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- — Quote, Unquote % / * _ * j ‘The State lost their collective mind over the lottery issue.' \/ "1 CkWTY^Ci I “Bubba” Kerry Maher • / I I m/ I I I I II. Actor in pro-lottery commercials I . in i ■ 1.1 . i —.i 10lC (Samecock Wednesday, November 8, 2000 We (5amecock Editorial Board Brock Vergakis • Editor in Chief Kevin Langston • Viewpoints Editor Nathan White • Asst. Viewpoints Editor Patrick Rathbun • Editorial Contributor Brad Walters • Editorial Contributor Martha Wright • Editorial Contributor Norton best choice for journalism dean Che last of the candidates for dean of the College of Journalism and Mass Communications visited cam pus last week, and now the administration is faced with making the difficult decision of who will lead the col lege into a new era of prosperity. Of three strong candidates, one clearly stands out above the rest. William Norton Jr. from the University of Ne braska is the best possible choice among the three finalists. Norton has experience managing Nebraska’s journalism school, one of the best training grounds for journalists in the country in a highly competitive region. Nebraska has both an advertising program that has earned similar acco lades to USC’s and an excellent reputation for training as piring journalists. However, if Norton is chosen, he won’t be inheriting a program similar to Nebraska’s. Instead, he’ll be striving to improve one. The journalism school has serious funding problems, and — as another candidate bluntly put it — a lot of infighting among thin-skinned faculty. Provost Jerome Odom has, in effect, said funding the journalism school is not a priority when it comes to our university’s quest to join the AAU. This will be only one of the battles Norton will face. However, we’re fully confident he will be able to sucessfully lead the fundraising drive and will seek other sources than university and state hand-outs. The biggest challenge Norton will face will not be fund ing, but instead the one thing he’s said he doesn’t like — initiating change. One way or another, either he or the col lege will have to change. There are some major differences in USC’s and Nebraska’s programs. Nebraska doesn’t offer public relations as a separate major from advertising, and Nebraska doesn’t have a senior semester program for print journalism students, but it still manages to produce a week ly laboratory newspaper in its reporting class. The advertising and public relations sequence is what gamers the college its impressive national rankings, and its enrollment boom reflects that. In the past decade, enroll ment in that sequence has grown steadily while the col lege’s faculty have decreased. To maintain the high quali ty of the sequence, either more faculty will have to be hired or fewer students will have to be admitted. Enrollment has gotten so large that in 1999, the college graduated twice as many advertising/PR majors as it did broadcast and print majors. Another change the new dean must face is implement ing new media into the curriculum. To be truly competi tive with other colleges, our students will need an oppor tunity to gain more experience in Web journalism than they do now: producing four online editions a semester for a weekly newspaper. This should be part of a greater over haul of the print program that has received a great deal of criticism from this very newspaper. Whether Norton likes it, change is coming, and change is necessary. But if anybody can implement positive change at USC, Norton can. 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. Address The Gamecock 1400 Greene Street Columbia, SC 29208 Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Student Media Area code 803 m Advertising 777-3888 Classified 777-1184 Fax 777-6482 Office 777-3888 Gamecock Area code 803-777-7726 Editor in Chief gamecockeditorehotmail.com University Desk gamecockudeskehotmail.com City/State Desk gamecockcitydeskehotmail.com Viewpoints gamecockviewpointsehotmail.com Spotlight gamecockspotlightehotmail.com Sports gamecocksportsehotmail.com Online www.gamecock.sc.edu Submission Policy 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 words. Both must include name, phone number, profes sional title or year and major, if a student. Handwritten submissions must be personally delivered to Russell House room 333. E-mail submissions must include tele phone number for confirmation and should be sent to gamecockviewpointsOhotmail com. The Gamecock reserves the right to edit for libel, style and space. Anonymous letters will not be pub lished. Photos are required for guest columnists and can be provided by the submitter. Call 777-7726 