The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 02, 1998, Page 4, Image 4

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Look for the columns from that tag-team duo of Kurt Johnson and Felicia Brown. 4 Page 4 Be Gamecock Serving the Carolina Community since 1908 EDITORIAL BOARD Adam Snyder, Editor in Chief Amy Shannon, Viewpoints Editor Kurt Johnson, Assistant Viewpoints Editor AAAS budget cut too much too soon Wednesdaythe i i i iijiHowever, this Student Senate ap- HHAAMilUUHHI year's 43 percent cut proved the Senate AAAS received a 43 of the AAAS budget Finance Commit- percent budget cut. is a drastic and severe tee budget propos- measure. AAAS will al. The controver- be losing nearly half sial budget will ofits usual allocation, implement major HKUUlkiiHHi It is unfair to expect funding cuts for Such a drastic them to be able to some student orga- CUf should have deal with such a huge nizations. , . . , cutback when they The most dras- heen implemented ^ accustomed to so tic monetary cut more gradually. much more, was received by the The Senate FiAssociation of nance Committee is African American Students. Last trying to do the right thing. They year they were granted $14,150, but have attempted to spread the wealth this year they will be allotted only among all the organizations instead $8000. ofjustafew. Although AAAS has been giv- According to Finance Commiten a disproportionate share of the tee member Steve Veldman, the top student funds in the past, this year's five organizations were granted 42 budget cut of $6000 is too much too percent of the budget last year. This r i ji iasi. year rnese organizations win receive For years the Student Senate 28 percent, has allowed AAAS an excessive Still, a better solution would have share of the overall budget for uni- been to cut the AAAS budget gradversity organizations. Last year they ually over a period of a few years received over $9000 more than the until an acceptable allocation was second-highest funded student reached. This way the Senate's regroup. This is simply too great a dif- forms would be perceived as less peference to be condoned and over- nalizing and more commendable, looked. Winfrey case a win from the start Chalk up an- In addition, other victory for celebrities use their freedom of speech. nrue casf> against status all the time to Oprah Winfrey, who ^ u wr f u endorse products, wL being surf for Wmfr^ rea"y such as shoes or d* possible defamation ^Cld WO merit. odorants, but then of the U.S. beef in- when one uses that dustry by Armaril- status against somelo, Tex. cattlemen, 7^ jury made the right thing, the certain inwon her case last i r ? dustry gets angry Thursday refuting choice in favor of ancj takes that perthat idea. Winfrey and protecting SOn to court. IndusDuring a 1996 . freedom of Speech. tries cannot have it show about Mad one way. People have Cow Disease, Win- their opinions and frey made what the cattlemen the positive and the negative should thought to be a slanderous state- be handled and heard equally, ment against the industry. They And finally, the cattlemen said beef prices fell within days of claimed that Winfrey's celebrity stai.i 1 i.1 l ]>_ .?i. i. 1 f iv.? ; uie prugrtuu miu uie iieius vaiue ius swa^eu tut; views ui tne jui_y. dropped by more than $10 million. Winfrey, of course, has her talk The cattlemen filed claims un- show, which is a form of media. This der the "veggie-libel" law, which pro is a free forum for her to talk about tects foods from statements of de- and say what she wants. In other mation. words, she is allowed to give her This case was a sure thing for opinion, as is any other form of meWinfrey from the start. First of dia. all, it's kind of hard to hurt the rep- Media does not tell their audiutation of a piece of meat or veg- ence what to think. The media ofetable. Really, this "veggie-libel" is fers views and highlights certain asa bunch of bull (pun intended). It is pects of certain events. So in turn, simply asinine to shield food from the media tells their audience what name calling. to think about. Then, given the inPeople have the right to voice formation and such, individuals are their doubts. It is called "fair com- allowed to propose an opinion for ment and criticism," which, in a nut- themselves, shell, is someone's opinion and this The juiy made the right decision opinion is protected from libelous based on the facts at hand and once or slanderous cases. again helped preserve one of our last true rights. Ui? (Samttoch BBS! Serving the Carolina Community since 1908 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 and five times during the summer with the exception of university holidays arid exam penoas. upinions expressed