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4 THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, March 8, 2002 SOUND OFF ONLINE POLL Create message boards at Should the SG presidential www.dailygamecock.com or elections be overturned? send letters to the editor to YEA 44% gamecockviewpoints(cihotmail.com N^Y 56% IN OUR OPINION Spring break survival tips Among midterms and papers, this week has also been filled with a Spring Fling Carnival, Late Night Carolina and Happy Hour at the Blatt — all alcohol free ways of promoting a safe spring break. While the message not to “get caught in a pinch” might sound cheesy, it’s also true. Spring break can present many potentially dangerous situations for students, most of which can be easily avoided. For example, it seems as if at least one person gets drunk and rails oil a balcony Have a fun spring every spring break. So if you break: Having your drink, do it safely. Designate a Stomach pumped driver, and generally avoid is not fun. Having drinking near an open your credit cart window or on a balcony stolen because A ,, . you're careless is Another senous ,hreat 18 not fun. Spending sexual assault The 11)1 has spring break in a cautioned students that a hospital is not fun. serial raPist misht be on hls way to Panama City, Fla., but potential attackers lurk everywhere. Watch your drinks while you’re out and don’t accept drinks from strangers. Also, the best thing a friend can do is watch out for the safety of other friends. Above all, remember to have fun over spring break. Having your credit card stolen because you’re careless is not fun. Drinking so much that you have to have your stomach pumped is not fun. Spending spring break in the hospital is not fun. Waking up next to someone you don’t know is not fun. What is fun is taking a week’s vacation away from the stress of college. This week, The Gamecock relieves you of the challenge to make your college life productive. Instead, just have a good time. Gamecock Quotables “Whatever pain and discomfort we’re about to all undergo out there is really nothing compared to what cancer patients face every minute.” FRANK CANNING EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LEUKEMIA AND LYMPHOMA SOCIETY PRIOR TO FIDLER 5K “Can you believe it, man? There’s still beer over there.” GRAHAM MITCHELL BARTENDER AT ROCKAWAY ATHLETIC CLUB, WHICH BURNED DOWN TUESDAY “It didn’t take a gunto a head to make these people vote; it took a knock. We’re talking about students at Carolina, y’all; we all know what they’re like.” CHRISSY STAUFFER DAVID BORNEMANN'S CAMPAIGN MANAGER “This is a very important need to bring another dorm on line, so it is moving s^iead.” RUSS MCKINNEY use SPOKESMAN, ON PLANS TO BUILD WEST QUAD GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us at gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK Mary Hartney Editor in Chief Ginny Thornton News Editor Kevin Fellner Asst. News Editor Mackenzie Clements Viewpoints Editor Carrie Phillips The Mix Editor Justin Bajan Asst. The Mix Editor Chris Foy Sports Editor J. Keith Allen Asst. Sports Editor Brandon Larrabee Special Projects Adam Beam Contributing Editor Martha Wright Design Editor Page Designers Crystal Dukes, Sarah McLaulin. Katie Smith, David Stagg Kyle Almond Copy Desk Chief Copy Editors Crystal Boyles, Andrew Festa, Jason Harmon, Jill Martin. Paul Rhine Mark Hartney Online Editor Corey Davis Photo Assignments Photo Technicians Robert Gruen, Candi Hauglum Kelly Petruska Community Affairs i CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@hotmail.com University Desk: gamecockudesk@hotmail.com City Desk: gamecockcitydesk@hotmail.com Viewpoints: gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com The Mix: gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com Sports: gamecocksports@hotmail.com Online: www.dailygamecock.com Newsroom: 777-7726 EDITORIAL BOARD Kyle Almond. Mackenzie Clements. Chris Foy, Mary Hartney. Brandon Larrabee. Carrie Phillips, Ginny Thornton. Martha Wright STUDENT MEDIA Erik Collins Faculty Adviser Ellen Parsons Director of Student Media Susan King Creative Director Carolyn Griffin Business Manager Sarah Scarborough Advertising Manager Sherry F. Holmes Classified Manager Creative Services Derek Goode. Todd Hooks, Earl Jones, Jennie Moore, Melanie Roberts, Beju Shah Advertising Staff Betsy Baugh, Amanda Ingram, Denise Levereaux, Jackie Rice, Stacey Todd i 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. TO PLACE AN AD The Gamecock 1400 Greene Street Columbia. S.C. 29208 Advertising: 777-3888 Classified: 777-1184 Fax: 777-6482 NEWS': O0ES|Ty-R€oAT£p CLASS ACTtcW 5UIT5 A(ZZ o* TH£ WA/ LET T*e KZCo&O SHowZ/WV CL/EiW PcmmTEP ov7 The McPonau?'