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TT, • , Quote, Unquote yg|Jf) % / - p. - | ^ -I- pi ‘It’s for chanty, ft’s not like a wet T-shirt contest.’ %/ |—" \/\/ [ || I 11 Brittany Howell, Alpha Delta Pi chapter president, y _ \J Y Y \^_y_I / on the chapter’s fund-raiser for the Ronald McDonald House Wedhesow, April 12,2000 ^ tDlC ©amCCOCfc " P»<* 9 Whe (Bamcock Serving the Carolina Community since 1Q08 1 Editorial Board Kenley Young • Editor in Chief Brad Walters • Managing Editor Brock Vergakis • Viewpoints Editor Peter Johnson • Assistant Viewpoints Editor 'Smart Card' IDs needed at Carolina Imagine this: With one swipe of your ID card, you could do your laundry, buy a late-night soft drink from your resi dence hall’s vending machine, withdraw money from your checkihg account, make copies or even buy your books. That scenario is becoming a reality at more and more schools across the nation that are implementing “Smart Cards.” These cards look and feel just like the ID card all USC stu dents have right now, but with one difference: Smart Cards contain a computer chip that stores data about the student. USC is lagging behind other schools in the region (including Duke, Florida State, Tennessee and UNC) in getting this one card technology in place. Implementing such a system at USC would not only be a great convenience for students, but it could also help the uni versity form some potential moneymaking ventures with out side vendors who could allow students to use their cards to make purchases. While this system is exciting to think about and should be implemented as soon as possible, administrators should beware of problems other schools that have implemented Smart Card technology have faced. Some schools have had issues sur rounding the accidental release of private information about students, which is protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974. Still, schools that have had such problems are finding solutions, and the clock is ticking for USC to jump on the Smart Card bandwagon. Moolah for Music weekend successful WUSC-FM enjoyed a successful Moolah for Music campaign this past weekend. The station earned about $2,300 in pledges. The event suspended the music policy of no Top 40 artists from the past 40 years beginning Friday at noon and ending at midnight Sunday, allowing DJs to play whatever they wanted and fill the requests of listeners. The minimum bid that a listener could make for a request was $5. The largest single donation of the Weekend was $250. The donor was crowned “the Grand Moolan” at 11:50 p.m. “Sunday and won a free pair of tickets to see every show at the Elbow Room and the New Brookland Tavern for the next year. The second highest donor gave $240 and won a bike courtesy of Outspokin’. The New Brookland Tavern will be host to WUSC benefit week this week. Bands will play there each night through Sunday in an effort to continue raising money for the station. The donation total for the weekend was a big improve ment from last semester’s embarrassing ‘80s weekend total. WUSC has improved greatly this semester thanks to a ded icated executive staff and plenty of talented, hard-working DJs. 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 of 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. The Gamecock Kentey Young Encore Editor 1400 Grants Street Amy Gculding Columbia. SC 29208 Managing Editor pZ'oZL Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Brock Vergakis Will Gillaspy Stuoeht Media Area code 803 a a uarticino 777 rrrr Clayton Kale Peter Johnson cSw 777-1184 ££ 'tiZZZ 777 c.AQ2 Brandon Larrabee Kelly Haggerty . 777 booo Associate News Editor Patrick Rathbun 0ff,Ce 777-3888 Rebecca Cronican Asst. News Editors Gamecock Area code 803 Ann Marie Miani Mackenzie Craven Editor gckeddsc.edu 777-3914 EtCetera Editors Asst. EtCetera Editor News gamecocknewsOhotmail.com 777-7726 David Cloninger Elizabeth Rod Viewpoints gamecockviewpointsOhotmail.com Shannon Rooke Asst. Sports Editor Etc. gcketcOsc.edu 777-3913 Sports Editors Rob Fleming EncorelgamecockencoreOhotmail.com 777-3913 Kristin Freestate Asst. Encore Editor Sports gamecocksportsOhotmail.com 777-7182 Copy Desk Chief Charles Prashaw Online www.gamecock.sc.edu 777-2833 Renee Oligny Shawn Singleton poucv GW Editor Charlie Wallace Submission ko Kevin Langston Senior Writers Letters to the editor or guest columns are welcome from all members of the Carolina community. Letters Student eoia sho'V'l be 250-300 words. Guest columns should be an Ellen Parsons Sherry Holmes 0 ’ y ahn. It 600-700 words Director Classified Manager op„ *1 piece of about 600-700 words Suan King Erik Collin. Both must include name, phone number, proles- Fxu/ty AMsef sional title or year and major, if a student. Handwritten Kri, Black Jonathan Dunagin submissions must be personally delivered to Russell Julie Burnett Graduate Assistant House room 333. E-mail submissions must include Todd Hooks Robyn Gombar telephone number for confirmation. Bets* Martin Kera Khalil The Gamecock reserves the right to edit for libel. V»" N“,rand ®"* . . „ ... . , . Creative Services Melissa Millen style and space. Anonymous letters will not be pub- Ken(on WM Brantley Rope, lished. Photos are required for guest columnist and can Advertising Manager Nicole Russell be provided by the submitter. Carolyn Griffin Advertising Staff Call 777-7726 for more information. Business Manager College Press Exchange f i mt I I w omm | ads,., | _\ National Issues Americans overly egotistical America-the great melt ing pot of ethnicity; religions and ideals-has un fortunately spawned some self righteous, pro United States and anti-everyone-else individuals. These are people whose ideas, when rising to the surface, are quick to judge and embarrassing to the people whose pride in this country is wholehearted and stands against big otry. Just as some Gamecock readers are sick of my smiley, the-world-is-innately