University of South Carolina Libraries
Monday, October 28,1996 TBafll Servint USC Stephanie Sonnenfeli Chris Dixon, Vie Editorial Angie Campbell, Martha Hotop, Achin Adam Snyder, Jennifer Stanley, Sara Sve< O P I N Senators need to earn studen For the past month we have BiUiiiil seen a lot of bickering over Student sen what powers the earn stude student senate respect and Student expecting Government in general does or does not have. This has all been a part of the controversy caused by Senator Bryan Menees' "perks bill." The* powers proscribed to our student government are rather vague and can be argued over for an eternity. But, what all the members of SG and the student body need to realize is a simple old cliche that any person in power should follow: Actions speak louder than words. In the history of our American democracy, we can see those leaders who make promises and don't act on them are not trusted by, or very popular with, the voters. Once a leader does something for a group of people, they see he or she might actually care about them. They believe in the leader and trust him or her to do more good things with the power he or she has. That is why the morals and ethics of a candidate are always more closely examined the higher the political office. Media now payin for convicting bo This Saturday, it was announced former security Mpdia u guard Richard convicted bombing bef a suspect in the even ac< July 27 bombing at Atlanta's Centennial Park. The acquittal was no doubt welcome news to Jewell, who for months lived in a world surrounded by suspicion, accusation and humiliation. Who knows if Jewell planted the bomb or not. And actually, whn rpaTlv cares. The mass nwlia has once again run Jewell's story into the ground. But, wearing out the bombing escapade wasn't the only thing the media can be found guilty for, it's also responsible for accusing < a man and almost convicting him of a crime he had not been found i guilty of committing. As members of the media, our job is to inform readers and i Stephanie Angie Sonnenfeld Campbell Editor in Chief Ljsa Chris Dixon Noworatzky Viewpoints Editor ? 11 x. u . Sara Svedberg Martha Hotop Copy Desk Adam Snyder Robert Walton News Editors Photo Editor Jen fer Stanley Brian Features Editor Graphics Ert.or c, Jason Je(Ters Sports Editor Cece von Kolnitz DTllT" - . . Cartoonists Special Projects The Gamecock is the student newspaper of the University of South Carolina and is published Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the fall and spring semesters, with the exception of university holidays and -jexam periods. ^ Opinions expressed in The Gamecock are those of the n; editors or author and not those of the University of \_, South Carolina. T The B;?rd of Student Publications and ctnmunications T is the publisher of The Gamecock. Tit "department of st Student Media is its parent organization h 1 tank Since 1908 d, Editor in Chief iwpoints Editor I Board n Hunt, Lisa Noworatzky, Brian Rish, dberg, Cece von Kolnitz, Robert Walton I O N to do wort t's respect rppp^PHH The more important the office is, the more ate should trust the people mt body's need to have in before the officeholder. "perks." This is the folly we have seen with our own student government. Senator Menees and others understand that for the senate to have real power they need to be trusted by the student body. But they want the students trust first, without having earned it. The student body needs to see something from student senate. Anything. The moment they make that step in the positive direction, then the student body will immediately place more trust in them. Then they will have more power to do other things that are good for the students. Then, maybe,the students will trust them enough to give them "perks," but not before. So for now, all the bickering needs to stop. The students need to demand action from SG, and SG needs to deliver. Only then will we be on the road to establishing trust between the two. ig the price mbing suspect ^1 viewers of what is going on in the world. Our job nfairly not to accuse fewell of ?J^?nvict : , , - ieu on a grana ore he was 3caJe>wedoit "Used. every day. Essentially, the '96 election is a joke because the media has made Dole too old to beat Clinton. The media convicted O.J. Simpson of killing Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman even before he got out of his Bronco. We, as the media, need to understand how important it is to inform what is going without inadvertently deciding the outcome of the situation. As Americans, we're guaranteed a jury of our peers to determine if we're guilty or not of a crime. Today, it seems the media has become our jury and they are so powerful they can make or break you before you even enter the court room - just ask Richard Jewell. 