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Tuesday, January 16,1996 nsaffi Serving (JSC Wendy Hudson, Editor in Chief i Tina Morgan, Brent Seeli Edltorla Chris Dixon, Martha Hotop, Karen Layne, 1 P\/on Qtmc Qtpnhani#* ^nnnpnfplH Pppp vm Bad Greel spoil entii Before the winter -?m break, several USC ^EE3 students proved the few . often affect the many. oes/J Several Pi Kappa Phi clf fraternity brothers were Greek i on the Fraternity Quad nvt/] 1 rvrtlri m /? ^/\ IHIHIIIHH UJLLC LLLgllL OilU lUUMllg \AJ 111 * rumble. A student suffered their wrath as a brick was The act thrown through his few will window in hopes of image < bringing out another fraternity to fight. The student wound up in the hospital with a fractured skull, and he now has a metal plate in his head. Pi Kappa Phi's charter has been revoked, and the matter has brought great shame to the university since our own Jerry Brewer, Director of Student Life, is the national president. Aside from the obvious implications of their actions, including possible jail time, it's imperative to look at the incident in another light. The innocent members of the fraternity, who were not involved, have lost their organization. What happens when the issue of the Greek village comes back into the arena of discussion? Who will suffer then? Actions have consequences. When someone decides to blow off an exam, they only hurt themselves. But when I IWWVW9W <? THE UNIVERSITY Of What type of musii have to play to gel JL-ljteg Heather Milne fashion merchandi |F "Bach or Mozart.' t Eric McClanat fr ^ | English junior ' 1 "T? me to ^stel a good morning si Heidi Tolbert ^ "I didn't know W I play contemporai Rodney McKn *4 I^MF: interdisciplinary sti IBafctl? S Student Media Russell House-USC* C Wendy Hudson Robbie Meek Editor in Chief Matt Pruitt Ryan Wilson Sports Editors Managing Editor Allison Williams Tina Morgan Special Projects Brent Seeiiger Ethan Myerson Viewpoints Editors Graphics Editor Martha Hotop Keith Cece von Kolnitz Boudreaux News Editors Karen Layne Chris Dixon Deanna Stephanie McLendon Sonnenfeld Copy Desk features Editors 7,he Gamecock is the student newspaper of the University of South Carolina and is published Tuesday ?ugh Friday during the fall and spring semesters, with exception of university holidays and exam periods. ?Pt nions expressed in The Gamecock are those of the editors or author and not those of the University of Carolina. P* Board of Student Publications and Communications J? toe publisher of The Gamecock. The Department of Student Media is its parent organization. A 5cock Since 1908 Ryan Wilson, Managing Editor, iger, Viewpoints Editors I Board Robbie Meek, Tyson Pettigrew, Matt Pruitt 1 Kolnitz, Robert Walton, Allison Williams I I O N I c apples re bunch ??-i you join a fraternity or sorority (or any . organization) you ater mty represent something nt mar larger than yourself. image at Whether you wear Greek letters or garnet aQd black, your actions reflect on 27,000 other ions of a people. affect the So, is this of many. incident important? It is. As fraternity brothers, they represent their national charter and the values of the university. Because they Med to see this, we all suffer. It may not be fair, but that's why the Greek system uses a rush period, a time to pick those who will uphold what is precious to a group of people. It may be fun and an honor, but it I 1 _ also nas responsmmty. As university students, haven't we risen above the junior high days of picking fights? Haven't we learned to think before we act? As the semester begins its uphill climb to the warm days of summer, we need to be aware of what this could signify. It could be a simple case of bored people looking for some action, or it could be representative of the slipping away of moral ground and the decline of higher education. > > SOUTH CAROLINA : would WUSC 90.5 : you to listen? tive. REM, U2, Blues Traveler, stuff l sing freshman 9 ian q they should play R&B, rap and have how, something to get me up." lior i had (a radio station) They'd have to 7." Aght udies senior s: 777-7726 ertising: 777-4249 l! 777-6482 Chris Carroll olumbia, SC 29208 ofSwd^Mcdu _ Laura Day Tyson Pettigrew Creative Director Robert Walton jeff A. Breaux Photo Editors Art Director Adam Snyder Sue McDonald Jennifer Stanley jjm Speelmon Asst. News Graduate Assistant Lucy Arnold Marilyn Edwards Dipka Taylor Bhambhani Marketing Director Asst. Features Er|k Collins Achim Hunt Faculty Advisor Online Editor Letters Policy The Gamecock will try to print all letters received. Letters should be 200-250 words and must include full name, professional title or year and major if a student. Letters must be personally delivered by the author to The Gamecock newsroom in Russell House room 321. The Gamecock reserves the right to edit all letters for style, possible libel or space limitations. Names will not be withheld under any circumstances. < QUOTE, UNQUOTE "This campus needs pari sion, this construction i Flights was As an aspiring journalist, I, like many others, have come to believe that the cornerstone to true investigative journalism is the Freedom of Information Act. Created to further the media's role as the "watchdog on government," the South Carolina FOI is summed up as follows: "(The FOD is aimed at having the public's business conducted in an open and public manner so that citizens shall be advised of the performances of public officials and of public policy." In a nutshell, this means any business of a public or government group operating for the benefit of a public body shall be open to public record. "Public record" includes all books, papers, maps, photographs, cards, tapes, etc. that