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?l5a Serving Lee Gontz, Editor in Giief EdHo Erin Galloway, Wendy Hudsor Jimmy DeButts, Ryan Wilson, fionafniv cl kJVJLlUI/V/1 kJ UJ push propc If there's one thing just aboi crastination. Why do today wha fore it's due? The USC Student Senate is ai delaying important work until tl several items will be introduced 1 for the proper amount of debate. One suggested amendment ti requirement for student senator reports require senators to rand< tions and complaints the studen ports were required to the senab A resolution slated for the bod; back the Homecoming Queen. Th there were racial tensions during process became divisive. A third resolution suggests ch Council to the structure it had h by last year's Student Senate. What was that? You say the p crastination? You mean you thin several pieces of legislation throi These three proposals seem t cussed before the summer begins considered returning the Homeci time has been wasted on that tot Council has been very successfu agrees, shouldn't they have work And accountability to constituf needs desperately. The Student that people don't know or care w' tors says, "Forget the voters," ai The hypocrisy of the proposal is < Political tricks and games arer ernment, despite the shenaniga The senators who sprung this le to learn mature lawmaking and to push them through without d< Let your 1 over the s r Cft , LgflflP|?| If you see us in the summer, chances are that you won't recognize us. Instead of the sleek, ultramodern look that we usually wear so well, we plan to depart to a simpler fashion statement: hair. Lots of hair. You see, we are in a state of change. As our graduation from USC nears, real life peeks from around the corner. Law school loans, car payments and serious relationships are headed our way. In an effort to rebel while we still can, we plan to spend this summer doing those unstructured things that we have only dreamed of doing before now. Hair says it all. Cassie has already begun to grow her hair out. She plans to let it grow all summer while she does marine science research in Belize. And Cassie won't stop her quest until her hair reaches her butt. How liberating for her to feel the swish of hair on her cutoff jeans shorts while she frolics in the ocean. n mi i _ : l: _ Jt>en will Degin growing ms goatee May 14th, the day after graduation. Heck, he may even grow a full beard. Ben will be waiting tables in Columbia this summer, hopefully collecting names and phone numbers on cheap cocktail napkins. By growing a goatee, Ben may reach Brad Pitt status. Plus, he will be able to sleep an extra 15 minutes every morning by not getting up to shave. What does all this new hair signify? Gone are the days of Cassie's haircut appointments every six weeks and Ben's daily electric razor. Now, the only thing we are cutting is loose, at least for the next three months. We nBaftod? s Let Clontz Jimmy DeButts Editor in Chief Ryan Wilson Chris Muldrow Sports Editors Viewpoints Editor Kim Truett Carson Henderson Photo Editor Radhlka Talwanl Ethan Myerson Copy Desk Chiefs Ryan Sims Erin Calloway Graphics Editors Wendy Hudson Gregory Perez News Editors Design Editor Susan Goodwin Jason Jeffers Allison Williams Cartoonist Features Editors The Gamecock is the student newspaper of th< University of South Carolina and is published Tuesda; through Friday during the fall and spring semesters. wiU the exception of university holidays and exam periods. Opinions expressed in The Gamecock are those of th editors or author and not those of the University o South Carolina. ^ Th iffcock use Since 1908 Chris Muldrow, Viewpoints Editor rial Board i, Susan Goodwin, Allison Williams, Carson Henderson, Radhika Talwani louldnt isals through it everyone learns in college, it's prot you can put off until three hours ben excellent illustration of this lesson in le very last minute. In today's session, that need more time than one meeting a the legislative codes will remove the s to submit constituency reports. The 3mly call students and ask for suggesits have about campus issues. The re5 last year. y will suggest that the university bring e Queen was removed in 1990 because \ many of the selections and the entire anging the character of the Freshman ast year. That structure was changed roposed changes are probably not proik a group of senators is hying to ram lgh the last meeting? ;o be things that could have been disfor Student Senate. Surely people have Dming Queen before ? enough debate aic in the past. Reports say Freshman 1 this year. If a group of senators dis ] ui K_.. 