The Daily Gamecock: April 2025

Students, faculty and staff: register to receive Carolina Alerts for up-to-the-moment campus safety news at your fingertips.

Add additional phone numbers for family/friends.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

03 LETTER FROM THE EDITORS

A farewell from two graduating managing editors who took different paths to the same place.

Students come together to remember the life of a fellow classmate, and share concerns about road safety.

Details about the new health campus in the BullStreet District and how the new infrastructure will affect the university.

09 SNAP FOR STUDENTS

A Student Government initiative to raise awareness about food insecurity.

11 WOMEN IN BUSINESS

Looking closer at the Women in Business club as it aims to instill confidence in female students navigating the business world.

12 SUSTAINABILITY EFFORTS IN CAMPUS HOUSING

Insight on student energy consumption on campus and how it affects the community.

The South Carolina football’s upcoming running backs for the 2025-26 season.

A comic illustrating the outcome of the National Championship and how everyone wishes it would have ended.

24 LEAD LIKE A WOMAN

Nonprofit South Carolina organization pushes for female representation in public positions. 16 STUDENT-ATHLETES IN COMMUNITY SERVICE

How some student-athletes, past and present, give back to the community.

19 OUTFIELDER NATHAN HALL

A feature on Gamecock baseball player Nathan Hall, a transfer from Clemson University.

What Sunshine Week means for journalists and why it is important. Hear from international students and faculty about their take on Southern food, classic dishes from their cultures and more.

28 ASSEMBLY STREET SAFETY CONCERN

The dangers of Assembly Street and how concerns can be alleviated and, potentially, solved.

STUDENT SUSTAINABILITY PRACTICES

How students can practice sustainable habits and incorporate them in their day-to-day lives.

Epic Games partners with the Anne Frank Center to increase Holocaust education.

COVER PHOTO BY: Jack Bradshaw

No wrong path through college

EVA FLOWE | MANAGING EDITOR

MINGO MARTIN | MANAGING EDITOR

When we met in our Capstone semester at the SJMC, we had no idea that we would become close friends — let alone managing editors together. Now we are graduating in May and just wrapped up our final newspaper of the school year.

We came into The Daily Gamecock at different times: Eva; first semester of her freshman year, Mingo; first semester of his senior year. While one of us was attending perhaps too many Student Government meetings for the paper, the other was still struggling with finding ways to move forward in his sports journalism career.

Still, we’re leaving together, close friends, almost roommates — both managing editors.

Throughout the entire semester, we have grown as editors and writers, met new people and enjoyed supporting the staff of The Daily Gamecock.

We found our way to these positions in different ways, with different interests and goals. To everyone reading: there is no wrong time to join student media.

As we prepare to graduate from the university in the coming weeks, we leave you with this: When it seems like everyone else is flying past you in their professional development, know that, eventually, you will get to where you need to go. Opportunities will come when the time is right. Advocate for yourself in looking for one because you are better than you may perceive yourself to be. Everything will, one way or another, work out in the end.

Sincerely,

EVA FLOWE MANAGING EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR

MINGO MARTIN

PHOTO: JACK BRADSHAW

USC students memorialize Nate Baker, share concerns about safety

Hayden Davis | Assistant News Editor

On April 3, a crowd of University of South Carolina students stood silent outside of Strom Thurmond Fitness and Wellness Center. Some bowed their heads, while others took off their hats in respect. A group of four came with chalk. One sat down. On the sidewalk below the hundreds of flowers laid at the memorial, they wrote “NATE BAKER.”

USC students mourned the loss of Nathaniel “Nate” Baker after a collision with a truck on Assembly Street took his life. Students created a memorial of flowers, pictures, notes and more to honor his legacy and show support for the people who loved him.

Leslie Baker, Nate Baker’s mother, posted a statement about her son to her Facebook.

“As we move into the next few days, my prayer for everyone is that the space in your heart shines Nate’s light through grace and compassion,” Leslie Baker said. “Grief is processed in many different ways. The darkness of anger and sorrow will rob us from the light of our joy. For those who knew Nate, look for him, he IS with you. For those who did not know Nate, look for the light that represents all the wonderful stories of light and laughter you may have heard. The Bakers are reciprocating to you all the love you are sending. We are blessed to have such a supportive tribe.”

Nate Baker was a 21-year-old at the University of South Carolina. He was from Glen Allen, Virginia, where he attended Deep Run High School and was a student athlete. He was a member of USC’s Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and a thirdyear student at the Darla Moore School of Business.

“Nate will always be remembered for the way he showed up for others and the impact he had on everyone around him,” the University of South Carolina’s Phi Gamma Delta chapter wrote in a statement on Instagram. “His passion, loyalty, and love for this brotherhood will never be forgotten. May we honor his memory by living with the same kindness, selflessness and generosity that he showed to everyone around him.”

In a statement sent to students of Darla Moore, Dean Rohit Verma wrote that Nate Baker will be recommended for a posthumous degree.

On Thursday, students began to place flowers on the Strom Thurmond Fitness and Wellness Center’s sign. The number grew as students came, placed their flowers and paid their respects.

Visitors had written dozens of messages in chalk around the monument. One message read, “YOU’RE IN THE PROMISED LAND BUDDY! — MOM.”

Scott Melski, a fourth-year finance student, came to the memorial. He knelt before it and read the notes. He told The Daily Gamecock he witnessed the aftermath of the collision, and personally knew Nate Baker.

“I kept moving after I saw that because I could tell it was serious,” Melski said. “And the best place for me to be is out of the way, hoping that it was nobody that I knew. And unfortunately it was somebody that I knew and cared about.”

Melski had attended a concert with Nate Baker. In the short time he spent with him, Melski learned who Nate Baker was, he said.

“He carried this energy and this light that was so infectious. And just being around him made you want to be a better person and strive to be like Nate,” Melski said.

A memorial service for Nate Baker was held on Friday at Rutledge College on the Horseshoe.

National attention

Rosali Fernandez-Cruz, the driver of the truck, is an undocumented migrant. His migrant status has brought the accident attention from across the nation.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made a post on

Photo:Jack Bradshaw

A student holds his hand to his face while kneeling at the memorial for Nathaniel Baker at Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center on April 5, 2025. Hundreds of students left flowers and other keepsakes at the site in memory of Baker.

X, formerly known as Twitter, about the accident.

“The hit & run driver was an alien in our country illegally,” Noem wrote in the post. “This tragedy should have never happened. I am praying for Nate, his family and loved ones. We will get Nate and his family justice.”

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina also released a statement on X stating that the policies of the administration of former President Joe Biden resulted in the accident.

“I am praying for his family, friends and the USC community, who are unfortunately suffering because of Biden’s failed immigration system that refused to put Americans first,” Scott wrote.

The Columbia Police Department found that Fernandez-Cruz is wanted by the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to a press release.

A South Carolina magistrate judge denied Fernandez-Cruz bond. FernandezCruz is being held at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center and will next appear in court on April 24.

Students’ safety concerns

Fifteen of the 21 students reported that they have felt unsafe when crossing the intersection.

Third-year computer science student David Dinh said that pedestrians are hard to see in the evening due to the setting sun. Dinh said he has almost been hit by a car at the intersection.

Fifteen of the 21 students also said they witnessed dangerous situations at the intersection including cars running through red lights, students crossing when they don’t have the right-of-way and near misses between cars and pedestrians.

“Lots of the cars that are at a red light turning right, like when you’re right there, just keep going and almost hit you,” firstyear business student Sammy Lyons said. Melski said he believes both pedestrians and drivers act dangerously at the intersection.

“I think it’s a mix of pedestrians ignoring the signs in terms of, like, just trying to jog across when they think they’re good, or the drivers just not caring and caring more about the 35 seconds that they’ll save by running a red or running a slight yellow in order to get to their location,” Melski said.

The Daily Gamecock interviewed 21 students at the intersection of Assembly and Blossom streets about their thoughts on the safety of the intersection for pedestrians.

Nineteen of the 21 students said they thought something should be done to improve the safety of the intersection.

First-year sports and entertainment management student Erin McLaughlin said

USC’s upcoming Health Science Campus focused on improving care for South Carolinians

CONNOR BOGAN | NEWS WRITER

USC is meeting a growing demand for medical care in South Carolina with the construction of a brand-new Health Sciences Campus located in the Bull Street District.

The campus is set to open in 2027. It will serve as the new home for the USC’s School of Medicine Columbia.

USC has also started construction on a new Brain Health Center and Neuroscience Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, which will be part of the campus. These facilities are designed to treat an anticipated increase in neurological diseases, particularly with the rapidly growing elderly population in the state, Stacy Fritz, associate vice president for student health and well-being and chief health officer, said.

“(The campus) is going to ensure this steady pipeline of highly skilled physicians and rehab specialists that’s really going to meet the growing demand for this specialized neurological care,” Fritz said.

Vice President of Research Julius Fridriksson said the Brain Health Center and neuroscience hospital will be extensions of USC’s current Brain Health Network, serving as a “continuum of care”.

This project is part of the USC Next Master Plan, which maps out future projects over the next 10 years to meet the growing needs of USC’s students and staff as well as the greater community.

New Health Science Campus

The Health Science Campus, a $300 million endeavor, will have modern classrooms, research labs, medical simulation spaces and a cafe. The campus will also include outdoor courtyards.

Research is a key component of the new campus, Fridriksson said. He said there are two main types of medical research that will be the focus.

“One is wet labs, so molecular biology to basic neuroscience to immunology,” Fridriksson said. “We also expect that we’re going to be doing a lot of computational research, so relaying large data sets or using AI applications.”

Most of USC’s funding towards research is allotted to the health sciences, and the university itself receives a large amount of money when it comes to medical-related research, Fridriksson said.

Another goal of USC’s new Health Sciences Campus is to meet the needs of the state for medical facilities and personnel by providing residents with the best treatment possible.

Fritz said that USC is building the new campus because it has the tools to provide for the state.

“Part of our job as a university is to have that innovation and have that community lens and integration,” Fritz said. “We have the skills at this university to do it, and so it looked like an opportunity for the state.”

