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"?aftodt Serving USC Since 1908 J.T. Wagenheim, Editor in Chief Shayla Stutts, Viewpoints Editor EDITORIAL BOARD Jay King, Gordon Mantler, Rob Rodusky, Lee Clontz, Carson Henderson Go Cocks? Removing mascot nickname suggests vulgarity instead of traditional spirit of word ^"ike McGee can't seem to win for losing. Just weeks ago, prospec mtive NFL officials in Charlotte, N.C., wrapped up months of negotiation with the USC athletics director by thumbing their collective noses at Columbia and sealing a deal with Clemson for the use of a stadium during next year's playing season. McGee and other big movers and shakers at USC have since taken heat from every quarter for allowing the opportunity to slip through their fingers. And now this. McGee has targeted for removal the word "cocks," for years prominently displayed on the front of USC football players' helmets and less prominently displayed on the rears of USC's female cheerleaders, administration officials have been, perhaps understandably so, tight-lipped about the decision. As a result, confused students and alumni have been privy to only rumors and hearsav ahnnt thp ctatnc <-?f thp timp-hnnnrpd p.nithpt Talk- nnnppminn the breadth of the limitation has been so grave, in fact, that many have been crying for McGee's head in the absence of any official word. In truth, no official policy exists. Students who were stowing shirts and hats with "cocks" emblazoned across their fronts need have no fear of being asked to leave a classroom or being refused entry to the library. McGee has seen only that cheerleaders and football players are cleansed of the moniker. Still, although our worst fears have been allayed, the question still haunts us: Why? The obvious answer is that McGee deems the word tasteless and uncouth, too crude in its implications to decorate the helmets and undergarments of our athletics representatives on national television. Certainly, some of its uses such as bumper stickers and T-shirts have been, well, creative to say the least. To our knowledge, however, USC has never officially recognized the vast majority of these illicit uses but has instead recognized only the standard definition of the word. A gamecock, that is, a rooster trained for cock- i fighting, is referred to as a "cock." Webster understands the word to mean, "The adult male of the domestic fowl; a rooster." Although popular slang has invested the word with an additional signifi- | cance, we hardly think the word was originally adopted as a symbol of our ( mascot with that particular definition in mind. By taking this latest step, however, USC officials have tacitly acknowledged that the ribald meaning that certain individuals and groups have ascribed to the word is indeed the true one. By removing it from helmets and bloomers, USC has established that it feels the rest of the countrv. all those watching the game, in fact, give more credence to the world's less decorous meaning than they do its intended meaning. j McGee's intention was to protect the national integrity and reputation of the USC athletics program, and for that, he deserves credit. But we disagree j with his reasoning and his conclusions in this matter. If President John Palms catr say,'"Go Cocks!" at the end of his halftime radio address as he did during thej^ouisiana Tech game two weeks ago, the players should be allowed to carry that same word on their helmets. Consensual sex policy . invasion of privacy J It's been quite a while since I ^^ s socialize in the residence halls, b most of their matters private. However, at Antioch, it's a anything occurred or not. And j totally different story. believe me, that will happen. a The school basically has an Antioch s dean of students, p affection policy that requires Marian Jensen, said she has anybody who wants to kiss you, invited male students to her hug you, sleep with you or do office when she hears com- y anything else remotely romantic plaints of questionable sexual \\ or sexual with you to give and behavior. Sounds to me as if she d receive verbal consent. assumes any sexual aggression sj Part of the policy includes is performed by males, one of d consent for "sexual imposition," the more popular myths a which is defined as "non-con- espoused by her kind, sensual contact." This basically Rape is a problem with both includes any type of affection genders, and any policy dealing and intimacy between two peo- with it should be treated that ' wav. ' [/IV. v " i Requiring anybody to give a Rape is a terrible, despicable formal consent for one of the act, but a borderline male-bash- ? most private moments in a per- ing unconstitutional policy son's life is going overboard. In masked as an anti-rape policy is fact, it's downright authoritarian notJ^e answer, and a glaring violation of the . lhe administration's intenconstitutional right to privacy. tl0ns ^re. in some ways It is nobody else's business admirable in a twisted sort of who does what with whom waY-But this type of policy is a cl unless it gets out of hand. And blatant iVIO'ait'(|ni ?* a student's until thai time, no administra- ?