for more information. Brock Vergakis MacKenzie Craven Editor in Chief Spotlight Editor Brandon Larrabee Amy Goulding University Editor Sean Rayford John Huiett Pho'° EMors City/State Editor Charles Prashaw „ . . . Amanda Silva Kevm Langston Unh/ersity Editors Viewpoints Editor . , „ .. , . „ , .. John Bailey Jared Kelowitz City/State Editor Day Sports Editor Nathan Whi,e Kyle Almond /}ssf. Viewpoints Editor Night Sports Edita Tasha |saac Mackenzie Clements Aubrey Fitzloff Jason Harmon Miranda LaLonde Ashley Melton Ann Marie Miani Brad Walters Jennie Moore Martha Wright Katie Smith Copy Editors Page Designers STuoerr Meow Erik Collins Carolyn Griffin Faculty Adviser Business Manager Ellen Parsons Jannell Deyo Director of Robyn Gombar Student Media Kera Khalil Susan King Denise Levereaux Creative Director Brantley Roper Sean De Luna Nicole Russell Todd Hooks Advertising Staff Melanie Hutto Jonathan Dunagin Emilie Moca Interim Ad Manager Martin Salisbury Sherry F. Holmes Creative Services Classified Manager College Press Exchange Election 2000 Apathy is only the sound of silence Shelley once wrote, “Pow er, like a des olating pestilence, pollutes whate’er it touches.” I would argue the same could be said for apathy. It is highly contagious, espe cially among to day’s young Amer icans. The tifning might not be right for this column be cause the presi dential election was active. I know many young people feel dis enchanted by the candidates and their of ferings, but apathy says nothing, and it is not the answer. By making a conscious de cision not to vote, you also make a con scious decision not to be heard. Apathy is not a form of protest. It is the absence of expression or protest or feeling. It is in difference. Thinking apathy means something is a grave mistake. Politicians do not see ap athy as a way to express dissatisfaction or disillusionment. Instead, they disregard non-voters because they are of no conse quence. We might be unhappy with the lip service and broken promises candidates deliver, but this goes unnoticed unless we become more politically active. Individual votes might not make a dif ference in the grand scheme of elections, but candidates pander to — surprise! — voters. Young peoples’ poor turnout tells politicians our concerns need not be ad dressed. We are not on the agendas of politi cians’ campaigns. Ralph Nader’s 2000 campaign might actually produce more young voters than we have become accustomed to. The campaign gained a lot of support from col lege-aged voters. If Nader were the can didate that could reflect and represent our views, then we should have shown more support. If he were the most suitable can didate for younger people, then young Nader supporters should have been more vocal in getting the messages out to their peers. In fact, it should have been the in dividual’s responsibility to recognize the suitability of Nader’s character and agen da. If you don’t know Nader or his views, and you thought voting for Gore or Bush was like choosing between the lesser of two evils and therefore decided against voting, then you will have no reason to complain during the next administration. It might be necessary for us to throw all of our support behind Nader, or whomever we feel is a worthy candidate, so our voices can be heard and can echo to the nation’s capital in 2004. If one finds a worthy candidate, then one should ed ucate, encourage and enlighten others about the candidate’s promise. But we should also be involved in selective processes to find our candidate. By remembering the impact the ‘60s generation had on the conflict in Vietnam, we should become empowered. Of course, there is a ubiquitous sentiment that we cannot make a difference. But we need only look back 30 or 40 years to see stu dents realizing the possibility and poten tial of social and political reform. If our generational apathy continues, then we will see our fathers’ candidates seeking and gaining office again and again. I know this will change eventually, but we are at the proverbial helm, and our inter ests are unknown. Let’s not let our gen eration go through their lives content with being underrepresented and ignored. Let’s not be the “void generation.” All of this might sound idealistic, but we must amend our inactive ways or else suffer the fate of being disenfranchised. luesuay ingiii, oui i suu icui i nccu iu voice my opinion. This is exactly what we must do as young people: speak our minds. It is incumbent upon us to be counted among the politically active voting population. In the 1996 presidential election, the government reported that less than one third of young people age 18-24 actually voted. And while this is a