College of Charleston News
Stories
April 2006
April 30, 2006
Top
politicians lead the PACs
"There really aren't
any rules" dictating how the money is spent, said Marian Currinder, an
assistant professor at the College of Charleston who has studied the increasing
prevalence of leadership PACs.
Whereas some lawmakers give almost all their
money away to other candidates, Currinder said, "a lot of members have set
them up as a way to promote themselves . . . trying to get (their) name and
face out there."
April 30, 2006
'Nebraska,' Philly
closer than you think
A comfortable cafeteria table, a familiar
church pew and a favorite television show.
These are the constants in the life of Ken
Carpenter, a family man, who wakes up one morning to find he has lost his
faith, an occurrence made even more intense given the amount of time and effort
he has spent building up his system of beliefs.
Carpenter is the protagonist of the play
"Man From Nebraska," a 2004 Pulitzer Prize finalist, which opens
Friday at Pure Theatre.
Written by Tracy Letts, the production will be directed by Mark
Landis, a theater professor at the
College of Charleston.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=84215§ion=artstravel
April 30, 2006
Blue
Jeans & Bangles
The College of Charleston's School of the
Arts will host a gala fundraiser "Blue Jeans & Bangles" at 7:30
p.m. Thursday in the Simons Center for the Arts, 54 St. Philip St.
The event, which includes cocktails,
dinner and live music, is to raise funds to support the School of the Arts and
its educational and cultural programs. The event also celebrates the imminent
construction of the Marion and Wayland
H. Cato Jr. Center for the Arts,
to be built on the present site of the School of the Arts.
Dress for the gala, which includes a
silent and live auction, is either "up" or "down" from blue
jeans to black tie. Tickets are $100 a person, and may be purchased by calling
953-6315. Tickets will be sold at the door.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=84215§ion=artstravel
April 29, 2006
C of C back in the
hunt
A College of Charleston committee will hire
an academic search firm to find a replacement for outgoing President Lee Higdon
after its favored candidate withdrew his name from consideration.
At its third meeting Friday, the search
committee agreed to hire a firm to identify potential candidates nationwide.
The committee had pursued Francis Marion
University President Fred Carter as a potential candidate for the job. But
Carter announced Thursday that he plans to remain at Francis Marion
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=84299§ion=localnews
April 29, 2006
College
of Charleston hires help to find chief
The College of Charleston presidential
search committee voted Friday to hire a search company within the next 30 days
to conduct a national search for its next president.
There is no timetable to hiring a new
president, said Mike Robertson, a spokesman for the college.
Lee Higdon, who served as president for
four years, resigned earlier this month. Francis Marion president Fred Carter
withdrew his name from consideration for the College of Charleston job this
week.
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/14470017.htm
April 28, 2006
New
Campus Architecture: a Sampling
The nearly 50 buildings in this
compilation are examples of new buildings and renovation projects completed on
college campuses during 2005. Information and photographs were supplied by
architecture firms and colleges. These and other 2005 buildings — as
well as buildings from 2003 and 2004 and a few just-opened buildings from 2006 —
can be found in our searchable online database (http://chronicle.com/indepth/architecture). Information about newly completed projects can
be submitted at any time through the same Web page.
ACADEMIC BUILDINGS
College of Charleston
Marlene and
Nathan Addlestone Library
Charleston,
S.C.
Cost: $30-million
144,000 sq. ft.
Architect: Enwright Associates
Contractor: Hitt Contracting Inc.
This new library
offers the college's students 1,400 seats, 1,752 voice and data outlets, 260
computers, 16 individual-study rooms, and the Java City Cafe, which opens onto
a formal garden. The library is also home to the Center for Student Learning, a
Student Technology Center, and a computing-support desk. The entire building
and garden offer wireless Internet access.
April 28, 2006
APPOINTMENTS
- Mike Haskins,
senior director of publications and marketing communications at U. of San
Diego, to vice president for marketing at College of Charleston. (April 28, 2006)
- Leo Higdon,
president of College of Charleston, to president of Connecticut College. (April 28, 2006)
April 28, 2006
C of C presses on with
search
Francis Marion University
President Fred Carter withdrew his name from consideration for the presidency
of the College of Charleston on Thursday, leaving a search committee to plan
its next steps.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=83723§ion=localnews
April 28, 2006
Francis Marion's president may transfer
Fred Carter, who served two governors and
is now president of Francis Marion University, is being mentioned as a
candidate to replace Leo Higdon as president of the College of Charleston.
Bobby Marlowe, chairman of the college's
board of trustees, said the search committee has discussed Carter as a
potential candidate.
