The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 11, 2006, Image 1
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JAMECOCK
The University of South Carolina Tuesday, April 11, 2006 Vol. 99, No. 84 • Since 1908
Without coach,
USC debate team
suspended for year
• _
Team won national championships in 2004, 2005
Doug IDantooth
THE GAMECOCK
USC’s. national champion
debate team has been suspended
for the upcoming year because of
changes in the coaching staff, said
Mary Anne Fitzpatrick, dean of
the college of arts and sciences,
leaving team members to wonder
about the future of the program.
The team, which won
the National Parliamentary
Tournament of Excellence in
2004 and 2005, lost its longtime
coach David Berube to the
nanotechnology department last
year. This year’s coach, Alan
Tauber, will be a doctoral student
and professor next year and no
longer has time to coach the team,
he said.
“I think debate team is a
wonderful thing, but we have no
coach,” Fitzpatrick said.
The decision to suspend the
team came as a shock to the
• debaters and their coach, who
heard the news after returning
from a national competition at the
end of March.
“I think it’s pretty terrible,”
said Chris Dickson, a fourth-year
political science and economics
student. “I don’t understand why
there’s any reason to cut the
team.”
Dickson, a four-year member of
the debate team, will graduate in
May, leaving only three students
on the team. The team had been
recruiting transfer students,
incoming freshman, and one
graduate student, but Berube told
those students to consider other
options because there would be no
debate team at USC.
Berube coached the team
from 1990 to 2005, but left to
pursue other interests in the
nanotechnology field. He said he
has been trying to distance himself
from the debate team because
it was “time for him to move
on.” His temporary replacement,
Tauber, is a recent law school
DEBATE • 6
Fallen fraternity brother
honored with scholarship
(Iicole Couiell
THE GAMECOCK
Greeks and non-Greeks alike
met at Village Idiot on Monday
• for food and music that supported
a scholarship in memory of Blayne
Brown.
Alpha Tau Omega President
Zach Baker, a third-year political
science student, said the fraternity
wanted a way to commemorate
Brown’s life.
Brown was pledging ATO when,
on the first day of spring break
last month, a car accident ended
his life.
“He was such a great guy,”
JL.
Baker said.
Jonathan Miller, Brown’s big
brother in ATO, agreed.
“He was so genuine, always
willing to help others,” Miller
said.
Brown was described as a strong
Christian with upstanding morals.
“He didn’t like to drink and was
always out serving his community,”
Baker said.
Brown worshipped at Shandon
Baptist of Columbia and was
an active member of FCA. He
aspired to be .a sports editor
and was a student in the college
of hospitality, retail and sport
BROTHER • 1
Katy Blalock / THE GAMECOCK
Shane Windmeyer signs copies of his book “Out on Fraternity
Row” Monday night in the Russell House Ballroom. Windmeyer’s
speech was part of Homophobia Awareness Week.
Gay? Greek?
Author speaks on homosexuality in frat life
JoshuaHabon
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
Shane Windmeyer, author
of “Out on Fraternity Row,”
spoke to students Monday
night about homosexuality in
the Greek community.
Second-year real estate
student Greg Publik said he
came to the event as a Greek
Life member concerned about
the issue.
“I feel that this is an
important issue for our Greek
community to talk about and
educate themselves about,”
Publik said.
Windmeyer asked the
audience one question he
said was critical to his entire
presentation:
“What would you do if your
best friend told you he was
gay?”
Windmeyer also took an
informal poll of the audience to
determine the number of Greek
and heterosexual students
attending the presentation.
Some heterosexual students
were asked to come on stage to
calculate their GPA - gay point
average.
“It’s just a four-question
test,” Windmeyer said. “I made
it up myself. It’s not scientific
like gay-dar.”
The participants were asked
to identify the geometric
symbol associated with the gay
community, the colors of the
gay flag, the Greek symbol with
historically gay significance
and three actors/actresses who
are gay or play gay characters.
AUTHOR • >1
PROTEST
FOCUSES ON
PROPOSED
IMMIGRATION
LEGISLATION
Thousands march
on State House Monday
DreuiBroohs
■. THE GAMECOCK
A crowd of shouting, chanting,
flag-waving, sign-wielding
protesters descended on the State
Elouse on Monday to make their
voices heard.
