Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

Friday, January 23,1998 mc? Serving the Carolina Ci EDITORS Adam Snyder, Amy Shannon, xurt jonnson, Asstsi Student v SG shoul< The second week ~~~~ of class is just about over, yet many stu- Students dents still haven't f been able to find taken adi all their textbooks. ay the bo Bookstores have ^ said the books will |HEkU2 be in shortly and to Bookstorei keep checking. , . , To add to the restrict feelings of frustra- charging } tion from not ob- for requil i. 1 U_ i.U ? taming uouks, cue | beginning of this semester marked a time of confusion for students because bookstores list. ed the wrong books on the classes' book cards. Some cards didn't identify all the books needed for the class, and other cards listed books that didn't belong. All this, combined with the general feeling of being cheated out of money that occurs whenever books are bought, made students unhappy at the start of the semester. And why shouldn't they be? The college bookstores are taking com plete advantage of the students. The purpose of the college bookstore should be to serve the students' need for textbooks. In this case, the natural economic laws of the marketplace should be restricted because, as a public institution of academia, books should be affordable to everyone. SC legisla toughen< Education has i always been a top- HEUm ic of concern here in O o ,i /-, 1 . wun bouth Carolina. .? r Endless polls and thebotto surveys that always educcttioi sift South Carolina to the bottom of the Ife-Obviouslytimi of this projection, ? , the state govern- Passed to ment has made it a public schc priority this year to towards & raise South Carolina's general educa tion level to a new standard. And they've already begun. St.nrt.incr with the first. Hav back in session for the 1998 governmental year, the House of Representatives brought forth a bill that would upgrade the general education of public schools. The PASS bill (Performance and Accountability Standards for Schools) recommends that schools focus more on subject matter and material covered on standard tests. This bill also encompasses making new tests, rri\nrscr cr*Knnlc 1 offor rrro^Af Unn/vJ 6"'"6 ??"??'? >xti>vi Jiauco UOSCU on their performances overall, and holding back those students who do not pass the standardized tests. The majority of the House is very much in favor of passing the bill and m Hie (5s Serving the Carolina Cc The Gamecock is the student newspaper of The Universi Friday doing the fall and spring semesters and five times dung periods Openers expressed iri The Gemecock en those of thee The Boerd of Student PMcations end Communications is the is the newspaper's parent organization. Th? Gamecock Adam Snyder Editor in Chief RoaaMnd Hat Amy Shannon Viewpoints Editor Mart Johnam Sara Ladenhelm Carrie McCu Care Pedatt News Editors ffrtatki Frees Jennifer Stanley Features Editor Nathan Bros c- CMnr, Sean Rayfon Simm Meyers Phrto Editor Tort 0 Ha" ?jfn Brim Meh Online Editor conde Katie Chile Uxon Copy Desk Chief Studant Madia Julie Baker Sherry F. Ho Susan Barrett AMda Dickson Cmdyn QiHI Judeon Drennan Creative Services Jim Oreen uteri rmean? tmerim utreaut . of Student Media Mlchele Dm Lee Phlppt Advertising Manager ^ CoHtna imecock immunity since 1908 lL BOARD Editor in Chief Viewpoints Editor tant Viewpoints Editor oting tor i relocate When professors order books solely are being through the Univerf sity Bookstore, a molantage of nopoly forms. Prices okstores. are inflated because there is no where else ?ui2y|||Hi for students to And should be u%boi8-lr . j /. Textbook prices get from can vary from s^ore ligh prices to store because there Ted books. is no limit to how much bookstores charge. Bookstores should be made to charge a standard price, the lowest one possible. Book buyback also raises students' suspicion. Books are bought back for a fraction of the original cost only to be resold again by the bookstore for two to three times the amount given to the student for the book. Bookstores shouldn't be allowed to make a profit on the resale of used books. They are earning money from selling the same product in a worsened condition and depleting students' wallets. Used books are supposed to help out students. High prices for required textbooks are unacceptable. Students have no choice but to pay the price asked. Bookstores need to remember who their customers are and reevaluate whv thev're in business anyway. They should be helping out the students. don must education getting it to the SenfcUUflHIi ate for confirmation. olina is at However, there is op1 T. position to the bill, y mostly from black Wi well. House members and nftmnr.rat.ip. r.anr.ns Q^yH members. They fear .shouldbe a division between i races, classes, and artOUgrlCTl eas They also fear X)l policies that too many studucation. dents would be left behind, ultimately re suiting in a higher drop-out rate. Education is important. In today's world where everything is accessed at the click of a button, it almost seems that people have grown weary and uninspired with the thought of exertion to do something. ml _i> i . 