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Controversy Newspaper gets unneeded image for prejudiced against blacks The verdict is in and The Gamecock is supposedly nothing more than a collection of racial bigots. A story on the front page claims we're moving into the direction of being insensitive to certain races and they have a pretty good point. True, we did publish the story of the Cockwheat incident. True, some columnists defended Cockwheat. True, Sajiv Soni called a potential customer a "nigger." But along with that, we did publish the story on Ralph Johnson's honorary Alpha Phi Alpha award; we did cover the race relations forum; and we featured a black sorority's rise from the dead. Can you really call us insensitive? Maybe. We do publish letters to the editor staging a fight between the races. But what should we do? Should we infringe upon the First Amendment to keep a good racial balance? The First Amendment is one of the few documents that is colorblind. Every person has the right to write us a letter to the editor and we try to publish all of those letters. But people are confusing letter writers with this staff, and because of that, we're getting a black eye nationwide. If you really take the time to look at our coverage, it would be insane to call us a pack of racial bigots. Besides the letters to the editors, we have been fair to both races. Take for example our coverage of the race relations forum story. We purposely made that the lead story because it pertained to a large audience. We also manipulated the pictures in a unique way, as well. If you don't remember, on the left side of the storv. we had an African-American speaking to the audience while a white student was on the right side of the story listening. Those two pictures were powerful. They showed there could be a common ground without disrepect for either side. We made Johnson's honor as the Alpha Phi Alpha National Brother of the Year our lead story on Oct. 30. Even though it was a really skinny story, we still stretched it across the top of the front page. In another column, Tige Watts pleaded for people of all sorts to apply to be staff writers. This is not an exclusive newspaper. We have quality writers and editors, but it is because of simple devotion. On other campuses the racial problem is really bad. We've had some offensive items published but they were only in our Viewpoint section, not in advertisements like in other campus newspapers. The First Amendment protects political speech. We leave it to the general masses to determine if it's good speech or not. ? We leave to you, our readers, to determine if a person's idea is good or not. But that's our job. We present the problem and leave it to you to interpret it. So, can you be really that upset over us doing our job? ; We think not. IGAMRCOCE News: 777-7726 Advertising: 777-4249 Chris Silvestri Editor in Chief David Bowden Brant Long Managing Editor/Viewpoint Editor Copy Desk Chief Tige Watts Tracey Davis News Editor Carolina Life Editor Aaron Sheinin Teddy Lepp Sports Editor Photography Editor Patrick Villegas Gordon Mantler Asst. News Editor Asst. News Editor amy Barcomb Rich Taylor j f rj.-,. a?. c - r? j?.? nssi. ua'wwtu Cjuuor rui&i. apuris c,tuior Virginia Marshall Greg Rickabaugh Asst. Copy Desk Chief Asst. Photography Editor Wayne Williams Eric Glenn Comics Editor W J BRITT Darkroom Technician Staff Cartoonist Renee A. Gibson Laura S. Day Asst. Media Coor J Advertising. Manager Production Manager Stacie Lewis ray Burgos Asst. Advertising Manager Asst. Production Manager Erik Collins Carolyn Griffin Faculty Adviser LARA CHAPMAN Business Manager Asst. Classified Manager Letters Policy: The Gamecock will try to print all letters received. letters should be, at maximum, 250 to 300 words long. The writer must include full name, professional title if a USC enployee or South Carolina resident, or year and major if a student. An address and phone nutter are required with all letters sent. The Gamecock reserves the right to edit letters for style, possible libel or in case of space limitations. The newspaper will not withhold names under any circunstance. Viev THE COLLEGIATE. DOCU Awwgn I lAJMIlin QUI UN II Freedom cannc "If you were willing to trade liberty for safety, eventually you will have neither." ? Benjamin Franklin When America's most noted sage uttered this precept of caution, what is now the United States was in the midst of revolt against the ominous presence of the British military. Americans have traditionally forsaken constitutional liberties for the goal of defeating a common enemy. For instance, during WWI, Congress ^ni uncontestedly passed the Espionage and Sedi- strucl tion Acts, which prohibited criticism of U.S. bread war policies under threat of imprisonment. 