considerably low figure, the 2000 election might boast a similar number of young voters. This fig ure is put into perspective, but nonethe less inexcusable when one realizes that America’s total voter turnout was lower than 50 percent. I’m not trying to separate myself from the apathetic masses. I am just as guilty as any non-voter. I did receive my first ab sentee ballot this year, though this does n’t mean I consider myself politically Patrick Rathbun is a junior journal ism major. He writes every Wednesday He can be reached at gamecockview points@hotmail .com College Press Exchange X SA\D XM ISNT.iT Ti/we THer sAjp SANve? Have your voice heard in Hit (Samecock send your letters to gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com ■ y I mm - m 1; I ■ 1 ■ 1 Student Activism Our social cure-all is served hot and fresh I think I have made a very important discovery that could spell the suc cess or misery of your student organiza tion. Well, maybe it’s more of a realization and not a discovery. My eyes are now open,and I have the knowledge that can help your organiza tion rise to the top. Are you having trouble raising aware ness and interest in your organization and its cause? Are the turnouts for your meetings dismal and dilapidated? Wfell, I am your knight in shining armor, because 1 have the secret, the common denominator. Some of your organizations have already caught on, and 1 am on to you. I walk through out this campus looking at all the flyers and reminders, wherever they may be, and I notice that the university’s more promi nent and successful organizations lure their participants with one thing. Though their meeting times and places are all different, they share one simple and common element that keeps them a notch above the rest. This secret? This missing link? Tliis com mon denominator? It's pizza. That’s right, kids. University of South Carolina student activism hinges on pizza. How many times do you see a campus or ganization publicize their event or meeting and mention that free pizza will be served? Nothing seems to grab the heart and atten tion of this student body more than a free slice of pizza. So, II you re an up-and-coming organi zation, dial up Domino’s or Papa Johns (nei ther place provided their services for my en dorsement) and get them to finagle some slices for you and your cause. 1 guarantee a much better turnout, and may your organi zation enjoy all-new heights. I think many of our more popular stu dent organizations realize the all-impor tant power of pizza, and this bothers me. How are you supposed to really persuade us that your cause is worthy of our activism if you need pizza to get us there? Shouldn’t you be confident enough in your organization to think its purpose is wor thy enough of our attention and attendance? You don’t have much to lean on if the back bone of your cause is pizza. Can’t you see the shock on our faces when, at the meeting (while we’re chowing down) you actually bring up an agenda? . “What? You mean you actually do stuff? I just came for the pizza.” Some of you wily organizations don’t serve the pizza until the end of the meeting, so you are simply torturing the attendees with this tactic. How many times do you hear, “I believe pizza was to be served”? Don’t kid yourselves. You aren’t ap pealing to our structure of beliefs or ideals. You’re appealing to our appetites. Nevertheless, we bite, don’t we? It’s cer tainly a sad state of affairs when you need pizza to get people to take interest in your AnTtinr/ut inn —c— I’ve learned that the seed must fall on fertile ground, so there must be some de mand for this stuff, otherwise organizations would be using brownies or ice cream as bait. I just want to know here our sense of lib eralism has gone? Where is our desire for change? We are in college, right? This is where rallies and protests should be in abun dance, right? Gone are the days where banners, speeches and marches are the handle. We don’t look for a true cause or pur pose when we search out an organization that appeals to us. We don’t follow our hearts. We follow our noses. Maybe it used to be a sense of rebellion and need for change, but now, it’s food. More specifically, it’s pizza. Let’s face it, our rebellious spirit is es sentially nonexistent. That’s why we need our bread buttered and our stomachs full. Common labels placed upon our gener ation are lazy and apathetic. Maybe our vot er turnout would increase if they served piz za at the voting districts. Maybe the social cure-all we’re all looking for comes in 30 minutes or less, or your order is free. Kevin Langston is a senior jour nalism major. He can be reached at gamecock viewpoints@hot mail.com