The campus as a whole will provide medical students at USC with the very best training, Fritz said.

The Brain Health Center

USC’s upcoming Brain Health Center will be a state-of-the-art facility dedicated to neuroscience and is set to open in 2026.

“It’s going to combine cutting-edge research and marry that with top-tier clinical care to really make sure that patients have the most effective and innovative treatment out there,” Fritz said.

Dr. Leonardo Bonilha, USC’s brain health director and senior associate dean of research, said the new outpatient center will house a clinical center and a neuroimaging center.

He said the goal of the center is to provide improved care for patients with different types of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease, as well as other less common neurological diseases that lead to dementia.

Fridriksson said the center will be home to cutting-edge equipment, specifically two powerful MRI scanners.

“We expect that in less than a year, that building, which is about 80,000 square feet, will be completely renovated with two new MRI scanners funded by the federal government: a 7 Tesla scanner and a 3 Tesla white board scanner.”

A tesla is a measurement used to measure magnetic energy.

The 7 Tesla scanner will be the first in the state, and the 3 Tesla scanner is one of very few in the state, Bonilha said.

Bonilha said these advanced pieces of equipment will enable the university to provide quicker and more efficient neurological care to patients.

“By and large, we reduce wait times from several months, almost to a year at times, to around four weeks,” Bonilha said. “It’s a pretty significant improvement.”

The Brain Health Center will serve as the hub for USC’s Brain Health Network, which has opened five clinics so far across the state of South Carolina. The network is a partnership with Prisma Health, HopeHealth and the Lexington Medical Center, Bonilha said.

These clinics are located in Columbia, Sumter, Winnsboro, Seneca and Darlington, according to the network’s page on USC’s website.

Fridriksson said the network, center and hospital will all tie into each other.

“The main idea is that folks will be referred from the Brain Health Network clinics to the Brain Health Center in Columbia, and then the next part of that is the neurological hospital,” Fridriksson said.

Neurological Hospital and Rehabilitation Center

The primary focus of the Neurological Hospital and Rehabilitation Center is meeting the need for more care, particularly in the elderly population of South Carolina, Fritz said. It is set to open in 2027.

She said the elderly population is currently outpacing the normal population in growth by 2%. And since neurological diseases are more common in the elderly, increases in demands for care are expected in the future.

Columbia’s location will play a big part in the effectiveness of this new hospital as well, Fritz said.

“70% of the older population can get here in two hours,” Fritz said. “Which is really different than some of the expertise they have up in Greenville or at the beach, because you’re not able to get everywhere in the state quite as quickly as Columbia.”

Fritz said USC students will train in the hospital when it opens. Combined with innovation, medical students at USC will be prepared to meet demands for an increase in the medical workforce.

The hospital and rehabilitation center are a continuum of care to the Brain Health Center. Once patients are diagnosed in the new center, they will be taken to the hospital if surgery is needed, Fritz said.

Another goal of this project is to create new jobs in the lines of health care and research, while also having significant economic impact on the state of South Carolina, Fritz said.

The new facility will be modeled after Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago. Shirley Ryan is the top rehab center in the country, according to Fritz.

Anticipation for the future

Fridriksson said he is excited to see how these new facilities will enhance the university’s activities in both neuroscience and general health science.

Fridriksson also said he is curious about what USC can do in the future to help solve pressing neurological disorders, like Alzheimer’s disease. Julia Thoppil, a fourth-year medical student at the School of Medicine, said she is looking forward to a more localized campus. She also emphasized the ability for future students to forge face-to-face relationships with physicians earlier on in their studies.

“With the campus being this close, it’ll be easier for people to hop on to research projects and get that face-to-face time from their first day here.”

Dr. Mayes DuBose, president of the South Carolina Medical Association (SCMA), said part of his job is to address a

physician shortage in South Carolina. DuBose mainly works to make South Carolina “a more attractive place to practice.”

As a graduate of the USC School of Medicine, he said the main mission of the school’s founding was to meet the demands for primary care.

Now, DuBose said he sees the upcoming Health Sciences Campus as a way to further this mission.

The new campus, DuBose believes, will make an already well-respected medical school more attractive to attend in the future.

“A lot of doctors just want to get into medical school. That’s the big hurdle. But then if you can get into one that’s a really good looking, well-respected one, that’s just even better.”

Fridriksson has confidence this new campus will put the university and its

students at the forefront of future health science discoveries.

“I look for us to be not just a consumer of knowledge. I want us to be the generators of that knowledge and those discoveries. That’s what really drives me.”

DESIGN: KATE SHEPHERD

Continued from page 7: USC students memorialize Nate Baker

“My first week on campus here I was told, ‘Kids get hit by cars’,” McLaughlin said. “And like, that’s just a fact.”

might think he was a hunting and fishing guy ... But everyone would remember the conversation ... And take something away from it. Everyone would look forward to Hayden Davis | Assistant News Editor

Fourth-year operations and supply chain student Andrew Horan said that the number of lanes at the intersection may be confusing for drivers.

Second-year finance student Ben Nassif said the high amount of traffic is an issue that should be improved.

“(With) just how much traffic that’s always here, there’s always ... Whenever there’s a red light here, it’s always filled up (with cars),” Nassif said.

Melski said he believes a police presence near the intersection would improve safety.

“Just having people understand and having the state of mind that when they come to this intersection, that there’s a chance that when they run that yellow or run that red, that there are consequences to their actions Just to have them think

about it for a second longer could save lives,” Melski said.

According to the Columbia Police Department, the intersection is managed by the South Carolina Department of Transportation. The City of Columbia has made plans to improve intersections along Assembly Street, but not the intersection on Blossom, according to a document provided by City of Columbia spokesperson Justin Stevens.

During Nate Baker’s memorial service, his parents, Daniel and Leslie Baker, spoke in commemoration of their son. Daniel Baker shared the person that Nate Baker was.

“Nate could walk into a room, and he could spend fifteen minutes in that room,” Daniel Baker said. “And when he left, a few of those people would think he’s an entrepreneur, a few of those people would think he’s a welder, a few would think he’s a mechanic ... Several more

Pelican’s SnoBalls Pics with Cocky

A person stands in front of the memorial for Nathaniel Baker at Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center on April 5, 2025.

PHOTO: JACK BRADSHAW

Students aim to improve access to SNAP, address food insecurity

Nat Campbell | Assistant News Editor

Students at the University of South Carolina are working to provide resources for fellow students facing food insecurity and urging state legislators to better the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Student Government’s Legislative Action Network (LAN) has proposed recommendations for South Carolina and public universities across the state to help better access to SNAP benefits for college students.

LAN recommends that the state of South Carolina pass legislation to mandate annual reports on SNAP benefit usage and food access, or lack thereof. They also recommend that the state defend SNAP from the proposed budget cuts and assist South Carolina universities with increasing SNAP enrollment.

The committee also recommends USC and other public universities in South Carolina create more budget-friendly meal plans, make efforts to increase SNAP enrollment among eligible college students and adopt a peer advocacy model to increase enrollment and decrease stigma surrounding SNAP.

LAN uses opportunities such as Carolina Day to discuss recommendations with state representatives and senators.

Student Government sends out a student insights survey each year to gauge the impacts and interests on various issues to students. The 2024 survey reported that 12% of students at USC suffer food insecurity, first-year international studies student and committee member of LAN Eva Burba said.

Students’ awareness of their eligibility is an issue for college students who use SNAP benefits, Burba said. SNAP does not re-enroll students after they move out of their family household. While many students are still eligible for benefits after moving out, they may not know how to navigate re-enrollment.

The Gamecock CommUnity Shop is also trying to raise awareness about SNAP eligibility and provide resources for students in need by partnering with the Student Basic Needs Coalition (SBNC).

Second-year master of public administration graduate student and vice president of the SBNC Olivia Gillespie said one thing SBNC does to increase awareness is hand out packs of ramen on Greene Street with QR codes on them

which takes students to a form that tells them whether or not they qualify for SNAP benefits.

“We do that because college students have the right to receive SNAP benefits,” Gillespie said. “You know, they also need groceries, and I feel like not a lot of people think about college students when it comes to food insecurity and SNAP in general.”

Second-year information science student Garima Bhalla works with the CommUnity Shop on legislative work regarding SNAP benefits.

“A lot of the problem is students just don’t know that this is something that they can do,” Bhalla said. “One in three college students are eligible for SNAP … They don’t know that SNAP is ... Something that will help them get groceries and help them in their college career.”

Burba said LAN is recommending that USC adopt a peer advocacy model through the peer leadership program to increase SNAP enrollment and understanding to destigmatize its usage.

“We want some peer advocates to conduct themselves in a confidential manner and take new students and upperclassmen through the steps of applying for SNAP benefits,” Burba said.

While the LAN works on various topics impacting the student body each year, Burba said one of the issues the committee aims to focus on this semester is basic needs insecurities, specifically access to SNAP benefits.

“SNAP, specifically, was the one we dialed into based on basic needs,” Burba said. “Last year, the committee also talked about SNAP, but they did so in a broader sense. They talked about food

insecurity, as well as living and (housing) insecurities, but we wanted to further dive into SNAP because of recent cuts that are happening nationwide.”

Recently proposed legislation could potentially make cuts to the SNAP program which would affect an estimated 40 million people. The United States House Committee on Agriculture proposed a bill to modify SNAP in 2024 and cut the program by $30 billion starting in 2027.

“While advocating for (these recommendations) is the biggest thing we can do, the systems that are already in place are mainly at Gamecock CommUnity Shop, so just increasing social awareness and people can use it for free is something that I’ve been trying to do,” Burba said.

Photo: Destini Simon

Shelves stocked with essentials inside the Gamecock CommUnity Shop in Columbia, South Carolina, on Feb. 28, 2025. The shop provides free food, clothing and essentials to students in need.