- "8 ? privacy o. tion has the right to intervene. ? The An lochf ^m.ntsiration q, A related provision on how to has S?ne 00 farK' " has" t handle those accused of rape is mt "ia'e1 everybody already P just as extreme and unfair. The 'nt0 Pfsswely accepting thts h, policy says anybody who is horrendous policy, maybe some- tt accused of rape will be immedi- body will sue the college. vi ately barred from campus until Jhe ePldem,c ,of raP,es aad C hearings are complete, which othfr ^ assaul's needs 10 P' could lake months. addressed, but taking away a p, Punishing somebody that fundamental right is not the way m severely before he or she is con- 10 11 bi victed is totally unacceptable. ? , w . . Fi Under these rules, someone with Gordon Mantler is university a grudge against you could have editor for The Gamecock. His q you thrown off campus by column appears every other aJ accusing you of rape whether Wednesday. (j( in VlEWPOI Should USC bar "I don't think so. ' Everyone has their own i logo. It's a tradition at ( USC. Everybody takes it < the same way." 5 Darya Bryant Business freshman Master Minds ? Completely co The computer is a digital device. All sorts ( human methods of communication are store and manipulated symbolically in the compute in digital form: language, mathematics, sound: pictures, movies, etc. Other electronic media such as telephone sy; terns, television and the recording industry hav been shifting over to digital storage and tram mission of data for some time. The music corr pact disc, now 10 years old, is digitally recon ed, and its cousin, the computer CD-ROM, popular for distributing large multimedia con puter files in digital format. Fiber optic lines are replacing older twistc yan anu cuaxiai taoics in me teiepnone an cable television industries. With the increasir speeds of digital communications pioneered b the Internet "superhighway," enormous quant ties of information are exchanged across tb country or the globe in what is essential! instant time. Fiber optics offering 500 channels of digita ly-distributed television will make possibl interactive education at home, foreign langua^ broadcasts, Broadway plays and virtual realil shopping. Customers might be able to bank i home with the TV instead of the ATM machim Interactive movies will let viewers choose di. ferent scenarios at critical points in the story. High Density Television (HDTV), no1 Higher educati As teen illiteracy increases in the Unitet itates, colleges and universities are worriec ibout students arriving on campus withou mowing how to read or write. The University of Minnesota has evolvet >eyond such petty concerns. Its problem is wit! tudents who have no sense of humor. Two weeks ago, the university was in the niddle of its freshman orientation fair ncoming students were invited to meet wiU epresentatives of on-campus organizations an< tick up some literature. But their were troubli nakers in their midst. The Minnesota College Republicans were no ontent to press the flesh and pass out "Don' dame me, I voted for Bush" bumper stickers nstead, they passed out two handouts that mad< un of President Clinton. The university contends the handouts poket un at gays and feminists. The Republicans dis gree, claiming they were designed to tweak the resident. On the offending flier's first page was Clinton's Extended Tax Form," which alio wet le user to check taxpayer filing status boxe? ke "married," "single," "transsexual," "cross resser" and "married homosexual filing ingly." The university thought police argue thai lis makes fun of homosexuals and did not ere te a "welcoming environment" for gays. I con Citadel's foundation He see xacts public funds women ai , es, so it i o the editor: This is in response to J.T. , . . , . The Citac /agenheim s column concerning . he Citadel's refusal to allow Q^^br imales acceptance into its day extremely laccf^c lcioov,". , ... . while Th First of all, I would like to point ride ut to Wagenheim that the girl in Also k uestion is Shannon Faulkner, not tary cost! usan as he wrote in his article, keeping erhaps when he missed her name, shape add 2 also missed the main point of funding le argument as well. Did state-fun Wagenheim stop to think that The Carolina, itadel is funded completely by As . jblic money? At around $12,000 giris privz it person, excuse me, I mean question ale person, this adds up to quite a those coll it of taxpayers' money, i.e. accept m lulkner's parents'. them hav Wagenheim writes, "While then turm olumbia College doesn't receive Wagenhei ; much public money as USC, it about Hoc >es receive limited public fund- don't thin) g." While NTS. i the word 'cocks' fror 'I think they should ban "No. People t. It is offensive. They negative conn :an find a more positive something th dogan that is not offen- necessarily h; ;ive." the word 'ga> i ^ .< . means 'happy,' Jud Wolfskill pUj nega{jve c English senior on jt? Christii Marine science mputerized so< (\ m i- expected to be available to consumers b is 2000, will be transmitted in America in d 1. form. Since TV sets process transmissions 1 analog process, digital HDTV would requ :d viewer to buy a new TV set. id What can we gain by merging all elect ig media into a common digital signal? The < iy ous answer is compatibility, the ability to : i_ resources stored in a similar technology ie interactivity among different sources of infc y tion. For example, a movie produced in digital 1- mat could be ordered and transmitted direct le an individual's house with a small hanc tg computer device much like a remote cot ty replacing the video store. The h at controller/computer would access the m being sent out from a regional center over i f. and phone lines. The video game of the next generation c x offer realistic graphics presented on the te ion for humor-i 1 I l ! tend it isn't funny because...it isn't funn j didn't laugh. ; With the administration's tax reform, c bined with its stance on social issues, tl t might actually appear on your 1994 tax f< t right next to the most popular filing categ "Stepbrother of Bill Clinton." ; The. second flier was merely a reprinted lection of Clinton jokes, including such gem i "Did you hear that security's been doubled . Hillary Clinton's visit? They're