good, let’s-all-join-hands-and-celebrate each-other mentality, I am sick of some of our country’s citizens, and more specif ically, of USC students, whose attitudes on superiority make me wonder if we are indeed in the year 2000. Call me an egalitarian because I’ve always thought our country’s profession al baseball playoffs to be quite pretentious because they’re called the World Series - not the USA Series, but one that encom passes the world. With teams based only in the United States and Canada, I can hardly see the inclusiveness or pertinence to any other countries. My opinion as an informed, college attending U.S. citizen is that too many Americans think highly of our country, but cannot say why, which is unaccept able. They simply love America because we’re the “best.” Period. It shames me to see such a stain on our Home of the Free. If you’re going to brag, at least know why you’re brag ging. Yes, we are a privileged society, when compared to Third World countries and the poorest sections of ancient, established societies in the Western world. Our pres ident is called the leader of the free world for a reason; it’s not an opinion that we are a great nation, that we are superior in the technical sense. We have the longest standing established government in his tory, a current financial abundance and extremely low unemployment. It’s too bad that ignorance makes some people scream too loudly about our promi nence, which is in poor taste and re flects badly upon our relatively new so ciety, in the eyes of other countries. Think about how the English must view us when we visit and boast about our freedom and top-notch accommodations here. To us, England is no longer our moth er country, but it was not too long ago that we were England’s children. They must see us as spoiled brats. Other countries know us as self-con sumed supremacists with a lack of un derstanding or care for the world around us, which offends me. It’s the travelers who poorly represent America (does the term “ugly Americans” sound famil iar?) and convey that image to other coun tries. Add that to what these countries see on the news about our sectional differ ences and internal problems, and they’d have no reason to believe otherwise - that we are instead an open-minded, well-struc tured and gracious community. Our little Confederate flag issue has made the European news and has spread among other countries, too. These coun tries wonder why we’re racist, and I’ll bet we just say we’re not, spout the words “heritage, not hate” and go on to the next question. They ask about Columbine High School and the fact that we have pro life advocates murdering legal abortion doctors, and I can only wonder what we tell them to defend our “perfect” image. I’ll bet that the fact that we have the high est mortality rate by handguns in the world isn’t our No. 1 public relations line. The most pathetic truth of all, how ever, is the fact that less than 50 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots in pres idential elections. That’s a number that bigots cannot stand by when spouting their ethnic slurs and waving the stare and stripes. To truly honor our country, we must rid ourselves of the lie that we are a perfect land because we do, indeed, have flaws that need knowledgeable voters to fix them. Perhaps we students are the victims of an overly confident nation that does n’t care to understand the complexities of its existence. Maybe that’s why we think we can talk down to anyone from . anywhere else in the world, silently gush ing our self-righteousness for being bom “American.” None of us were born “American” except the natives of our land, who were ■forced off without enough time to real ize that immigrants were invading this beautiful country - those immigrants from whom we have descended. I am a proud descendent of folks who traveled to Ellis Island to search for a bet ter way, and I can only hope they were neither victims nor promoters of the deep rooted hatred that exists today within sec tions and ethnic groups of our nation. The Statue of Liberty holds her torch for all of us and was a gift from another country to honor our United States. Let’s not give into egotism and too much com fort because our nation is in a time of great prosperity and strength. Degradation for people’s differences is not what this coun try stands for - it stands for open arms and diversity. “They say, ‘We be looking for illegal immigrants - can we check your car?’ I say, ‘You know it’s funny, I think we were on the same boat back in 1694.’” -Indigo Girls Meredith Davis is a journalism junior. The Viewpoints editor can be reached at gamecock viewpoints® hotmaii.com Letters Housing should show respect for seniors Once again, the USC Department of Housing has failed me. After living on campus for the past three years, I have be come accustomed to the ease that is asso ciated with living on campus. Unfortu nately, I have also learned that the housing assignment process desperately needs to be changed. After receiving my housing assignment for the fall semester, 1 am outraged. As a rising senior, I was assured that 1 would re ceive my first or second choice of hous ing. As is stands, I have been assigned to my SEVENTH choice, a somewhat fresh man dorm. After spending the past three years of my college education here at USC, I thought that I would see some senior priv ileges, but I was mistaken. My frustration led me to the Depart ment of Housing. There, I learned that I was not alone in my distress. Countless other seniors had also experienced the same treament. When I asked how this had happened to so many students, the response I received was that housing is determined by random assignment. Now, wait a minute. I have been told since I lived here that hous ing is determined by CREDIT HOURS, and now it‘s done by random assignment? It turns out that we have all been duped by the housing