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"tSanfcock Serving USC Since 1908 J.T. Wagenheim, Editor in Chief Shayla Stutts, Viewpoints Editor EDITORIAL BOARD Jay King, Gordon Mander, Rob Rodusky, Lee Clontz, Carson Henderson Obese Thousands who starve to death proof of America's attitude about food hances are you are eating something at this moment. " Tf hamnn Kmnlrffto* r?-?mrko it 1C a Konal onH PAffpA If it 1C 11 yuu cllC 110*1115 i/ivaiiicul, inajuv n ?o ci uagi-1 cuivj vunw. ?? ?i u lunch, maybe a hamburger or an eggroll. If you are not eating, it is probably your own choice. Perhaps you are on a diet, or you just do not have the time. Either way, consider yourself lucky that you are not part of the 20 percent of the world's population who have nothing to eat today...or tomorrow. ; As students, it is not difficult to get wrapped up in our own lives and problems. We constantly forget that parts of the world have bigger problems than long lines at Sub City or waiting for breadsticks. ! They do not have anything to eat. ; Today, an organization called Carolina Oxfam is urging USC students to give up something ? a meal, cigarettes, alcohol or even food for the entire day ? and donate the money they would have spent to Oxfam America. ' Oxfam America works in the United States and 28 other countries to alleviate hunger and poverty by educating, providing resources and Empowering local people through self-help programs toward better food production. Members of the organizations expect 750,000 people nationwide to fast loday to experience what true want feels like. ; The United States is one of only a few food surplus nations in the world. We actually make more food than we need. Through efforts in Ethiopia in the '80s and Somalia this year, the citizens of the United States have have shown themselves to be legitimately concerned with the needs of the rest of the world. College students have a bad reputation when it comes to being conscientious. A large portion of the general public looks at twentysomethings as self-centered, profit-driven and jaded. Today, everyone can make a difference without even trying that hard. The sole problem with events such as Oxfam Fast Day is they tend to be restricted to a single day. Earth Day is a good example. People go through the motions without really thinking, and then they forget by the ' next day. Hunger is not temporary, but it can be stopped. It will take more than skipping a meal to help end it. It will take a change of attitudes and, for some, a few changes in lifestyle. But with 40,000 children dying of hunger-related causes every day and people starving on the streets we walk on, there has to be a change. And we, the "generation of change," are going to have to be the ones to help make it happen. So, take a day off from junk food or detrimental habits. You may feel hungry or distracted for a while, but maybe you will have a new outlook tomorrow. Do it because you have a choice. Timing wrong to grant statehood to Puerto Rico chance to become the 51st state 'I binding, the vote does not actually decide whether Puerto Rico ment is not a given. And many ^ will apply for statehood. It was of the companies in Puerto only a vote to gauge how Puerto Rico, which are enjoying Ricans felt on the issue. extremely low taxes now, might But it is highly unlikely that a leave because they can find tax bid for statehood would be tak- breaks elsewhere, en seriously by Congress since Poor Puerto Ricans do less than 50 percent of the receive some federal benefits island's population supported now, including food stamps and the notion. And that is the way education grants, but statehood both Congress and most would require a lot more tax Americans want it. money flowing down thefe. And In this time ol tights over the from wealthy Puerto NAFTA, health care and gov- Rjcans will not make up the difernment reform, the last thing ference. Congress needs is to decide jhe idea of a 51st state is an t whether it wants to absorb excitinc idea, one this genera another slate. And 1 uerto Kico don has never experienced. But is not just another state such as ^ u . js ^ wrong Puer,0 Alaska and Hawaii, which were Rjcan sta|-ehood would ^ t00 both moderately wealthy when many resources from the gov. they were added to the union in ernmem jn (Ms |ime of djre .. r d financial straits. A large segment of Puerto G|ven u s(aIehood cou|d R.cos population IS impover- be an exce|,en, jnveslmenl f re?r TIh lhere> bul cannol afford to under the U.S. poverty level. t v th . . a i , u Jr* r.- taKe lhat risk now. Another And only hall of Puerto Ricans niPhi?pirp nrnk ki i. speak English. Puerto R.can Pleb,sc"e P'obably will noi statehood would mean billions come UP a^n or at east a 4 of additional federal welfare yearS' Mayl^ by Ulal "me- ^ benefits, billions more than we Co"Sress a"u Americans in gencan afford eral wou be more W1,,int- ^ Statehood adherents say it able 10 accept Puert0 Rico inl? would help economic develop- 1116 anion w arms' ment, which has stalled in the Right now. Puerto Rico as a past few years. New develop- commonwealth is truly the "best ment would bring jobs to an ^otb wor'^s .'or ^ot'1 Puert0 island with an unemployment R'co an(^ United States, rate stagnated at about 18 percent Gordon Manlier is university However, a new state is only editor of The Gamecock. His guaranteed two things: taxes column appears every other and federal benefits. Develop- Wednesday. 