777-7726 ising: 777-1184 777-6482 Chris Carroll KoD OlOielll Director of Student Media Asm. Viewpoints Laura Dj|y Jessica Nash Oeative Director Ass, Features j.T. Wagenheim Bryan Johnston AriD^to, Dwayne Mark Hopkins McLemore Graduate Assistant Asst Sports Marilyn Edwards Nikki Thorpe Tavlnr Assl. Photo Advertising Director Ben Muldrow Erik Collins Asst. Graphics Faculty Advisor he Gamecock will try to print all letters received, etters should be 200-250 words and must include full ame, professional title or year and major if a student, etters must be personally delivered by the author to he Gamecock newsroom in Russell House room 333. he Gamecc V reserves the right to edit all letters for yle, possibk ' bel or sp?ce limitations. Names will not : withheld under any circumstances vmwp ?t^iH4 SIGNE PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS Philadelphia USA I ^ % TUE FIRST THEF HRS. BOB MRS, POLE W "One day we'll be the pi j Ai School offi | Cece von Kolnitz Maybe the recent rash of ridiculous school punishments leveled at children can be blamed on boredom. Maybe the problems of child abuse, drop-outs, teen-age pregnancies, shootings, suicide, sexually transmitted diseases, drugs, theft and illiteracy haven't been severe enough lately to keep schools busy. Maybe school administrators needed a change, a deviation from the everyday 1 stuff, the real trivial stuff like the < possibility of someone bringing a gun to ' school or the fact that more and more of their students are using drugs. i The administrators at one middle < school decided to find and solve a real i Same-sex mar To the editor, i ] The language used by liberals (most < it., n J M recently v>ece von xvoinitz; to aescrme ] those who supported the Defense of i Marriage Act is quite revealing. i The highly emotional and harsh rhetoric recently used shows what liberals i so often mean by "tolerance" and 1 "acceptance," values so espoused by i liberalism. s What is really meant is tolerance for who believe as they do, but critical attacks 1 against, and very intolerant rhetoric 1 toward, those who don't. t Where is the tolerance for those who > believe that marriage is ordained of God and find it degrading to their beliefs to t define marriage as a union between same > sex couples? t What about respecting their beliefs? t What about their rights? Who is screaming about the injustices, r offensiveness, prejudices they must } endure as they watch what they hold c sacred destroyed or mocked? Where is g the "tolerance" and "acceptance" for their e views? t To use von Kolnitz's own words, I find the name calling and attacks against s those who believe homosexuality is wrong Jas "offensive, prejudiced, bigoted, and reminds me of why I got a voter ( registration card." (. Annthor iccno T Viovn wifVi liKrwolo io IWUV M. UUTV TV I VII IllA^I aiO IO the belief that somehow rights are being taken away by defining marriage as a ? union between a man and a woman, which is how it has always been defined. 1 If a few people suddenly decide to say red is green, this may be their "right," but it doesn't change the fact that the <3 color is still red. ii They may run around and say they are being prosecuted by intolerant bigots a or extremists who continue to say red is o red, but it still doesn't change the fact a that the ilor is red. ? Even if others agree and want to c OENT: iiiiwiiiffiBBH REPUBLICAN M FIRST 1 Chi iRST iHEfi&r THE. AL MK5. NBNT MRS ro GiMGRicH OR eople who make a differe strong commitment to ser nanda Colton, junior, on the importance c cials shou] problem: steak-knife wielding 11-yearold girls with devious plans of trying to cut baked chicken. By now the whole country probably knows the story of 11-year-old Charlotte Kirk and her arrest and expulsion from Hopkins Middle School after packing a steak knife with her school lunch. Kirk was arrested and expelled after asking a teacher if she could use her steak knife to eat her lunch. She's going back to school Tuesday after being reinstated by the Richland District 1 school board, but she will still have a suspension on her school record, according to an article in The State newspaper. No matter what else she remembers, the one thing that will stand out in Charlotte Kirk's mind when she thinks about her middle school days will be the tiage infringe redefine red as green, what about the rights of the majority who want to continue to say red is red. More than 70 percent of Americans believe marriage should be defined as a union between a nan and a woman. Liberals make it sound like we live n a land of unlimited freedom or inbounded rights, but this is naive and mpossible. No society could survive in such chaos. My rights have limits because others lave rights, and their rights have limits lecause I have rights. When issues exist hat we can't agree upon, that is why ve have a democracy. A basic principle of democracy is that he majority has certain rights. If this vas not the case then we would have he tyranny of the minority, which some >elieve we have today. The Defense of Marriage Act was leeded because one state's action would lave taken away the rights of all the ither states by forcing them to recognize ame-sex marriages, regardless of what ach state thought was right or had voted ipon. The act was democracy and common I1WV 1 lUXXlV/pilVAJia CUUIA7I01S VVUUIU iave us believe, rhris Herrod iraduate Student iG attacks unwarranted ?o the editor, First of all, I would like to respond lirectly to the comments that were made n a lener 10 me eauor anacKing su. I am a freshman at USC, and I am i member of Freshmen Council, a part f SG that represents all the