wasn’t anything I did on my own
at all. So now it’s time for the hard
job.”
Williams said that for a few
weeks he would have to work
with Preston and vice president
elect Ryan Holt to discuss the
implementation of their
platforms and reconcile any
differences.
“Notice, Ryan had a platform,
Tommy had a platform and I had
a platform. In order for Student
government to run efficiently, we
all need to be on the same page,”
he said.
Williams also pointed out his
need to appoint a cabinet.
“I can’t do everything by
myself, and if the things in my
platform are going to get done,
but the main thing is that I need
to appoint a cabinet,” he said.
“In the next week or two, those
things are going to start to be
established, and once we get that
established, get our team right, get
everything running smooth, then
we’re going to start working with
students.
“First of all, one thing we re
♦ Please see RESULTS, page 3
BY THE NUMBERS
SG Election Results
PRESIDENTIAL RUNOFF ELECTIOl
Yvonne Miller 893
Justin Williams 1,125
PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY ELECTION:
Steven Byrd 536
Bill Daniel 122
Randy Dargan 602
Preston Grisham 378
Ben Havird 450
Yvonne Miller 715
Neal Truslow 322
Justin Turner 336
Justin Williams 700
4 RUNOFF ELECTION, TREASURER:
Jenna Cook 642
Tommy Preston 1,353
PRIMARY ELECTION. TREASURER.
Jenna Cook 934
Anna Fox 818
Victoria Moore 488
Preston 1,599
(VOTE
Graph* by Char McCarthy
NICK ESARES/THE GAMECOCK
Student Government President-elect Justin Williams, right, shakes hands with a supporter after the SG
Elections Commission announced Friday Williams had won the election. He won by about 11 percent.
IN THIS ISSUE
♦ THE MIX
And the
winner is...
The Nickelodeon
presents the Nick
Favorite Favorite Film
Marathon. Featured
films include
‘Casablanca’ and ‘A
Clockwork Orange.'
Page 5
♦ SPORTS
The one that
didn’t get away
The women’s basketball
team won its first SEC
game Sunday, defeating
Alabama, 66-57.
Page 8
INDEX
Comics & Crossword...7
Classifieds.10
Horoscopes..7
Letters to the Editor.....4
Online Poll..4
Police Report..2
Board of trustees meets
to address building plans
By TAYLOR SMITH
STAFF WRITER
The USC Board of Trustees
convened Friday for its first meeting
of the year, resulting in several
changes around campus that will
affect students.
Approval for plans constructing a
new band hall, rare book wings
adjacent to the Thomas Cooper
Library and several housing
renovations were among the board’s
most important decisions.
“Every meeting will have a
different emphasis, but today that
emphasis was building and grounds,”
said chairman of the board Herbert
Adams. “Building and grounds was
key, but we also refocused and had
discussion of our goals, which were
also very important.”
Adams said the decisions reflect an
emphasis on the board’s goals as well
as the improvement of student and
faculty life.
The board signed on all 10 items up
for construction approval. It approved
an addition to the Thomas Cooper
Library and construction of a band hall
for the USC Marching Band. The
board also approved the installation of
elevators in several USC residence halls
and the School of Medicine, and
renovations to 1600 Hampton St.
“The band hall has been moving
for a long time, and we will replace it
with classrooms and lab space,”
Adams said.
In other business, the board
approved a name change in the
College of Nursing from a Doctor of
Nursing to a Doctor of Nursing
Practice, which Adams said was done
to “facilitate recruitment . and
advisement activities.”
In the Intercollegiate Activities
Committee meeting, athletic director
Mike McGee gave a report that
informed the board of a fine being
^ JL
levied against USC by the SEC, which
cited conduct by USC fans after the
Gamecocks’ recent win over Kentucky.
“They knew that what they were
going to do was not appropriate,”
McGee said in his report.
The report was well-received by
the committee, with the exception of
board member Michael Mungo, who
recommended stiffer punishments
and possible expulsion for students
who violate the rules.
“There is no penalty to the
students, and we need to adopt a very
outspoken policy now,” Mungo said
in the meeting. “So they want to run
out on the court. Then fine, you
can’t come to school next semester.”