4.1? o .cu un tiic piuuiem ecuiiei 111 uie yvai : jnts is something Student Government Senate complains almost constantly hat they do, and then a group of senaid wants to nix constituency reports, astounding and ridiculous, ft necessary or appropriate in any govns elected officials pursue every day. gislation on the Student Senate need deliberate on their proposals, not try ibate. lair down aimmer BEN MARTIN AND CASSIE STURKIE Columnists plan to live off of Ramen Noodles and Spaghetti-O's, the occasional margarita and lots of suntan oil. We may even walk around barefoot once in a while. But if you see us with more than one tattoo, please rein us in. We don't want to let ourselves go too much. New graduates or anyone else who is ready to get crazy, give us a call. We would love to have companions who will let their hair down with us. Remember, this could be your last chance before reality sets in (or your father closes the checkbook). We can't believe that these four years have come and gone so quickly. Along the way, we have shared gin and tonic with some great friends. We are fortunate to have recently made some new friends, too. We hope that they will keep the disco ball spinning (under Dan D'Alberto's watchful eye) and think of us oldies as they groove through the Horseshoe. While we are ready to graduate, we are certainly not ready to say goodbye. But our degrees dictate that we must. A special request to all of you who will be hprp npvt fall- Plpncp orn mit nf " 4 bv VMV Vi your way to be nice to Julye Johns, since so many of her good friends have to leave her behind on the road of life. We will think of her, and the others, often. And to all of our fellow graduates: Always remember that the Class of 1995 rocks the house. Ben Martin and Cassie Sturkie are in the Honors College. ___ Chris Carroll WS" . . ' JZZ, Director of Student Media Ivertising: 777-4249 Laura Dav lX: 777-6482 Creative Director Jim Green Art Director Tteffa Harper Elizabeth Thomas Mst. nTws" Adv- Graduate Asst. James Ponce Renee Gibson Asst. Photo Marketing Director Ben Pillow Christopher Wood Stephanie Sonnenfeld Asst. Advertising Asst .Features Manager Larry Williams Erik Co?ins Asst. Sports Facu, Advjsor Keith Boudreaux Circulation Editor Letters Policy The Gamecock will try to print all letters received. ^ Letters should be 200-250 words and must include full 1 name, professional title or year and major if a student. Letters must be personally delivered by lite author to . The Gamecock newsroom in Russell House room 333. f The Gamecock reserves the right to edit all letters for style, possible libel or space limitations. Names wiH not be withheld under any circumstances. & < & w ? VIEWPOIh f~~AMEM8e? OF THi , CtWU^A/AlUTT^. /^HWOUtO UKf To flNW INfBt&CQ C(?NNf | gerweeN us a no -me \ (nvol\j v i* t*4? oy n. C?fi BorvNgiNtf Quote IInouote "I have been here over twenty years and I'v always felt that thi World can be sea It is April 26,1995, and this is my last article for The Gamecock. I hope that I have entertained you over the past four months. Better yet, perhaps I have inspired someone or made one of you think about what is going on in Columbia, our nation or in the world. Many of the articles I have written were meant to be amusing...to be taken with a grain of salt (...a shot of tequila and a lime). Some articles had more serious overtones and dealt with important moral issues that I hope I was able to get across to you folks. And, of course, some of my articles were just a bunch of words strung together by a guy trying to get his article to print before a deadline ?I am obviously not as proud of these articles, but keep in mind that even David Letterman flounders at times (Oprahhhh....Umahhhh). Anyway, although I did not plan to make my final article a very serious one, I feel that It would be wrong for me to ignore the unbelievable event that took place in Oklahoma City this past week. So, here comes my two cents. Tf gpqroc mo fTvmlr fV?af f Viqvq oro rkonrtlo in fVnc IV UVU1 VU 111V VV VI 111 JLIY V11UV VUV1V Ui Vs JL/V/V^IV lit V1UO world who great pleasure in inflicting pain and suffering upon others, particularly innocent others. It sickens me to think that there are people "out there" who are proud of what they have accomplished in blowing up a building with young mothers, fathers and children left inside to perish. It angers me that there is hardly anything that we can do to cease this type of senseless, brutal and cowardly killing. It upsets me when I think about the children who will never get to ride a bicycle and the joy the parents of these deceased children will never have because they will not get to see their children ride a Rape more commc EILEEN KORPHA Guest Columnist "Rape not rape to some victims" was the headline on a Sept. 22,1985, Boston Herald story reporting the results of a survey of college students regarding sexual violence. This is just one example of the many issues that muddy the waters when we are dealing with the issue of sexual assault. There is a great deal of controversy when it comes to determining the extent of the problem, and that determination is colored not only by the results of surveys, but also by society's beliefs about "real" rape. It is regretful that the issue is often reduced to a numbers game, but, in reality, the numbers are controversial. As reported by a survey done by Mary Koss, one in six college women reported being the victims of rape