Lease Now! Limited Availability

VIP Package Locker System

Private/Group Study Rooms

Social Lounge with Kitchen & TVs

24-Hour Fitness Center

Gated Resident Parking Garage

Pet Friendly Community

Outdoor Resident Courtyard with Lounge

Seating & Games

Large Pool with In-Pool Chaise Lounge

Seating & Hot Tub

Modern Furniture Package

Wood-Style Flooring

Wood Cabinets & Granite Countertops

Throughout

Stainless Steel Appliances & Expansive

Kitchen Islands*

Memory Foam Mattresses

Full-Size Washer & Dryer

Walk-In Closets*

Valet Trash Service

Private Locks on Bedroom Doors

Electronic Key Card Access

Penthouse Units Available with Two-Tone Cabinets

The Women in Business Council aims to build confidence, creates connections for members within business

Morgan Dunn | News Writer

The leaders of the Women in Business Council aim to create a space for women to learn and build confidence within the business world. The club is open to women in any field of study and meets biweekly to give its members inspiring speakers, mentorship opportunities, resume workshops and networks to help them be successful in their future careers.

“Our mission statement is to connect, empower and educate women in business,” Grace Owens, the club’s president, said. Owens, a fourth-year international business student, said the club has built her confidence in the business world. She said she has gained valuable skills from the resources the club has given her and through the community she has built within the club.

“I know for me, it helps me develop my self-esteem and my ability to talk to people and to be confident in my soft and hard business skills,” Owens said.

The council aims to fight the stigma of the male-dominated business world that may be creating barriers for women

looking to go into business. This male domination may make it more difficult for many women to land jobs, Owens said.

“Some industries are much more heavily male-dominated, and those industries are usually pretty dependent on networking and who you know and how you get your foot in the door, so I think that barrier does still exist,” Owens said.

The club creates these networking opportunities with professionals in its biweekly meetings by inviting them to be guest speakers said Ashleigh Szydlowski, the conference director for the club.

Owens said these connections help the members find jobs post graduation.

“I think all of business is really about who you know, and sometimes, historically, especially, there have been spaces that women have been excluded from and have found it difficult to kind of find their (way) in,” Owens said.

Building a network with fellow passionate business women is important in the business world, Szydlowski said.

Szydlowski is a graduate international

business student, and one of the things that drew her to the club when she joined as an undergraduate was the ability to network with other collegiate women.

“I thought it’d be a great opportunity to join a super inspiring group of women and learn as much as I could from people who had gone through the business school before me,” Szydlowski said. The club offers a mentorship program that Mia McEnerny, vice president of the club and fourth-year marketing student, said benefited her.

The program has the upperclassmen paired with the younger members to serve as their mentors. McEnerny said her mentor helped her pick the best classes with the best professors at the business school which gave her an advantage in her education.

The club also provides opportunities such as the ability to travel to meet similar councils from other schools and to network with big corporations Szydlowski said.

She said her most memorable experience from the club was when she got the opportunity to travel to Austin, Texas to compete in a case competition sponsored by Apple. The case competition challenged the students to solve realworld business problems.

“It was just a really cool opportunity to be able to say that like women in business, gave me this opportunity to network with Apple and compete in this competition,” Szydlowski said.

The club does not have a competitive rush process, something McEnerny said sets it apart from other business organizations

on campus. This is something that drew her to the club because other business organizations seemed too intimidating.

“We’re not really judging people. And it’s very inclusive ... It’s something that I was attracted to,” McEnerny said.

Owens said the club chose not to do a competitive rush process because they aim to be different than other business organizations on campus.

“I think the community aspect of it is huge for us. It’s really popular for business organizations to have a competitive rush process, which we just opted out of doing. Obviously, that’s a great process to build skills, but it just didn’t quite fit our organization,” Owens said.

The club hosted an Inaugural Business Conference on April 12, where guest speakers from companies such as JP Morgan and Deloy came to network with the attendees, Szydlowski said.

This conference was open to all students, giving anyone the opportunity to network with big companies and hear from keynote speakers and panelists.

Owens said she was very excited for this event because it is the club’s biggest event yet, and that it had been in the works for two years.

The opportunities the council offers its members are meant to help them in the long run, Szydlowski said.

“It can be a little bit nerve-wracking to start that first job or to go into your career because you don’t really know what to expect,” Szydlowski said. “Having this network of other women who are doing it right alongside you is super empowering and super helpful.”

The club is open to women in any field of study and everyone has the opportunity to join the club every semester. Members can attend an interest meeting held at the beginning of each semester and find more information through the club’s Garnet Gate page.

Photo: Nickolas Hill

FILE — The Darla Moore School of Business located on Assembly St, Columbia SC on Aug. 18, 2024. Darla Moore is the No. 1 undergraduate international business degree program.

Survey finds residence hall energy consumption a problem, faces future challenges

Kelly Grady | Environment beat writer

While split on whether energy consumption in dormitories is an issue, many University of South Carolina students are taking measures to conserve energy in their residence halls, according to a survey by The Daily Gamecock.

The survey asked 42 students across 11 residence halls about their personal electricity habits. The questions included how much time lights were left on in the dorm and the amount of time spent running appliances like fans, kitchen equipment or electronics.

The questions for the

first-year cyber policy and ethics student Erin Owens and first-year biochemistry and molecular biology student Kendall Nader.

The Daily Gamecock also interviewed 10 students about their concerns regarding energy use in residence halls.

Survey results

Student perceptions of energy overconsumption were split, the survey found. On a scale of 1 to 10, 48% of students surveyed answered that energy overconsumption is not a problem, while

so people can see, I think maybe they should [have] motion sensors.”

Many of the students surveyed make efforts to conserve electricity, the survey found.

Forty-eight percent of students said the lights are on in their dorm rooms less than five hours a day, and over 80% make sure the lights are turned off when no one is in the dorm.

All 10 students interviewed in the second survey felt a larger incoming freshman class, and the construction of new residence halls to accommodate them, may strain energy resources.

“Sometimes I feel like we overuse things, in our building, sometimes the hot water goes out because everybody’s using the showers for too long … [and] the lights [are] on all the time in the hallway,” secondyear public health student Mareesa Garrett, who lives in 650 Lincoln,said.

“Even though, like, it’s good

“I always turn the lights off when I’m away,” first-year pharmaceutical science student Caroline Cole, who lives in Women’s Quad, said. “If it’s winter, I’ll turn [the air] down, or I’ll turn it up for the summer. I always make sure that I just try not to use stuff when I don’t need to.”

Second-year computer science student Matthew Botteon, who lives in 650 Lincoln, said he noticed inefficiencies around his dorm.

“The equipment they have, throughout [the dorm], like the dryers that we have definitely run a lot of energy, because they take like, two hours to do my load of laundry, which I feel like is definitely pretty inefficient,” Botteon said.

Energy issue

USC received a record number of applicants for the 2025-26 school year, topping over 60,000 applications according to a March 6, 2025 press release from the university. A slight increase in enrollment over this year’s freshman class of 7,290 is also predicted, according to the press release.

“That’s more people using energy,” Cole said. “If we have to build more residence halls, that obviously takes energy, and it’s going to take resources that are not reusable, which definitely has an impact on the environment, and more students means more things are going to be used.”

USC’s Columbia campus is home to more than 30,000 students, according to fall 2024 enrollment data. Campus residence halls supply energy for over 9,000 on-campus students.

USC has four campus energy facilities that are fueled by Dominion Energy and supply electricity to academic, residential and administrative buildings. Twelve percent of total campus energy use is consumed in residence halls, equating to 1800 kilowatt hours (kWh) per student each month, according to a statement from Jason Lambert, associate vice president of facilities management.

Of USC’s 28 residence halls, 10 are built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) or Green Globe standards, according to a statement from University Spokesperson Collyn Taylor.

The South Carolina Energy Standards Act of 2009 requires all publicly funded buildings to be built to LEED Silver standards. As USC is a public university, all construction after 2009 has been built to

Colin Elam | news editor

LEED Silver standards, according to USC Director of Sustainability Larry Cook. Green Quad, built in 2005, was the first campus residence hall to meet LEED certifications, Cook said.

“Green Quad … Was a choice by the university to advance sustainable practices in buildings on campus,” Cook said. “We were a real leader for that reason in the early days of green buildings, and Green Quad was the first LEED certified building in the state of South Carolina, I believe … So that’s just kind of a neat legacy for the University of South Carolina.”

Despite these measures, Cook believes the high energy use in residence halls stems from a disconnect to their cost.

“On college campuses, we’re disconnected from the (energy) bill,” Cook said. “And so there’s that separation … If you were to leave your lights on in your apartment and you’re paying utilities, then you see a more direct impact of that. If somebody else is paying the bill, it’s a little bit easier to fall into careless habits.”

How to fix it

Second-year environmental studies student Mia LaPinta, a resident assistant in Green Quad, said students who live in Green Quad often pick up sustainable habits when exposed to green practices in the building.

“It’s a good habit to get into energy conservation, and it’s important to have those conversations when you’re starting to get into college and things like that,” LaPinta said. “You’re setting a standard for yourself in life.”

LaPinta worked to create legislation that would increase residence hall energy efficiency when she was serving her first term in the student senate, though the legislation was ultimately never written.

As a first-year student, LaPinta served in the 115th student senate, and worked to implement energy-efficient

lighting in certain dorms. After noticing inefficient lighting in the Capstone dorm, LaPinta modeled a plan after the replacement of T8 light bulbs, which are fluorescent and have a lower visible light output than LED lights, in Thomas Cooper Library during the 2022-23 school year.

“It kind of sparked conversations about campus lighting sustainability, because we do have a lot of old buildings,” LaPinta said. “And as a freshman who lived in Capstone, I was experiencing it firsthand. Our study rooms are all still that T8 light, as far as I know, but it’s not energy efficient anymore.”

LaPinta said she reached out to the Residence Hall Association’s Barnwell neighborhood, which includes the Capstone, Columbia and 820 Henderson residence halls.

Though LaPinta met with the Barnwell neighborhood RHA and began to plan this project, the replacement ultimately never occurred because of logistical challenges, she said.

“(RHA) sounded excited about the project, (but) it just didn’t materialize,” LaPinta said. “It was a little bit too late in the project planning phase, and that is a huge, huge project. It wouldn’t just be (writing) legislation and boom, it’s done, like you’re contacting multiple people.”

