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Quote, Unquote ‘If the Senate doesn't agree to borrow, then there’s Ijfttp hope that the education budget can be spared.’ Gov. Jim Hodges, on Sen. Hugh Leatherman’s opposition toa- bond bill Page 5 ■v %\ii (Samecock Serving the Carolina Ccnrrunity since 1908 Brock Vergakis Editor in Chief Brandon Larrabee University Editor Erin O’Neal Spotlight Editor Kyle Almond Sports Editor Brad Walters Design Editor Cristy Infinger Asst. University Editor Valerie Matchette City & State Editor Amanda Silva Spotlight Editor Martha Wright Copy Desk Chief Charles Prashaw Asst. City & State Editor Aubrey Fitzloff Asst. Viewpoints Editor N.C. shouldn’t exact Interstate 95 tolls Most people associate tolls with the North. In states like Delaware and Maryland, drivers pay up to $5 for the privilege of using U.S. roadways. But the South might soon put those Northern tolls to shame. A couple of weeks ago, a subcommittee of the N.C. Legislature passed a bill that would put tolls costing up to $10 on 1-95 at the S.C. and Viiginia borders. Of course, the bill still needs approval from the full Senate and House before it can become law. But a $ IQ toll on 1-95, if implemented, would have a huge impact on many of USC’s out of-state students. Driving home and back could potentially cost at least $40 for students who live above the N.C. border, after they pay $10 at each border. Dealing with 1-95 is bad enough now — adding the tolls will make it horrendous. After adding gas and food costs, road trips could potentially cost as much as a plane or train ticket. With the rising costs of gas, people just aren’t going to want to take 1-95 at all, which could also hurt tourism in North and South Carolina But besides the expense for students, the N.C. Legislature is being ignorant by putting tolls on 1-95 to raise money for con struction. Drivers could simply take 1-85 and 1-77 to completely bypass the tolls. It’s a losing situation either way, not only for USC’s out-of-state students, but for everyone who takes 1-95 through North Carolina. Events need publicizing ast week, Carolina Productions did a great thing in bring ing Jimmie’s Chicken Shack to the Russell House along with local bands Fling and Love Apple for the Spring Mu sic Jam. Unfortunately, attendance for the free concert was low. USC students are lucky that the university has the capabilities to bring in excellent entertainment. It’s too bad these events are poorly attended simply because students don’t know about them. Carolina Productions needs to put more effort into publicizing its events. There were no posters or ads up for the music jam sooner than two days before the concert. If Carolina Productions can manage to bring these bands in, they can inform students of them. If students don’t know about the events in time to make plans to attend them, they won’t attend. If this is the way Caroli na Productions is going to plan for future events, they’re wasting university funds. About Us 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. One free copy per reader. Additional copies may be purchased for one dollar each from the Department of Student Media. Address 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 803-777 7726 Editor in Chief gamecockeditordhotmail.com University Desk gamecockudeskdhotmail.com City/State Desk gamecockcitydeskdhotmail.com Viewpoints gamecockviewpointsdhotmaiI com Spotlight gamecockspotlightdhotmail.com Sports gamecocksportsdhotmail com Online www.dailygamecock.com 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, professional title or year and major, if a student. Handwritten submissions must be personally delivered to Russell House room 333 E mail submissions must include telephone number for confirmation and should be emailed to gamecockviewpointsdtiotmail com Die Gamecock reserves the right to edit for libel, style and space Anonymous letters will not be published ftiotos are required for guest columnists and can be jjrovided by the sutjmitter. T* Gam*coc« James Battle Travis Lynn Ann Marie Miani Sean Rayford Jennie Moore Photo Editors Katie Smith Mark Yates Crystal Boyles Page Designers Mackenzie Clements Betsy Baugh Jason Harmon Sara McLaulin Jill Martin Community Affairs Copy Editors Student Media Erik Collins Carolyn Griffin Faculty Adviser Business Manager Ellen Parsons Sarah Sims Director of Advertising Manager Student Media Susan King Jannell Peyo Creative Director Robyn Gombar „ Kera Khalil ?ea" Pe l-una Denise Levereau* Todd Hooks Nicole Russell Melanie Hutto A. . c. u Emilie Moca Advert,s,ng Stall Martin Salisbury Sherry F. Holmes Creative Services Classified Manager Only two letters to the editor per student will be printed in a semester. Staff columns take priority over guest columns, unless the guest columnist offers expertise on a subject, or if the subject's relevance is limited by time Guest columns and letters may be submitted by e mail to gamecock viewpoint s®hot mail.com Call 777 77?6 for more information College Press Exchange ■ I S«£S Political Issue USC presidency is a woman’s job h y have a m a n do a woman’s job? I mean, do we need yet another white man running this