The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 23, 1998, Page 4, Image 4
Look for Kurt's and
Felicia's perspectives on life
or maybe something else.
Pago 4
HitOamccock
Serving the Carolina Community since 1908
EDITORIAL BOARD
Adam Snyder, Editor in Chief
Amy Shannon, Viewpoints Editor
Kurt Johnson, Assistant Viewpoints Editor
Albright visit good
for USC, country
USC was in the ?m/mm its academic merit,
national spotlight USC, so she says, has
Thursday with Sec- The Secretary of State's oneof,ifnotthe,best
ff'fyy of ?tf'e USC Visit was good for international busiMadeleine
Albright ness departments in
hosting a discussion the general public. the ^ i3 a
on campus. She leader in its foreign
came to discuss the language departproblems
the Unit- With the visit, she ment.
ed States is having ran mabp thp This, of course, is
w't)1 Irafi P?s" right decision about advertisesible
solutions to ? ment for the univerii
ii Tr/in . 11 i
cnese proDiems. " ""z sity and snows wnat
A certain num- the school can do.
ber of students were J ust knowing a fact
on hand for the occasion, as well as like that gives the university that
a herd of media. Even the famous warm, fuzzy feeling inside, but to
Ted Koppel, news anchor of ABC's be recognized as such by someone
Nightline was seen taking a nap at of great stature is like getting two
the conference. packs of Skittles from a vending maThough
some colleges were not chine when you only paid for one.
quite as interested, USC definitely Another thing, ill a way, comes
was. With a subdued audience, un- down to old-fashion politics?getlike
the protesters that chanted an- ting out to the people and hearing
ti-war slogans at the Albright in from their own mouths exactly how
Ohio St., the college, as well as the they feel. Though the Ohio State
nation, listened to what the most protest may have lacked respect,
powerful woman on this planet had it showed how a critically large numto
say. And she has a lot to say. ber of people, most importantly
This really was an exciting event young students, feel about what's
Though students were limited in at- going on. Because in turn, it's going
tendance, surely those there felt to be us going to war, if that's dehonorable.
It's not every day one cided.
gets to meet a person with such pres- Ohio State's and our reactions
tige. to the visit should help her make a
Another great thing about this more "general" decision That is, a
visit was its reason. Madeleine Al- decision that would best benefit the
bright came to the USC because of general population.
Glenn deserves
accolades for trip
John Glenn, critics are saying that
the first American he is too fit and too
to orbit the earth John Glenn will he the healthy to be reprein
1962, will be world's oldest sentative of the averone
of six astro- . . - . , age person his age.
nauts to fly aboard astronaut m October. Of course he's not
the space shuttle the average person.
Discovery in Oc- He's in training for a
tober. The Demo- There is nothing wrong mission into outer
cratic senator will with 76-year-old Glenn psoitis necessary
be 77 years old x ^ for him to be m shape
when he returns traveling into space. for it. More power to
to space this fall, him for pushing himmaking
him the world's oldest as- self to his physical limit Other Amertronaut.
icans should take a hint from him
His purpose for participating in and exercise,
this flight is to perform medical ex- Glenn's mission being likened to
periments on aging. Critics of this a NASA stunt is ridiculous. He will
mission have taken offense to be completing an important study
Glenn's presence on the shuttle, to test the effects of space travel
They allege Glenn is too old, or too on older astronauts as well as how
healthy, and that NASA is only try- space travel affects the elderly. This
ing to pull off a stunt for worldwide information also will be useful in
recognition. evaluating how the baby boomers
These criticisms could not be age on earth. Plus it will prove
more absurd and inane. Just be- imperative when it comes time for
cause Glenn is a senior citizen does scoping out other home planets for
not mean he is too old to go into humans,
space. He is setting an unprece- Critics have no ground to
dented example of how senior citi- stand on when they reprove Glenn.
zens can still be contributing mem- He is a great American who conbers
to society. They shouldn't be tinues to devote himself to improve
put in nursing homes and forgotten, society. He is neither too old nor too
Glenn is a perfect illustration of healthy to proceed into space. His
how the elderly can remain men- mission should be supported by
tally keen and physically fit. In fact, everyone.
