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*[[Sheldon Brown]], NFL cornerback
*[[Sheldon Brown]], NFL cornerback
*[[Andrew Card]], President [[George W. Bush]]'s [[Chief of Staff]]
*[[Andrew Card]], President [[George W. Bush]]'s [[Chief of Staff]]
*[[Rita Cosby]], [[Fox News]] correspondent
*[[Rita Cosby]], [[MSNBC]] correspondent
*[[Bobby Cremins]], former Georgia Tech head basketball coach
*[[Bobby Cremins]], former Georgia Tech head basketball coach
*[http://illinoisleader.com/onthefront/onthefrontview.asp?c=13217 Patrick Daly], Chicago attorney and political consigliere
*[http://illinoisleader.com/onthefront/onthefrontview.asp?c=13217 Patrick Daly], Chicago attorney and political consigliere

Revision as of 03:21, 6 August 2005

University of South Carolina
File:University of South Carolina Horseshoe.JPG


The historic Horseshoe at the University of South Carolina

Motto: Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros - Learning humanizes character and does not permit it to be cruel.
President Dr. Andrew Sorensen
School type Public
Founded 1801
Location Columbia, South Carolina
Campus size 154 acre (623,000 km²)
Enrollment 17,000 undergraduate, 9,000 graduate and post-gradaute.
Faculty 1,100
Endowment $312 million
Campus surroundings Urban
Sports teams Gamecocks
Mascot Cocky

The University of South Carolina (also known as USC, South Carolina, or simply Carolina) is a public, coeducational, research university. The main campus is located in Columbia, South Carolina and is part of the University of South Carolina System. Founded in 1801, the university offers programs of study leading to bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from sixteen degree-granting academic divisions. It currently enrolls over 26,000 students; the president of USC is Andrew J. Sorenson.

History

The university was founded as South Carolina College on December 19, 1801. It closed during the United States Civil War due to a lack of students, re-opening in 1866. During Reconstruction, the university was the only one in the South to admit and grant degrees to blacks. Once Reconstruction ended, the university was closed for three years and then reopened in 1880 as a whites-only agricultural college.

In 1906, the institution was rechartered as the University of South Carolina. In the 1950s, other campuses across the state began to be established. On September 11, 1963, as a result of a court order, the university admitted three African-Americans, the first since Reconstruction.

Campus

The first building at South Carolina College was Rutledge Chapel, which served as a residence hall, chapel, administrative office and academic building at the same time. Soon after, DeSaussure College was built. Surrounding these two buildings, others were constructed in the shape of a horseshoe. Among them was Caroliniana Library, the first freestanding library in the United States.

The horseshoe is situated in downtown Columbia, one block to the southeast of the State Capitol. During the 20th century, the campus began to spread out dramatically in every direction but northwest. Today it includes the student union, 21 residence halls, numerous academic buildings, Longstreet Theatre, the Koger Center for the Arts, the Carolina Coliseum, the Colonial Center, Sarge Frye Field, and various facilities for Olympic sports.

Recent additions to the campus are the Greek village and the Strom Thurmond Fitness and Wellness Center, the largest facility of its kind on a college campus in the United States.

West Quad was opened in the fall of 2004; this residence hall believed to be one of only four in the world to be certified by the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program.

Future plans include the construction of a research campus, mainly between the horseshoe and the Congaree River; a new home for the Arnold School of Public Health; and a new baseball stadium adjacent to the Colonial Center.

Colleges and schools

Students

Approximately 26,000 students attend the University of South Carolina, Columbia. (Another 11,000 students study at several regional campuses of the USC System, including Upstate and Beaufort.)

Almost all freshman live on campus, and a total of 8,000 reside in campus housing. This number continues to grow, and the university is in the process of adding more suite-style resident halls. Popular off-campus housing includes the University Commons and Sterling University. The two main social points are Five Points and the Congaree Vista.

The Greek system at USC is less popular than at large universities in other southern states. However, with the addition of the Greek village, built between 2002 and 2004, an increase in interest is expected.

Athletics

Carolina's 18 collegiate sports teams are known as the Fighting Gamecocks. They all compete at the Division I level of the NCAA and all sports but men's soccer compete in the Southeastern Conference (East Division). The school colors are garnet and black.

The university was a founding member of the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1953, but it left in 1971 after disputes over the conference's recruiting regulations and the dominance of four North Carolina schools. The USC football team then started competing as an independent and other sports competed in the Metro Conference. In 1992, USC joined the SEC together with the University of Arkansas to bring membership total to 12.

Football is the school's most popular sport, and standing-room-only crowds are common at 82,000-seat Williams-Brice Stadium. After the retirement of Lou Holtz from the coaching ranks in 2004, the university hired Steve Spurrier to lead the Gamecock football program.

Basketball has been a popular sport ever since Frank McGuire was the head coach in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Under his watch, the university built the 12,000-seat Carolina Coliseum. Starting in the 2002-2003 season the Gamecock basketball teams started playing in the 18,000-seat Colonial Center. Before the 2001-2002 season, Dave Odom became the school's basketball head coach. In 2005, USC won the NIT, which is the secondary tournament to the NCAA.

The baseball teams also have been successful over the years. Under Head Coach Ray Tanner, the team made three consecutive appearances at the College World Series from 2002 to 2004. The school has been the national runner-up on three different occasions.

Other successful programs include men's soccer, track & field, softball, and women's basketball.

Clemson University is South Carolina's in-state rival, and the two schools compete in all sponsored sports aside from softball and equestrian. In football, Clemson leads the alltime series against the Gamecocks 62-36 with 4 ties. In the 2004 game, a fight broke out between the two teams, leading to self-imposed bowl disqualification for both teams. Another rival is the University of Georgia.

Notable Alumni

Some of USC's more notable alumni are:

Other campuses

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