NEWS 1 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2015
VOL. 116, NO. 115 • SINCE 1908
WBB preparing for Tampa| Page 10
Not done yet
Lauren Shirley
An estimated
26%
0.3%
of transgender survey participants reported losing a job because they did not conform to gender norms.
53%
@SURELYLAUREN
of U.S. adults are transgender.
63% of transgender survey participants experienced a serious act of discrimination.
of transgender respondents reported being verbally harassed or disrespected in a place of public Graphic by Bianca Correa/ THE DAILY GAMECOCK accomodation.
The Transgender Day of Visibility is every year on March 31, and this year the day will be celebrated here on USC’s campus. Tuesday night will offer a screening of “TransVisible: Bamby Salcedo’s Story,” a film about Bamby Salcedo, a trans Latina woman, who i s now a n i nt er n at ion a l leader and trans community advocate. The screening is scheduled at the USC Law S c ho ol , ro om 135 f rom 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. and will of fer a pa nel d isc u ssion following the presentation of the movie. The panel will consist of local Trans women talking about their lives and experiences in activism. The event is sponsored by LGBT Programs at USC, the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs, SC Equality TransAction Network and BGLSA. According to the
e v e nt ’s Fa c e b o ok p a g e , the documentary seeks to “educate the public about the courage and resilience of Trans people in the face of adversity, and it will also reveal how connected we are through the shared values of love, commitment and compassion for one another.” Tr a n s g e n d e r D a y o f Visibilit y was founded in 2010 by a Michigan-based transgender activist Rachel Crandall. Her vision was to i nspi re a nd celebrate transgender people in lieu of the typical approach to LGBT holidays. Per Crandall’s vision, the main goal of observed day is to show support for the Transgender com mu n it y — unlike the Transgender Day of Remembrance — it is a day to be empowered a n d b r i n g at t e nt io n t o t he accompl ish ment s of transgender people around the globe. The movie screening is SEEVISIBILITYPAGE3
Adventure Trips get students outdoors Lauren Shirley
@SURELYLAUREN
For some students, planning a trip can be difficult, but USC Outdoor Recreation (ORec) has come up with a way to ease that frustration. With Adventure Trips by ORec, students are able to go on a weekend or day trip that has already been planned for them. ORec present s t he t r ips i n a n easily accessible way — with online descriptions, deadlines, costs, an it i ner a r y a nd wh at to br i ng, it el im i nates a ny pla n n i ng a nd prepping that students must do in order to take the trip. Pla n ned by ORec coord i nator Bla i n Fole y a nd t he A d vent u re Trip committee, Adventure Trips encompass a wide variety of outdoor activities planned for students. Taylor Wood, fourth-year global supply chain and human resources student and the rental shop manager at Strom said the backpacking trips are by far the most popular, drawing in the highest amount of participants. “This semester we scheduled only one and it fi lled up within the fi rst t wo weeks of t he semester so we actually created another trip,” Wood
said. But for ORec, it’s not just t he same-old, same-old every year. In fact, they’re trying to add more trips to their list yearly in order to draw more students to the adventures. “We’ve tried to branch out and try new places and new trips,” Wood said. “I think that might continue into the next semester.” A mong the newer trips was the canoe weekend where students were given the opportunity to canoe out to a camping location and spend the night there, canoeing back in the morning. Wood said it was the first time they had utilized the canoes that are rentable at the ORec office for one of their Adventure Trips. Foley and the department have already been talk ing about what will be planned for next semester’s outings, but one thing is certain: They are sure to be adventures of their own. “Our department as a whole, all of ORec, our goal is to get people outdoor s a nd ex per ienc i ng new things and testing their limits and SEEADVENTUREPAGE3
Ballroom to battlefield: CP Laser Tag Brittany Franceschina @BRITTA_FRAN
Music could be heard coming from the Russell House Ballroom Monday afternoon for Carolina Productions’ most recent daytime event: laser tag. Students were invited to come to the event anytime from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on March 30. To participate in a free game of laser tag, students were required to present their CarolinaCard and sign a waiver. Six students could play at once, and games lasted about 10 minutes and cycled repeatedly throughout the allotted event time. Players were ranked by their scores,
shots fired and accuracy. They were also given a breakdown of where all their shots hit. The event was planned by CP’s Daytime Events Committee — a brand new committee started by CP last year. The committee is used as a better way to offer events to off-campus students who most often go home after classes and don’t have the opportunity to go to CP’s later evening events. “We’re holding laser tag as a nice stress-reliever for [in between or after] classes,” Michael Brooks, the daytime events coordinator for CP, said. “We do laser tag because laser tag is fun.” T h e e v e nt o c c u r r e d w it h o u t disruption to schedules, according to
Brooks, as it was “tucked away in the ballroom,” and the pit crew were only required to work every other hour giving them a break for classes. The event was paid for through CP’s original budget that allots money out to several different committees by Student Government. According to Brooks, the Daytime Events Committee sat down at the beginning of the year and planned all of the events, deciding laser tag would be one of them. Laser tag had been done in previous semesters and was very successful, so the committee made sure to budget the necessary funds for it. Many students were able to release
energ y and show their competitive sides with friends after a full day of classes or even between their busy schedules. “I was invited by [a friend] ... it was my first time (doing laser tag),” Marcos A lmeida, a second-year electrical engineering student, said. “It was ok. A good experience.” Almeida’s only wish was that the laser tag game could have lasted longer. Brooks said the Daytime Events Committee doesn’t normally like to repeat events, but with the success of laser tag, they felt they couldn’t resist. Brooks was almost certain that the event would be back again.