^ S’Efivgft who Po^ccc? wiaa -r<=> <OW^f?EAT/ \ s^iSf CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS Take care of yourself this spring BETHANY MITCHELL GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Use campus resources to make sure you’re healthy this season. This month marks the beginning of spring, my favorite season. It’s when men and women start acting crazy just because a little heat gets in the air. But this season shouldn’t be focused only on the cute guys and girls. Instead of looking at other people’s bodies all spring, we should also be looking at — and taking care of — our own. Students on this campus don’t use the resources we have around us. When was the last time you had a physical? If you’re overweight, and therefore prone to diabetes and heart disease, see the dietitian on campus and hit the Blatt P.E. Center. If you’re scrawny and couldn’t make a muscle if someone paid you, you need to holla at the gym. Most importantly, if you like to do the nasty, go to the bottom of the Thompson Student Health Center and get the important things you need to wear. Now don’t get me wrong: I don’t promote premarital sex. But the reality is you’re going to do it anyway. So be protected, not stupid. For some reason, minorities don’t think STDs, health problems or other life threatening conditions could ever affect us. Well, if you didn’t know, here’s some startling statistics from the South Carolina African-American HIV/AIDS Council: ♦ One of three Americans with AIDS is black. ♦ One of four infected men is black. ♦ One of two women with AIDS is black. ♦ One of three babies born with the virus is black. So why do minorities sometimes think they’re exempt? Everyone should be worried about their health. But people get caught up in the moment and think, “He doesn’t look like he has anything,” or “She’s not really nasty, is she?” But, truthfully, you’ll never know. The Health Center gives free information and confidential testing for STDs. There’s no excuse not to get checked and do your part to stop a growing epidemic. Listen, I’m not here to preach. But we need to wake up. Your health is important to me, even if I never meet you. So check out what this university has to offer. Use your tuition for-something bigger than your education: your life. Get the most out of your college experience, and be healthy this spring. Mitchell is a third-year electronic journalism student. IN YOUR OPINION Politics saved Patel in SG elections Ank'it Patel isn’t an angel being harassed and accused by “Big Bad David Bornemann.” Just like our most recent U.S. presidential election, there are many technicalities that most of us don’t understand and many brash and unnecessary words being said about both candidates. In other words, there is no clear winner in either election. One had to be chosen, and now we must live with him and move on. Of course, there are going to be people who feel that they must cry out against Patel receiving any infractions and bash Bornemann in The Gamecock by dragging his honest character and many services rnrougn rne mua. Bornemann has been caught drinking, and, now, Patel has been caught cheating. But the elections are over. I believe Bornemann fervently wanted to serve this student body and felt he could do it best. So, when he saw the elections slip away from him in the runoffs because of election fraud committed by Patel, he must have felt cheated. Bornemann pledged to run a clean campaign at the beginning of this semester. He was the only one who did have a clean campaign; there are no infractions on the his campaign. Only when he felt that the outcome of the election had been swayed and the student body was being misrepresented by Patel’s political scheme did he decide to act. Previous letters to the editor make me sick. The complete ignorance of most USC students still amazes me, yet explains a lot. This entire election has been about who can pass out more fliers and who has more dirt on their record. With the help of Patel’s cronies, this election has successfully ridiculed and eliminated a wonderful and honest person with a clean campaign. Here’s what I have to say about Patel’s “principle, not politics” slogan and his entire cheating campaign: It turns out politics is what really saved the election for him after all. So congratulations, Patel, on your win. Hail to the chief. ANN ROBSON FIRST-YEAR BUSINESS MANAGEMENT STUDENT Students elected cheating officials For those of you who have been a victim of incessant campaigning these past few weeks, I would like to shed some light on the intricacies of what Student Government refers to as the “election process.” As a candidate who won his respective election, I’m in a unique position to give you an insider perspective of the system without having what might be referred to as “sore loser” bias. With this in mind, I can sum up the elections process at USC in two words: corrupt and illegitimate. The actions I’ve witnessed these past two weeks are absolutely mindboggling. The journey begins with the Student Senate campaign for the College of Liberal Arts. Just hours before voting began on VIP, the individual who would later become the largest vote recipient in the college (Zachery Scott) was caught flagrantly ripping down election posters of his rival candidates as well as a presidential candidate. Despite the fact that a violation was filed, and that the election was even