Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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\ Friday, October 6,1995 "tSaflkodi Serving (JSC Since 1908 Wendy Hudson, Editor in Chief Matt Pruitt, Viewpoints Editor Editorial Board Lucy Arnold, Jamie Clark, Gregory Perez, Stephanie Sonnenfeld, Allison Williams, Larry Williams, Ryan Wilson, Chris Winston Homecoming should be more unified Homecoming. A nostalgic event, marked by the return of thousands of alumni with the urge to commemorate the good times they had at their alma mater. This description could apply to almost any homecoming. Indeed, USC's annual event falls right in line. It provides alumni the chance to come see the old school and mark its growth. Graduates come from near and far to gather together under the blanket of their common bond. Sounds great, right? While Homecoming fulfills some of these ideals, others are never realized. In particular, the apparent divisiveness of the alumni prevents the afore-mentioned unity. It seems as though about 1,000 different groups have events planned for Homecoming. These group meetings are not only divided by the various colleges of the university, but by ethnic lines as well. Each member of the faction comes back to USC and stays within its academic or cultural clique. Why is this? Recall that one of the reasons for returning is to remember the old times. These divisions have existed at Carolina for years and apparently will continue for years to come. Of course, it's somewhat natural to gather with birds of a feather. However, outside of the football game, alumni have very few opportunities to come together in a larger sense. Why not make the various groups a part of a larger whole? This type of unity would help foster school spirit in past, present and future generations. When you come back for your Homecoming, look around you. See who can see. Don't be afraid to break out of the traditional clique. Otherwise, nothing will change. Beardman learns the perils of USC vehicles People are awfully competitive, even when they don't think they're CHRIS MULDROW being competitive ? or when the Columnist thing they're competing for is kinda odd. Have you ever noticed, for in- big space. It's his fruit this torrid tale stance, when people always try to nves to be told today, claim they've had a worse day than I parked the van up at the loadother people have had? ing dock and ran into the Russell You know how it goes... House to unload the remaining magFirst person having a bad day: amines Cavailahle in several locations Well, it s been a horrible day. I cut around campus). When I returned, my arm on the stove. a red Escort had parked beside the Second person: Hey, that s noth- van and the illegally parked grad ing. I cut my arm when I fell off a 20- student had left. I tried to lock the foot cliff. back door of the van, hopped in, startThird person: Twenty-foot cliff? ed it Up, started backing out to the Shoot, I cut my arm in a rapier du- ieft and heard the most horrible el with the disgruntled ghost of a crunching noise Fve ever heard be16th-century Spanish explorer, who's fore. Yes, you're reading me right ? vowed to haunt me until the end of the Beardman hit a unmoving, totime. Stop your complaining, you tally parked, innocent Ford Escort wimps. with a UNIVERSITY VAN. The other day, though, I won the I considered just backing over bad day competition hands-down, myself with the van right then, but I was happily driving around cam- I couldn't figure out how to operate pus in the famous Russell House van, the accelerator while lying under the delivering Garnet and Black Quar- back tires. I also considered leaving terly magazines, THE magazine for the country, but I couldn't decide on USC. (If you havent picked up a copy, a remote enough location. I also con you should, 11 only because it nas a sidered becoming a nun, but l didn t witty editor's note written by a beard- see exactly what that would solve, ed sage we all know and love.) After the accident, I had to make This vehicle is a Chevy cargo van the rounds of Russell House adminwith no back or side windows. It's istration and the motor pool adminbasically a big box with an engine istration, all of whom were extremely and a sliding door. As soon as I nice, helpful and polite. I hate meetclimbed in the van and saw the ex- ing nice people and being known to tremely limited rearward view, I got them as "the bearded guy who ran that impending feeling of doom that into the car with the university veusually presages major natural dis- hide." asters ? or new Michael Bolton al- Ifs kinda like being known around bums. I've driven 15-passenger vans town as the "guy who mutters game with 20 or so unruly camp staff mem- show theme songs under his breath" bers stuffed in the back with ab- or the "guy who smells like a goat solutely no troubles, but the Russell wearing men's cologne" or the "guy House van struck a certain uneasy with the tattoo that looks like Oprah fear in my heart. Winfrey.'' The day of delivery went well, I also felt horrible for the guy who with no accidents and only one im- parked his car in the loading dock, proper parking inddent. When I re- not expecting some fool to rip into it turned to the loading dock at the Rus- with a big white windowless van. sell House, some graduate student Of course, nobody tried to argue had parked a large white Ford in the the rest of the day that their day had Pnoofill TTaiiqp van's rpoirua] narlr. crnnp wnrsp than minp. JIVUOlJVU AAVW^W * t v\* |/vuu QW?? I write now I Reader responses are welcome. Letters should be between 200 and 250 words and should be delivered personally to The Gamecock, Room 333 of the Russell House. ?TRaif#rr?rb ?Sws: 777"7725 VDanKCULK Advmismg: 777-4249 Gregory Perez * AX. 777-6482 Design Editor Student Media Russell House-USC? Columbia, SC 29208 ^an f !ms Online Editor Wendy Hudson Lucy Arnold