LaPinta is also on the Environmental Justice Team of Sustainable Carolina, and said she thought energy conservation projects would likely succeed if taken on by the organization.

“I think it would be a great idea to try and do that through Sustainable Carolina, simply because of the structure of it,” LaPinta said. “Sustainable Carolina is, by

definition, the student-led branch of the Office of Sustainability.

We have a plethora of resources that maybe Student (Government) wouldn’t have … It could be more effective doing it through Sustainable Carolina. I think that could potentially be an interesting project to take up, especially next year.”

Cook said campus-wide sustainability and energy efficiency can be achieved, but it will require both plans of action from the university and an uptick in personal responsibility from students.

Cook cited the recent USC-Siemens partnership, where global energy company Siemens worked with the university to implement energy-efficient renovations in five campus buildings, as a model for ways the university can improve sustainability.

“The challenge is that all of this takes time as our energy expands,” Cook said. “I believe that (Facilities Management’s) intention is … To continue that systematically throughout campus. Certainly, it’s the responsibility of the institution to manage all the resources for this community … State money, tuition dollars, efficient systems.” Students also have the potential to make an impact on university sustainability through changes to their daily habits, Cook said.

“It’s also on us as members of the campus population, to make good choices as well, and to turn off lights when we can, to use water responsibly, to think about how we’re moving around campus,” Cook said.

“Everybody has opportunities, and our institution has different types of opportunities than the individual does, but it’s on all of us.”

Photos: Alexis Goldston Lights glow from the windows of Capstone (left), Campus Village (center) and South Tower (right) on the evening of April 2, 2025, creating a warm contrast against the night sky. The illuminated rooms reflect the late-night routines of college life.

Gamecock football brings experienced running back room into 2025 to replace Rocket Sanders

Sam Stroup | Club Sports Beat Writer

South Carolina football began its 2025 spring practice schedule looking to replace last season’s leading rusher, senior running back Raheim “Rocket” Sanders.

The Gamecocks brought four scholarship running backs into the spring, including two seventh-year veterans and a pair who redshirted last season.

“The running back room, we’re just all trying to compete, trying to win for this team this year,” seventh-year running back Oscar Adaway III said.

South Carolina lost two experienced running backs the offseason to graduation, senior running backs Sanders and Juju McDowell. Sanders led the Gamecocks with 183 carries for 881 yards and 11 touchdowns last season after transferring in from Arkansas. McDowell spent his entire career with the Gamecocks, rushing for a total 621 yards and six touchdowns.

The Gamecocks went to the transfer portal to replace the lost production. Seventh-year running back Rahsul Faison joined the program after spending the past two seasons at Utah State. Faison rushed for 1,109 yards on 198 carries and eight touchdowns last season, earning him second team All-Mountain West Conference honors.

“It’s kind of a mix with two older guys in ‘Sul and Oscar, and then some young guys as well,” head coach Shane Beamer said. “Eager to see how it all shakes out.”

Faison rushed for at least 100 yards five times last season, including a 20-carry, 191-yard performance against Hawaii. Faison also made 26 carries for 109 yards and a touchdown against No. 21 Boise State, which reached the 2025 College Football Playoff. South Carolina will be his fifth college, as he also spent time at two community colleges and Marshall, in addition to Utah State.

“’Sul coming in, a talented guy at Utah State that’s played a lot of football,” Beamer said.

Adaway is the room’s top returning rusher. Adaway, a North Texas transfer, finished with 77 carries for 295 yards and three touchdowns in 2024. He also made 15 receptions for 145 yards.

“It’s a fun group, I’m excited about it,” Beamer said. “Oscar Adaway obviously did some really good things for us last year and had a nice bowl game. I’m looking forward to seeing him take the next step.”

Adaway filled in for Sanders in the 2024 Cheez-It Citrus Bowl after Sanders opted out of the game to prepare for the NFL Draft. Adaway posted 14 carries for 69 yards and a touchdown, while making

123 yards and two touchdowns last season. He spent his freshman season at South Carolina State, where he was named MEAC Rookie of the Year and an FCS Freshman All-American. Redshirt freshman running back Matthew Fuller, who had eight carries for 25 yards in 2024, is also back for his second season in Columbia.

“Matthew Fuller and Jawarn Howell were two of our more impressive players in all of the testing that we did over the last couple of weeks of our guys,” Beamer said. “All of our testing numbers, those two guys were really, really impressive.”

South Carolina had five players record

“That’s a room that’s got a ton of bodies,” Beamer said. “You start talking about who’s going to play running back, those guys need to be able to play special teams. So that’s one of the many position battles that we have.”

South Carolina finished the 2024 season with the nation’s No. 35 rushing offense, averaging 177.7 yards per game. The Gamecocks made a massive jump from 2023’s 83.2 average, which ranked No. 128 nationally. Adaway said he hopes the Gamecocks can build off the improvement in 2025.

“Last year, we were 32nd or 36th in the nation in rushing, but the year before we were in the hundreds,” Adaway said. “We’re just trying get better and better. A hundred to 36th, we’re trying to be below

FILE — Sixth-year running back Oscar Adaway III runs the football down the field during No. 15 South Carolina’s matchup against No. 20 Illinois at the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on Dec. 31, 2024. The Gamecocks ended the 2024 season 9-4 after losing to Illinois 21-17.

Photo: Sebastian Godun

SOBER CURIOUS?

GAMECOCK RECOVERY SUPPORTS YOUR VERSION OF RECOVERY.

Going beyond the field: South Carolina teams, former student-athletes find ways to give back to community

Will Miller | assistant Sports Editor

Each year, South Carolina fans make their way to the Columbia area to support USC’s teams. Ranging from local residents to students and alumni, fans pack out venues such as WilliamsBrice Stadium and Colonial Life Arena and create distinct atmospheres for the Gamecocks.

In the last 15 years, fans have seen the Gamecocks win back-to-back College World Series Championships, reach five straight Final Fours in women’s basketball, a men’s basketball Final Four in 2017 and dozens of wins against in-state rival Clemson.

While Gamecock fans have enjoyed these memorable moments, its teams, athletes and coaches work to support the community that supports them, through hosting team camps, setting up scholarship funds, volunteering at local hospitals and honoring members of the community.

Team Efforts

Several Gamecock teams have different ways that they give back to the Columbia area.

South Carolina’s baseball team holds a Salute to Service during the Sunday game of home baseball series. During the game, a member of the military is honored by the team, with each team member shaking the veteran’s hand.

The first Salute to Service of the season was on Feb. 16, against Sacred Heart.

“That’s why we wear our camo hats and shirts today. It’s our way of letting the military know we’re thinking of them,” head coach Paul Maineri said after the Sacred Heart game.

Though the tradition may be new, players have already taken kindly to the event. Sophomore catcher Ryan Bakes, whose grandfather served in the military, believes that the tradition should spread to other sports.

“It’s really cool, bring awareness to it,” Bakes said. “I think we should keep

doing it. It should be a tradition from here and the rest of Carolina, so I like it a lot.”

One player who has taken the military appreciation to another level is sophomore pitcher Jake McCoy. After every strikeout, McCoy gives $23, the number he wears, to Purple Heart Homes, an organization designated to provide housing solutions to veterans.

“I just really thought it’s a good way to give back,” McCoy said. “I’m just excited to see where this is going to go from here.”

Maineri said community service has always been important to him. While he coached at LSU, his team logged nearly 400 hours of community service each year.

The Tigers participate in events such as the Buddy Walk, a walk designed to raise awareness for inclusion for people with Down syndrome.

The women’s soccer team is another

year while also volunteering at local schools, according to freshman forward Katie Shae Collins.

“I think it’s awesome because it just brings so much joy to them, but it also brings just as much or maybe more joy to us,” Collins said.

On March 26, the team hosted its 17th annual fan appreciation clinic, a free youth event for girls of all skill levels, designed to thank the fans for all their support throughout the season.

“When we started, we wanted to give thanks,” head coach Shelly Smith said. “We have so many great fans and kids that come to camp in the summer. They come out in the fall and cheer us on. It’s a really special bond, and we love giving back to the community.”

During the camp, members of the team helped out with different drills and got to know the girls on a personal level.

years old,” Collins said. “And then throughout the years that we’re in college, we just see them grow up and also grow up not only as better players, but also better people.”

Athletes going beyond the field

Taylor Fox was a goalkeeper of the women’s soccer team from 2020 to 2024, and saw her community engagement efforts recognized by the SEC, as she was named to the 2024 SEC Soccer Community Service team.

While at South Carolina, Fox served as the Vice President for the StudentAthlete Advisory Committee. Fox also served as the Captain of the Dream On 3, a non-profit organization helping kids with life-altering conditions achieve their sports dreams.

“She went above and beyond as an athlete to give and be a leader, and she was wonderful in our team,

Fox is not the only Gamecock to go beyond the field to make a difference. Spencer Eason-Riddle, a linebacker for the football team from 2016 to 2021, served the Columbia area in a variety of ways, such as volunteering at local hospitals and organizing a shoe drive in 2021.

Eason-Riddle walked onto the football team in 2016. Due to him not being on scholarship, he felt like he needed to find something to do outside of football in order to help his parents out with the cost of school.

“For me being a walk on and knowing I needed to do something else outside of school and football,” Eason-Riddle said. “At least go help in the community. I feel like I really needed to serve.”

He eventually began to volunteer at the Veteran Affair hospital, helping out with veterans who had sustained injuries. After that he began working with the South Carolina Oncology Association to help cancer patients.

In 2019, Eason-Riddle created the Sandstorm Buddies Program, a program that paired student athletes with kids at Prisma Health Children’s Hospital, where Eason-Riddle wanted to connect with the community at a more frequent rate than the university provided.

“I just kind of put it upon myself, I know a lot of athletes like to work with kids and like to work at the Children’s Hospital every now and then,” Eason-Riddle said. “And so I thought, ‘I’m gonna go over there, try to set up a program, see what we can do.’”

awards dealing with community service, including five selections to the SEC Community Service Team.

The Sandstorm Buddies program is still around, but focuses more on athletes sending the hospital cards for holidays such as Valentine’s Day and Christmas due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Eason-Riddle said.