4 . I VlEWPOIN J Are yoi "No. I'm not fasting. I "No. don't believe in fasting heard because of my religion. I gion also have to take medica- doing tion. So, I can't fast." Shakimah Glover Elementary education sophomore Master Minds? /^t i ^onsiaer rese; Every semester, professors tell me that they dread having to read their students' research papers. "It's not that the students don't try or that they haven't worked on the papers," they say, "but the papers are so hard to read." One professor told me that her students' papers are usually disjointed and seem to rehash other writers' ideas. Well, it is getting to that point in the semester when students need to think about putting , together research papers. So, in order to help students and professors alike, the Writing Center offers some advice on writing good research papers. First of all, we urge students to be sure of the assignment. There are few things worse than spending weekends in Thomas Cooper researching something that is not part of the assignment. Once the researcher understands what to do, the next step, which is the most important step, is to formulate the research question. The writer may have to do some preliminary reading and prewriting to help formulate a research question. The research question will solve many common problems. It will prevent researchers from going off on tangents and thinking they need to include Global econom1 ft Too often, the North American Free Trade Agreement is debated from a U.S. perspective. It is important to consider the impact of a failed NAFTA on Mexico. President Carlos Salinas de Gortari is both an economic and democratic reformer whose political future rests on NAFTA's success. NAFTA's failure could mean not only the end of Salinas' economic reforms, decreasing investment and privatization in Mexican commerce but also the end of democratic elections and human rights improvements. In this vein, canning NAFTA could also lead to a resurgence of the autocratic PRI, the formal ruling party in Mexico. First, if NAFTA is voted down today, both Mexico and the United States will lose face in the international arena where prestige matters. Already, anti-NAFTA slogans and stereotypes pushed by Ross Perot have caused racial animosity in Mexico. The imase that all Mexicans are poor is misleading. Mexico is the second largest consumer of U.S. goods and will only continue to increase its demand for U.S. exports as Mexican wages and the standard of living increases. Second, NAFTA is not a free trade agreeCoaching change There has been a lot of talk about the status of Sparky Woods' job and rumors about prospective replacements. There are two distinct factions on this issue. The pro-Sparky group claims the USC program is headed in the right direction and is just one step away from being a top 25 caliber team. They cite youth, injuries and the difficulty of the SEC as reasons for USC's failures this season. The other faction, the anti-Sparky crowd, says Sparky has not shown any improvement this year, is a poor game coach, does not prepare the team well for the game and is not capable of ever competing in the SEC. As a longtime Gamecock fan who has seen virtually every same for the past decade, I believe the truth falls somewhere in between these two viewpoints. The USC program is no doubt a competitive one. With the exception of two games this season, USC has been in a tight ball game every Saturday with the likes of Alabama, Georgia and Florida. USC's recruiting has been getting stronger with every season under Woods. I believe a I """fci ^ J "J B TS u fasting tomorrow and Actually, 1 hadn't "No.. 1 think it's kir about it. My reli- overrated. It's not r doesn't believe in my thing. A lot of p< that anyway." are doing it because fad. There's not a v Sharon Belcher j0( 0f sincerity involv Biology freshman Michael Tin Biology j arch papers d pf] fof//', '/ t jlPr - ^':: " - ---g-i.v-i everything in their papers. It will lead to better organization. If the purpose of the paper is to answer a question, then the paper should answer the question. It will also provide subquestions and guidance for where to do research. Armed with a good research question, researchers can then begin investigation. Many experienced research paper writers see themselves as detectives assigned to solve a case. Where should you, researcher and detective, go for answers? We encourage our clients to make sure that they exhaust all possible sources of information. That means making friends with the research librarians, using sources other than the encycloy depends on N ment. It is a managed trade agreement that will produce international conflict around investment, intellectual property rights, environmental