Martha Hotop Chris Carroll Editor in Chief Stephanie Asst. News Director of Student Media Matt Pruitt Sonnenfeld Ben Pillow Laura Day viewpoints editor Features Editors x~nns LMXOn ? Chris Winston Larry Williams Asst- Features Jeff A. Breaux Copy Desk Chief Rvan Wilson Robbie Meek Art Director Allison Williams sports Editors ? Asst- 5"?? Erik Collins News Editor Jamie Clark Faculty Advisor Keith Boudreaux Photo Editor cartoonist Circulation Manager R<)bert Wahon Asst. Photo Editor Letters Policy The Gamecock is the student newspaper of the University of The Gamecock will try to print all letters received. South Carolina and is published Monday through Friday dur- Letters should be 200-250 words and must include full 'n8 ^spring semesters, with the exception of univer- name, professional title or year and major if a student. sity 1 ays an exam pen . Letters must be personally delivered by the author to Opinions expressed in The Gamecock are those of the editors _ . . _ ? ,, orauthor and not those of the University of South Carolina. The Gamecock newsroom in Russell House room 333. The Board of Student Publications and Communications is the The Gamecock reserves the right to edit all letters for publisher of The Gamecock. The Department of Student Media style, possible libel or space limitations. Names will not is its parent organization. ^ withheld under any circumstances. TEWF r 7 ~ Aw* I LJJBK_ QUOTE, UNQUOTE "There's a lot of good poop Equal prot One of the biggest cases coming before the U.S. Supreme Court this session deals with homosexuality. In 1992, Colorado voters narrowly approved a Constitutional amendment forbidding cities and counties from passing laws providing any form of protection, aid or support to homosexuals and homosexual groups. The gay community of Colorado immediately sued to stop enforcement of the measure. The Colorado high court ruled the amendment violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amend ment ot tfte U.S. uonstitution Decause it denied homosexuals access to government. The Supreme Court granted appeal. The case is interesting because of the strong feelings homosexuality arouses. This isn't like race or gender, a characteristic you are born with and can be seen. Traditionally, we have not protected, through our court system, behavior-based groups from government regulation. The exceptions are religion and political philosophy: freedoms noted in our country's founding and whose values are protected by the First Amendment. Stock brokers are regulated in IfTTERS TO THE EDITG Every group ( I am writing this letter to address some of the discrepancies in Wednesday's letter written by DeAnna Harrell. I am sorry that she has decided to leave our fine university, but I would like to respond to some of the 1 CCUSUmilg UC1JJL11U 11C1 UUJl/U1 bUJL V. Having already been addressed, I will disregard the incident involving the College Republicans and focus on the recent problems involving The Carolina Spectator. First, I would like to say that without a doubt, The Carolina Spectator is not a USC Student Government-sanctioned organization. At the time of publication and distribution of the last issue, The Carolina Spectator was a registered student organization, but receives no funding from the Student Government allocation of Student Activity Fees. This organization status does allow organizations to use the university mail system without paying for postage, but it still requires a distribution fee. However, as of a couple of days after the last issue, The Spectator was no longer registered as a student organization. At the beginning of this semester, The Spectator staff neglected to reapply for student organization status. They do have the option, however, of re-applying next semester. When registering as an organization, political correctness is not taken into account. While Student Government does not agree with the ideas presented in the Spectator, we do believe in the right of people to express themselves. The University of South Carolina, or any other public entity for that matter, cannot restrain the publishing of OENTS umuH IGHT! OOOOfJ, le who have gone through sch ^raatari tho traiiitinn I A VI VW?V?I uaw VBB ? English junior Hank Fuseler < ection does DAVID HALLER Columnist how they act. The access lobbyists have to government is limited, too. Why, then, not homosexuals? This is especially true when you look at the response by leaders of the gay community to limited research which, initially, ties homosexuality to genetics. Most have tried to steer away from that path, fearing the development of technology to make genetic changes to children or fetuses to keep them from being born homosexual. The fear rises not so much from wanting to ensure the homosexual community grows, but rather, I think, a general fear of genetic manipulation and its side effects ? another issue completely. The point is that homosexuality is behavior-based, and the behavior associated with it, true or not true, makes some people more than just uncomfortable. They see it as a threat to their way of life. See Cobb County, Ga., which has passed a resolution saying the homon/Mrtml lifUn4-?r1/\ in irinrvnninfrtnl itrifll SCAUOi mcoijric 10 Ultuiioiouciit w iuli maw values of the county. Iff ieserves right offensive materials; this would be a violation of Constitutional rights. Postpublication litigation, however, is possible, and if lawsuits would better satisfy Ms. Harrell, then she might consider filing one. Student Government cannot act as a court of constitutional law in deciding what speech can or cannot be written and distributed. We do not have any control over what is printed by any student publication, nor do we wish to. The staff of each individual publication is responsible for the content of their own articles. The State newspaper does not have to answer to the State Legislature, nor does the Free