freshmen t USC. As a member of SG, Computer Icience senior Dev Brown's attacks oncern me, but knowing senators like s 1 iiywmsHMttno WB first the fi&r 5. PHIL MJ& RUSH AMM [1MBAU6H ?nce; we'll be the leaders an vice, we'll fall backwards." if participating in programs such as City Year. Id use comi time she was almost expelled for trying to make eating her lunch easier. She'll remember not to trust teachers or administrators, not to expect any leniency or forgiveness for making a simple mistake. The fact that the board has so graciously decided to let her go back to school doesn't change the silliness of the situation. Administrators say they're in a bind. They say they're damned if they do enforce the rules and damned if they don't. The superintendent of Richland 1 told The State newspaper that where weapons are concerned principals "cannot exercise discretion or prerogative." The truth is they can and could have exercised their discretion. In this case, they just didn't. 3S on rights of Bryan Menees and the reasoning behind his proposals, Brown's conclusions about SG are cowardly and intolerant. As I read Brown's opinion about SG, it is apparent that Brown has never run for any SG office and has probably never even visited SG in the Russell House. If you haven't attempted to run for office, participated in SG elections or voiced your concerns to your SG senator, then shut up. Every leader in SG volunteers their time and efforts to make this university a better place for their fellow peers. They work hard without thanks to represent the ideas and opinions they believe are important to the student body. This was made clear to me after I had the chance to speak to senators and other SG leaders. In responding to the letter, let me teach Brown about the principles of respect and power, because it is ignorance that hinders the advancement of ideas and concerns that real students have on campus. Any idea, program or legislation that comes out of SG must have the full support of the student body in order for that policy to be implemented into the university system. For example, an academic forgiveness policy that comes out of SG, combined with petitions, phone calls and marches in front of the faculty senate, will command power and respect and give way to changes we would like to see at the university. On the other hand, an academic forgiveness policy that comes out of SG that only has the support of nine to 10 percent of the students who voted in the last SG election will not pet anv attention from the administration. Power and respect is a two-way street. The senate does not receive power or gain respect from hav'ng"perks"Rather, it is the student body jupport that yields respect and power for SG officers. 3_ s z CO ?H CO 0> I s CO CO -< z o o > ?< m a ? THE fiRSF ; I PCK |f ARMEY 'js d teachers. Without a non sense What I want to know is whaf s Wrong with considering each situation, especially in a situation as obviously harmless as Charlotte Kirk's? What happened to sense and reason in her case? Weapons aren't allowed in schools, and no one would say thaf s a bad policy. If a student brings a knife to school, it should be taken away. But a policy that makes such obvious sense shouldn't be taken to absurd ends. I've read stories about high school students charged with murder of a classmate who were acquitted because juries believed them when they said they brought guns to school for self-protection. Why couldn't administrators at Hopkins Middle School believe Charlotte Kirk only wanted to cut her baked chicken? ' the majority Additional power and perks for SG offices will certainly create greater interest m tknoo rwnfiAno V?ol/^ imfkir* QT1 XIX UXVAX^ ^VOXUVlIt? IIWU TT1U1U1 UU, ICQUUlg to a greater number of students running and voting during SG elections, hence a greater ability to command changes from the administration. I have known Bryan Menees for several years and have had the opportunity to speak with him about the proposed changes within the student senate. The proposals offered are more about controlling all of our student activity fees and making the student senate more visible. The changes will only benefit future SG officers, not current officers. The changes will also increase the overall participation in SG elections. With this effect taking place, that opens the door for more responsibility within SG, and that will help to carry out the concerns of the students on a more consistent basis. By allowing more responsibility within the senate, the student body will have motivation and direction in which to lead the charge for the policies that the administration is reluctant to implement for the students. To Dev Brown: Do not criticize a plan that you have not read, and you don't understand. Furthermore, do not ever again criticize SG and the senators elected to volunteer their time and efforts for the betterment of their peers and this great university. The next time yon feel the urge to attack fellow students who have done 10 times the service to USC that you have, and you feel SG does not have any "real" power, I would remind you that the Computer Science Department's budget is up for review next semester. Timothy C lardy Business Marketing Freshman