The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 28, 1996, Page 3, Image 3
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.
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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
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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