“It definitely warms my heart to create something that has a lasting legacy there is really important and something that’s more than sports, but about serving the community,” Eason-Riddle said. “For South Carolina athletes to have a connection to the community, especially with people who really look up to us.”

Eason-Riddle is just one example that while at the university, student-athletes can make an impact that will last far longer than their playing days.

Continuing to serve the community

Some athletes continue to come back to the area and give back, such as South Carolina football alumnus Corey Jenkins, who played from 2001-2002. Jenkins is the football coach at Dreher High School, his alma mater.

Jenkins grew up in Columbia and was a star in multiple sports at Dreher. He was originally drafted to the MLB in the first round and spent five seasons in the minor leagues before deciding to jump back into football.

He began his collegiate football career at Garden City Community College before being recruited by then-head coach Lou Holtz to play football at South

NFL teams before beginning his coaching career.

In 2022, it was announced that Jenkins would be returning to coach at Dreher High School. As a coach, he said he firmly believes in a strong sense of giving back to the community due to his upbringing in the Columbia area.

“We were being raised by our entire community,” Jenkins said. “And that was the way they gave back to us … It was instilled to me as a child, and that’s what I’m trying to instill into these kids here.”

Jenkins said he believes that as a student-athlete, there are certain roles and responsibilities that you must attend to, with one of them being giving back to the area.

“As an athlete, you are put into a light to where you’ve got to accept certain roles and certain responsibilities,” Jenkins said. “And sometimes that is to say, ‘Okay, guys. We’ve got to go and give back. We’ve got to do this community service or that community service.’ And that comes along with the territory.”

Jenkins is not the only former Gamecock to continue to make their presence felt in the city after leaving. Women’s basketball alum A’ja Wilson started the A’ja Wilson Foundation, designed to help kids struggling with bullying and dyslexia.

“It gives the city life, for one, but it gives the youth life too,” Jenkins said. “When kids see that, they’re like, ‘Man, she’s (A’ja) from right here.’ I could just imagine the amount of young girls that she (A’ja) has

Both Jenkins, Smith and Eason-Riddle all believe that as a student athlete, they have a platform that most students do not have, and it is up to them to make sure they are using that to the best of their abilities.

“We really do have a platform that can really affect and influence people’s lives in a positive way,” Eason-Riddle said. “That’s really the whole vision of this program is to serve the kids in a different capacity that really don’t have the same chances that we athletes have and doing the things we do on and off the field.”

RIGHT PAGE FILE — Freshman forward Katie Shea Collins high fives her teammates as she runs out from the locker room before a match on Sept. 22, 2024. The Gamecocks opened conference play with a game against Kentucky.

Photo: Sebastian Godun

LEFT PAGE FILE — Freshman catcher Gavin Braland (left) high-fives freshman infielder Beau Hollins after the top of the ninth inning against No. 1 Tennessee on March 30, 2025, at Founders Park.

LEFT PAGE FILE — Baseball head coach Paul Mainieri converses with a veteran after she was recognized for her service at Founders Park on March 30, 2025.

RIGHT PAGE FILE — Gamecock alumna A’ja Wilson high fives current women’s basketball players during a ceremony to retire her jersey at Colonial Life Arena on Feb. 2, 2025. Wilson led South Carolina to its first women’s basketball National Championship title in 2017

Photo: Sebastian Godun

Photo: Sebastian Godun

Photo: MADISON REECE

Junior outfielder Nathan Hall finding success as a Gamecock post Clemson transfer

maya collins | Sports writer

South Carolina’s baseball team is 1914 as the 2025 season winds down its final months of regular season action. Despite the Gamecocks’ rough stretch through Southeastern conference play, certain players have stepped up to perform past their expected levels coming into the season.

When looking for those players, you don’t have to go further than junior outfielder and lead-off hitter Nathan Hall.

In head coach Paul Mainieri’s first season, Hall made himself more than comfortable and looks to be a difference maker for the Gamecocks in his first season in Columbia.

Career as a Tiger

The junior outfielder grew up in Lexington, South Carolina, but took his first collegiate swings in Clemson orange. After two seasons of limited playing time with the Tigers, Hall entered the transfer portal and returned to his hometown to play for the South Carolina Gamecocks.

At Clemson, Hall appeared in 39 games his freshman year and 12 his sophomore year. Across the two seasons, he started 20 times. Hall logged three doubles and his first career home run in a win over Georgia State in 2023.

During his freshman season, Hall appeared in 39 games, averaged a .243 in 74 at-bats and had 12 RBI’s. However, as a sophomore, his playing time dropped. He was used more as a pinch hitter than a regular starter, getting only four starts his sophomore season while going just 3-22 at the plate to end the season with a .227 batting average.

Despite being South Carolina’s Class 5A Player of the Year in 2021, Hall was unable to claim a consistent starting role with the Tigers and decided to transfer to the University of South Carolina.

Hall isn’t the only former Tiger on the team, either. Sophomore infielder Nolan Nawrocki also joined Mainieri’s roster for the 2024-25 season.

Offensively, Hall wasn’t as productive at the plate as Nawrocki at Clemson. In 20232024, batting a .227 and slugging a .273. His real moments to shine were in the field.

Early success as a Gamecock

Hall delivered early in the season, batting a .391 through his first 13 games played in 2025, including several impressive

performances featuring moments like a three-run homer against Sacred Heart.

He has also posted a slugging percentage over 1.000 in four games, twice against Sacred Heart, once against Queens and once against Gardner Webb.

Before heading into the Clemson series, Hall was able to hit .500 in a four-plate appearance game versus Gardner-Webb, where he was able to hit his second home run of the season in the sixth inning.

Thanks to his strong start at the plate and reliable defense, Hall had 19 putouts in 13 games played. His contributions helped secure key wins for the Gamecocks early in the season.

Hall spoke in a postgame press conference after their 7-2 win over the Queens University Royals. His plan on continuing the season is to not focus on stats and do everything he can to help his team win.

“I mean, I’m just trying to keep the same thing the same thing go about my routine the right way, and you know, do everything I can to help my team win. Don’t focus on the stats,” Hall said.

Experiencing the rivalry from both sides

In his first season at Clemson, Hall faced South Carolina twice, batting a .250 in one game. The following season, he did not appear against the Gamecocks.

Before this year’s rivalry series, Hall told ABC Columbia he expected an “intense environment” but embraced the challenge, adding to “bring it on.”

However, in his first rivalry series as a Gamecock, South Carolina was swept 3-0, with the Tigers largest win coming in the third game of the series on Sunday at Founders Park, winning 8-2.

Hall went up to bat four times each in all three games, averaging a .333 across the series and fielding in game one and three. During his three games in the outfield, he had two putouts in games one and two and one in game three, all with zero errors, giving three field percentages of 1.000.

After the game, Mainieri reflected on the series.

“[I’m] trying to remember any other positives about the offense... Nathan Hall did some good things, again,” Mainieri said.

“You’ve got to get more than a third year Lineup performing.”

Junior outfielder Nathan Hall warms up with his throwing partner before his start in the game against Queens on Feb 19. 2025 at Ray Tanner Field in Founders Park. The Gamecocks beat the Royals 7-2 with a total of 12 hits.

Photo: Aj lane

International students share thoughts on Southern cooking, culture

Miles Shea | Food and beverage Beat Writer

USC plays host to an diverse group of approximately 1,500 international students, representing nearly 100 different nations. Though Columbia differs from these students’ hometowns in many ways, as master of international business student and South African Emily Hobson said, there’s one aspect of culture we all share.

“Food brings people together,” Hobson said. “Coming around a table and meeting with all your close friends and family, food is the center of that.”

A classic Southern spread includes mac and cheese, fried chicken, beef stew, biscuits and gravy, smothered pork chops and collard greens, said Isaac Pressley Jr., an instructor at the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management with a background in culinary arts.

Southern Living, a lifestyle magazine based in the South, mentions cornbread, shrimp, grits, oysters and peach cobbler as additional staples.

However, the exact definition of Southern food is a bit different for every South Carolinian, Pressley Jr. said.

“When you hear homemade, it depends on where their home is,” Pressley Jr. said. “I have a really good friend of mine; he’s from

“There’s no particular way to, there’s no recipe that makes Southern food,” Pressley Jr. said. “Yes, there are ingredients, but love is going to be your main ingredient.”

First impressions

No matter where home is, everyone has a preference for local dishes, said Loi Le, a 2018 USC alumnus who works with the local organization International Friendship Ministries.

International Friendship Ministries hosts volunteer-cooked dinners and classes for Columbia residents originally from other countries in an effort to help them adjust to life in Columbia and build connections.

Asmita Shrestha, originally from Nepal, whose husband is pursuing a doctorate in chemistry at USC, is a regular attendee. She said sitting down for dinner was a great introduction not only to American food but to the people as well.

“At first, I was really scared to meet Americans because I didn’t know how they would behave to foreigners and how open they were to other cultures,” Shrestha said. “They are accepting us wholeheartedly.”

Mass communications doctoral student Ertan Ağaoğlu, who came to USC from

Turkey, said Southern food makes Columbia feel a bit more like home.

“Even though I wasn’t grown up here, it feels like comfort food,”

Ağaoğlu said. “I love eating it.”

Throw something on the grill

Le said he’s gotten a good idea of international students’ tastes. While they still prefer food from home, one Southern staple consistently wins people over.

“I think everyone thinks that their food’s better,” Le said. “But a lot of people, I think, enjoy some Southern barbecue.”

It’s hard not to come across barbecue living in South Carolina, whether it’s served in a restaurant or a friend’s backyard. Third-year international business and Chinese enterprise student Jackson Mak, who’s on exchange from Hong Kong, gave barbecue a shot, having no idea what to expect.

also developed a taste for fried food.

“I’ve had fried chicken and fried alligators,” Busson said. “You dip the fried meat into the sauce, and it’s really, really nice.”

“I have tried pulled pork in Columbia, and somehow, I really like it,” Mak said. “In Hong Kong, we just don’t really use this way to make pulled pork, or we just do not have this dish.”

