University of South Carolina Libraries
0 THE GAMECOCK ♦ Monday, January 26, 2004 Online.Poll TT^TTTTA ATATm H OCfCSt™ ssst" I u \\l LJi 11 \ rl 'SJ “rce" McKie’s number? I P I 1/ 1/ I I I I \ I i wade hampton fire chief on the greenville www.dauygamecock.com. I I J V V ■ \ # ■ 1 v L f motel fire Sunday, in which six people difo Results published on Fridays. —®— I 4 ®^ 1 —®— f >.—/ ----_-__-„ In.our.opinson Values push a poor policy Recent statements from the White House and from President Bush in the State of the Union address last week indicate that he favors a $1.5 billion initiative in support of marriage among low-income couples and welfare recipients. President Bush campaigned in 2000 under the banner of “compassionate conservatism,” signaling the beginning of an administration in which the traditional values of his voter base would be continually reinforced by public policy. Marriage in America is a troubled institution. Statistics show that nearly halt of all such unions fail. Yet they are nonetheless integral to the fabric of our society. But federal finding of a marriage initiative will unintentionally cheapen wedded unions by reducing them to another government program. It is the hope of Bush administration officials (and no doubt conservative think tanks) that giving unmarried couples with children a financial incentive and faith-based counseling will promote marriage and thus undermine the root of other social ills linked to broken homes. The Bush proposal is strangely un-Republican; it’s an example of vast government intrusion into the living rooms of America’s working poor who might be coerced into an institution for all the wrong reasons. The plan confuses the religious and social roles of marriage and ignores changes the American family unit has undergone since the 1950s. Government’s involvement in marriage could actually undermine the institution by making it little more than another federal program like welfare for those enrolled in marriage counseling. Throwing more money at a problem rarely addresses the underlying issues. If President Bush wants to save marriage in America, his best course of action would be to target existing unions instead of creating new ones with tax revenue. Government’s involvement in marriage will unintentionally rob the institution of its sanctity by introducing money to the mix SOUND OFF Create message boards at www.dallygamecock.com or send letters to the editor to gamecockoplnions@gwm.sc.edu Gamecock.Corrections If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us at gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu. AboutJhe.Gamecock Editor in Chief Adam Beam Copy Desk Chief Gabrielle Sinclair Design Director Shawn Rourk News Editor Michael LaForgia Asst. News Editor Alexis Stratton Viewpoints Editor Patrick Augustine The Mix Editor Meg Moore Sports Editor Wes Wolfe Asst. Sports Editor Jonathan Hillyard Photo Editor Morgan Ford Asst. Photo Editor Johnny Haynes Page Designers Erin Cline. Staci Jordan. Brian Ray, Brad Senkiw, Mary Waters Copy Editors Allyson Bird. Jennifer Freeman, Jessica Foster, Steven Van Haren Wire Editor Z’Anne Covell Online Editor James Tolbert Public Affairs Kimberly Dressier Senior Writer Kevin Fellner CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@gwm.sc.edu News: gamecocknews@gwm.sc.edu Viewpoints: gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu The Mix: gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu Sports: gamecocksports@.gwm.sc.edu Public Affairs: gamecockPR@yahoo.com Online: www.dailygamecock.com Newsroom: 777-7726 Editor’s Office: 777-3914 STUDENT MEDIA Director Scott Lindenberg Faculty Adviser Erik Collins Creative Director Susan King Business Manager Carolyn Griffin Advertising Manager Sarah Scarborough Classified Manager Sherry F. Holmes Production Manager Amber Justice Creative Services Whitney Bridges, Robbie Buikett, Trenholp. Ninestein Advertising Staff Adam Bourgoin, Latoya Hines, Jesica Johnson, Caroline Love, Ben Sinclair me Gamecock is tne editorially independent student newspaper of the University of South Carolina. It 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-activity fees. One free copy per reader. Additional copies may be purchased for $1 each from the Department of Student Media. TO PLACE AN AD me bamecocK 1400 Greene St. Columbia, S.C. 29208 Advertising: 777-3888 Classified: 777-1184 Fdx: 777-6482 f60VMpSAYSl Jm wants to; I ifMrl INCOM T- TAXES I ^ \ WANTS SOUTH' I , CMLlHIfttiSTO I j-OSEV^l&HT... L lrO?