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Quote, Unquote ‘... I’m not really an alcoholic that can’t remem ber anything. I just forgot what I was doing at 11’ o’ Clock last night.’ Jerrah Kohn, volunteer for improvisational act Wit 0amtack Serving the Carolina Ccmtunity since 1908 Editorial Board Kenley Young • Editor in Chief Brad Walters • Managing Editor Brock Vergakis • Viewpoints Editor Peter Johnson • Assistant Viewpoints Editor Emily Streyer • Editorial Contributor Basketball team needs confidence In the final few minutes of play Saturday, the USC men’s bas ketball team lost yet another close game against a ranked team and a perennial powerhouse. The Gamecocks were tied at halftime with the Kentucky Wild cats and down by only five points with five minutes left to go in the game — all this at the noisy Rupp Arena, Kentucky’s home court. And then, in what has become an all-too-familiar trend this sea son for USC, the Gamecocks let the game slip away in the dying minutes. Kentucky blew the team out by 13 points and handed the boys their eighth straight loss. nut tear not, tans. All is not lost. Merely searcn ior tne aster isks beside those losses and you’ll find that the Gamecocks have not only held their own in the toughest conference in the country, but have also come within a basket or two of defeating almost every ranked team they’ve faced: A three-point loss to a still undefeated Syracuse, a four-point margin of defeat to Auburn, a one-point loss to Vanderbilt, a four point defeat against Florida, and a three-point loss to Michigan State earlier this year. In short, the Gamecocks are a much better team than their record implies, with more ability, talent and heart than the box scores can indicate. They simply lack the confidence they need to win a few of those close games. Don’t turn your backs on the boys now — not during this time in which they need fan support more than ever. The wins will come. And the more we let the Gamecocks know how much we appreciate their gritty determination this year, the better the team will play. GMP salad bar line must be relocated It’s the little things at Carolina that can make our lives wonder ful, or a painful headache. The location of the salad bar line at the Grand Marketplace is one of the things that makes life at USC a headache. A chaotic line forms every single Wednesday when chicken fingers are served in the hot line. Adding to the mass confusion and chaos are the long lines at the Healthy Choice sandwich line, and worst of all, the salad bar line. Three long lines are formed in a space that is barely laige enough to accomodate one. Students who insist on bringing their bookbags in the line with them only tnl/A un rvrnAiAiip rnn/'ft vuiw mutv j/i vvivwtf wj/v»vv* A simple solution would cut down on some of the chaos at the GMP: Switch the location of the hot line and the salad bar. Many students are confused as to which line is which on busy days and often spend time waiting in the wrong line. Sometimes students will cheat and go into the salad bar line because it’s shorter, only to break into the hot line later. People waiting for hot food shouldn’t have to wait on those who want salads. By switching where these two foods are served, it would reduce confusion and the length of time we’re all forced to wait in line. By performing this simple task, Dining Services would provide something it’s generally not known too well for — service. The Gamecock is the student newspaper of The University of South Carolina and is published Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the fall and spring semesters and nine times during the summer with the exception of university holidays and exam periods. Opinions expressed in The Gamecock are those of the editors or author and not those of The University erf South Carolina. The Board of Student Publications and Communications is the publisher of The Gamecock. The Department of Student Media is the newspaper’s parent organization. The Gamecock is supported in part by student activities fees. Adores* The Gamecock 1400 Greene Street Columbia, SC 29208 Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Student Media Area code 803 Advertising 777-3888 Classified 777-1184 Fax 777-6482 Office 777-3888 Gamecock Area code 803 Editor gckedOsc.edu 777-3914 News gcknewsOsc.edu 777-7726 Viewpoints gckviewsOsc.edu 777-7181 Etc. gcketcOsc.edu 777-3913 Encore! gamecockencoreOhotmail.com 777-3913 Sports gcksportsOsc.edu 777-7182 Online www.gamecock.sc.edu 777-2833 SUBMOSION POUCY Letters to the editor or guest columns are welcome from all members of the Carolina community. Letters should be 250-300 words. Guest columns should be an opinion piece of about 600-700 words. Both must include name, phone number, profes sional title or year and major, if a student. 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I nfc UAMKOCK Ken ley Young Editor in Chief Brad Walters Managing Editor Brock Vergakis Viewpoints Editor Clayton Kale News Editor Brandon Larrabee Associate News Editor Rebecca Cronican Ann Marie Miani EtCetera Editors David Cloninger Jeff Romig Sports Editors Kristin Freestate Copy Desk Chief Renee Oligny Copy Editor Kevin Langston Encore Editor Stuobit Media Ellen Parsons Director Susan King Creative Director Kris Black Julie Burnett Todd Hooks Betsy Martin Kathy Van Nostrand Creative Services Kenton Watt Advertising Manager Carolyn Griffin Amy Gould ing Travis Lynn Photo Editors Will Gillaspy Online Editor Peter Johnson Asst. Viewpoints Editor Kelly Haggerty Patrick Rathbun Asst. News Editors MacKenzie Craven Asst. EtCetera Editor Shannon Rooke Asst. Sports Editor Rob Fleming Asst. Encore Editor Charles Prashaw Shawn Singleton Charlie Wallace Senior Writers Emily Streyer Editorial Contributor Business Manager Sherry Holmes Classified Manager Erik Collins Faculty Adviser Jonathan Dunagin Graduate Assistant Robyn Gombar Gina