Hit (gamecock ?
Serving tbe Carolina Community since 1908
The Gamecock is the student newspaper of The University of South Caroline and is published Monday, Wednesday and
Friday during the fall and spring semesters and five times during the summer with the exception of university holidays and exam
periods. Opinions expressed in The Gamecock are those of the editors or author and not those c/f The University of South Carolina.
The Board of Student Publications and Communications is the publisher of The Gamecock. The Department of Student Media
is the newspaper's parent organization.
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VlEWP(
The Gamecoc
<& J
Editor d<
i . i
adam SNYDER we s
Editor in Chief
Racism?it tears at the fibers of nich
our democracy. It has been the
one constant through our his- We <
tory that keeps us from moving for- stud
ward and reaching the heights our fore- tell i
fathers set for us. war
Often, we are reminded that the new
University of South Carolina is a microcosm
of world events and issues, that
Thursday, that truth became evident and
once again. acco
USC's African-American commu- tics
nity held a rally to discuss legitimate men
concerns including a 43 percent cut in 1
the Association of African-American eleci
students budget and "unfair" coverage the
of black candidates for Student Gov- spoi
ernment office in this newspaper. our
I cannot speak for the Finance Com- raci
mittee. Its decisions are not finalized, rour
but that is an issue for student sena- and
tors. stor
But The Gamecock is a different I
situation. We are in a precarious po- forti
sition at this university. It is our du- the <
ty to report the stories on campus, but ing <
cord
Religious
Last week, I asked you to tell
me how your religion affects your cran
everyday life. I got two answers fathi
that dealt with the respondents'Chris- ter...
tian beliefs. Both of these people re- buti
vealed that their perspectives are col- spri
ored by vote
i ?i their be- wort
liefs but in live 1
H very differ- tian
ent ways, was
^ Jennifer frier
seems to 1
Bi mM gain com- outlc
from thin
kikt Mccormick christian_ prai
Columnist ity she He {
doesn't call pron
it her "religion," though. She refers is n<
to Christianity as her "way of life." She thou
didn't always have such a positive the 1
attitude toward it, though, as she ex- me t
plains in her letter: I
cina
Greek res
I debby HAMES
Sorority Council President w^a
I J opm
Last week, Quentin Johnson "shed natii
some light" on the issue of Greek J
Housing as an outside observer. Gre<
Now, as someone actively involved in dia v
the issue, I would like to dispel the ru- andi
mors and speak on behalf of the Greek this
community. cons:
Johnson said, "The lireefcs seem UFA
to be offended that Cliff residents do was
not want to live near them." The was
reason we are offended is because the was
debate against us has been one of ig- 2.62
norance and random speculation. The thre*
people insulting us have obviously not sitio
made the effort to research the issue beer
or to understand the Greek system, spor
First of all, Johnson characterizes sue)
the Cliff Apartments as a diverse, tol- and
erant community. However, the de- Whj
bates some residents have launched do a
against us thus far have been based sue]
on prejudice, stereotypes and intoler- Kid:
ance. As Greeks at USC, we are ask- the]
DINTS
k
efends;
ilso are a student organization th
lin USC. Therefore, we have diffi- th
/ finding a completely autonomous on
e. of
fhursday, we came under attack,
could no longer do our job and let sti
ents' quotes and students' stories ed
about life at Carolina. In an awk- ge
d juxtaposition, we became the Sh
s. pli
rhe rally brought up a lot of issues ra
need to be addressed in a civilized we
mature manner. Nothing can be go
mplished through anger, fear tac- gr
and potentially slanderous comts.