Second-year mass communications student Richelaine Tromp, a native of Aruba, said Home Team in Five Points is her favorite barbecue spot and is a fan of their pulled pork taco, paired with a sweet tea.

“It’s very Southern food,” Tromp said. “You can get barbecue in Aruba, but you can’t get it the same way.”

In addition to South Carolina’s signature mustard sauce and pork-based style, Hobson said she was also looking to try some vinegar-based sauce and Texas smoked brisket.

Toss it in the fryer

German Master of International Business student Henrik Callesen said

Callesen said his lack of enthusiasm for seafood has sometimes been a nuisance when looking for good meals in the South, but he has a few more fried favorites.

“I’m not a particular fan of seafood, which makes it hard to enjoy some of the delicacies down here,” Callesen said. “Fried pickles, fried green tomatoes are very good.”

With thousands of chicken restaurants operating in the US, according to a 2023 report from Statista, and chains such as Popeye’s, Bojangles and Chick-fil-A always looking to expand alongside local staples such as Bernie’s Chicken, it is easy to see how international students get just as swept up as locals.

Grocery runs and nutrition facts

Cooking methods are not the only things that are different from home; the ingredients are too.

One thing that stood out to Filip Versterre, a first-year mass communications student who was recruited to USC’s men’s soccer team from Denmark, was that food in South Carolina just does not seem very healthy.

“Food is more processed here,” Versterre said. “The quality of products is lower.” Versterre said it was fun to indulge in high-calorie meals at first, but the charm wore off in the end.

“In the start, I enjoyed it a lot,” Versterre said. “But now I kind of miss European food.”

Busson said healthy food tends to be much more expensive in Columbia than back in Paris.

According to data from a 2022 study conducted by Northeastern, Tufts and Harvard Medical School professors, more than 73% of US food is ultra-processed, compared to just 43.8% across the Atlantic.

While most food is processed to some extent, even frozen vegetables for example, diet classification system Nova described ultra-processed food as created mostly or entirely from extracts and constituents, with little if any intact food

Nepal, though by no means did she say America was perfect.

South Carolina-raised fourth-year advertising student Jaclyn Simmons, who prioritizes eating healthy, said she felt encouraged to go out to markets and get fresh food as much as possible during her time abroad.

“When I lived in Italy, I would go to the farmers market every single day,” Simmons said. “I would go to the same Sicilian men every day, and then I would go to a butcher, and I’d get my produce that way.”

No tip?

Among international visitors, the US has become notorious for its tipping culture. Indian electrical engineering doctoral alumnus Parth Bhuvela said in India, tipping is reserved for truly exceptional service, but he knows it is not a direct comparison.

“It’s a special something on top of their salary,” Bhuvela said. “Compared to the US, it seems a lot more like the waiting staff is more dependent on the tips.”

Hobson said she sometimes feels rushed in American restaurants compared

as social events and celebrations.

“The food comes out really fast; they eat,” Hobson said. “They want to turn tables and make money and everything, but that speed of eating here is something that was quite a culture shock for me.”

Shrestha said tipping culture, adding to already high costs, has made it difficult to explore Columbia’s restaurants . However, she understands the situation for servers.

While it’s been difficult to fully explore Columbia’s restaurant scene for many of these students, those who have had positive experiences.

Bhuvela said living in Columbia has encouraged him to try new things from other cultures that he couldn’t always find back in India.

“You can have Thai food at restaurants, you can have Japanese food, you can have Mexican food,” Bhuvela said. “That’s something I like about the US.”

New horizons

USC offers approximately 350 study abroad programs spread across over 80 destinations. Whether it’s to try the food or simply be immersed in a new city, the options are out there for local students to have their own international experience.

Second-year business student Abigail Chase, who is part of USC’s Global Fellows living and learning community and has traveled abroad, said going abroad opens up the world for students in a way few other experiences can match.

“You’re living on your own in college; you still have a really big support system around you if you need anything,” Chase said. “After college, it’s completely different, and I feel like studying abroad really helps with that and adapting to new environments and meeting new people.”

lu, who had always wanted to study abroad, said going abroad broadens students’ perspectives, whether it comes to food or just understanding how other

“You explore different cultures, and you expand your horizon about people, and you learn a lot,” Ağaoğlu said. “Your life experience expands significantly when you move abroad.”

Hometown favorites

Want to expand your horizons? Look up the recipes and give some of these recommendations a try.

Versterre — Denmark: Frikadeller, or Danish meatballs.

Callesen — Germany: Döner Kebab, a chicken or beef kebab served with bread and vegetables.

Mak — Hong Kong: Hot Pot, a bowl of hot soup that you dip assorted seafood, beef and vegetables into.

Hobson — South Africa: Sosaties, a chicken, lamb or beef kebab with a vinegar-and apricot-based marinade.

Bhuvela — India: Biryani, a mixed rice dish that can feature chicken, goat, lamb or beef along with seafood and gravy.

Busson — France: Beef Bourguignon, a stew cooked with red wine and beef broth, featuring onions, carrots and mushrooms.

Ağaoğlu — Turkey: Lahmacun, or Turkish pizza, a thin pizza often topped with minced meat and vegetables.

Shrestha — Nepal: Momos, a dumpling filled with meat and vegetables.

Tromp — Aruba: Pastechi, a fried pastry filled with cheese, beef, chicken, ham or fish.

Illustrations: Olivia Abner

‘It has to be properly done’:

Epic Games partners with Anne Frank Center in pilot program for Holocaust education

Simone Meyer | Arts & Culture Editor

The small group of students in USC’s first generation living and learning community (LLC) who gathered in the warm reception room at the Anne Frank Center on Feb. 21 didn’t know quite what they were getting into. All these students knew was that Epic Games had partnered with the Anne Frank Center to tell stories from the Holocaust.

It all started when managing director and co-founder of the Anne Frank Center in Los Angeles, Sofi Shield, read an article about a Holocaust museum created within the video game Fortnite called Voices of the Forgotten. The virtual museum is full of Holocaust stories in the form of videos, audios, text and sculptures, she said.

Epic Games is the video game and software developer company that created the video game, Fortnite.

Shield reached out to the creator and independent game director Luc Bernard, and the two came up with an idea of a similar Holocaust museum created by students. They tentatively titled the project

Anne Frank’s Young Voices, she said.

“(Bernard) seemed excited to work with people who had a like-minded vision about the need and potential for change in the way Holocaust education is being done,” Shield said.

Bernard said that with Holocaust education down and antisemitism on the rise, according to the global advocacy organization American Jewish Committee, it was time to think outside of the box. He said he wanted to give young people a voice to continue talking, learning and sharing the important stories of the Holocaust. So far, he and the Anne Frank Center have done that through two pilot

programs, one in Los Angeles and one at USC.

“It’s really, if you look at it, about passing off the baton to the next generation,” Bernard said. “It’s something which won’t happen inside legacy because it’s too slow … That’s why I’m working with Anne Frank, because it has to be properly done.”

Before starting up at USC, Epic Games and the Los Angeles Anne Frank Center conducted a pilot program for Young Voices with students at Roosevelt High School in Los Angeles.

Shield conducted research and compiled a list of Holocaust survivors for students to create a panels about. Panels are a place that a player in the game can approach and gain information about something. Each panel told the story of one Holocaust survivor or victim. The pilot program at USC has the same mission.

The Anne Frank Center in Los Angeles is a sister organization of USC’s Anne Frank Center, which is the central hub for Anne Frank Education in North America.

USC’s Anne Frank Center’s executive director, Doyle Stevik, recommended Education professor Stephen Thompson and the first generation living and learning community to participate in the program, center educational specialist, Donna Tarney said.

“The Anne Frank Center is really all about lifting up the voices of people who don’t normally have an opportunity to have their voices lifted,” Tarney said. “They’ll get to know Anne’s story. They’ll get to develop computer skills. It’s just a win, win.”

Thompson is the director of USC’s first generation living and learning community.

Continued on page 25.

‘Lead like a woman’: Nonprofit South Carolina Women in Leadership pushes for female representation

Simone Meyer | Arts & Culture Editor

When Tasia Stevenson first saw the logo for South Carolina Women in Leadership’s 2023 spring training workshop series, she knew it was a sign to pursue her dream of giving back to her community. The purple and white image of a woman swinging a baseball bat brought back memories of her years playing softball in middle school in the same colors. But now, she wouldn’t be batting for a hit; she would be batting for a leadership position.

Stevenson is a representative on the Charleston Community Development Advisory Board and parliamentarian for the Rosemont Neighborhood Association. Before she joined the workshop, she’d been waiting to run for office until she was further along in her career, she said.

“When I saw that, I was like, ‘You know what, why wait for everything to be in alignment?’” Stevenson said. “Why not just go for it? Why not try to be a voice or at least learn or put my foot in?”

SC Women in Leadership is a multipartisan nonprofit organization that helps women such as Stevenson take on leadership roles.

SC Women In Leadership empowers women to get appointed to a public board or elected into office, said Executive Director and USC alumna Sara Ballard.

“(Women) have unique experiences that are different from that of men,” Ballard said. “And that’s important that that’s considered when we’re making the laws that govern our land.”

When women run for office, they win at the same rates as their male counterparts, Ballard said. However, many don’t believe they are qualified to run, she said.

“Women have to sort of check every single box before they feel like they can step up, which is typically not the case with men,” Ballard said.

Second-year international business student Larissa Carrilho, who helps research bills for the South Carolina Legislative Council, said it’s important for women to run for office so their voices are heard.

“I think it’s hard to gain insight about all the different things that people are going through,” Carrilho said. “Having men,

having women, all races, ethnicities, are really important to make sure everyone is well represented.”

In order to maximize the diversity and accessibility of SC Women in Leadership, the organization is multi-partisan, Ballard said, meaning it supports all women interested in running for leadership positions, no matter their partisanship.

“Although we may be very polarized in our politics in the United States right now, we recognize that in order to get things done, we need to be civil,” Ballard said. “We need to talk to each other. We need to work across the aisle to accomplish things in South Carolina.”

