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Sixteen students lived in the Courtyard by Marriott for the first few weeks of class. PG 4
VOL. 113, NO. 6
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2019
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
Arts
USC’s Department of Theatre and Dance explores immigration in its season-opening play. PG 5
PARKING IN QUESTION Greek life petitions board of trustees for fee refund following change in Greek parking plan
SINCE 1908
Sports
What to watch out for this Saturday’s game vs. Kentucky at Williams-Brice. PG 7
Beyond Student Government:
Student leader creates feminist podcast TAYLOR WASHINGTON Managing Editor
ILLUSTRATION BY: ALEX FINGER // THE GAMECOCK
MEGHAN CRUM News Editor A Greek alumna started a pet it ion on change.org that garnered more than 3,000 signatures in less than 24 hours following the university’s plan to throw out the construction of a Greek parking garage and opt for a surface lot instead. Ma r y R iolo’s pet it ion spread rapid ly through Greek life and received support and signatures from current students, alumni and parents who commented grievances about the new plan and the fee they had been paying since 2016. Riolo is a former member of Alpha Delta Pi and now studies law at USC. Her petition has more than 5,300 signatures as of Sept. 22. “Pa rk i ng is a huge issue on ca mpu s, obv iou sly, so no one here is t r y i ng to discourage anybody from creating more parking,” Riolo said. “It’s just the university should have looked at this in a much more prudent manner and they should have thought more deeply about the ways that this would affect students.” Riolo has since sent the petition to the
board of trustees and university officials and has not received a response. She hopes to get the chance to speak to the board about student grievances with the fee and the parking plan. “I think there’s this theme at this university of, ‘Oh, the board of trustees,’ and everyone in charge has this unvetted power,” Riolo said. “It would be nice if we as students, alumni and parents would be able to have a say if we think something is going wrong.” Riolo said she does not expect a full refund of the Greek Village parking fee from the board of trustees, but would like to see students only pay for the construction of the surface lot and not the redesign of 707 Catawba. She said the remainder of the money should be refunded to students. “When you introduce into somebody’s life a couple hundred dollars out of nowhere, that has a large impact, especially when they’re a student and they’re budgeting,” Riolo said. “Some of my friends were working and paying for everything themselves, paying for schools, paying for their sororities, and it was a huge financial hardship on them.”
Throughout her time at USC, “The Patchwork Feminist” podcast creator and host Lyric Swinton has been quite a familiar face. When you ask her to detail her involvement on campus, she hesitates slightly. There’s so much to remember. The fourth-year sport and entertainment student was the only undergraduate student to speak at the inaugural TEDxUSC, the first secretary of inclusion and equity in Student Government, the 2019 UofSC MLK Social Justice Award winner and a resident mentor on the historic Horseshoe. More recently, she was a vocal participant in the protests surrounding the controversial election of university President Bob Caslen over the summer. However, there was one outing as a public figure that changed the course of her life forever. Last spring, Swinton ran for student body president and entered a highly publicized run-off against current Student Body President Luke Rankin, who ultimately received 53.1% of the votes. The loss prompted an ident it y crisis for Swinton, as this was the first time she went into the following school year without a title and other immediate plans. “I had to really do a lot of soul searching about, who am I? Am I still a leader without a title? Do people still want to listen to me if I don’t have a certain position or things like that?” Swinton said. “I really just had to, really get to know myself for the first time in a long time.” It was this self-reflection and reliance on her faith that helped prepare her for this semester’s unlikely venture into podcasting. “I’ve always had a passion for public speaking, but this is completely different. It’s a lot more intimate,” Swinton said. “The Patchwork Feminist” is a podcast that takes a deep dive into pressing issues and analyzes them through the lenses of women of color. Swinton created the podcast after she enjoyed her experience guest starring on a friend’s podcast last semester. Over the summer, she left her comfort zone and applied to create a podcast of her own with Garnet Media Group. SEE SWINTON PAGE 3
SEE PARKING PAGE 4
SHREYAS SABOO // THE GAMECOCK
Fourth-year sport and entertainment student Lyric Swinton poses in a recording studio in this photo portrait.
See PAGE 7 to read about Samantha Chang
Student ticketing office revokes football privileges ANANDA KOBIEROWSKI News Writer The student ticketing office revoked mu lt iple st udent s’ 2019 football ticket privileges b ef ore t he A l ab a m a g a me following reports of attempts to buy or sell either their own or other students’ tickets. In the USC class Facebook pages many students join when t he y ent er USC , s t udent s
ETHAN LAM // THE GAMECOCK
post inquiries to buy and sell football tickets for the games, wristbands for the Fraternity and Memorial lots and textbooks. USC is one of the only schools in the SEC that has free tickets for sporting events, so paying for tickets in any way is considered against the rules. SEE TICKETING PAGE 2
VANESSA PURPURA // THE GAMECOCK
University of South Carolina students in student section react to the football game at Williams-Brice Stadium on Sept. 14 against Alabama.