dailygamecock.com TUESDAY, MARCH 30, 2010
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
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Grad students feel budget cuts Pastides, administration address concerns in loss of stimulus funds Jonathan Battaglia
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VOL. 103, NO. 117 ● SINCE 1908
2010 Baseball Preview The USC baseball team looks to be gin a new winning streak tonight as it takes on conference leader Citadel at house.
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President Harris Pastides and members of the administration spoke to graduate students Monday about how the budget crisis is affecting the school’s funding. Pastides, who was joined by Provost Michael Amiridis, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Ted Moore and Interim Graduate School Dean James Buggy, called the current situation a “particularly nasty economic environment.” The University is expecting a 21 percent state funding cut for the next fiscal year, according to Moore. Graduate Student Association President Alan Tauber hosted the dialogue, which brought about 10 graduate students to Gambrell Hall. Last year, the University cut over one hundred graduate assistance ships to respond to state funding cuts. “We wanted to reassure graduate students that they’re still a priority,” Tauber said. “This was a great opportunity to increase the transparency of these budget cuts and how they affect graduate students.” Pastides said he has had discussions with Tauber about the declining quality of graduate housing, health insurance and recruiting top faculty to the University. “I am ver y s y mpat het ic to t he sit uat ion [graduate students] are going through,” said Pastides, who credited his ascension to the presidency at USC to a supportive graduate prog r a m at a pre v iou s u n iver sit y. “ T h i s Universit y has become more dependent on graduate students than ever before. You are truly a pillar of this University.” Funding for graduate students, along with other aspects of the University, had been aided by federal stimulus money during the last fiscal year. Without this money, Pastides said the University would have to make tougher decisions
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Alan Tauber addresses members of the University’s administration discuss budget issues Monday. than ever before. The next fiscal year will include what Moore called a “cliff problem” — the loss of stimulus money t hat had sof tened t he blow of t he economic crisis. State funding will become the fifth-largest source of income for the University, lower than it ever has been before. “There are other states that are in the same situation as us,” Pastides said of the cuts. “But ot hers, like Texas, are invest ing heav ily in their research universities. We will not gain our rightful place as a top research University without top graduate assistants.” Amiridis, who is in his fi rst year as the Vice President for Academic Affairs, said that despite the cuts, there is some good news for incoming graduate students. The Universit y started a new Presidential Doctoral Fellowship, which will raise stipends for 30 graduate students a year. The program, which will provide for $300,000 to $400,000
worth of stipends raises per year, is meant to groom graduate students for potential faculty positions. In addit ion, A miridis said he expects for minimum class enrollment requirements to relax. This year, classes in the College of Arts and Sciences were required to have at least seven students enroll to remain on the schedule. Long-ter m com m it ment s to st ipends or fellowships are also safe, according to Amiridis. The number of elective courses, which had taken a large hit during the budget crisis, will likely remain similar to what they were this year. Pastides said that he hopes the state legislature will make higher education a larger priority after the budget crisis is over. “I don’t think it is a time to be protesting this year, but next year it might be. Comments on this story? E-mail sagcknew@mailbox.sc.edu
Bestselling author visits Romance novelist Nicholas Sparks spoke at the Koger Center Monday a b o u t th e i n s p i r ati o n for his 15 books that take place around the Carolinas.
Rebecca Holderman National Association of Social Workers honors graduate student
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Greek Week participants compete in a three-legged race on a field at Strom.
Annual Greek Week brings competitions across campus Sororities, fraternities fundraise for Carolina Sunshine for Children Kara Apel & Jonathan Battaglia
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NEWS EDITORS
Sunday kicked off Greek Week for USC’s social fraternities and sororities and will continue until Thursday. All week long, Greek organizations on c a mpu s w i l l pa r t ic ipate i n different activities to win the Greek Week championship and fundraise for Carolina Sunshine for Children. Sorority Council Vice President of Programming Danielle Baker said this philanthropy was picked because the council wanted to do something for t he com mu n it y as a whole and promote greater community involvement. Teams will raise money through chapter donations and a week-long penny war. Teams are made up of different g roupi ng s of soror it ies a nd fraternities and participation points, attendance and the amount of money raised will decide the Greek Week champions.
Baker, a third-year finance student, organized all of the events this year and said she wanted to make events more challenging and fun. Baker was on the Greek Programming Board last year and said she had a lot of fun helping. “I had a lot of ideas to improve on things and get more people involved by having more physical activities,” Baker said. Ba ker, a member of G a m ma Phi Beta Sorority, said she sees an improvement in this year’s Greek Week and said there has already been more participation than last year. “We’ve had a greater turnout than ever before,” Baker said. “It’s different than it’s ever been and it’s a lot of fun.” The week kicked off with Greek Awards, which gave out individual and chapter achievement awards and scholarships to different members of Greek organizations. On Monday, there was a banner competition and a water fun day. Today ’s ac t iv it ie s i nclude a jousting tournament at the Strom fields. Team members will compete in the inflatable jousting tournament Greek ● 2
Ever since she took her first social work class as an undergraduate at Eastern Washington Universit y, Rebecca Holderman knew that was her passion. Now as a USC graduate student, her commitment to giving back recently led her to be named Graduate Student of the Year by South Carolina’s chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. “There’s so many things you can do as a volunteer,” Holderman said. “I love seeing people be successful for themselves.” After earning her undergraduate degree in social work, Holderman worked in Miami, Seattle and in the Eastern Caribbean with the Peace Corps before she chose USC for graduate school. Her recent recognition was one of four awards that the NASW offers each year. According to a news release, the other awards are presented to an undergraduate student, a social worker and a citizen who exemplifies the values of social work. Holderman said she was nominated for the honor by peers from her classes and internship,
where she is an interpreter in the Center for Child and Family Studies’ HABLA Project. Staffed mainly by bilingual USC students, the Hispanic A ssistance and Biling ual Access Project is a telephonic interpretation service for state agencies, the project’s Web site said. Holderman said the clients she works with are mainly social service recipients, and she translates and interprets for them over the phone. Her favorite part of her work is how meaningful it is, she said. “We believe in people and we believe in empowerment,” Holderman said. A c c ord i n g t o t he Web s it e , t he H A BL A P r oj e c t p r o v id e s interpretation and translation services for the SC Department of Social Services, the Department of Health and Environmental Control and other community organizations. A t USC , Holder m a n i s a l s o president of the Black Social Work Student Association and a member of the Social Work Student Association and the social work honor society, Phi Alpha. She will graduate in May with a master of social work degree. A nat ive of Chehal is, Wash., Holder ma n chose USC for her graduate studies after spending two years with the Peace Corps in St. Kitts in the Eastern Caribbean. “I looked for opportunities through Social ● 2
Courtesy of Rebecca Holderman / THE DAILY GAMECOCK
Holderman works for the Hispanic Assistance and Bilingual Access Project, which interprets phone calls for state agencies.