contested based on the grounds of election fraud, the ♦ READ MORE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ON OUR WEB SITE, WWW.DAILYGAMECOCK.COM. Elections Commission made it clear that a candidate can’t get disqualified from a race, no matter how many posters are ripped down or how many witnesses saw the actions take place. Instead, the entire incident was swept under the rug. Not surprisingly, the elections debacle doesn’t end there. Even in the runoff race, we saw a slew of elections violations once the word got out that a candidate was caught ripping down posters. Not a single action was taken; it was basically open season for a no-holds-barred election. President-elect Ankit Patel capitalized on this by going door to door the night of the election, violating a myriad of election codes. Not surprisingly, this, too, will go unpunished, and David Bornemann will go home a loser because of one reason: He played by the rules. As for the students here at USC, do you think we elected the best leaders? Not hardly. What we did was elect those individuals who can cheat the best. I think, as a student body, we must all drastically re evaluate our elections process and send a message that we want the most qualified candidate, not those that can slip through the cracks of justice. J. D. SHIPMAN FIRST-YEAR POLITICAL SCIENCE STUDENT Submission Policy Letters to the editor should be less than 300 words and include name, phone number, professional title or year and major, if a student. Bring letters to Russell House 333 or e-mail gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. The Gamecock reserves the right to edit for libel, style and space. Anonymous letters will not be published. Outside submissions supporting or opposing a candidate or a party in any election will not be run the day before or the day of an election. Call the newsroom at 777-7726 for more information. SG SPEAKS SG should party it up BROOK BRISTOW GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM A party system might get students to actually care about elections. So when is the win-at-all costs, steel-cage-match battle that is an election going to end? By your yawning, I sense something: Who actually cares? That seems to be a consensus. We don’t care, and we’re tired of reading about it. That seems to be one thing that people involved with Student Government never seem to get. Why don’t people care? It’s easy: Democracy is voluntary, and it’s not an existing practice at Carolina. And it’s kind of hard to make people care when campaign teams are on Greene Street being more aggressive than a Zipsheet guy on speed. So let’s talk about reforming the process. First, let’s have our leaders * step up. Every year they remind us why we elected them. And upon evaluation, it always seems to be that voters get the short end of the stick. Candidates need to be honest. Telling the truth takes bravado, but sometimes little phrases like “Sure, I’ll call,” “Wow, I always wanted one of these” and “Yes, I will take out the trash” are coaxed into our vocabulary so that we don’t breach the contract of social civility. But it shouldn’t be that hard to do. Candidates shouldn’t only be honest, but they should also be able to take criticism. Or, at the very least, take negative publicity with a 500-pound bag of salt. Being a candidate means putting yourself out there on display for everyone to see, ridicule and judge. And by people chastising candidates, it does nothing but set off emotional launch codes that leave them sour toward the process and more pissed off than a Kennedy after last call. Anyone can give their two cents, but you have to give them their due. If someone says something negative about you, walk away from it and let it go. True, criticism can cut harder than an acid-coated Ginsu knife, but there’s a little thing known as the First Amendment backing • up what people say. Tune out things that offend you; if you don’t like what’s on, change the channel. it s easy to criticize a campaign. Each candidate has his or her own agenda, and most , have a campaign manager and staff who put the student body ) through the same ordeal every year. However, there is a way out of this vicious cycle. Candidates should be allowed to run on a ticket — either as a president-vice president pair or as an entire executive branch. Nothing positive comes from having the top two offices oppose each other. Even if they have different “territory” — the vice president has the Student Senate and the president the Cabinet — a like minded partnership would be a much more powerful one-two punch. Think of it as a little bureaucratic handholding that can only lead to better things for this university. The possibilities are endless. Parties would form, involving more students and creating an efficient SG would be a necessity. If one party fails, another would sweep the next election. By changing the process, we change the status quo, which is way overdue. It’s time to party up. Bristow is a fourth-year advertising student and Student Senate president pro tempore.