Ann Marie Mlanl university? isathird -year Two of my studentinthe colleagues, Nathan Co||ege of White and Phil . , Journalism and Watson, have . Mass announced „ . . .... r . Communications, caiididacies tor the T TC/r> . , Send responses to USC presidency. White men S^ecockviewpoints have screwed up ®h°tma,lxonr this “fine institution” over the past 196 years. So I offer the only alternative to another white man running this university: Me. Yes, I’m officially throwing my hat into the ring to be the next president of USC. My opponents, Mr. White and Mr. Watson, have spouted off some plans that have no way of ever coming to pass. Really, Mr. Whtson, flying garages? And you’re no better, Mr. White; public executions? My plan is a simple one that can actually work at USC. Following is my two-pronged attack to make USC a “university of the students, by the students and for the students.” ■ Issue One: Classes No class at USC will begin before 12:20 p.m. or run later than 8:15 p.m. This will allow students to sleep off their hangovers from the night before, thus boosting class attendance. Class credits will increase from three to five hours to get students the hell out of Dodge that much quicker. All faculty will be required to give take-home or open-book tests. And students will have all semester to take these tests. All minimum class-attendance policies will be eliminated. Students will be able to attend classes when they feel necessary. I, as president, will just be taking their money. What do I care if they learn a damn thing? And students will take more classes in their major. For example, the College of Journalism and Mass Communications now requires 36 hours of Journalism classes and 90 hours of liberal arts classes. This will be reversed so students can actually learn more about the field they want to enter. ■ Issue Two: Parking I know my opponents have addressed the parking issue. Neither an unde [ground nor a flying garage is the answer. The solution is simple: Make the parking garages taller and get rid of all this green space. As I have stated in previous columns, I have no 1 idea why USC can have a 17 story residence hall, but the tallest garage is only 10 stories high. I propose that additions be made to all existing garages to make them at least 20 stories high and to turn the parking lot behind the Coliseum into a 20-story parking gaigge. This will virtually eliminate parking problems at USC. As for the green space issue, I think you all can remember that 1 am anti green space. All plans to make more green space will be burned, and all new green spaces that have already been created will be turned back into parking lots. Having a place for students to park their cars is more important than grass that isn’t being used. If I am chosen as the next president . of USC, I have no lofty goals. All my goals can be easily acliieved So Dr. Palms, make a decision already so I can begin my crusade. Letters viewpoints columns waste space, trees To the Editor I think that Viewpoints is an important section of The Gamecock. I believe it should be used to help raise issues and encourage the achievement of some goal. For example, the articles on Otukile Lekote and construction noise are important and relevant. I’ve been a student here for four years, and I’ve suffered through the Advocacy Center construction, McMaster renovations, Sloan renovations and Hamilton construction among constant lawn mowers, leaf blowers and utility vehicles on sidewalks, running over students. But I know it’s impossible to limit work to weekends and breaks. I deal with it. dui uiai b nui wny i in wiuuig. inui mally, 1 pay no attention to anything that I immediately identify as stupid bullshit, but after reading Friday’s issue of The Gamecock, I couldn’t resist writing. Viewpoints is important; its space should be reserved for important issues. I may like racquetball and might find it adorable when a pestering homeless person asks me for 35 cents for a pack of cheese crackers (which happened to me yesterday, and I would’ve given him 35 cents if I had it on me), but it’s irrelevant to everyone except me and is painfully stupid to print in a newspaper. Let’s save the trees, people. Write something significant. It’s not that hard. I promise. In the meantime, I’ll be looking forward to Monday’s paper. Maybe I'll read about how much some student likes cheese. Daniel Shumpert Fourth-year Student College of Liberal Arts t-ignung over woras isn’t worth the effort To the Editor I can’t believe a fight happened in the Russell House. Though this kind of behavior is not uncommon, it’s truly unnecessary. The fraternities all know that at coming outs there’s going to be some name-calling and the frat that is coming out is going to make fun of the others. I’ve been to many coming outs, and this has been the case at all of them. The other fraternities should just take it all in stride. I’m not Greek, so maybe I wouldn’t understand, but it seems childish to fight over words. No one is touching anyone, but just because frats are making fun of each other, they want to fight. That’s so dumb. Why can’t the frats all just get along and come together as a people