Me Ke Ivey Melissa Milien Brantley Roper Nicole Russell Advertising Staff College Press Exchange c ^ REAUYSro\sT& HAVE TAKEN THE PAW ABOUT "PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS''^ HEART. USCPD honors are not important Thumbing through another issue of The Gamecock last week, I found an interesting article concerning the USC Police Department’s “national accred itation.” I read the article and found out a little more about this accreditation process. Therein lies only one problem: I do not care if our police force is na tionally accredited. They spend extra time worrying about the nurrtber of push-ups each officer can do and the number of times they check the fire ex tinguishers each month. They should concern themselves more with the people they are supposed to protect: USC students. I understand that crime will continue and cannot be prevented. But shouldn’t the USCPD be inventing new ways of protecting students from everyone, including each other? Shouldn’t they at least act like they care when a student’s book bag is stolen from the Russell House book store? While they ride around blaring “na tional accreditation” and reviewing their filing system, an innocent student is be ing taken advantage of on this cam pus. Robert Walters Biology Senior Business school has many reasons for large debt Yo! Editor, Dig A Little Deeper... Your Feb. 4 editorial observes the Darla Moore School of Business “finds itself in a laige financial hole” after over estimating the 1999-2000 graduate school enrollment and goes on to pre dict future difficulty in business school fund-raising and recruiting. There is more to the story, and I challenge you to get down to the busi ness school and investigate the whole story in balanced, objective terms. Here’s a list of questions you could chase down: 1) Who made the numerical estima tions? What are the estimations? 2) Who set the tuition and fees schedule? 3) How does the Graduate College (check it out—they are a whole sepa rate entity apart from the business school) fit into the equation? 4) What about the central administra tion of the university? What was their role? 5) What does Dr. Palms’ vision of the university portend for the Darla Moore School of Business? 6) How has the year and a half search for a business school dean played in this drama? 7) Take a look at the economy: Grad uate B-school attendance is down all over. Good jobs are still available — why go back to grad school? 8) What percentage of the school bud get is derived from the business school? What does it receive from the central administration? 9) What role does the state government play in these issues? 10) What else is going on in the busi ness school? Winning any awards? Pro fessors being recognized for outstand ing work? Graduates getting jobs? If your intent was to hold a uni versity administrator accountable for the deficit (in your view, the business school administration), then I respect your intent. However, to begin assigning blame and speculating on the demise of the in stitution in an irresponsible tone un dermines your journalistic integrity. There’s a much bigger story here. I challenge you to get out there and cov er the whole story. This is news worthy of the cover of the Wall Street Journal. Imagine the four column headline: #34 MBA School in the World —Financial Times Ranking Feb. 2000— Struggles to Redefine Itself: Battles Within and Without Consider these rejoinders to your assertions: The low cost of a DMSB graduate business degree coupled with the recognized quality of the aca demics makes this product a great val ue. Students who elect to get a de gree here — particularly when they secure a graduate assistantship — are seizing a tremendous opportunity. Is it possible that enrollment is down, because students seeking an ad vanced degree in business see the cur rent DMSB as a stalwart “old econo my” business school with an administration slow to revamp the pro gram to engage the “new economy”? Finally, is it conceivable that through discourse, school administrators, busi ness and government leaders, and stu dents could hammer out a strategic vision for the school? Perhaps then many more donors could be encouraged to follow the ex ample of Ms. Darla Moore and many others, whose goal is to improve busi ness education in and for the state of South Carolina I invite you to report on the dis course underway and, in so doing, be come part of the solution. Rob Bartholomew President, MBA Student Association Darla Moore School of Business Class of2000 Columnist right about Southerners I read [Pete Johnson’s] column in The Gamecock [Feb. 4] on the “yan kee’s” view on rednecks” and laughed the whole time I was reading it. I’m not from the North, being originally from Florida, yet I’ve been corrected nu merous times, being told that I’m NOT from the South, even though Florida is further South than here. (But I won’t go into that...) My curse has been that my parents are both from that “cold, polluted waste land known as the North,” so my speech doesn’t contain that lovely southern drawl (desirable in the eyes of so many guys around here). When I first moved to Charleston from Florida I said the forbidden words “you guys” Needless to say after endless teasing, I’ve con formed to the word, “y’all”. My point is that, I have seen first hand what you’re talking about and must agree wholeheartedly that your column is true and FUNNY! I hope your mailbox wasn’t filled with too may hate e-mails. If so, here at least was a nice change, at least AlisooGoIka Tniimali.qn Freshman Hunter’s intent is to kill deer for food Mr. Vergakis’ column on “Campus Issues” [“Drinking, gun ages reversed, Feb. 2] demonstrates a lack of knowl edge when it comes to the laws of the land. One of his assertions claims that a youth has the “right to own an M-16” rifle. This is simply not true. The right of a civilian of any age to