Times, The Point or any other non-university publication. No form c :? ij.? L oi expressiun, no matuji nuw uiicuaivc some people might find it, has to answer to any governmental body. The power of any democracy lies in an enlightened people, and the people are only enlightened when they know every side of any story. People might find some material offensive, but if we were to abridge freedom of the press for this material, there is no telling where it would end. Dan D'Alberto Executive Director Take action or pack your bags and go home As a student here at USC, overcome with apathy as I am, I find my self barely able to summon the gumption to write this letter. I must confess though that Pop-tarts and Mountain Dew are help 1 > 7 . ? - / ) n ' >oofy ("^y <22r( / I - 7 ool before me and walked tl njoy so much today." an Homecoming activities >n't fulfill i The last time the Supreme Court dealt with homosexual behavior was in 1986 in a case called Bowers v. Hardwick. Ironically coming out of Cobb County, a man was arrested for breaking the state's sodomy laws when police came into his home and found him in the act. The court ruled that sodomy laws were constitutional because almost every state since its inception had had the laws. Chief Justice Burger even cited Blackstone, the venerable English interpreter of law ? from the Middle Ages ? to back the idea that it had never been accepted and, therefore, never should. A heterosexual couple who joined in the suit, saying they wanted to engage in sodomy, were removed because the court said i-i i i g nicy iiau nu uwc. So our government has not been kind to homosexuals; even our usually protective court system. All the while, the court has recognized the right of heterosexuals to procreate, associate, marry and do those things which the "traditions of law and our country recognize," in the privacy of their home. The Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment was added to the Constitution as a result of the Civil War. Its to publish, V( ing me along in this process. (Oh my, sugar and caffeine, whatever will we do with these students?) I would like to take this opportunity to take the issue with DeAnna K Harrell's comments, regarding our "apathy" and her decision to leave USC. I am trying to work up some sympathy for Harrell but am unable to do so. I must say that the only emotions that his or her letter brings about in me, are astonishment and a strong lack of tolerance for the preaching and hypocritical nature of her letter. Harrell is upset, apparently, because nf on inniflont at a ctllHpnt mpptincr flnH finding an issue of Hie Spectator in her mailbox. My response to this: get over it! Harrell is upset that there has not "been one public demonstration or student rally to help you here. It could be because students are busy with classes, or homework or maybe we recognize the simplistic inconsequentiality of these issues. There are wars going on, people are starving and living in the streets and these issues, a meeting and a paper, are the ones that get your blood boil ing? Harrell, get off it. Don't climb on t moral high horse, criticize us, then tel us us can't spare the time to do anything about. Either lead from the front or be quiet. As a history student should nol 1 1 . X you recognize tne accompnsnmenis o single persons standing up to injustice: and helping to have them corrected? D< Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandeh or Gandhi ring a bell? In short, if you can't handle gradu ate school and need an excuse to leave don't blame it on us. We don't need you finger pointing. We will help you pack - 3 ? | I Va & ? ? . I \ lose halls before me. They tQ nrnrnisp l/u jl v/xxxxuv purpose is to make all individuals equal under the eyes of the law and specifically looks at the way groups are classified by government and whether that classification is fair. Without passing judgement on the rationality of disbelieving that one man can love another as I would love a woman, is it fair to classify people on the basis of whom they love or what they do in private? Our Constitution is a document of values that at one time or another, has served to protect each of us. Can we not find within that document protection from fear-based ignorance? And should we not all fear a government that would invade the privacy of even a few? What is being asked for here is not special treatment ? not added benefits or set-asides ? but simply equal treatment in the eyes of the law. That each It Oil _ 1_ person ? regarcuess 01 tneir smn coior, gender, God, party or partner?should have fair, unabridged, and equal protection of the sanctity of our government and its values, should be elementary by now. If it is not, then we are further away from our destiny than we thought. ice opinions be happy to see you go and be better off when you are gone. Michael Gooding Psychology Junior Traffic laws are not discriminatory Apparently, Mr. Touchberry doesn't know that laws apply not only to us lowly mortals, but also to learned conservatives. If the police didn't have to waste time educating people who don't seem to understand four-letter words like ' STOP, they would have more time to do the things that they feel are more important. Responsibility, in this case, means that he was supposed to stop at the in; tersection: accountability is what the policeman did when he issued the ticket. > If stopping at that intersection was optional Mr. Touchberry, the sign would have read YIELD, i After all of the self-righteous lectures ' Mr. Touchberry has delivered on these > pages, l am surprised mat ne would aoJ mit to feeling that traffic laws are optional for him. Perhaps brother Newt could provide some legislative relief. Af} ter all, isn't this another example of the 1 onerous imposition of big government into his constitutional right to do as he pleases? r Gary LCadle , Exercise Science Junior