are in possession of that public body (with a few exceptions, of course). Recently, the Los Angeles Times took advantage of the trusty FOI to expose U.S. Secretary of Energy Hazel OTjeary blowing taxpayer dollars on overseas travel. In an admirable job of investigative reporting, the Times reported that over the past three years, (XLeary has made at least 16 foreign trips that cost millions of dollars. Overseas? Now, I'm not a whiz with government, but I have always believed that the secretary of energy for the United States of America usually travels around and takes care of the energy responsibilities in - GASP! - United States of America! After examining the logic of (TLeary and company, I've come to realize I've been badly misinformed all these years, but I should have known better. You gracious taxpayers should be happy to know that, at your expense, OLeary chartered a luxury jet to South SG president Let me begin by welcoming you back to another semester here at USC, and although we started out freezing last week, I'm sure the usually mild South Carolina winter will prevail. Some of you might have had some problems with your heating system if you live on campus. If you live in Preston, you were most likely burning up because they had the heat turned up so high, or maybe you live in DeSaussure where it was 50 degrees in your apartment a few days ago. Hopefully, your problems have been remedied, and you are settled in to start learning. This article leaves me with 43 days left in office. While the regularly scheduled committee meetings, dropins, receptions and classes will still be attended, and the letters, memos and responses will still be written, this will also be a time to tie up some loose ends and make way for an energetic and newly formed administration to begin work. There have been some new developments in and around campus over the Christmas break I'd like to let you in on. Sometime in the immediate future, work will begin on improvements to Blossom Garage. $250,000 has been set aside to put in new lighting, paint the interior and install emergency response systems. Hopefully, these improvements will bring Blossom up to par with the other garages on campus. The Capital Campaign Committee PINT king. Since engineering it obviously needs to be di needs to realize this." \arbn Speight, mechanical engineering junior ;te taxpaye: Africa Why an ~ entire jet, you ask? Oh, well, ML .. 4-1 x 11 x s. nil! BIGHAM provide USC with much needed scholarship monies, allow for endowed professors and department chairs, and also allow for funds for several capital projects. As far as Student Government goes, elections are almost upon us, and I invite any of you who are interested in running for an office to do so. SG elections are always a fun time of year, and I expect this year to be no different I also ask those of you who have no interest in running to please keep in mind that you can vote in the elections. SG's power to affect administrative decisions to benefit students comes from the students themselves. If the student body does not vote, then SG has little power. As I tell you this now, I ask vou to keep it in mind until elections are held Feb. 15. Because this is my last semester here, you will probably realize as my articles progress throughout the semester, I will become more and more nostalgic and perhaps even wax eloquent a few times. I hope I can have a positive affect on the university in the remaining month and a half that aiie neeueu uue entire plane Igfillf for the 51 federal employees and 1 " 68 influential ., - MJl citizens that went along for the ride. For those keeping track, that cost taxpayers the small sum of $560,000, but that's not even the amusing part. The thing that appears odd to me is I've yet to hear of any American nuclear plants in South Africa. But wait! It gets worse! The jet also was used to fly OLeaiy and her flock of people to China and Pakistan, and, the last time I checked, there were no American nuclear plants in those countries, either. On the same jet, OLeaiy journeyed to Costa Rica to sign a "greenhouse gas agreement" with the country's government. The far-fetched purpose aside, Fm sure you all will be pleased to know O'Leary brought along 14 assistants for the five-day "signing." Now, I can sort of understand O'Leary might have some trouble j j l:.i c t a __i? deciding un wmcii uue ui x<* wmua w sign her name in, but FIVE DAYS? Call me crazy, but I assume most people outside of Clemson can put a John Hancock on paper in fewer than five days. And it gets worse. CLeary sent a five-person squadron to attend the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women. Ever since I was informed of this decision by our great secretary, I've been trying my hardest to figure the resemblances gives campuj has met _ numerous establish its priorities for campaign. ;n AmT s wV> V \ I s c \J . I Ui i a needs-driven profes>ne. The student body ft rs' money between women and energy. They have about as much alike as our government is credible. Fa- explanations from sane political powers-that-be, I state the following facts with my tongue planted firmly in cheek. Consider the words of our very own Vice President A1 Gore, who quickly defended CLeary's spending. "There's nobody in the Cabinet who has done a better job of cutting costs, of eliminating wastes," he said. Oh yeah? What's that say about the rest of the cabinet? of fka U U111111 g UUI C 1JU. OVl/lliUg ab bUW critics, a White House spokesman said for every $1 that CLeary spends on travel, she generates $1,000 in new business. If indeed that's the case, folks, then America is headed