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/local/14448923.htm
April 27, 2006
One name in C of C hat
Francis Marion University President Fred
Carter may be the only candidate being considered to replace outgoing College
of Charleston President Lee Higdon.
Although officials at the college are
keeping the search under tight wraps, three sources close to the process told
The Post and Courier on Wednesday that Carter, 55, was the only candidate
currently under consideration. The only question is whether Carter is on the market,
said one of the sources, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because
of the situation's sensitive nature.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=83629§ion=localnews
April 26, 2005
UNSCRIPTED | Critic vs. Cranks
Evidently there's been some grumbling
among visual arts types around town in the last few weeks, particularly at the
Simons Center for the Arts. The subject of the grumbling is a review in our
April 5 issue ("The Young and the Zestless") of the Studio Arts
Department's annual student exhibit Young Contemporaries at the Halsey Institute.
Regular City Paper arts reporter Nick Smith, who's been reviewing
visual arts and theatre for us for almost three years, came away from this
year's exhibit feeling it was somewhat less inspired than previous efforts
there, though not without its bright spots.
http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A12309
April 26, 2006
Help on way for New
Orleans libraries
The College of Charleston
donated five cartons of reference books and textbooks. DVDs and tapes are also
accepted, she said.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=83321§ion=localnews
April 26, 2006
A visit to Charleston finds southern gems (Op/ed)
The
water is ever with one in the Low Country. The Charleston paper helpfully
informed us that the College of Charleston Student Alumni Associates would be
hosting the Oozeball-2006 tournament while we were there. Oozeball is
volleyball played in a regulation 12 inches of mud.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06116/684996-108.stm
April 25, 2006
Lessons the Holocaust
teaches (op/ed)
By Martin Perlmutterand
Theodore Rosengarten
The Flat Earth Society will meet in Tehran
to discuss the myth that the earth is round. This event will be followed by a
meeting of the Holocaust-Never-Happened Club, whose president, Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad - he happens to be president of Iran, too - will select the winning
entries in the Holocaust cartoon contest sponsored by Tehran's largest
newspaper.
Martin Perlmutter directs the Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies
Program at the College of Charleston. Theodore Rosengarten teaches courses in history and Jewish studies
at the College of Charleston and the University of South Carolina.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=83176§ion=editorials
April 25, 2006
Why
are boys dropping out?
Samuel Spence, 20,
College of Charleston, Charleston, S.C.: The United States must market its professional job market as
accessible to Americans of all races, genders, and classes in order to be a
competitive global force. However, reform must originate from states
responsible for low graduation rates and not be forced upon states that
encourage continuing to age 18. Instead of admitting defeat at the hands of 16
year olds, states should keep students for these two years when hopefully their
friends' graduating and applying to college may influence their misguided
decision.
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/14421272.htm
April 25, 2006
Raising
awareness (Letter to the editor)
In suggesting the College
of Charleston students' shantytown exercise missed the mark, Post and Courier
reporter Michael Gartland ("Shanty well-intentioned, but off the
mark") appears to have missed the main point. The shantytown was one event
in a two-week effort to examine global poverty, but more importantly, it was an
opportunity for students to teach other students.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=83170§ion=letters
April 24, 2006
Executive items
Dr. Robert E. Cape has
been named senior vice president/chief information officer for the College of
Charleston. Previously, he taught computer science at the University of
Virginia and worked in information technology at Carnegie Mellon University, Saint
Joseph's University, the University System of New Hampshire and American
University, and for Bell Atlantic Corp. He holds a bachelor's degree from Hartwick
College in Oneonta, N.Y., and master's and doctoral degrees in computer science
from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=82755§ion=businessreview
April 24, 2006
Formal
pact needed (letter to the editor)
I am a freshman at the College of
Charleston. I have lived in Mount Pleasant for almost 19 years and am aware of
the controversial issue of the depletion of the beautiful Francis Marion
National Forest.
Stacey
Tokarczyk
1503
Daniel Legare Place
Mount
Pleasant
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=83060§ion=letters
April 23, 2006
Debaters agree on many
points
EDITOR'S NOTE: In
April, Herb Silverman, a professor of mathematics at the College of Charleston
and president of the Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry, challenged readers to
find God in the U.S. Constitution. Skip Johnson, an author and former Post and
Courier religion writer, took up the challenge. Their debate played out over
several weeks in Faith & Values, and many readers wrote in their takes on
who won and who lost. When the debate ended, Silverman and Johnson agreed to
meet for dinner. Here's their joint account of that meeting.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=82697§ion=faithvalues
April 23, 2006
Same
votes, different styles
This type of personality,
liberal or conservative, draws the attention of the media because he or she is
seen as being a more critical thinker and a more knowledgeable political
figure,” said College of Charleston analyst Bill Moore.