system. Every student with 60 or more credit hours is put into a group. Then by lottery, we are assigned a num ber. The number you receive determines your housing assignment, if you have one at all. How fair is that? After all, I have worked my tail off to get out of this place, and this is the thanks Iget? And if housing is assigned randomly, it sure is a coinci dence that the football players all man age to get assigned to South Quad. What is even more upsetting to me is the fact that because of the way the housing sys tem works now, I have friends who are ju niors with 60-65 hours who received as signment in East Quad. I currently reside in South Quad. Shouldn’t I, as a rising se nior, at least receive assignment in the same dorm that I currently live in? Until USC changes the housing as signment process, I think that they will see many students finding cheaper and more suitable accommodations off-campus. April Coker Advertising Junior Sexist ad degrading to women Accolades to The Gamecock's ad team for their clever caricature of a sexist work place! I’m referencing, of course, the ad vertisement for Secretaries’ Day inviting bosses to submit ads to The Gamecock hon oring their “secretaries], administrative specialises], etc.” The ad’s teaming of the already sexist “behind every great man is a (great?) woman" with “we believe be hind every great boss is a great secretary” subtly reinforces the Cro-Magnon as sumption that all bosses are male and all secretaries, naturally, female. The cartoon, too, is another witty lampoon of gender stereotypes. Here, the mustached, power tie-wearing alpha-boss compliments the beta-boss on the quality of a report he turned in on a close deadline. The grinning beta-boss thinks to himself, “I’ve gotta show Wanda how much I appreciate her help.” Wanda smiles indulgently from her overloaded desk that’s decorated with a “Secretaries Rule!” bumper sticker (her gift from last Secretaries’ Day?). Clearly, as our beta-boss is about to realize, an ad is the best way to thank the Wandas of the world. Giving them raises, paying them what they’re worth, endowing them with benefits and giving them credit for their input are all inferior rewards - if they weren’t, Wanda would have had her own thought balloon saying so, right? Again, thanks for your blast-from-the-past paro dy of the sexist working environment we’ve all left well behind us. I mean, we have left it, haven’t we? Martha Wright Print Journalism Sophomore State Issues Hurricanes should be taken very seriously Corey Ford is a liberal arts stfpho more. The Viewpoints editor can be reached at gamecock viewpoints© hotmail.com Meteorologists have a rough job. For some odd reason, people, while always skeptical of meteorologists’ abil ity to accurately predict the weather, prepare themselves for the con ditions predicted by forecasters. So, guess who gets the bad rap for an unpredicted rain shower or thunder storm? Yet, in one aspect, people should remain doubtful of the current means of weather fore casting, despite the field’s increasing abil ity to predict with new technology. Of course, tornadoes are the most unpre dictable phenomena, while hurricanes, seemingly easy to predict, still pose a huge threat to residents along the Southeast and even the Northeast coast. South Caroli na coastal residents, especially, should be wary of this coming hurricane season. Dr. William Gray of Colorado State University, the premier forecaster on hur ricanes, has predicted that this hurricane season will be quieter than the past few seasons. Gray attributes this to the dwin dling effect of La Nina - a warming of Pa cific Ocean waters that allows for con ducive upper atmospheric conditions in the Atlantic during the summer. Gray has called for nine hurricanes to form in the Atlantic, three of these developing into major hurricanes (winds greater than 115 mph). Despite this forecast from Gray, S.C. coastal residents must maintain a skepti cal outlook on this prediction, just as most people disbelieve everyday weather fore casts. While Gray’s predictions usually ac curately foretell the season, every sea son since 1997 has seen more named storms than Gray has called for. Gray retools his predictions mid-season, and he always ups the number of storms because of unex pected tropical storms and hurricanes. The problem with Gray’s prediction this year is that it can instill a lackadaisi cal attitude among beach dwellers. With the claim of a quieter season and the near miss of Hurricane Floyd in September ‘99, these residents, especially those new to the Low-country since 1989 might be less willing to concern themselves with the threat of a killer storm. However, those who survived the awful wrath of Hurri cane Hugo will forever stay on the look out for a major hurricane. Yet, in the past decade, with an un precedented economic boom, more and more people, especially Northerners, have invested in the coastal regions of the South. And why not? Humanity has been seduced by the lures of the coast since time began. With itsgoigeous landscape or tempt ing climate, the coast always draws us near. But with our obsession with beaches comes this annual phenomenon that always threat ens to destroy our paradise. people cannot anora to taxe tnis prediction lightly. When they do, a killer storm strikes with amazing vengeance - it seems to never tail. Hardly anybody tru ly believed Hugo would cause such wide spread destruction. The chances of a major hurricane nail ing the S.C. coast this season are consid ered slim, but it is still possible. Con trary to the odds, the possibility of a strong Category 4 or 5 hurricane landfall still ex ists, especially for South Carolina. Despite the improvements in building codes and forecasting technology, coastal property owners and residents must re main skeptical this season of these ad vancements. The lives of South Car olinians are too important and the risk too costly.