dailygamecock.com UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2019
SINCE 1908
VOL. 112, NO. 7
New USC president has big shoes to fill GENNA CONTINO @GennaContino
Personable. Hardworking. Active in the community. These are some some of the traits USC students said they want to see in a new university president. A mong all t he characterist ics students said they hope the new
president has, there’s one thing m a ny ag re e on: T he y wa nt a president just like Harris Pastides. Diversity and inclusion “Similar to Dr. Pastides where he’s very charismatic, good at public speaking, does his best to connect with students when he’s on campus sort of thing,” second-year finance real estate student Sean Maher said. “So you feel like you k now your
president as opposed to just being the figurehead.” Many students said they didn’t really know what policies fall under the president’s purview, and they haven’t put much thought into what they want in their next president. SEE PRESIDENT PAGE 2
Hooks accuses Forward campaign of falsifying evidence
ZACH MCKINLEY// THE GAMECOCK President Harris Pastides speaks at Pizza with the President in Russell House on Sept. 12, 2018.
‘They keep my day going’: Russell House employees talk students, jobs BRIAN ROSENZWEIG @briandrosie
ETHAN LAM// THE GAMECOCK Speaker of the student senate candidates Nick Hooks and Davis Latham answer questions at the Student Government debate on Feb. 19. Hooks believes the Forward campaign has tried to get him kicked out of the race.
HANNAH DEAR @TDG_dailynews The Forward campaign asked a member of t he campaig n staff and clerk of the student senate to resign after there was insufficient evidence to back up campaign violations against Nick Hooks, speaker of the senate candidate. Davis Latham, the current chief of staff to the speaker of the senate and candidate for the speaker of the senate, responded to the accusations saying his campaign would not lie about evidence of campaign
violations. “ I w o u ld n o t l ie , a n d I w o u ld n e v e r s u p p o r t a n y sort of fraudulent violation,” Latham said. “I think it’s pretty offensive, this idea that I would be in cahoots about that.” Latham later told The Daily Gamecock he had not told the whole trut h because he felt t hat m ist a kes made w it h i n the campaign should be kept internal. “I do not feel like I was as honest as I would have liked to [have] been,” Latham said. Following this statement, Latham said he did not like
how the violation and hearing had proceeded. “I d id n’t l ike t he idea of someone filing something and not having evidence ready,” Latham said. “It just didn’t look good to me.” Hooks’ campaign violation h e a r i n g w a s We d n e s d a y night. Due to the insufficient ev idence, Pat r ick El l is, presidential candidate on the Forward ticket, and Latham bot h asked Jacob Sm it h to resign from the campaign staff and his position as senate clerk.
For many USC students, Russell House employees are a constant in their daily lives. Beyond the line from order to checkout, st udents don’t learn much about t hem and their characters. Behind these brief i nt er ac t ion s a re t he stor ie s of t he se employees, who work tirelessly because of — a nd somet i mes despite — t hei r interactions with the students. Steven Simmons, a cook at Southern Kitchen, spoke about the efforts he and his coworkers make to provide students with substantial meals that match their personal needs. “We basically are making sure that all the students are getting their daily meals and daily amounts of nutritions,” Simmons said. “We try to meet all the needs of everyone. So, if you’re not a meat eater, we have our vegan dishes and vice versa.” Simmons said one of his favorite things on the job was getting recognized for his work. “The things I really like at my job, I wo u ld s a y, i s t he at t e nt io n a nd t he compliments you get from knowing that you did a really good job on your food and people are coming back for more,” Simmons said. I n h is day-to -day i nterac t ions w it h students, Simmons says the majority of his experiences are positive. “I would come across — maybe, I would say rarely — but maybe a few people that are impatient here and there, but that’s the job. That comes with anywhere you go to,” Simmons said. “Fairly everybody’s pretty nice here.” Gabriel Tirado, an employee at Twisted Taco, has a slightly different perspective t han some of his fellow Russell House employees. “I’m a student here on campus as well, so I get to interact with my fellow students of USC, and that’s always a good time,” Tirado said.
SEE HOOKS
SEE EMPLOYEES
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‘Our elevators are terrifying’: Capstone elevators set for upgrade JOSEPH LEONARD @JSCLeonard T he Boa rd of Tr u stee s approved a projec t to f i x the “terrifying” elevators in Capstone. “Capstone elevator controls — they’re highly problematic, and what t his project w ill do is replace t he cont rols entirely with a new, solidstate electronic control,” said Eugene Warr Jr., a trustee. Breanna Robertson, a firstyear psychology student, was excited when she heard that the current elevator controls were going to be replaced with new ones because she is unsatisfied with the current elevators as a whole. “Our elevators are
terrifying,” Robertson said. “They make a lot of weird noises, they make stops on f loors that buttons weren’t pressed for, the doors open before they stop moving.” Rober t son sa id she just wa nt s t he new elevator cont rols to work bec au se in their current state they often skip her floor after she has already pressed her floor number. “If t hey would just stop on t he f loors t hat t hey’re supposed to, that would be awesome,” Robertson said. Connor Tormey, a f irstyea r bu si ne s s u ndecla red st udent, said he has experienced his fair share of problems with the elevators at Capstone House. Apart f rom t hese issues, he said
his overall experience at the Capstone has been what he expected. “ I t ’s a f r e s h m a n y e a r college dorm, so you can’t really expect much from it,” Tormey said. Hunter Taylor, a first-year undeclared student, said he was st uck on t he elevator af ter he had done laundr y and also once had to help his friends get down from level 18 because the elevator was stuck there. “I feel like they’re pretty slow as of right now. It takes a while; sometimes you have to wait a long time before you actually can get the elevator doors to open,” Taylor said. SEE CAPSTONE PAGE 3
INSIDE
COURTESY OF JASON AYER
Arts & Culture
The cast of “The Wolves” trained with the USC women’s soccer coach to perfect their skills. PG 5
Sports South Carolina club gymnastics team competes for the first time this year. PG 7
Opinion ZAHIDA ASHROFF// THE GAMECOCK Elevators in Capstone have not been updated since being built in 1967.
The Daily Gamecock has decided which Student Government candidates to endorse. PG 10