Rc
Blaming this newspaper for unfair wl
tion coverage in order to play on to
heart strings of voters is not re- kn
isible and mature. As I have said, w?
intent was not, and is not, to be sh
st. Despite the controversy sur- scj
iding our coverage of the election
a sexual assault, I stand by every hi;
y we have published. be
t is easy to blame others for mis- sk
ones. According to Hitler, it was aci
Jews' fault Germans were sufferiuring
the Great Depression. Ac- ity
ing to the Ku Klux Klan, it was sh
views a
I have always had Christianity nil
lmed down my throat because my It
er was a Southern Baptist minis- de
. I have always been a 'Christian,' Ui
t was not until I was inspired last M;
ng by a true Christian who de- of
rt himsplf to fhp lparninor nf (Tori's
1 and how the Lord wanted him to lif<
bis life that I became a true Chris- lat
myself. He showed me that there coi
more to a relationship with our an
id Jesus, and I knew because he do
ed it to me in the Bible." bu
[his faith has given Jennifer a new ab
x)k on life: "My faith has made me to
ferent person because now, every- sa
g I do, I always think of what the bu
i would have me do ... Every- th
g I do is to worship my Lord. I an
se him for every morning that th
gives me because we are only ab
aised the present day, and there
3 guarantee of tomorrow, even ch
igh sometimes I must prepare for I'd
hture just in case my God allows ab
hat privilege."
study religion because I am so fas- th
ted by experiences such as Jen- I'v
sponds t
i ,ii j. i r? ?u.
,nai ouiera try tu recognize us iui ou
t we are instead of basing their to
ions on grossly out-of-proportion ha
anal stereotypes. gri
fohnson describes us as "drunken
;ks," an image fostered by the me- ar
vith movies such as Animal House id<
Scream 2. If USC Greeks followed thi
stereotype, why have sororities wc
istently been above the all-women's nil
l? Last semester's all-sorority GPA Cc
3.0 while the all-women's GPA m<
2.73, and the all-fraternity GPA afi
2.68 while the all-men's GPA was mi
. Why have we had Greeks in the th
e highest Student Government po- se!
ns in the three years that I have ve
l here? Why are Greeks constantly pe
tsoring community service events gr
i as the Carolina Blood Drive tic
individual chapter fundraisers? Gi
j are Greeks giving their time to ne
immunity service for organizations
h as City Year, Carolina For th
}, Epworth Children's Heme and an
Rape Crisis Network? Because we de
"But i
can <
J
US
Moi
collet
against r
e blacks fault for just about every- dates
ing that went wrong. Pinning blame be us
others alleviates the responsibility fill. I
some. comr
Late Thursday night, a group of P
idents surrounded one of our news fill a1
itors as she tried to do her job and tion i
t quotes about the election results, ciety
ie was quickly surrounded by 15 peo- alwa
e who told her she is racist, I am one i
cist and so is The Gamecock. She We a
is afraid and unsure about what was ter t<
ling to happen but stood her cerrn
ound to defend this newspaper. best
The incident reminded me of how orgai
>sa Parks must have felt as angry ing f(
lites on the bus yelled at her to get bers
her place in the back. They didn't A
low her. They didn't care who she Fran
is or why she was sitting there. In- must
;ad they used the masses to try and tions
are her into submission. ly wi
Just as Parks was judged on that er sh
3tory-making day long ago, we have as ed
_ . _ -1 Jj l r ii _i r n
en juagea toaay Dy me coior 01 our a
in and not the content of our char- lar ft
ter. comn
Racism is the most terrible atroc- lines
in the history of human kind and overc
ould not be used to exploit candi- fied,
ffect dail
(
el's. In fact, Fm even jealous of them. God,
hink it's wonderful that people can the G
rive such comfort from their beliefs. js mi
lfortunately, I am prone to cynicism. jt>g ^
y attitude more often mirrors that . t
Chris Corr, the second respondent. .
"I have been a Catholic my whole crea
2 and have always gone to mass, but ^app
ely I have not gone at all. I have be- sbnp
me diffident and skeptical... Unfair pen,
d depraved acts on human society ly "ir
n't at all make me angiy at the Lord, race.
t they certainly make me think twice q
out His use of power and not putting
use His ability to stop these mascres.