If a woman wants to run for elected office, the organization provides selfpaced training modules, covering topics that range from “I want to run for office,” to “I want to volunteer”, President Barbara Rackes said.

If a woman chooses to pursue an appointed position, the organization helps them through the process of applying and lobbying for themselves, Ballard said.

SC Women in Leadership has an app called

MatchBoard, which shows all county board leadership opportunities, according to the app.

This is where Stevenson learned about the Charleston Community Development Advisory Board. She quickly applied, she said.

“What I learned from the women’s leadership series is put yourself out there,” Stevenson said. “You don’t have to wait for people to come to you.”

The organization also has comprehensive databases for statewide board opportunities.

The tools the organization provides in 2025 found their origin almost a decade ago when Rackes got the idea for the organization in 2016. Rackes had been chatting with a diverse group of people about the lack of women representing South Carolina in elected office, she said.

“We’d all been talking about how inappropriate we thought that was,” Rackes said. “And how maybe if we came up with an organization that could help to recruit and train women, that we might be able to help change some of that.”

Due to the charged political atmosphere following the 2016 election, they waited to launch the organization until 2018, Rackes said.

The organization’s original funding was provided by 100 women and men. Each one gave $1,000 per year to the organization and most still do, Rackes said.

“We consider them the foundation of the organization,” Rackes said. “It’s wonderful to be able to say that all these women and men stood behind us in our mission when we began.”

Seven years later, SC Women in Leadership has six team members, including an executive director, appointed office director, digital coordinator, organizational learning consultant, chief executive assistant and communications consultant.

Founding Member Francie Kleckley ran for South Carolina Senate in 2024 and said SC Women in Leadership created “a great support system.” Although she said it is unlikely that she would run again, Kleckley said her focus is on helping younger women get into office.

Ballard said there are many barriers for women running for office, including caregiving responsibilities, limited access to money and traditional stereotypes about women.

Rackes said society tends to hold men to different standards than they do for women.

“There are so many articles about women who are doing perfectly mundane things, and they are called out about the color of their dress or their suit,” Rackes said. “People don’t do that to men.”

Ballard said in her generation, women were taught that in order to be in positions of power, they had to present and dress themselves in a more masculine fashion.

The organization’s motto this year, “Lead like a woman” is a meaningful message, she said.

“Look at all the problems that we have in our world,” Ballard said. “Maybe we need to worry less about being like men.”

Illustration: Olivia Abner

Simone Meyer | Arts & Culture Editor

He said the pilot program offered a good opportunity to his students to not only gain resume building and networking experience, but to know the history of national and worldwide persecution.

“From my perspective, there’s a lot of important connections for those students to make about society, how we treat marginalized people, and (how) we marginalized groups of people,” Thompson said. “And so I ... Had strong feelings (that) we needed to find some way to connect.”

Thompson recruited 15 students, and a $100 stipend was provided to each student who participated in the project.

First-year computer science student Sebastian Gaviria said he heard about the opportunity from a newsletter that Thompson sent out to the first generation living and learning community.

Gavira did not know what to expect, but he thought it would be a good opportunity to gain professional experience.

“Actual developers and people use these types of skills,” Gavira said. “Also, it’s just

22: Epic Games partners with Anne Frank Center

a nice experience to be able to preserve these people’s memories.”

The program included three workshops. The first was on Friday Feb. 21 at the Anne Frank Center. During the event, students got to know each other and learn elements of storytelling. At the end of the meeting, students were assigned the survivors they will create their panel on.

Second-year computer science student, Chancellor Hanner is creating his panel to tell the story of Fred Bachner, a PolishJewish Holocaust survivor.

“He was evacuating further through the defense of Poland,” Hanner said. “That’s when he ran into his first encounter with German troops. So far that’s what I know.”

The last two workshops were on Feb. 27 and 28 in the Gambrell computer lab with technical instructor Chantal Paz, who worked with Bernard to create Voices of the Forgotten among other projects.

Over two days, Paz taught students how to use Unreal Engine for Fortnite, Epic Game’s software, to create the panels.

While the Young Voices Museum won’t be able to contain every panel created by students in the pilot programs, the museum hopes to continue conducting pilot programs in 2025 to eventually roll out the program nation-wide in 2026, Bernard said. Ultimately, Bernard hopes to create the biggest crowd-source museum ever made, he said.

“(It’s) quite ambitious,” Bernard said. “But I come from tech and gaming, so to us, this is super simple.”

Bernard said the Anne Frank Center welcomed the opportunity to promote Holocaust education through new platforms.

“It’s been really interesting to see how people who are naturally drawn to that (video game) world, like how we can reach them with almost a different language, but with the same goal,” Shield said.

Bernard said that these new platforms for Holocaust conversation give young people a voice to continue talking, learning and sharing important stories.

He said working with the Anne Frank Centers ensured that message was being properly communicated.

Shield said there are many questions about how technology impacts the field of Holocaust education. She also said that even if the subject shows up in a video game, the Holocaust shouldn’t lose any of its serious or somber nature.

“People still need to understand what happened,” Shield said. “It’s not a joke. It’s not a game.”

Photo: Kayla Locasto

Anne Frank life timeline displayed on Feb. 21, 2025, at the Anne Frank Center on the University of South Carolina campus.

Column: Gamecocks should learn about FOIA through Sunshine Week

Kara rottmanN | opinion editor elijah butcher | opinion writer

March 16-22 was Sunshine Week, celebrating citizen access to government information. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is an essential tool for both journalists and all Americans. Students at USC should understand what FOIA is and the benefits that come along with it.

Sunshine Week is put on yearly by the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida. It offers activities and resources focused on the freedom of information and citizens’ right to know through their organization. The week was started post9/11 as state and federal governments tightened information laws due to national security concerns. The week occurs every March in conjunction with James Madison’s birthday, a staunch defender of freedom of information who said a government without it is “but a prologue to a farce and a tragedy.”

Holding the government accountable is a civic duty and the FOIA helps make that possible. It can be used to obtain government documents — reports, meeting minutes, financial expenditures etc. — on local, state and federal levels.

For students and student journalists, submitting a FOIA request is the first step to exposing government overreach, corruption and waste. It can give a window into decisions made behind closed doors and how tax dollars are being used. Gaining access to these documents may relay vital information.

This also gives students and citizens an opportunity to use amateur legal skills. Law firms use FOIA to obtain government documents every day, and students can learn about the law and legal side of government. This is done through both the experience of submitting a request and analyzing often complex government documents March 16-22 is Sunshine Week, celebrating citizen access to government information. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is an essential tool for both journalists and all Americans. Students at USC should understand what FOIA is and the benefits that come along with it.

For students and student journalists, submitting a FOIA request is the first step to exposing government overreach, corruption and waste. It can give a window into decisions made behind closed doors and how tax dollars are being used. Gaining access to these documents may relay vital information.

This also gives students and citizens an opportunity to use amateur legal skills. Law firms use FOIA to obtain government documents every day, and students can learn about the law and legal side of government. This is done through both the experience of submitting a request and analyzing often complex government documents.

FOIA is also important for accountability and transparency. Knowing the truth about what the government is doing is crucial for civic engagement. How can one successfully speak out on an issue without knowing the facts? Political advocacy must be grounded in reality, and FOIA can help students obtain facts necessary for understanding and supporting an argument.

Widespread effective democratic participation is impossible without public knowledge of government workings. It is our job to understand how the government works, what the officials are doing and even hold them accountable when injustice occurs.

Journalists have an elevated responsibility to use FOIA. Once obtained, these documents can become a tool for spreading key information to the general public. It elevates a journalist’s reporting as it gives physical evidence to something occurring on at an institutional level, making their reporting more trustworthy through the process of using factual sources such as government documents. Credibility is extremely important and FOIA aids journalists in their ability to do so.

FOIA can even be used for obtaining records from the university. For example, students have the right to be able to request any sealed document. Students should understand the importance of this transparency and this makes public records easily available upon

request. If a student might need a document, they are able to submit a request through the university’s FOIA portal.

Information on filing FOIA requests for city, county, state and federal governments can be found online. It is important for students to understand what FOIA is and even how to use it in the event they need it. Even though it might be easy to request these documents, it certainly isn’t cheap. Accessing these records comes along with a price tag determined by page number and even time for the employee finding and redacting the documents.

The United States FOIA page describes ensuring informed citizens through the act as “vital to the functioning of a democratic society.”

As citizens of the United States we are called to hold the government accountable. By understanding what FOIA is and how to use it through events such as Sunshine Week, students are able to become more civically engaged and are able to have transparency with institutions on every level.

Jolie Nails & Spa

WHERE GAMECOCKS FIND THEIR ROOST

UofSC students post for free when using their UofSC email address.

Column: Assembly Street is a danger to pedestrians

JC Vaught | Opinion Writer

For decades, Assembly Street has stood like a scar across Columbia’s heart — dividing communities, disrupting daily life and daring anyone who crosses it to trust their safety to luck. It’s a corridor of contradictions: too wide for safety, too choked for efficiency, too essential to ignore, yet too broken to trust. Trains idle across intersections. Cars roar through nine-lane stretches. Sidewalks vanish without warning. Traffic lights don’t account for people — just movement. On April 2, that broken system killed someone.

Nathaniel “Nate” Baker, a 23-year-old USC student, died when a pickup truck struck his motorcycle at the intersection of Blossom and Assembly streets. The driver fled and now faces charges, including hitand-run resulting in death.

While the driver’s actions were undeniably tragic, the incident also highlights deeper systemic issues. Assembly Street is often recognized as a high-risk area, where roadway design prioritizes vehicle speed over safety. In such environments, pedestrians and cyclists often face heightened danger simply by sharing the road.

Baker lost his life on a stretch of road that, by design, compromises the safety of all who use it. And yet, we’ve known this for years. Baker’s death underscored what some pedestrians have long suspected: this street doesn’t just inconvenience people. It endangers them.

The street that shapes behavior

Assembly is dangerous not because of a single flaw — but because of the compounding effect of many flaws. Wide lanes invite speeding. Ill-timed lights create traffic bottlenecks. Freight trains often sit parked for 20 minutes or more,

cutting off intersections and forcing both drivers and pedestrians to improvise. And improvise they do: running red lights, swerving through gaps or trying to beat the gates.

