NEWS 1
dailygamecock.com UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
VOL. 106, NO. 33 ● SINCE 1908
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2015
Fraternity Council: Under restructuring
Courtesy of Phillip Carter
Third-year student Phillip Carter tests the bounderies of humor at USC’s Open Mic Night
PAGE 3 Yianna Kyriacou / THE DAILY GAMECOCK
Fraternity Council President Will McCutchen (right) led Monday night’s discussion at the meeting.
T. Michael Boddie @THEHUMANBODDIE
Things always seem to be changing for the Fraternit y Cou ncil at USC . Th is was evident on Monday evening when the Fraternity Council convened for t hei r week ly meeting in Russell House. A lt hou g h Mo nd a y ’s meeting was brief, it focused h e a v i l y o n t h e c o u n c i l ’s plans of “restructuring” and “disbanding” the entity itself. Fraternity Council President Will McCutchen, who presided over the meeting, said that the issue was discussed i n-dept h at a meet i ng last week on Friday, Oct. 30, and that ultimately it was proposed that the fraternity and sorority cou ncils disba nd i nto fou r u mbrel l a g roup s. E ac h of t he umbrella groups would have t hei r ow n re spec t ive delegates and would stand as their own Recognized Student Organizations (RSO). The four potential umbrella RSOs, who are all currently governed by t he Fraternit y Council, would be the National Pa n hel len ic Conference ( N PC), t he Nat ional Pa nHellenic Council ( N PHC); t he Mu lt ic u lt u r a l Greek C ou nc i l ( MG C ), a nd t he
Interfraternity Council (IFC). Disbanding would ideally e nc ou r a g e mor e e f f ic ie nt col laborat ion bet ween t he g roups a nd wou ld avoid problems stemming from one big governing body, according to McCutchen. “The big challenge we face is going to be speaking with university officials, explaining why this is a move that our groups want to make ... There needs to be very clear reasons behind why the system is not currently working, and how restructuring will fix that,” McCutchen said. Vice President of Programming Harris Courson could not be reached for comment regarding the restructuring of the council. Before discussing t he restructuring of the council, Mc Cutchen a nd t he ot her members of t he cou ncil board and council delegates started off the meeting with a discussion and a small recap of last week’s Greek events, including “Trick or Treat with the Greeks,” where fraternities and sororities gather in the Greek Village to distribute candy to children. “Trick or Treat With the Greeks went really well ... We had really good participation
b y a l l t h e f r a t e r n i t i e s ,” Courson said. I n addit ion to rev iew ing t he week ’s past event s a nd the restructuring plans, the cou nc i l d isc u ssed t he fac t that there will be a changingof-t he -g u a rd a mong t he fraternities as many will be electing new officers for 2016. T h e e le c t io n p r o c e s s f o r fraternities will transition and phase out current presidents for their successors, who serve as delegates to the Fraternity Council. The council also discussed t heir par t nersh ip w it h t he Of f ice of Mu lt ic u lt u ra l Student Affairs for Carolinian Creed week, including “Diversity Dialogue,” which will be on Thursday, Nov. 5. OMSA and the Greeks will be discussing social justice issues as they relate to Greek life. “ We ’ l l b e h o s t i n g [ a Diver sit y Dia log ue w it h OMSA] so that we can reach out to people who aren’t Greek and to get a better feel and collaborate,” Courson said. The council also announced that Nov. 12 will be “Not So Thirsty Thursday,” a benefit concert to raise awareness for public safety in Columbia to support fellow student Martha Childress.
CDC recommends new vaccinations In a move that w ill direct ly impact the healthcare of t housa nds of col lege st udent s , t he C enter s for Disease Cont rol a nd Prevent ion issued a new recommendation for meningococcal vaccinations on Oct. 23. The recommendation states t hat “young a d u lt s a g e d 16 t o 23 years may be vaccinated w it h a serog roup B meningococcal vaccine,” and it follows the approval of two new serogroup B vaccines by the Food and D r u g A d m i n i s t r at io n earlier this year. According to the recommendation, t he p r e f er r e d a g e f or vacc i nat ion is ages 16 to 18, and the vaccines p r o v ide “s hor t- t e r m protection against most st rains of serog roup B meningococcal disease.” Serogroup B is one of the most heavily transmitted types of meningococcal disease on college campuses
w it h i n t he U. S. Si nce 2009, the CDC reported seven outbreaks on various college campuses, each one leading to two to 13 cases of the disease in each instance, which resulted in a total of 41 cases and three deaths. This stems f rom t he fac t t hat Serog roup B is one of the strains of meningococcal disease not prot ec ted ag a i n s t i n t he convent ional MenACWY vaccine that is recommended for everyone aged 11 to 18. The MenACWY vaccine is one of t he vacci nes ma ndated for st udent s living on campus at USC, but students can choose to exempt themselves from it w it hout prov iding a reason with only a personal signature or that of a parent or guardian if under 18. —Compiled by Mary Ramsey, Assistant News Editor
MAYA EVANS: not just a track star Anjali Patel @TDG_SPORTS
Leland McElveen/ THE DAILY GAMECOCK
Chief Diversity Officer Jon Dozier was the guest speaker at the 25th Anniversary Celebration of the Carolina Creed in the Hollings Library. The event was a kickoff for Creed and Diversity Week.
Check out the full story
in this week’s
Weekender
W he n I f i r s t met M ay a Eva ns, she wasn’t r u n n i ng track and field, as she is during most hours of the week. She was dancing to Bollywood music at tryouts for the universit y’s competitive fusion dance team, Moksha. I soon learned that she doesn’t just do that. From running t rack a nd f ield to da nci ng t o c o m m u n it y s e r v i c e t o academics, it would be hard to fi nd something that Evans isn’t involved in. From W i lson, Nor t h Carolina, m iddle distances runner Evans fell in love with running at a young age. Ever since the second grade, she would often go out on runs with her father, a pastor and magistrate judge, to whom she attributes much of her career. On one of the first runs she ever had with her father, she
suffered an asthma attack, but her fat her told her, “You’re either going to fi nish this, or you can walk back.” And she hasn’t turned back ever since. Even despite the obstacle of asthma and chronic breathing problems, Evans has not only lea r ned to ma nage her self but also to coach herself. In high school, she did a lot of self-motivation when it came to r unning t rack and f ield, coaching herself all the way to a A A A state title in both the 400-meter and 500-meter d a s h . Her t r ac k a nd f ield career here at the University of South Carolina is equally as impressive. I n 2015, she f i n i s h e d 21s t at t h e S E C Championship and was part of t he 4x8 relay tea m t hat ran a t ime of 9:15.76 at t he Armory Invite, which was the second-fastest time in program history. Eva n s d id n’t beg i n competitively running track and field until her freshman
year of high school. But don’t be fooled — she isn’t perfect — although she seems pretty darn close. She also tried her hand at volleyball, but it didn’t quite stick the way that track and field did. Ev a n s’ p u r s u it s o ut s id e of athletics are just as aweinspiring. Although her major i s publ ic he a lt h , s he s a y s that she has a strong desire to become a h igh school counselor. This strong urge to help others doesn’t stop just there. She has won numerous awards for community service, and spends time volunteering at the Leadership and Service Center. Evans is also a member of USC’s top-ranked Honors C ol le g e (S C HC ) a nd i s a Resident Mentor in Woodrow. She explained that she likes to get to know her residents on a more personal level so she could be a friend that they could come to whenever they have a problem. SEEEVANSPAGE6