or attempted rape during their college years. This statistic is also the focus of the an nuai l in b Day, sponsorea oy campus nape Awareness. This certainly does sound like a lot of rapes. While Koss' survey has been the target of attack by some, it's important to point out that several other studies corroborate Koss' findings while using more narrow definitions of sexual aggression. In a study of 930 adult women in San Francisco in 1978, Diana Russell found that 22 percent of those surveyed responded that they had been the victims of "an attempted or completed rape." When the question was rephrased to inquire about forced intercourse or intercourse obtained by threat (rather than "rape"), the number climbed to 56 percent (of which 24 percent were completed). This information offers some clarification to the headline mentioned at the beginning of this column. First, these numbers are also high, a great deal higher than one in six. Also evident is the reluctance of many victims to characterize their victimization (forced intercourse) as "rape." In three separate studies of college students released in 1985, one in five women in each study reported being "physically forced" to have sexual intercourse by her date ("intercourse against their will through rough coercion, threats, force or violence"). Yet the majority of these women did not think they had been raped. This is typical and happens for a variety of reasons. Some women do not characterize it as rape because they were "successful" in resisting the actual penetration, and thereby discounted the sexual aggression as a crime. Other women discount the crime because they gave in to the force without physical*, ITS Wednesday, April 26, 1995 F 5.c. *1 V / W6 ^ dfalv / - 3f :ct,on \ eweiaocrt ^ ceoopi \ piatrtc ekne (lahorta j \ /aoch f*0? e taught what we'd call regular students, Honors is university had the students who could and sho Don Greiner, Associate provost ij, will people lea f SCOTT KAPLAN Columnist bicycle. And what of the children who will not have their mothers or fathers at their sweet 16s, theii graduations or their weddings because of a group ol fanatic, lunatic terrorists. As I have stated before, I am not a very religious person. However, I do believe in a supreme be ing...God...but sometimes I really have to questior "its" motives. Is there really any good that can come out of the senseless killing of a couple of hundred people? Did we really need this to happen to real ize, even for one day, that we are all human beings and that we all need each other? I don't think so. In fact, the sorry part about all of this is that two months from now, if not sooner this will all be a part of yesterday's news. We will all go about our business like we normally do, anc our skins will get just that much thicker to cope with our woria as it is toaay. mat is pretty scary, isn i it? Ahh, but you also know that I am probably, un fortunately, correct. Well, I hope that this time I am wrong and that, for a change, we really do learn something from this sad and tragic event. I hope that we never forgel about what happened on American soil in Oklahoma City and that we, the citizens of the United States of America...the greatest nation in the world...car all come together and truly unite. However, I doubt that this will truly occur. Heck, we're still fighting >n than it seems ly resisting. This often happens when victims are fearful that more resistance will lead to more force or violence from their assailant, or when the victim is incapable because of intoxication or even shock, which can be paralyzing. Further, many young women believe that sexual force or pressure is not aberrant or illegal behavior if it happens in a dating situation. So, it is typical for victims to not characterize their rapes as rapes. This is not to mention the number of victims who discount their rapes because of the blame they misguidedly harbor for themselves about the incident and their fear that others will blame them as well. Another phenomenon that clouds the issue is society's view of "real rape." If we are defining rape or sexual assault as involving strangers, weapons and beatings, as most of society defines rape, then rape is certainly a much rarer crime than one in six. But the technical and legal definition is much broader. No weapons or physical trauma need be present. The threat of force or coercion in attempting or completing a sexual battery is considered criminal sexnol /*nnr1nnf lrnnum oc vono\ in QniifVi Par. uui wiiuuvi* yiui uiui ij iuiw tth uo iu^/ 111 vui olina and most other states. Or if the assailant has reason to know that the victim is mentally or physically incapacitated or helpless, and the assailant attempts or completes a sexual battery, criminal sexual conduct has been perpetrated. The latter includes a victim who is intoxicated. This unfortunately is the case in many sexual assaults occurring on college campuses. My professional experience in dealing with sexual assault issues the past two years has allowed