and stop fighting over the small shit? Just because he’s a Sigma, he’s a Kappa, he’s an Omega and he’s an Alpha, doesn’t mean that they can’t get along. Come on, guys, please stop this. I hate to see young black men fighting all the rime. This is just adding to the stereotype of what people already think about you. Let it go! Tivona Taylor Fourth-year Student College of Criminal Justice The pot shouldn’t call the kettle black To the Editor. I was shocked and upset by an extremely unprofessional blunder in the letters section in the April II issue of 77k? Gamecock.. In the letter titled, “Game cock misiaKe onensive 10 siuueni, is.ui Qien gives tlie opinion that a mistake made by The Gamecock should be corrected immediately. Then totally disregarding proper grammar mechanics, Chen begins the next sentence with the conjunction “and.” I think an apology is in order from Chen. And James Battle rocks. Matt Griffin First-year Student College of liberal Arts Fraternity wasn’t involved in brawl To the Editor I am the vice president of the Kappa Iota Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity at the University of South Carolina. I was truly astonished after I read April 13 article about the “brawl” that broke out at the Russell House. In no way at all was Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity involved. Even mentioning us implies that we had something to do with the altercation. After the “brawl” that we were not involved in, my brothers and I went outside and started to pass out fliers for our “Blue and White Weekend.” We handed out fliers, did a few steps and did some chanting only to promote for next week. It was a disgrace to my fraternity that we were included in the article. I’m not exiictly sure where you get your sources from, but it would be appreciated if you get the entire story before including ;ui innocent party. We pl;m to further pur sue this issue. Jeremy C. Jenkins Third-year Student Darla Moore School of Business Quick Suggestions A guide to thrifty theme parties I remember parties in Itigli school. They were so simple, so pure and so innocent. One night we'd rent . . Michael Kerr out a cheap motel , . is a third-year room and fill it student in the to capacity with 6ol|egeof kids and beer. Journalism and We’d get loud. Mass someone would commnications. complain and Send response to we d run from the gamecockviewpoints cops. Another ©hotmaii.com. night, someone’s parents would be away for the weekend, so we’d fill ltis or her house to capacity with kids mid beer. We’d get loud, the neighbors would complain mid we’d run from the cops. Wherever the party was, one thing was always certain: There was no theme. Lately, the college parties I’ve attended liave all liad some soct of theme. I’ve been to parties with luau, military, pimps-and-hoes and disco-era themes. Dressing up in a ridiculous outfit is fun, but theme parties are starting to get out of hand. it you snow up 10 one oi utese parties without a costume, you’re an outsider. People will sneer at you and make snide comments under their breath as you pass by. “Somebody thinks he’s too good to dress up for the party,” they might say. They never stop to think that maybe you didn’t dress up because your pirate costume is at the dry cleaners. Not everyone has a spare lying around. Every week, college students are peer-pressured into buying theme clodies they can’t afford. It might not seem like much money, but a Hawaiian shirt one week, a blue leisure suit another and that spiked dog collar for the annual S&M party add up. So, to fend off bankruptcy, here are some suggestions for low-budget themes: Old T-shirt Party: Everyone has at least one old T-shirt they won’t throw away but are too embarrassed to wear in public. Now you can flaunt your former bad taste. So put on your \hnilla Ice, New Kids on the Block and Ren and Stimpy T-shirts and have lun. Hot Topic is selling all kinds of retro shirts like this, but they don’t count. They have to be wom-in and faded. Bandwagon Party: You know you hopped on at least one sports bandwagon, whether it was the Cowboys or Bulls in their heyday or the San Jose Sharks when they entered the NHL. For this party, throw on the sweatshirt, jersey or Starter jacket you got when that team was popular. I’ll be dusting off my Magic Johnson Olympic Dream Team jersey for this one. Gifts from Grandma Party: Remember those terrible shirts your grandmother sent for Christmas and your birthday? You buried them in your closet and prayed your mother wouldn’t make you wear them when Grandma came to visit. With the ugliest plaids, pastels and polka dots being shown off at this party, you might consider hard liquor over beer. The High School Party: Nothing could top a theme party after parties that had no themes. For this party you wear what you wore back in high school, whether you dressed preppy or wore Slayer T-sliirts ;utd black je;uis every day. Whoever hosts the party gets an older • brother or sister to buy the beer ;uid rout out a room in the llo|i;^y, fiyi,yn Assembly. Wfc’ll jil| llicrtKitu to,capacity with college students and beer. Then someone will complitin, ;uid we c;ui all run from the cops. i