1116 i f 4.1 i??. ? *. :i_. 4i T r n /inrl more inan zoo yeais later, mmiarny, uie u.o. is the world's only "superpower." There are no depari safety threats in the mold of Hitler, Mussolini In or Hirohito. Americans today see fellow Ameri- dent 1 cans as their greatest safety threat. liam 1 So-called subversive forces are roaming Court within our very own borders. These enemies in- court elude pagans, homosexuals, museum curators, P^us F erotic dancers, rap groups, fornicators and in Chi general "liberals." cord < If you were to ask a regular person on the offici street if they thought it was virtuous or moral to schoo be tolerant and broad-minded, they would prob- Right: ably say "yes." If you then asked them if they 1973, were a "liberal" or supported "liberals," they consti would probably say "no." Wade Liberal by Webster's definition means, "3. libera not literal or strict, 4. tolerant; broad-minded, 5. knell 1 favoring reform or progress." Despite this seemingly reasonable definition, George Bush Exa attributed shame to this term in his 1988 election bid. Strangely enough, most Americans en8a8( agreed. South LETTE1 Senator's bill southeast. In the light of t serious issue comes quite evide senate does not v ?r? .t ,. luated in a poll. Th In regar/lo Greg Rickabaugfs ? of lhe.H.c editorial on Nov. 22, 1991, theV ^ txteTpdlc solution proposed by Ms. Baxter in f- * . . . ^ , . a. , nnancial issues sh student senate was not a joke nor a Hpn. _ , r f J , . dent senate places t form of revenge. The resolution T . ,Frp?nlnf was, however, to make a point that * if student senate is going to take a f s'a , onSuc in ( poll then it should be a poll with ?f l,he 0 issues concerning students fna'c' a ser The student senate overwhelm- f.erned wllh em.olK .... . the wants ann n ingly voted to mciuae a question concerning the resurrection of constUuents. Homecoming queen but decided to not waste valuable ballot space on issues concerning academic and fi- x TO nancial issues. The Homecoming Stl queen is a once-a-year sexist event that only 901 students decided to ll vote in on the last year it was held o II and an event that the Homecoming To the editor: Commission has admitted will not Diogenes wen return even if all students voted streets with a lante "yes" in the poll. an honest man. Homecoming queen has become I have found hii an emotional issue on campus and Columbia, S.C. Thi the senators have decided to use ter shopping in W this as a vehicle to further their po- was searching thr litical ambitions while ignoring for my car keys. ( real issues at the university such as the purse on top oi grade forgiveness, the accuracy of Inadvertently, I drc The Gamecock reporting or the realizing my wallet vpoint Gallt 1MENTARY FILM A3S( \\ III D (Wl) ? in military service. To be governor of Carolina one must profess a belief in a RS TO THE EDT tuition in the car's hood. When I reached hon he above it be- band asked, "Did you nt why student wallet?" He told me a ^ant to be eva- called saying he had e overwhelming wallet on the highway. >mecoming poll only $12 in the wallet, ming defeat of tained more than 10 ( >n academic and ? one a telephone c rm/c ?;hprp ctn_ with nnr cprrpt rnHp TT %J TTAftVAV/ OkU "?v?? V?V?i UWl VV VV/V?V. heir priorities. We called the young ion for what it who was from Goose ( :heek" criticism and a student at USC. f the USC stu- to meet us and return late more con- He did. His name u )nal issues than Fabian, eeds of their How can we ever th his parents for raising Gary Carter young man? So muc arketing senior press is written about olina. I would like to lrlpnt l^e p?ssibi,ily lb's J-VlClIX pening in New York, onesty Our state may have but this young man has t through the CAT: Character Achiev m searching for whlch ln ,these days