scared so ; thing might happen to her, and Bill would 1 to assume the office." This material was dee 5 "offensive to feminists." Again, I don't fin 1 amusing at all. j The Minnesota College Republicans, 1 . apparently have no sense of humor, petitic > university President Nils Hasselmo for an ex [ nation. Then the fun began. The president iss . a statement explaining that "this is not a . speech issue" and that the fliers were remc ms to be digressing from question, keep in n al topic. USC allows both the all-girls id men to attend its class- Wagenheim listed < is entitled to public fund- publicly funded, i.e Columbia College, like I support The C lei, only allows one gen- remain an all-male end its classes. However, admitting a female i College only receives cadets would disru] limited public funding, tern that The Citad e Citadel enjoys a full As long as The Ci by public funds, th eep in mind that the mili- deny a woman acc s (uniforms, equipment) "male-bonding" at The Pitadpl in nrnnpr r?n fAi-o,rar K,,t ?A?? ^/* vpvi V/II 1V1VVU, UUl UWII 1 up to far more required ents of girls who c than does the average ed pay for it. ded school in South Journt as male acceptance at all- ^ j 1 ite colleges goes, the real fVIlOW lllCilVl is not whether any of kpfnrp PnnHi eges have been forced to UCAU1 c en but whether any of To the editor: e accepted a male and This is in res ed him down. To quote Blume's letter in th m: "Has Converse? How of The Gamecock, ad or Mount Holyoke? I Bill, I just read > c so." editor, and I feel te you are pondering that years I thought I v ? ii athletics programs? are putting "They are called The otations on Gamecocks. 'Cocks' is at doesn't just an abbreviation, tve it, like Banning it would be cen''. It really sorship." onnotations Edward Mathews III Retailing senior rie Taylor sophomore rfety draws near sion screen and levels of interactive play that today are available only in the virtual reality games at some arcades. The possibilities in the computer industry are ripe for development in the consumer market as Lfl shown in several strategic alliances completed in 1993. The economic attractions are obvious, ^ with 92 million TVs in the United States and 25 million home computers already in place, efore Time Warner, the entertainment giant which igital owns the second largest cable network, has )y an joined with U.S. West, a baby Bell company, to ire a develop a fully interactive service. Meanwhile, AA 1 r* rr\ cnft tbo n rrvrl /-I ' r? 1 o ? i?nvtv/OV/Il, lliv wv/11U O IdlgtOl >UUWdlC 111 111 9 ronic Intel and General Instrument have agreed to obvi- Work together on a handheld computer that will share tap into the 500-channel cable systems already and envisioned with fiber optics. Kroa- Who ultimately controls this development ? the computer industry, the telephone companies I f?r- or the cable systems ? is still to be sorted out. ly to The world of the all-digital future will soon ' Iheld 5e Up0n us. Are consumers ready for it? Will it itrol, 0ffer services we will purchase in great numome bers? Big business already thinks so. The lovie remainder of us will not have to wait too many :able years to find out. :ould Robert Oaktnan is chairman of the cornput:levi er science department at USC. mpaired students because they did not "conform to an atmosphere (which is respectful to diversity." Reporters were assured that the school's action had NOTHING AT ALL to do with a pending visit from the First Lady. The assistant director responsible for the university's action defended himself by calling the fliers "oppressive material." I had no idea that humor was oppressive, but now that I think - about it, I suppose my human rights have been violated by programs such as "Family Matters" ^ese and "Mr. Belvedere." This issue must be dealt with! 3rm, , . # ory. The university s handling of the anti-Clinton fliers was much funnier than the jokes they concol_ tained. Since the school set a good example for s as the Republicans to follow and was faced with for the threat of a lawsuit from the local ACLU, the me- school reversed ground after a week and iave allowed the fliers. med If you have a good non-oppressive Bill id it Clinton joke, send it to the University of Minnesota College Republicans, Twin Cities who Campus, Minneapolis, MN 55455. And next >ned time you feel like telling a bad joke, think about pla- the oppressed among us. ;ued free Patrick McNeill is a columnist >ved for The Gamecock. iind that each of son, but according to you, a really schools that good person has to condemn things ire privately, not like abortion, gay people, premari. The Citadel. tal sex, Communists and people of "itadel's plea to other religions. Anyone who : school. I think doesn't condemn gays and abortion to the corps of is wrong, right? That's a good ?t the entire sys- starting point. ei is known tor. Here s my problem. I don't outtadel is paid for right condemn anyone. I take peQen it is unjust to pie on a one-to-one basis, and I try eptance. Let the to understand them the same way The Citadel go I'd want them to try and under't make the par- stand me. But I guess that's stupid, annot be accept- right? After all, like you said, "Hie Word doesn't leave room for Jeniffer Sturgis debate." ilism sophomore Maybe all I need to do is relax , _ . anu empiy my mina ot everything [flUBlS except right and wrong, good and; pmnincr bad, black and white. & Hey, it's working! I can already feel little sparks of self-righteous ponse to Bill condemnation leaping into my e Sept. 22 issue brain. Thanks, Bill. This is easier than I thought! ; our letter to the A lot easier than thinking! rrible! All these Dan Roscher /as a good per- Media arts graduate