for the biggest economic boom in history. The claim by the spokesman means that for the South Africa journey alone, more than half a billion dollars were created through business deals. With the combined worth of all of her trips, our country will climb out of debt - all of this thanks to OTeary. Many of you might be wondering if O'Leary was disciplined for her expensive, extravagant jaunts overseas. Not so, says Mike McCuny, the White House press secretary. In the Mowing, designed to dispel rumors of deary's punishment, McCurry issued the following statement: "The president believes she's been doing a superb job as secretary of energy." And as far as the government's interest, ability and determination to cut the federal budget, that, my friends, says it all. > overview I serve you as president, but I look forward to seeing some fresh feces that will be ready to work diligently. I will also spend a lot of time thanking the people whohave meant so much to me since I have been here. 1 could never manic everyone, dul must of you know who you are. There's the student senator who always comes by to offer an encouraging word or just say hello, the administrator who never says, "it can't be donelout rather, "this is the best place to start", two parents who said you can be whatever you want to be but never expected anything, the little sister who has been the best friend and inspiration anyone could know, the cabinet member who defends you wheti no one else will, the sorority sister who stands beside you no matter what, the freshman council member who cranes to you for advice, the student who stops you in the Grand Marketplace to tell you you've done a good job, and people like Miss Pat who always ask how your day is going, and genuinely care. Hopefully, the cold weather will soon pass and lead into the famous, or in some cases, infamous, Carolina spring. When midterms hit, and you're sick of schoolwork, just remember, warm weather and all that goes along with it is right around the corner. I hope you have a successful semester and ask you to continue to make a difference. 7 Southerner offers tips for snow fun Welcome back, folks, from a wonderful I?fW Christmastime vacation. If yours was half as good as mine, you had a pretty darn STEWART However, HiSiUiMiyHH some of South Carolina got what many of us would like to see and what some of us are here to avoid: snow. South Carolinians are funny when it comes to snow, especially us Low Country folks. When it comes, it's an event you date your life by. We Summerton (pop. 975) folks are no strangers to snow. Snow to us is like one of those cousins who comes to town every 10 or 11 years, stays long enough to ruin your plans, and leaves, not craning back for another 10 or 11 years. But man, does that cousin cause a lot of trouble. When Old Man Winter brings snow to town, Summerton shuts down. I have Southernly Deficient friends (used to call them Yankees, but my New Year's resolution was to be more politically correct) who are used to seeing snow every year. They tell me that if you don't have to dig yourself out of your house, it ain't a snow. D-.i. 0 _i.?? DUt ill oummci tun, i/iiat o uuv wic case. As soon as the first flake of winter hits the ground, whether some friends come with it or not, it's time to board up the town. Even if President Clinton, Pope-John Paul and the cast of "The Dukes of Hazzard" came to town on the same day, there wouldn't be so many closings. Most times, if either Joe Pinner, who does weather at WIS-TV, or Charlie Hall, the weatherman at WCSC-TV in Charleston, says there's gonna be snow, most town's folks pull out the shovels. But if Joe and Charlie agree there's gonna be snow, LOOK OUT! Fm sure by now all of you Yankees (heck, nobody sticks with their resolutions for too long) are laughing your heads off. And why not? I agree we act silly. But you have to understand why. You see, we Summerton folks are used to hot weather. Our hot season runs from about Valentine's Day to Thanksgiving. And that's only considering 70 degrees and above as hot. Why do you think the town is called Summerton? It gets so hot there the Devil rents out rooms at the Summerton Hotel when Hell gets full. The last time we had snow in Summerton was in 1989, two days before Christmas. It was enough to last for a couple days so naturally, we found ways to have fUn in it. The first thing we had to do was figure out how to have fun with it. Because it doesn't snow enough to justify investing in a snowmobile or a sled, we had to settle for hooking waterskis and a hydroslide to the back of a four-wheeler. And it was fun, sliding down the streets of Summerton behind a fourwheeler on a hydroslide. That is, until we found out the pavement doesn't get any softer in the snow. And because it is likely that Columbia will get some snow this season, here are some more ways to have fun with the little bit of snow we get. 1. Make a snow midget. 2. Have a snowball fight. It will have to De snort one, tnougn, necause it taxes most of the snow on the ground to make a snowball. 3.Make a snow/mud angel (Be sure you wear old clothes when you do that one, though.) 4. Make snow ice cream. (Except, make sure you aren't near a toxic waste site or a hog farm when you do that one.) 5. Create a pool to guess how many state offices are closed. Seeing as we are probably going to get snow, I'm gonna just get ready for it. And when it comes, I'm chartering rides on my hydroslide. Read The Gamecock for more details. Letters to the Editor Reader responses are welcome. Letters should be between 200 and 250 words and should be delivered personally to The Gamecock, Russell House room 333.