1 inai s wny mis 0111 neeas to De passed. If South Carolina ever wants to raise above bottom sucker, a higher form of education needs to be installed in public schools in order to challenge students to something better. If the program is established, yes, some students may be left behind. But this may be a small price to pay for the augmentation of the state's education overall. iniccock KMill mimunity since 1908 ty of South Carolina and is published Monday, We&wsday and , mui ww oa Lcpinxi or iruvarsny noifaays ana exam dltors or author and ncA those of The University of South Carolina publisher of The Gamecock. The Department of Student Media All numbers area code 803 vey Public Relations Intern Th* """,co<* i Asst.Vewpoints Editor Editor 777-3914 Hough Asst. News Editor Viewpoints 777-7726 itete Asst. Features Editor m Asst. Sports Editor News 777-7726 i Asst. Photo Editor Asst. Online Editor EtC' 777-3913 *ho? Cop, Ediths Sp0rts 777 7162 Online 777-2833 ""Si? Stud?nt Media to Business Manager Advertising 777-1184 Creative Director Classifieds 777-1184 see Creative Sen/ices _ _ _ _ Graduate Asst. Fax 777-6482 Faculty Advisor | office 777-3888 The Gamei b->U4 (t-i Corndo I've spent a lot of time looking for Ireland. From the moment I stood in Dublin's "Irish Writers Museum" last summer, I knew that I had to leam more about the place where my family comes ~~i from. My desire didn't just Jp ,:'.; spring from curiosity of JV* my own W -MP\ KJi heritage, ? :'-fmL but out of JIrk j/ I an *n^eres^ Into SHAW place, and eirin >haw its people's Columnist present. Upon arriving back in America, I checked out all the books on Yeats I could find from the library. I stocked up on Celtic CDs and rented The Commitments. I changed my thesis to focus on two Irish poets and decided to learn all I could about the "Emerald Isle" that only recently seemed to become valid to me. It had been around me all my life, though. My grandmother's voice still has hints of her Irish accent. She came to America in her teen years, scorned by her Protestant parents for dating a Athletic I have written several columns about sports, simply because it is something in which I am very interested. Today, once again, I will focus on an aspect of sports- a very shameful ?~i aspect: NBA*!'311 ft-^sUV r "am^ JiVL a t r e 11 Sprewell fred LEACH g0'an?ry J? with his Columnist coach and began choking and punching him during a practice. The National Basketball Association suspended Sprewell for a year. This violent behavior shouldn't come as a surprise from the man who, when asked if he was upset when one of his pit bulls attacked his 4 year old daughter, said, "No, that stuff happens." Following the suspension, many of Sprewell's fellow players including Charles Barkley, stated that a one year 1] it ? cock gs brinj 1 rrn a 1 1J J ^auiunc uoy. limi uoy wouiu one uay become my grandfather. I would show little interest of the scandal this created in my family's tree and its political implications until recently. Last Friday night, I was in the middle of struggling through the Yeats' poem in my thesis, when I was persuaded to go out. Upon arriving at my friend, Cliffs, apartment, I was glad I had. There was a new face in the room, a guy by the name of Conner. He'd i] moved to America from Countv Cork. a Ireland, five months ago and was on- I ly in town for the weekend to visit a mutual friend. c I immediately started hounding t him with questions concerning all a things Irish. Had he read this certain d poem? What is his prospect for peace ii between the North and South? Does t he drink Guinness? My friends rolled their eyes as I babbled away with him. i] I was frustrated when the music at e McKenzie's was too loud to talk over, t I wanted to know about Ireland, and t Chumbawumba was not helping. b We ended up in the Vista via cab t (another column in itself), and some- I how managed to walk back to Frank's (it was a very long walk). They ap- J parently don't have corn dogs in Ire- 1 land, so I thought it appropriate to in- s troduce him to the mecca of all F things fried. And during all of this walk- t ethics qu suspension was too harsh a punishment, and asked the NBA to reconsider. This is just the latest chapter in what is becoming a growing problem in professional sports. I've heard people ask before, "Why J r\ : _ t>. j i i. uuea i^euiiis i\uumau uun& lie tail gei away with anything?" The answer is quite simple: because he can. But why can he get away with kicking a photographer or head-butting referees? I j can't come up with a satisfactory an- ^ swer. I can only assume that it is because he has money and