The next USC Board of Trustees
meeting is scheduled for March 17 at
11:30 a.m. in the Campus Room at
the Capstone House.
Comments on this story ? E-mail
gamecocknews@gwm.sc.edu
Dance Marathon nets record sum
By SYDNEY SMITH
STAFF WRITER
More than 300 students raised
$86,921.82 for charity by
participating in Dance Marathon on
Friday and Saturday, and organizers
are expecting even more donations in
the mail.
At least 90 percent of the funds
raised will be donated to Palmetto
Health Children’s Hospital in
Columbia, with the remaining
donations reserved for funding next
year’s Dance Marathon.
Dance Marathon 2005 bested
previous years’ Dance Marathons,
involving nearly 300 participants and
bringing in nearly $3,000 more in
donations than in 2004. Two
hundred sixty of the 301 registered
dancers attended, as well as the 30
members of the Dance Marathon
executive committee, volunteers and
morale leaders.
Overall director Josh Black said
participation and donations have
increased at USC each year. This is
USC’s seventh Dance Marathon.
“This was the best dance
marathon ever,” Black said. “Morale
was awesome, the dancers were
awesome. It was an amazing event.”
Black, a fifth-year biology student,
has been involved with Dance
Marathon all five years with the
exception of his third year abroad.
He was first involved dancing as a
Freshman Council member, and last
year he was in charge of recruitment.
Dance Marathon registration
began at 5:30 p.m. Friday. At 7 p.m.,
dancers ran into the gym and started
the 24-hour fund-raiser. Throughout
the night, leaders taught a 15-minute
dance that dancers learned by the end
of the marathon.
Music was provided by a DJ as
well as live bands like McFly, an
‘80s-style cover band that often plays
at Delaney’s in Five Points. Dancers
also played games and watched
* ml
Sunday Night Alive perform. Each
group was assigned an hour to
entertain the dancers.
Second-year advertising student
Katie Fitz has been a part of the event
for two years. The first year she
participated, she volunteered as a
dancer. This year she was put in
charge of her own creatively themed
dance group, the “Wacky Waldos.”
Sometimes all the dancing tires
students out.
“It’s really refreshing to change
clothes every once and while,” Fitz
said.
Though she was still tired Sunday
night, Fitz said she didn’t regret her
involvement in a good cause.
“When you see the family come in
with these beautiful children and
they’re smiling,” the direct impact of
the dancers’ efforts is obvious, she
said.
Comments tm this story? E-mail
gamecockneTVs@givm.se. edit
*
DEAN DIALOGUE
NICK ESARES/THE GAMECOCK
Patricia Moody, dean of the College of Hospitality, Retail and
Sports Management, examines proposals for the school’s
new building. The HRSM college is under the Coliseum.
Moody says college
needs new identity
By TAYLOR SMITH
STAFF WRITER
Continually suffering the
effects of academic
claustrophobia underneath the
Carolina Coliseum, the College
of’Hospitality, Retail and Sport
Management has big plans for
the future.
Dean Patricia Moody can
remember when she came to
USC in 1982, a transition
period that saw a very different
HRSM school.
“The college has made some
dramatic changes since then,
and it is not even the same
place,” Moody said. “The
college now bears little
resemblance to the one then.”
Space continues to be a
concern of university
administrators and students as it
was 20 years ago. Today, the
college shares its space
underneath the Coliseum with
the College of Mass
♦ Please see HRSM, page 3
Study says high schools
teach sub-par economics
By LIZ SKELLY
THE GAMECOCK
South Carolina high-school
students averaged a failing grade
in a recent economic literacy
survey, confirming the suspicions
of some economists.
The 2004 Survey of Economic
Literacy, sponsored by the South
Carolina attorney general’s office,
the South Carolina Council on
Economic Education and Merrill
Lynch tested high-school students’
basic knowledge of the U.S
economy and important economic
terms covered by South Carolina
academic standards.
Representing the full range of
the South Carolina poverty index,
the survey drew from 529 students
in 10 high schools. The average
score between schools was 53
percent. Individual schools’ scores
ranged from 38 percent to 61
percent correct. Even the best
♦ Pleas&see LACKING, page 3
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