inspiration! m, right here in ^rs' ^ e other night af- . # est Columbia, I Alltiqiiei ough my purse Carelessly, I put llicf nffpil : the car's hood. UIICII >ve off, not even To the editor: was still on the I wanted to clarify tl >t be harme Jeffrey Turbitt der a "conservative" or "narrow" political ure, America has perpetuated some keen lies in civil liberties. Examples range from HfTQl IpvpI \l\Q thA Qnnrpmp Pmirt tA ototo v*v*UA AVT VI v 1U U1V UU|/1VIUV/ WUH IW OUllV/ local authorities to the USC police tment. line with his hostility to liberality, Presi*eagan appointed ultra-conservatives WilEtehnquist as Chief Justice of the Supreme in 1986. Under Reagan and Bush, the has been stacked with five conservatives tehnquist. ief Justice Rehnquist's suspect voting reon the high court includes: 1. support of al prayers in schools, 2. opposition to 1 desegregation, 3. opposition to the Equal s Amendment for women, 4. dissent in when the court ruled that women had a tutional right to an abortion in Roe vs. Under "Supreme Intolerance," civil irians nationwide are sounding the death of individual liberty. mples are voluminous. The United States 1 Forces does not allow homosexuals to ry DCIATIQN. PRESE.N'1'ST" THEHELU t~" iW?J AREVOU k |iW^sment\ ^ ^ I OF INNOCENT!, k-_ ISTUDENTS W T .. liMlNDING THEIR I ; m lOWN BUSINESS*! ^-s K If?Tv F-\ V /V*M I fl aiiiv mm, ui 1UU5111 unviv^i uii/ \^uiuui&iai& na^, such a fine the flag is now associated with h negative slavery. Yes, the flag is a historical South Car- symbol, it is symbolic of South ask what is Carolina's secession from the Unevent hap- ion. Should we be proud of this? Chicago or Hardly. a low SAT, The Confederate flag is part of a very high our pas^ not our present Take it ement Test down from atop the Capitol and is truly an pUt jt aside, as a reminder of our past mistakes. For just as we do .dele Radin not fly another representative of our past, the British flag, we do loO" not need to fly the Confederate **?5 flag, the ultimately offensive symbol of our ill-fated membership in V C the Confederate States of America. Cassandra Sturkie iat not all Biology freshman from campus. The chairman of the safety committee, Richard Conant, in a letter to The Gamecock justified it by saying, "Last year there was an attempted rape and an assault in the campus area by a homeless person." By that same rationale, if someone with blonde hair from Idaho had done the same thing, Idaho blondes would be barred from "the campus area." It is clear, in an effort to be safe, we have trampled on personal freedom. Perhaps a more tolerant ideology is called for ... perhaps even some of that dreaded liberalism. roR white students "maintain that (the te, my hus- Confederate flag) is representative i lose your of the history and tradition of the young man South," as stated in Friday's edifound my tion. On the contrary, I feel that There was most white students would agree but it con- that the Confederate flag is an of;redit cards fensive symbol, to blacks and ailing card whites alike. ; man back, While it may be argued that the Dreek, S.C., Civil War was not fought solely He offered over slavery, the consensus rethe wallet, mains that the Civil War is rep^as Darryn resentative of such a cause. It follows that because South Carolina r\r\b- him r\r fnnrrVif nnHor tka Ha/* S IMlAK rilU/1 d for safety "supreme being." To be a Boy Scout, one must believe in God and promote heterosexuality. In South Carolina, it is illegal to engage in so-called "deviant" sexual behavior such as oral and anal sex. Statute 16-15-60 of S.C. state code also makes fornication a criminal offense. Apparently, the thought of what goes cm in private bedrooms between consenting adults "offends people." Alcohol, as we all know, is illegal for purchase on Sunday in South Carolina. (Myrtle Beach via referendum recently abolished this law). Apparently, state legislators have consulted God and found that he is offended that liquor is sold on his day. The Almighty has exempted Myrtle Beach (and North Myrtle Beach) though; the lure of tourism apparently overrides God's wishes. Here at USC, a freshman was handcuffed for carrying a toy cap-gun to a theater class. He was handcuffed after police learned it was a toy. At USC. homeless oeoDle have been barred