me to see firsthand what's happening on our campuses. Since July 1994,1 have received 41 reports of alleged sexual aggression from victims who are USC students. Of the 41,27 are reported rapes that have happened while the victim has been attending college. The others are reports of attempted sexual assault, dating violence or past sexual assault or abuse. Many of the victims who have sat in the chair next to my desk have related frightening tales oi many of their friends also having been the victims of rape and never having told anyone but a friend or two. National studies also suggest that as few as one in 100 acquaintance rapes are reported to the police. It is obvious that the numbers are high, much higher than many want to believe. There are several factors that contribute to acquaintance/date rapes. The "rape cufcure" espoused 3 F(/?X usf of 80(1\Q, \ S| THAT I U Jlt/g'i ' * J |1 e eftewve. J H UM ?1 . college students and graduate students. I have uld win these awards." urn from disaster? amongst ourselves over a dumb flag. Maybe the next time something serious happens on American soil, we will finally unite as a nation...or maybe the next time...or the next. I am only 27 years old, and I have already seen too much injustice, pain and suffering in this world. ; I only hope that I am still around to see a world that has more love and understanding instilled in the f young and old alike. Until then, I will continue to be the cynic that I am, not because I want to, but > simply because it is the best way to avoid being taken advantage of and hurt, i If vou learn nothing else while vou are at school. ; remember these few tidbits of knowledge: (1) There I are sick people in this world who will hurt you or others just for the sake of it; (2) every job on this 5 planet involves sales of some sort...either yourself I or of a product; (3) unless you own your own business, there will always be some bureaucratic process I that you will have to play along with; and perhaps j most importantly, (4) never forget what the late Frank Zappa said, 'Don't eat the yellow snow." It has been a real pleasure writing for you. I hope all of you fulfill all of your dreams and attain all of your goals in life. Just keep in mind that life is not t always easy, but with perseverance, a good sense of ; humor, a steady income, a boyfriend/girlfriend, a : dog/cat, Snackwells, family, good books to read, a killer stereo, a great TV set and a Sega Genesis sysl tern, you can never fail. Good luck, God bless and 1 Takeitez. Peace. Scott Kaplan is a graduate student > in education. by Naomi Wolf and Andrea Dorkin, among others, is surely alive and well in our society and feeds into the perpetuation of the problems. The divergent socialization of boys and girls/men and women in our society puts our young people on a collision course with each other. Typically, our boys learn that their role is one characterized by aggression, competitiveness and "if at first you don't succeed...." It is expected and rewarded by peers to have "sexual conquests," the more the better and the greater the reward and respect of his peers. They also learn that to step out of that role will likely earn them the label of "wimp" or "girl." At the same time, our girls are steered onto the "niceness" track and learn acceptance. "Slut" is the earned tag, and one that "nice" girls fear second on ly to the tag of "bitch," for being assertive. The images our kids are growing up with in pop culture and advertising that objectify women and empower men have become so normal that they are almost invisible. MTV illustrates the systematic representation of women as objects of men's desires, and ads for perfume, clothing and cars, to name just a few products, emphasize a woman's need to have the perfect body and an acceptance of the man's world to survive. You need look no further than the magazines in waiting rooms or posters in our bookstores to see the many examples. One such poster in our own bookstore is entitled "15 Reasons Why a Beer is Better Than a Woman." When these images are the ones our kids are bombarded with throughout their lives, it's easy to see how the heinous crime of rape [ is perpetuated while not being acknowledged by many. It's part of our culture, our "rape culture." i Real rapes are minimized, unfortunately, by much of society and by the victims themselves. But the victims still experience the trauma associated r with rape, whether they call it rape or not. They still have the nightmares, the inability to concentrate, the fear, the trouble trusting' their own intuition in relationships again, the depression and the confu" sion. They also experience the guilt, shame and em; barrassment they should never have to feel because 1 of society's belief in the myth that the victim was ; somehow partly to blame for their own victimization. These real victims deserve the same justice as i those society believes were really raped. Rape is rape. Eileen Korpita is director of the \ Offi^i of Sexual Assault Services.