~hET ■HEAaffh 'Upl ALL-me imcqmet^es l [ 'iovmuriii I L. ni"fimMfmmmgmmmmmJy CARTOON BY MARY PINCKNEY WATERS/THE GAMECOCK What would Jesus name it? 4 Greetings fellow Gamecocks! Or, to more accurately assess our readership, greetings homeless people of Columbia who have tired of sleeping on those nasty yellow Zipsheets and have decided to switch to our very own newspaper. You won’t re gret it. Ha ha, only kidding. No GRAHAM self-respecting CULBERTSON homeless per- Third-year son would even read The Gamecock, let alone sleep on it. They have too many fat, com fy engineering textbooks given to them by students who can’t sell edition 1.1.a back to the bookstores because the new edi tion l.l.b just came out. Today is, after all, Monday, and that means yesterday was Sunday. Sunday, as you might know, is traditionally the day when all good Southerners put on their nicest clothes, get in their $60,000 cars, sleep through a sermon and eat a huge lunch, which they insist on calling, for tax reasons, “dinner.” Here at USC (motto: We’ll Happily Rename Anything on Campus for the Right Price!), we know that God doesn’t just have to be celebrated on Sunday (this wouid mess up our weekend). So we have a variety of different ways, times, and places to do whatever it is people do at church. The most exciting of these, by virtue of its name, is The Shack. I know it sounds like a place where people will be sleeping on old copies of Garnet and Black, but it is in fact a vibrant and ex citing campus ministry! Probably! I’ve never actually been there, and I don’t know when they meet, but I’m sure it’s great! (Note: If you are, instead, looking for the “Love Shack,” it’s in Athens, GA. Sorry.) Not far from The Shack, is an even more exciting campus group, PALM (Partnership Among Lutherans and Methodists). I’ve never actually been there, although I have walked past the building several times. Although no one knows exact ly why the Lutherans (a modern day cult awaiting the return of archvillain Lex Luthor) and the Methodists (a group which wor ships Robert De Niro and other Method Actors) have a partner ship, but I’m sure it’s working out great for them. Let’s not forget about Thursday night, the night of both FCA and CRU. FCA, which stands for Fellowship of Christian Athletes, offers fun skits, exciting speakers like our very own Andrew Sorensen, and lots of really trendy people who offer tons of chances for quick, completely Christian dating hookups. They meet at the Blatt PE cen ter, but the one time I tried to at tend, their bouncer decided that my American Eagle outfit was a season out of style, and I was not admitted. But let s not forget about CRU! CRU, or Campus CRUsade for Christ, makes up for their lack of a good acronym by meeting in Currell College, home of the Criminal Justice Department, or CRJU. Although “CRJU” doesn’t roll off the tongue as easily as “CRU” (pronounced like “Crew,” but not to be confused with those people who row), it is also a valuable part of USC. In.your.opinion Attendance policy is anti-education More now than ever, atten dance has become a prerequi site for a passing grade, while knowledge and dominance over material specific to that class has taken secondary impor tance. How has it come to be that such a vital importance has been placed on attendance at a state university? In the past, the first day of class, better known to the stu dents as “syllabus day,” was a time for each professor to out line the material to be studied over the next four months and state the attendance policy. Besides the fact that an at tendance policy seems silly at a school where you pay to attend, little further attention was paid to it, for by the end of the semester, students skipping classes will have already .weed ed themselves out. . This year, however, special importance has been placed on the attendance policy. I remem ber hearing the words “legal ne cessity” when it came to ver bally going over attendance. Too many absences will di rectly lower your grade, and one professor even explained in class that he took absences as a personal insult, although I high ly doubt that his personal hap piness depends on my presence. Another professor of mine has purposefully designated in-class assignments and lowered the percentage on tests and papers to benefit the avid class-goer and punish the students that are able to gain just as much knowl edge in half the time. Now the challenge is placed on getting to class on time in stead of intellectual pursuit. This particular professor even encouraged those special stu dents with unique abilities to drop his course or be frustrated in failure. Why are our professors push ing the intellectually advanced students out of their door? Instead of putting all their ef forts into failing the class-cut ter, why don’t they spend that same effort in offering different ways of learning the material? Of my years at USC, only three of my professors have ac tively taken advantage of Blackboard, posting notes, as signments and extra-curricular activities to compliment and further the understanding of the curriculum. One professor even had quizzes posted on Blackboard so as not to take up lecture time. Sure, attendance was taken, but little importance was placed on it, because by