protection and treaty violations. However, we feel NAFTA provides a needed formal mechanism for international policy on these issues. Third, almost the entire United States is the iraae partner or cnoice ior Mexico, a ianea NAFTA will force Mexico to turn elsewhere such as Japan and Latin America for investment in the form of export platforms and subsidiaries. Fourth, labor and environmental groups opposed NAFTA early on when they were left out of the negotiations. Hence, leaders on both issues became locked into a negative strategy with die news media, hoping to increase their bargaining strength in an election year. Fifth, we cannot predict net job growth from trade even in 10 years for the same reason we necessary if bette Sparky-coached USC team will probably win about seven games next year. Woods probably would give USC some stability over the nexi several seasons. But on the other hand, I do not think Sparky will ever be capable of leading USC to an SEC championship, a 10-win season. Former USC coach Joe Morrison was able to win 10 gamei in 1984 and field a lop 10 team in 1987 because he was an excellent game coach. Morrison never had top-notch recruiting classes, but he used star players such as Sterling Sharpe and Harold Green to put USC in a position to win almost every game. A Morrisor The Gamecock will try to print all letters words and must include full name, profe: student. Letters must be personally delivi newsroom in Russell House room 321. The Gamecock reserves the right to edit space limitations. Names will not be witl I why? id of "Yes. I am because I eally believe thai we are eople spoiled. We waste too it's a much food. If someone vhole can gain because I don't ed." eat, that's fine with me." ribes Marlone McCoy unior Psychology junior letective work pedia, such as CD ROM, journals and magazines and asking more questions. In addition, think about using the phone to set up interviews, getting pamphlets from organizations and bouncing ideas off of your friends. Research involves a lot of work and requires plenty of time. Not only will you have to devote time to your work, you will also have to plan. Anybody who has tried to make efficient use of the libraries on campus at the end of a semester can tell you that it is frustrating and will probably drive you insane. If, however, you get to the resources before the other 10,000 researchers do, you will be better off and saved from self-destruction. After all your research is done, you can begin the next step: putting together a paper. The writing process is different for everyone, but you should make sure you give yourself time for prewriting, planning, organizing and for writing several drafts. For help in any stage of the research process or for heln in anv writine task, call the Wriiine Center at 777-2078 tor an appointment. Chris Helms is interim director of the Writing Center. AFTA decision cannot predict the weather and other non-linear systems. There are too many changes for precision modeling to he accurate. Finally, what about job loss versus trade and investment? In the long run, the treaty may do two things: improve our bargaining hand with other trade regions of the world, namely Asia, and lead to greater consumer benefits and increased trade between the three countries. The failure of NAFTA, however, could be an ominous sign to global investors and hinder the success of future trade negotiations. In the short run, jobs will be redistributed as global companies become specialized to labor markets. Some S.C. industries such as textiles that are losing productivity may be replaced by knowledge-intensive industries. With or without NAFTA, local economies will have to improve their education systems to attract new investment and survive the inevitable structural changes in the global job market. Zac Moore is a former (JSC Congressional Fellow. Phil Powell is a Ph.D. candidate in economic development at Vanderbill University. r coach available team could beat top 10 teams such as FSU, Georgia and Notre Dame. And they were within one touchdown of beating Miami and Nebraska. Woods' team cannot seem to get over the hump and beat Alabama or Florida. Sparky's biggest wins have been against teams such as Georgia, Clemson and Tennessee when they were in slumps or having a bad season. Even worse, Woods' teams have lost home games to i lightweights such as Kentucky, East Carolina ' and The Citadel. If there is one factor that will t cost Sparky his job, it would be losing home games to opponents USC should whip easily. ' The issue of whether to replace Sparky is really quae simple, it Mike Mcuee can land a ! Dennis Erickson or Dick Sheridan, then he i should make the change. 11 he cannot, then he : should give Sparky one more year. In that case, the decision in November 1994 could be a much : clearer and easier one. Tommy Touchberry is a guest columnist i for The Gamecock. received. Letters should be 200-250 ssional title or year and major if a ered by the author to The Gamecock all letters for style, possible libel or theld under any circumstances.