a glamorous ^ occupation. : What would happen if you, when ^ you got angry with your boss, began ], choking and punching him? Or what j if someone happened to bump into you in the hall, knocking all your books out ? .e 1 3 1 -i i v. ui jruur nanus, aim yuu tuuieu 111111 111 ^ the groin? You would end up in jail ] very fast, I suspect. ( However, there is another aspect \ to this double standard that I discov- ( ered while reading the paper this week. ( There is currently an effort being made to get "Shoeless" Joe Jackson induct- ] ed into the baseball Hall of Fame. Shoe- , less Joe was banned from baseball for j life on account of his role in the "Black- ] sox" scandal of 1919. Joe and seven of ] his teammates on the Whitesox ad- j Gameci I ?j |1 ill] a student. Hand * I H i I L i l elude the author': ^ held tor any circu ? WsOM WAIKT V NDWN ^^SECTIO "I felt I had learned and maybe more t of the stacks of 1 I'd been plodd ng we did a lot of talking...about Shakepeare, St. Patrick's and Guinness vs. durphey's. Our subjects of discussion did inlude a lot of Irish things. But the ineresting thing was, I learned more ibout Ireland in this average, everylay discussion with a 22-year old, than a some of my academic pursuits to get o the heart of the country. Conner explained first-hand feelngs, what he felt when visiting Northrn Ireland, saying he'd be killed if hey knew he was raised Catholic. He old me about feeling like an outsider lecause although he was raised in a nwn rolled Middletnn Vie was hnm in )ublin. Conner described empathizing with 'oyce's main character in Portrait of nhe Artist As A Young Man, as an outider always wanting to move and ex)lore. I made an effort to restrain from ising terms like "textual analysis," Lestion b "Or what if someone I U~11 1 1 yuu 111 uic nail, luiutr of your hands, and you You would end up in j nitted to accepting money from gammers to throw the World Series. Howsver, most baseball historians agree ;hat although Jackson did take the noney, he probably didn't realize he vas supposed to throw the games. He Datted .375, committed no errors, and lit the series' only home run. Now the great Ted Williams has said Joe does indeed belong in the Hall >f Fame. If he did indeed purposefuly throw the World Series, which is ioubtful, then he deserved to be punshed, which he was. But regardless )f that, he is one of the best ball play;rs ever to play the game. Many people have compared Pete Rose's situation to that of Shoeless Joe's. Rose placed bets on baseball james while he was managing the Reds. However, I don't believe he alaced bets on any game in which the Reds played. None the less, he was ick will try to print all letters received letters should be 250300a vtitten letters must be personally delivered by the author to The Gi s telephone number. The Gamecock reserves the right to edit all let mstance. w Page 3 COT L, ics' m allege press EXCHANGE ish out in a different way, nan 1 couia in an iterary criticism ing through." and I think the word "metaphor" only came up once or twice. Somewhere in the course of the night, I even felt as if he was learning from me (can't a corn dog be a learning experience?) His eyes lit up when I told him my father's grandfather came to America as a goalie for the Glasgow Celtics, his favorite soccer team. We both laughed when recalling favorite scenes from TCovin mnvioc I had to wake up the next morning to start again on my thesis. But when I sat down at my computer that day, I felt I had learned in a different way, and maybe more than I could in all of the stacks of literary criticism I'd been plodding through. Maybe both kinds of learning could work together. It seemed that Ireland wasn't that far away after all...it was only a corndog away. ehavior tappened to bump into dng all your books out kicked him in the groin? ail vpiv fast T siKivrt " banned from baseball for life. Rose owns the record for most hits, breaking Ty Cobb's mark in the eighties. Like Jackson, Rose has many supporters who believe that he should be reinstated and made eligible for the Hall of Fame. The point that I am trying to make 1 * i.l_ _ A T> J ___! O 11 / nere, is mai rvoaman ana oprewen v and Barkley for that matter) can get away with assault and battery with little consequence, but Rose is banned for life for placing bets on games over which he had no control. Roberto Alomar can spit in an umpire's face and get a slap on the wrist practically. Perhaps our standards are lower as far as what we consider to be acceptable behavior, but if we can let athletes today get away with the things they get away with, it is time to forgive Shoe1 icoa uuc aiiu i etc ivuac. otds and must include Ml name, professional title or year and ma/or il mecock newsroom in Russell House room 33a Email letters must in ter tor style, possible libel or space limit aborts. Names will not be with c I the Ir