The crowd, which organizers
estimated to be between 5,000 and
6,000 people, contained concerned
citizens of multiple races, varied
ages and all realms of society who
filled the front lawn and spilled
onto the sidewalk near Gervais
Street.
The marchers, organized by
the Coalition for New South
Carolinians, met at Finlay Park
State House an hour later.
They protested recently
proposed legislation to
criminalize illegal immigrants.
Instead, those present wanted to
push for legislation that would
offer citizenship to millions of
the nation’s illegal immigrant
population.
Edgar Medina, a volunteer,
described the protest as a chance
to prove that democracy works.
“We just want to be Americans,”
he said.
Addressing a sea of protestors
with signs that said, “We are
brothers” and “Workers, not
criminals,” Irma Santana said
“immigrants from all over the
world make America.”
Santana, a member of Hispanic
Outreach, helped coordinate the
event with help from the South
Carolina Progressive Network.
Santana said Columbia was one
of 132 cities nationwide where
similar marches took place.
Other cities playing host to
protesters included Atlanta,
Los Angeles, Phoenix, Chicago,
Boston “and Washington, D.C.
The event featured prominent
city and state leaders, including
politicians and preachers. All
speeches were given in Spanish
PROTEST • 1
Organization stresses importance of organ donation
flshleigh Orthen
THE GAMECOCK
Students for Organ Donations
— a student-run, non-profit
organization dedicated to
promoting organ and tissue
awareness and registration
— expressed the importance of
becoming an organ donor Monday
to commemorate Donate for Life
month in front of the Russell
House.
“We want to promote organ
and tissue donations on campus
because students do not realize
that there are 91,500 people on
• the national waiting list for organs
and tissues,” said Tina Zhang,
Students for Organ Donations
president and second-year biology
student.
Together with Campus Wellness,
Students for Organ Donations
looks to make a difference in
the growing international public
health crisis: the shortage of vital
organs and tissues.
Megan Conklin, a public health
graduate student, said students
need to know the good they can
do by being a donor.
“It is important for students to
know the amount of lives you can
help by being an organ donor,”
she said.
Many people in America are
mistaken when thinking the only
proof they need is the heart
symbol on their driver’s licenses
that symbolizes they are an organ
donor, Conklin said.
“Just because you have it on
your driver’s license does not
necessarily mean your organs will
be taken if something were to
happen,” Conklin said. “You need
to let your loved ones know so
they can grant the right to have
your organs donated.”
According to Students for Organ
Donations, 40 South Carolinians
died while waiting for a transplant
in 2003. South Carolina also has
the highest rate of kidney disease,
meaning one in every eight South
Carolinians will have kidney
failure and will need a transplant.
“One donor can save eight lives
and enhance 48,” Zhang said.
According to Donate for Life’s
Web site, about 74 people receive
organ transplants each day, but 18
people die each day waiting for
transplants because of the organ
shortage.
There are many myths
accompanied with organ donating,
according,to the Gift of Life Web
site. The Web site said many
people think doctors will not try
to save their life if they know they
want to be a donor.
But the Donate for Life
Web site says the medical staff
trying to save lives is completely
separate from the transplant
team. Donations take place, and
transplant surgeons are called in
only after efforts to save a life
have been exhausted and death is
imminent or has been declared.
“People should not let the
myths and rumors keep them from
saving lives,” Conklin said. “They
should learn the facts and consider
ORGRR • 4
ii' Him win i i in if i i
Meg Gaillard/ THE GAMECOCK
Third-year physical education
student Terrell Howard signs
an organ donor consent form
Monday on Greene Street as part
of Donate Life Week.
Viewpoints
Patrick Cauley delivers
a written Dubya
smackdown; Brandt
Boidy talks about playing
baseball and how we
should appreciate youth.
The Mix
Novel idea
One USC student
tries to publish novel
about relationships
and regretting who you
chouse to marry.
Sports
Rites of spring
The Gamecock
Sports staff offers its
preseason awards
for the best of USC’s
football team.
Index
Comics & Crossword.... 11
Classifieds.14
Horoscopes.11
Opinion.8
Police Report..2