I wish I did not feel this way, an^w
t the killings in Algeria, just like all to
e others who died in World War II, the ?
e so horribly upsetting to me ..Don't Ifyoi
ese events make you wonder a little in thi
out Christ in one way or another? maj|
"I don't know how to go back to
urch and join church organizations.
I like to but don't know how to go
out doing it."
I think the contradictory nature of ^hou
ese responses underscore a theme issue
e had on my mind for some time: ly yo
0 Cliff sit
viously have more and better things ter hi
do than getting drunk all day and lem,
irassing little children on play- selve
Dunds. bene
Johnson's suggestion that Greeks We, i
e xenophobic is a purely imagined mon{
ia. USC Greeks have not done any- eswj
ing to make anyone assume that they for o1
>uld "unleash fear" into a commu- j
ty. As I, like Johnson, am an EPI -gf
inversation Partner, I have never j1Qug
it an international student who was
mid nf a memhpr nf tVip Grppk com
unity. And where does Johnson find f1
e definition we use to describe our- an
Ives as "more homogenous than di- Pr?P
rse?" Among our members, we have
ople from a variety of ethnic back- es ]
ounds from places all over the na- r
?n. We pride ourselves in diversity. toov
eeks emphasize unity, but we have es- 1
iver said we were homogenous. hous
Therefore, the argument against lems
e Greek community has beep unfair and
id unfounded. Greeks should not be guilt
graded for our efforts to provide bet
most importantly, they
gat their words now."
LeRon Williams,
if! h/ichpthsill til aver
w ?r ?J -
nday, February 23, 1998 ^
%
|
>e press EXCHANGE
acism
3 to win an election nor should it
led to make fellow students fearlate
begets hate, and the whole
ounity suffers.
i*oblems can be solved in a peaceid
mature manner. Communicais
the key for our growth as a soand
as a university. My door is
ys open to discuss problems any- a
nay have with this publication. W
lso invite everyone to write a let)
the editor to express their coni
about issues on campus. But the
way to make a change is join the
lization. And we are always look>r
writers to strengthen the numand
diversity of our staff,
a student body president Jamel
klin said, "We as student leaders
; be held accountable for the ac- A
we take." I agree wholeheartedth
this statement and have nev
ied away from my responsibility
iitor.
ut I ask all students, in particuIr.
Franklin, to open the lines of
aunication instead of drawing the
of battle about race. Yes, we shall
ome one day, but we must be uniblack
and white, to do it.
y life #
1 J. nnl. i._ --11
ui wnaiever yuu wau?, iu can
rreat Force That Moves the World,
ich greater than our definitions. '
? simple to say that there is a behat
is all good, who protects his
ions. As we know, bad things do
ten to good people. It also is too . _
le to say that since bad things hap- w
there is no one who is ultimatei
charge" of the fate of the human "
Wk
If course, there are those who esr
ambiguities, who say that the
rers to difficult questions are all
i found in the Bible. They are
nes I want to hear from next week.
1 take the Bible literally or believe
e ultimate authority of the Bible,e- ^
me at kawarth? vm.sc.edu. Tell
/hy you believe in the Bible the
that you do. Try to persuade me.
u don't write in, you'll get a
ghtful, but biased, column on the
: from my perspective alone. Sureu
don't want that.
;uation #
Dusing. USC has a housing proband
we are taking it upon ours
to solve it. Greek housing will
fit the entire USC community.
lot the university, will be raising
;y to build these houses. Thehous11
free South Tower and McBryde
ther USC students,
think many people will be sur;d
if Greeks finally get to build
es at USC, no matter where we A
[them. The Greek village will not
1 unregulated place with parties
riots. We will be living on USC
erty and still regulated by USC
; Wp have hppn wnrlrina fhr hous
r many years, and we understand
esponsibility and liability attached
ming and living in our own housNe
wouldn't be able to keep our
es if we participated in the "prob- ?
itic" behavior of which Johnson 9
others seem to think we will be
y. + -