Hootie & the Blowfish show support for new USC journalism school

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) — Musicians Darius Rucker and Mark Bryan, of Hootie and the Blowfish, played a free show to a packed Horseshoe Wednesday evening. Bryan and Rucker did not just graduate from Carolina; they were students in the journalism school. The concert was part of the dedication of the new building housing the School of Journalism and Mass Communications. The evening has been years in the making. Since 1969, the school has been housed in the Carolina Coliseum, a place students and faculty describe as windowless and dingey. The new space is flooded with natural light, and has a broadcast and photography studio. School of Journalism and Mass Communications dean Charles Bierbauer says the night was about celebrating those people who brought the 25-million dollar project to life, and the students who will learn within its walls. Instead of a traditional ribbon-cutting, audience members were invited to take a selfie using the hashtag, “USCJSchool,” as a banner was removed to reveal a new sign.