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/columnists/lee_bandy/14408146.htm
April 21, 2006
Erma
Bombeck's humor still loved decade after her death
Chris Lamb, professor of media studies at
the College of Charleston in South Carolina, said Bombeck brings laughter and
relief to those who fear they are in it alone.
"Once you start having kids, you
think she's peeking in your window," he said.
One of Lamb's favorite Bombeck stories is
about her being confronted by her grocer because her young son liked to eat
fruit from the produce section as they were shopping. He said Bombeck suggested
her son be weighed both before and after shopping, and she would pay the grocer
the difference.
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/entertainment/performing_arts/14399824.htm
April 21, 2006
Evidence
surfaces linking decline of coral reefs to sewers, runoff
"Those are
indications of environmental stress, for the most part from land-based
sources," said Phillip Dustan, professor of biology at the College of
Charleston, one of the authors of the study, which was funded by state and
federal environmental agencies. "This is something we should have done 30
years ago, when we saw the reef was degrading. People have said you can't prove
this is happening. Well, we're beginning to prove this is happening."
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/nation/14396088.htm
April 20, 2006
Free
hip-hop concert
The true essence of hip-hop is something
that is overwhelmingly absent in mainstream rap. Hip-hop began as a collage of
sounds and influences that drew from the soul of R & B, the message of
spoken word and the liberation of rock 'n' roll.
The College of Charleston will welcome
five leading underground hip-hop artists to Stern Center Gardens, 71 George
St., tonight for an exhibition of roots hip-hop.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=82273§ion=preview
April 20, 2006
Poetry
So what's the GOOD news about spring,
GMLc?
We're glad you asked. It's still National
Poetry Month.
This afternoon at 5, a poetry slam takes
place at The Cistern, College of Charleston campus, corner of St. Philip and
George streets. The top three poets win money. Contact leahkay_m@yahoo.com for more information. Free.
April 20, 2006
C of C panel met
without telling public
COLUMBIA - The committee charged with
finding a replacement for outgoing College of Charleston President Lee Higdon
met last week in Charleston without public notification and Wednesday in
Columbia at a bank building with a guarded entrance.
Under the state's Freedom of Information
Act, public bodies must announce meetings at least 24 hours in advance, and all
meetings must be open to the public.
The search committee is considered a
public body because the college is a public institution that receives state
funds.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=82436§ion=stateregion
April 19, 2006
S.C. lags in black
business owners
Marvin Dulaney, executive director of the
Avery Research Center and a College of Charleston history professor, said
blacks in the South are still hamstrung by bias and the legacy of racism. Aside
from outright prejudice, Dulaney said, public policy is partly to blame,
including regulations that precluded black people from buying certain real estate.
"It's historic," Dulaney said.
"Basically, it goes back to the fact that African-Americans, through
racism and segregation, were hindered from the end of the Civil War to the
present."
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=82175§ion=stateregion
April 19, 2006
Pianist delivers
powerful concert
Titanic power and artful pacing marked
pianist Dmitri Ratser's performance in the final concert of the 16th season of
The International Piano Series at the College of Charleston.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=82204§ion=localnews
April 18, 2006
Higdon
departure (Letter to the editor)
I was disappointed to hear of the
resignation of Lee Higdon, only the 20th president of the College of Charleston
in its 221-year history. I applaud the accomplishments of the president during
his short term in office, but I am disheartened to hear of his departure so
soon.
Currently,
C of C is in the midst of several major building projects and the departure of
Mr. Higdon leaves the college able but without the executive leadership a
president provides.
Samuel
Spence
Sophomore
College
of Charleston
1425
C of C Complex
April 17, 2006
Fort
Lauderdale/Miami
Study:
Florida runoff may endanger reefs
"Those are
indications of environmental stress, for the most part from land-based
sources," said Phillip Dustan, professor of biology at the College of
Charleston and an author of the study, which was funded by state and federal
environmental agencies. "This is something we should have done 30 years
ago, when we saw the reef was degrading. People have said you can't prove this
is happening. Well, we're beginning to prove this is happening."
April 17, 2006
Flowertown Festival, bridge weekend bring in millions to
local economy
According to the College of
Charleston’s Hospitality Performance Index System within the Hospitality and
Tourism Management Department of the college, hotel occupancy of the tri-county
area’s 15,000 rooms increased that week to 89.9%, up from 83.7% the prior week.