possess any automatic weapon is se varolv rncfri/’torl ki/ fko Nlafinnol Firearms Act. In general, one is required to possess a Class HI Special Occupa tional Taxpayer license to deal in such arms. In some states, including South Carolina, automatic-weapon ownership by the civilian populace is forbidden. Veigakis also fails to realize that ever since the NFA was enacted, there has not been a single incident in which an NFA-licensed firearm was used in a crime. Not only does Veigakis make uninformed remarks about firearms, but he also has apparently fall en victim to stereotyping, thinking that hunters and gun owners are those who “live in double-wide trailers with large Confederate flags hanging on the wall.” Nothing could be further from the truth. As a chemistry graduate student, I hunt, and in the process, procure tasty meat. Granted, my domicile might not be a palace, but it is definitely not a “double-wide trailer,” as Veigakis would otherwise hold as a prejudicial notion. Oh, and if it is of any concern to Ver gakis, I do not have a Confederate flag hanging from the wall! I do hope that these bits of information can help Veigakis overcome his prejudicial no tions about firearms and firearms own ers. Ronald Shin Chemistry Graduate Student Send your letters to: gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. Letters should be no more than 300 words long. Please Include your name, phone number, year and major. We've all got opinions; let yours be heard. Campus Issues Dating tips for losers like you o, it’s Friday night, and you are sitting at home, yet again, perfecting your PlayStation tech nique while all your boys are out with, get this, women. What’s wrong with this picture? You’re not a loser; at least, you don’t think you are. But how can you be sure? Why is it that in an en vironment where the ratio of women to men is 15:1, you still seem to find a way to spend your weekends watching pomos alone? Were you bom a loser? Will you die date less? I hope not, but in case you are in loser denial and/ or want to seek help for your game impairment, I am here to save your sad little social life. Follow these tips, and you can go from wack to mack within weeks. 1 tie hist huraie in your seriously limp game is your approach. They say the first impression is a lasting impression, and for you, this first encounter is going to have to be stellar. Now, let’s straighten one thing out: Pickup lines work about as well as USC police officers after 8 p.m., so you have to ditch the, “Shawty, what yo’ name is?” and kill the whole, “I seem to have lost my number, can I borrow yours?” routine. That’s been played since 1989. When approaching a female, the first thing you want to do is exude some morsel of con fidence. You don’t want to come across as being shy or timid; she’ll think you’re a scrub and ignore you. On the other hand, if you’re too aggressive or too self-confident, she’ll be turned off by your overworked testosterone. Also, you want to stick out in her mind. Sure, you can slip and fell on some lemonade in Chick-Fil-A to make that memorable first impression, or you can do the simplest trick in the book: Remember her name. When you ask her name, try to remember, and when talking to her, use it three times. Three is the magic number here. Once in the beginning, once in the middle and then once when you ask for the number. While speaking to her, let her ramble on about whatever, because women love to hear themselves speak and love to be listened to. Make sure you remember what she is say ing, because it will be important later, but the key in the initial meeting is to get the number, and once you’ve done that, move on, or you’ll wear out your welcome. Congrats, loser. Now that you have the number, don’t wait three days to call her, but don’t call the next day or night, either. When you call, do more listening than talking, be cause, again, women love to talk about them selves, and make sure you make her laugh, and ask her about her interests. Be careful not to let the conversation drag on; you’ll know it’s time when the breaks become prolonged, when she starts yawning, or worse, when her boyfriend hangs up the phone on you. Also, you must re member the three-call rule: If you call her three times and she doesn’t call you back, stop call ing her. She doesn’t want you, Einstein. Also, when in the initial phone-call stage, DON’T TALK ABOUT SEX. Hey, loser, if you didn’t get laid in high school, you probably won’t get 1_ ’«.!_ Ckllj VIUIV-I. It all goes back to the Christmas theory: If you ask for something too much, you won’t get it, and if you pester a woman too much for sex, she’ll feel less inclined to offer you any. Just make sure you ask her out on a date afte», about a week and a half of phone conversations and visits to her room. Try to be polite when you ask her, and remember that she is doing you a favor by taking you out of Loserville. Now it’s time for the date, which might be a foreign concept to a lamer like yourself, but it’s not hard, once you get the hang of it. Now that you have a date, it’s your job to de cide where you’re going. Make sure you’re on time, and have the losermobile cleaned up. Re member this is the first date and you don’t want to break the bank, but on the other hand, don’t be cheap and take her to the Grand Market place on your cash card. A good range for the first date is $20 to $25, maybe more or less, depending on the woman. While on the date, remember to do the lit tle things, like holding the door for her and looking in her eyes while she talks to you in stead of down her shirt. After it’s all over and you take her home, thank her for going 01% with you, because, until you get a second date, you’re still a loser. If that doesn’t happen, don’t sweat her, remember, the ratio is 15:1. Now that you are Y2K compliant for the dating game, don’t spend this millennium in Loserville too. JL _ jjf