the end of the semester you either knew the material or you didn’t. I have asked several ques tions in this article, the answers of which I could only speculate on. Yet if this trend continues, USC stands to suffer in its de velopment as a school of higher learning, for any mindless mon keys can come to class and slap their name on an attendance sheet. It is a pursuit of intellectual ex cellence and a commitment to challenge even its most advanced students that I would like to see the university undertake, instead of pursuing the strict attendance policies with the likes of Midlands Tech. JONATHAN BUERKERT THIRD-YEAR ENGLISH STUDENT. GOT SOMETHING TO SAY? WE WANT TO HEAR IT. M&QL GAMECOCKOPINIONS @GWM.SC.EDU M® W TOQM W@D@I Hi Ml&im 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. E-mail letters to gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu. Letters will be edited for space, possible libel and style. Anonymous letters will not be published. Call the newsroom at 777 7726 for more information. College.Quote.Board THE COLLEGIATE TIMES VimjJKWpLYtSCHNIC INSTITUTE AND STATE UNIVERSITY “(Saddam) Hussein is a prisoner of war, and in the custody of the ^ United States. He, like other suspected criminals, deserves the ba tle right to a fair trial. Because of the range and degree of (his) crimes, Hussein should be subjected to an international court. If he were returned to Iraq, there is little chance he could receive any thing resembling a fair trial and would likely be killed before a trial ever began.” j» OKLAHOMA DAILY UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA “It’s become an adage: College students don’t vote. Politicians tend to write us off. We have to show them we care. We have to show them they can’t ignore us. And we can show them by doing what they least expect us to do: voting. Vote. Vote in the primary. Vote in the general election. Vote Republican. Vote Democrat. Vote third-party.” " .f . t ' COURTESY OF U-WIRE Making teachers love you is simple Have you ever noticed the fact that Johnny Suck-up gets to sit anywhere he wants while you’re in the nosebleeds sitting next to some guy with B.O. the likes of which you’ve never experienced? Have you □ever found yourself sitting in class won dering why Suzie McBrownoser is making all the check plus __ es while you ADAMS* get stuck with Third-year the impersonal anthropology an(t emotional student ly unsatisfying check? If you’ve tried and failed to get professors to love you in the past, then this is the article for you, my friends. In a few quick and easy steps, I will have professors begging you to skip class and turn in as signments late or never. ♦Bribery. If I’m going to give a professor an apple, I’m not going halfway. I’m hollowing that baby out and stuffing it with money. Not just a little money—I’m talk ing pimp wad. If you’re going to do your homework, why not do it on a five-dollar bill? See what Abraham Lincoln has to say about it. Everything is a letter grade better if there’s money involved, people. Drop a couple of quarters in their coffee. Why not staple some money to a picture of your self and slide it under their doors? When those professors see you giving the thumbs-up beneath a one-dollar bill, they will be put ty, people. Putty. ♦Flattery. If ever in the course of your studies you find yourself addressing a professor, you should try to end all questions and statements with “I love your class.” With a little practice, it could sound like you mean it. Here, try a little role-playing: You: I had a question about Thursday’s lecture—I love your class—that concerned the issue of me loving your class. Professor: I love you. Don’t worry about your in tegrity guys, you’ll be so far up your professor’s butt you won’t even notice. ♦Sex appeal. I can’t stress this enough. Innuendo, innuendo, in nuendo. This is a kind of intimi dation tactic. Professors are so scared of pulling a Mary K. Laterno that they’ll forget all about grading your work and fo cus instead on keeping you out of tViair nantQ Ask them if they’d like you to put your assignment in their box es. Talk about them getting to know the student body. Say pe nis. Then all you have to do is sit back and watch the A’s and law suits roll in. ♦Work hard in the course. This is my least favorite catego ry, but I’m told it is just as effec tive as the other categories. Apparently, if you do the assign ments and pay attention in class the professors will not only re spect you, they might even grow to love you. I’ve never tried it myself, but I’m sure it’s right for somebody. This category involves the class syllabus so make sure you hang on to that. Your professors will be nam ing their kids after you and rid ing those adorable two-seater bi cycles with you in no time. So put your brains away, kids. You won’t be needing those any more (unless you plan to work hard in the course).