This isn’t hypothetical. It’s habitual. Over time, a kind of normalized recklessness has emerged on Assembly — not out of malice, but out of adaptation. And that’s where design becomes deadly.

It’s important to understand that Assembly facilitates reckless driving. It rewards impatience and punishes caution. It demands rapid decisions in a chaotic environment. That’s not bad luck. That’s a system failure.

In a 2024 interview by WLTX, former USC student Macayla Anderson describes crossing Assembly as “not safe at all”. She’s not exaggerating. There’s no guarantee that cars will slow down, and pedestrians have to gamble on limited signals and worn crosswalks. It’s like the street teaches you to gamble. And if you lose, you don’t get another try.

“The safety of our students walking to and from campus is a top priority. USC has started a master planning process

streets,” University Spokesperson Collyn Taylor said in a statement.

Infrastructure failure — in real time

Our community’s leadership has acknowledged the dangers of Assembly Street for years. In fact, during a meeting in 2022, Columbia City Council approved $600,000 for a pedestrian safety project between Pendleton and Lady streets, citing longstanding safety concerns. But our response has often felt like treating a bullet wound with a Band-Aid. A sidewalk here. A study there. A promise of longterm redesigns buried beneath short-term political delays.

Now, community leaders finally have a real shot at transformation. In January, Congressman Jim Clyburn announced a $204.2 million federal grant to fund a long-delayed rail-separation project. This would eliminate dangerous atgrade crossings — possibly by elevating train tracks above Assembly or lowering the roadway beneath them. The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) has begun early conceptual designs. Meanwhile, Columbia also secured a separate $16 million estimate to improve pedestrian safety along Assembly, though only $3 million has been secured

That’s a crucial step. But it’s not enough on its own — and it won’t come quickly.

Columbia’s residents can’t wait five or more years for community leaders to get their act together. Students still have to sprint across multiple lanes of traffic, drivers confront freight trains that sit parked at random times and cyclists navigate a landscape that barely acknowledges their existence. This isn’t a rare inconvenience. It’s a daily risk.

Baker’s death wasn’t just tragic — it was the result of a system that repeatedly failed to act, despite knowing the dangers. Again and again, this community has chosen the status quo over safety.

The human cost of inaction

According to the SCDOT, major pedestrian safety upgrades on Assembly will cost $16 million, with only $3 million now in hand. State Rep. Seth Rose (D-Richland) insisted that simply ignoring Assembly is not an option. Students shouldn’t have to risk their lives to reach an education.

On game days near Williams-Brice Stadium, close to 80,000 fans pour into the area. Sidewalks vanish, traffic piles up and trains frequently crawl through or block roads altogether. Gameday vendor Kylin Doster told The State in 2023 that cars “rarely stop” for pedestrians. The result? Families with young children, elderly fans and students balancing tailgate supplies all crammed into narrow shoulders and forced to trust their luck.

That stress is normalized simply because it’s familiar. But familiarity doesn’t make it acceptable.

Politics as an obstacle course

The timing of the grant coincides with national uncertainty. The newly-elected Trump administration recently signed executive orders pausing parts of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Elon Musk, newly appointed head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has cut funds for public projects deemed unnecessary.

Although the rail separation project has not yet been defunded, it leaves us to question if it could get caught in bureaucratic limbo.

Columbia City Council members, like Tyler Bailey, said Assembly Street is a top priority, but acknowledges that federal and state cooperation is critical. Clyburn helped secure the rail project funds, but if those funds stall, we don’t just lose a project. We lose time. We lose trust. We risk more lives.

History shows what’s possible

It’s easy to feel like Assembly has always been broken. But our community has tackled tough infrastructure projects before. In the 1980s, the city partially relocated downtown rail lines, transforming a grim switchyard into Finlay Park. Old rail corridors became the Vista Greenway. That shift took vision, funding, and follow-through — and it worked.

Assembly Street could see a similar revival. Consolidating the CSX and Norfolk Southern lines could eliminate at-grade crossings, with a projected cost of $275 million to $300 million, according to the South Carolina Daily Gazette. It’s a heavy price tag, but Clyburn’s grant was meant to close the gap. Chris Dorsey, part of a group restoring Capitol City Stadium, is optimistic; he says upcoming sidewalk extensions will create a continuous pedestrian path from Wheat Street to Williams-Brice Stadium.

Fix what we can now

Big projects can take years, but small steps don’t have to. Former State Sen. Dick Harpootlian (D-Richland) has proposed short-term improvements: curb bumpouts, adjusted traffic signals, enhanced crosswalks and lane reductions. Changes like these may not solve everything, but they give drivers and pedestrians critical margins for error.

And margins matter. When a driver makes a mistake on a well-designed street, they slam the brakes. On Assembly, they can kill.

City officials and local residents have admitted that Assembly is a “mess”, while Columbia’s downtown master plan acknowledges its current configuration stifles both safety and growth. The question is whether those admissions will translate to concrete, immediate action.

No more next times

Our city was born to be bold — founded as one of America’s first planned cities, laying out broad avenues to spur growth. By the mid-1800s, rail lines connected us to Charleston, Charlotte and Augusta, fueling economic potential. Yet that ambition seems to have fallen short on Assembly, where nine lanes can turn an ordinary commute into a game of survival.

Nate Baker lost his life on a road shaped by decades of questionable design, political inertia and a willingness to let the familiar remain unchallenged.

likely it is that someone else will meet the same fate.

We need to stop asking whether Assembly can be fixed. We need to ask what it says about us if we refuse to try.

Columbia has already proven that bold, well-funded efforts can transform entire districts. Now, it faces one final crossing — between ambition and action. If we let community leaders stall here, we risk more than time. We risk more people like Nate. And we lose the right to be surprised the next time this street claims another life.

and Blossom streets on April 2, 2025. The student’s motorcycle remains standing on the street.

FILE — USC students cross the Assembly Street intersection as the crosswalk signal directs them to walk on March 31, 2025. Better visibility, slower vehicle speeds, and increasing the maintenance of signage can help to protect pedestrians crossing.

FILE — Various chalk messages populate the sidewalk outside the memorial for Nathaniel “Nate” Baker on April 3, 2025. Students left messages and flowers at the site in memory of Baker.

FILE — A picture frame surrounded by memorabilia sits on a memorial outside the sign leading into Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center in honor of Nathaniel “Nate” Baker on April 3, 2025. Baker was the victim of a hit-and-run at the intersection on April 2, outside Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center.

LEFT FILE — Columbia police surround the scene of the accident at the intersection of Assembly

LEFT

Photo: HAyden Davis

Photo: Kiley Wagner

RIGHT

Photo: Jack Bradshaw

RIGHT FILE — Students gather around a memorial in honor of Nathaniel “Nate” Baker on April 3, 2025.

Photo: Jack Bradshaw

LEFT

Photo: Jack Bradshaw

EASTER EGG HUNT

Column: Students should strive for sustainability, lower energy consumption by modifying everyday

Kara Rottmann | opinion Editor

On March 16, The Daily Gamecock published an article about USC’s partnership with Siemens to help cut down on energy consumption across campus. The article stated that USC will save “over $8 million over the next 15 years” due to renovations being made to buildings that consume the most amount of energy, such as Thomas Cooper Library and the Close-Hipp Building.

Students who live on campus don’t see the cost of the energy they consume, which begs the question: why should college students care about energy consumption?

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), most of the electricity generated in the United States is created through the use of fossil fuels. This includes coal and natural gas. Even though this might seem like a sustainable energy source, it is not environmentally

friendly as it releases nitrous oxide into the atmosphere, contributing to acid rain or smog.

In order to promote a more sustainable USC and environment, students should be aware of the energy they are responsible for consuming. Trying to save energy is the first step in lowering our carbon footprint as students and as

A simple way to save energy is to remember to turn off the lights when you leave your apartment or dorm. Even if a student is home and not in that specific room, turning off a light can make a drastic impact. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, a benefit of turning off a light is that it can make the room cooler, as some lights function by giving off heat as energy.

Another way for students to save energy is to unplug appliances when they are not in use. This includes common appliances that might be found in a dorm or a USC student’s apartment, such as a microwave, hairdryer, coffee maker or air fryer. If an appliance is consistently plugged in, it might be generating ambient power.

According to The Earth & I, ambient power is also known as “the energy available in the surrounding environment.” They also state that this ambient power is responsible for about 10% of the cost of an average energy bill. In order for students to save energy and keep those utility payments down, they need to remember to unplug those cords when resting in a socket.

Students can also save energy by taking shorter and colder showers. By reducing the amount of hot water consumed, the energy used during showers is also reduced. According to Aveeno, taking shorter and colder showers can benefit a student’s skin as well. The company also states that “for every two minutes your shower is shortened, around 10 gallons of water are saved.” This might not seem like a lot but a little bit of water might just go a long way when cutting down on energy consumption.

Saving energy can be simple and easy. The first step is to make these tasks a habit. Students can try getting into the routine of turning off the lights before leaving for classes or unplugging appliances after use. After consistently doing these energysaving behaviors, they might adapt into a long term habit.

Moving toward a more sustainable campus should be a goal for students. Saving energy is a great way to start.

INSPIRE. SERVE. LEAD.

LEADERSHIP & SERVICE CENTER

At the Leadership and Service Center, we empower Gamecocks to lead boldly and serve passionately. Whether you’re looking to develop leadership skills, engage in meaningful service, or find a place to belong, we have opportunities for you!

WHAT WE OFFER:

Leadership Development

Whether you’re an emerging or experienced leader, the LSC has programs, workshops, and retreats to meet all leadership needs.

Service & Volunteerism

Give back and serve local and regional communities through Service Saturdays, alternative breaks, and The Big Event.

Student Organizations

With over 600 recognized student organizations, you’ll be sure to find your place at USC! Visit garnetgate sa sc edu for a full list

Civic Engagement

Explore how to be an active participant in your community to become a responsible, informed, community leader.

Students who participate in the Pillars for Carolina program start