Bing Pan, the head of
research for the College of Charleston’s Office of Tourism Analysis, estimated
occupancy rates for the March 31st weekend rose as high as 98%.
The added demand for rooms
increased average hotel rates to $168 per night. Two weeks earlier, visitors
paid $134 for a room in the tri-county area, Pan said.
http://www.charlestonbusiness.com/current/12_9/news/6320-1.html
April 17, 2006
Strategic plan helps College of Charleston brand identity
Faculty members at the
College of Charleston recently completed a series of conversations regarding
the identity of the college as a liberal arts and sciences institution.
The conversations, a direct
result of a motion passed at the Nov. 29, 2005, college senate meeting, arose
out of a concern that faculty become an integral part of the institutional
decision-making process on the issue of identity.
At the heart of the issue
is whether the college should be known as a liberal arts and sciences
university. Some faculty members think the institution is too large to use the
term. In fact, any language describing the college as “liberal arts and
sciences” was eliminated in a recent advertisement for a new dean of humanities
and social sciences.
Mike Haskins, the recently
appointed vice president for marketing at the college who oversees and coordinates
the institution’s marketing, branding and communications efforts, said the
issue is not as much about the use of the expression itself as it is about
self-examination.
“It helps to look at
yourself and how you view the organization internally and make sure it’s in
sync with how it’s viewed externally,” Haskins said. “The college wants to be
clear about how it identifies itself to prospective students in particular. We
want students that come here to understand what we’re about and that they’re coming
to a certain type of institution.”
The college is not changing
its identity, Haskins said, but rather is studying what it means to be a
liberal arts college.
http://www.charlestonbusiness.com/current/12_9/news/6339-1.html
April 16, 2006
Stories from life
The divine moment came a decade ago when
Beth Webb Hart faced a huge challenge: Very soon she would be expected to write
her first novel.
Hart had finished her undergraduate work
and was about to embark on her Master of Fine Arts in creative writing, a
degree that required crafting a major piece of fiction.
Around that time, Hart traveled back to
Edisto, where a friend set her up on a blind date. That's how she met Edward
Hart, a composer and Charleston native. They married in time, and now he is
associate professor of music theory and composition at the College of
Charleston.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=81505§ion=faithvalues
April 16, 2006
'Kander
& Ebb
"Travels With Kander & Ebb - a
Broadway Musical Revue" opens at 8 p.m. Friday in the Recital Hall at the
College of Charleston's Simons Center for the Arts, 54 St. Philip St.
The show is a production of the opera
division of the college's School of the Arts and will feature 10 singers who
are all voice majors in the music department's vocal/choral program.
The hourlong production will be
co-directed by music professor Deanna McBroom and theater and dance professor Robert
Ivey.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=81550§ion=artstravel
April 16, 2006
C of C athletic
director withdraws from VCU search
College of Charleston athletic director
Jerry Baker has withdrawn from consideration for the same job at Virginia
Commonwealth, where he interviewed last week.
"I called them today and told them
I'm pulling my name out," Baker said Saturday afternoon. "It's a
great opportunity, but the timing just isn't right for me and my family. There
are just too many unfinished things here - we've got the new (basketball)
arena, baseball stuff going on at Patriots Point, we're close to doing a new
track. I wasn't getting any sleep. I'm feeling much better now."
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=81820§ion=sports
April 16, 2006
CSO, series set season
finales
The season finale of the International
Piano Series at the College of Charleston will feature Russian pianist Dmitri
Ratser, who will perform at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Sottile Theatre, 44 George
St.
The program will include Sergei
Rachmaninoff's Second Sonata, Two Etudes and "Vers la flamme" by
Alexander Scriabin.
A Chopin polonaise, waltz, nocturne and
Scherzo No. 1, and Alexander Rosenblatt's "Variations on a Theme of
Paganini" will round out the evening.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=81523§ion=artstravel
April 15, 2006
2 men
charged with damaging cars
A College of Charleston
student and another man are accused of causing about $1,800 worth of damage to
six cars on the
peninsula Thursday night,
police said.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=81652§ion=localnews
April 14, 2006
Do men or women run
more stop signs? Students find out
College of Charleston psychology students
say men are more likely than women to roll through a stop sign, and they have
the research to back up their claim.
Tara Cox, a senior and one of the students
who conducted the research, will present the group's findings this afternoon at
a showcase that's open to the public. Faculty members and students will display
posters on nearly 100 science and math research projects conducted on campus.
The display boards combine text, photos and graphics to describe research
methods and results.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=81396§ion=localnews
April 13, 2006
College
of Charleston forms presidental search committee
The College of Charleston has formed a 12-member presidential search committ