in ine uamecocK ae muse or me eunurs or auunx am "UI muse m nie univeisny 01 uuum uamuna. The Board of Student Publications and Communications is the publisher of The Gamecock. The Department of Student Media is the newspaper's parent organization. The Gamecock A" *>3 Adam Snyder Editor in Chief Rosalind Harvey Public Relations Amy Shannon Viewpoints Editor Coordinator Editor 777-3914 ?... i -w?Kurt Johnson Asst.Viewpoints Editor aara laaenneim Viewooints 777-772R Care Pellatt News Editors Carrie McCullough' Asst. News Editor ^ ' rrttno Jennifer Stanley Features Editor Kristin Freestate Asst. Features Editor tVews 777-7726 Aehlm Hunt Nathan Brown Asst. Sports Editor Bryan Johnston Sports Editors gean Rayford Asst. Photo Editor Etc. 777-3913 Susan Meyers Photo Editor Tort 0.Hara Asst. Online Editor Brian Rlsh Online Editor fla0Jj Sports 777-7182 Chris Dixon Copy Desk Chief Connie Karickhoff Copy Editors Online 777-2833 Student Media Julie Baker Sherry F. Holmes Classified Ad .... . u .. Susan Barrett Manager Student Media fiS!* D!Fk'?" . Carolyn OrifHn Business Manager Advertising 777-1184 Judson Drennan Creative Services Ellen Parson. Director of Jlm Creative Director Classifieds 777-1184 Student Media Mlchele Dames Creative Services _ ....... Graduate Asst. Fax 777-6482 Lee Phlpps Advertising Manager co/Hna Faculty Advisor office 777-3888 VIEWP' The Gameco /> MjrVSaBtafcr <?r A A ft* J T\Jri<U!:grt<lvat \ Studied Sen pmci < . j . i^*r Student aTTTe believe that you should si 1/1/ take all of the Bible or none rt * " of it. It is a complete work tl and should be read as s( such," write Business Administration je sophomore Blake Moody and Political it Science Se- u -=^^=====jz==-| nior War-* tl IB ren Baze- s{ mm more. "If one is K K . . . to start be- a( ^ 3 lievingthat ^ the line? ei kiki McCORMICK gow (jQ ai Columnist y0U know tl what parts of the Bible are true and to be taken 1 literally and which you can throw out? w When one understands the context in w which it was written, then one begins to see that it was meant to be taken literally. C( "It would be absurd for me to open r( up a calculus book to the middle and st try to understand what all was going c( on without having understanding of sc each part of the equations that it oi was dealing with. Likewise, teachings and stories in the Bible are meant to w be understood in the context in which h they were written." tl Now, I think I have some idea of B the contexts in which the Bible was fa written, but I, like many others, come 0] to different conclusions about how the V( Rihlo cVinnlrl Vip rnaA T Hrvn't spp fhp necessity for a literal interpretation. That's why, last week, I asked liter- je alists to write in and explain their po- ]3( Winter Olympics ^ should be valued, su 7 a c taken seriously CU; To the editor: ari After reading the article in the Feb. 25 Gamecock entitled "Winter Olympics *or a Waste of Time," I thought it necessary to enlighten your "so-called" colum- eVl nist Mr. Singleton on a few topics. It eJ' was easy to determine that he spends most of his free time watching men "pretending" to wrestle and drinking th< Affirmative action " m< U I n, tuuiu uc udcu as a ec form of racism p? To the editor: mi Racism- a reasonable definition is w* any attitude, biased opinion or stereo- ^ type of a certain race. Certainly racism 0 P is wrong and should be fought. How- th ever, fighting for one group's rights at the expense of another group's rights m< is discrimination, an aspect of racism. P^ Therefore, it is fair to say that im- ^ posing affirmative action on employers and school administrators is also m) racist. Affirmative action, a plan that die- lei tates who business owners can hire, f?] who schools can accept and to whom Pe a promotion goes, not based on quali- n0 fications, but rather minority status, th DINTS ck J . t ;s take tion to the rest of us. I found their ;sponses to be intriguing, and more lan a little overwhelming. There are ) many different ideas on this subct, and so many people wrote in, that will take me more than one colmn to let them have their say. For lis column, I am concentrating on the ;rictest of the literalists. I wrote back to Moody and Bazeiore, and asked, "Don't you have to Imit that there is some possibility of uman error?" I thought that maybe jme of the inconsistencies (for in;ance, the fact that Matthew's gospel as a Sermon on the Mount, while uke's has the same teachings in othr contexts), might warrant a positive oswer to my question. Such was not le case. "The scribes who copied the Old estament were very precise. They ould copy each page not word for ord, but letter by letter. At the end ? the page they would count all the ii Tf ii j. J :nc i. liters. 11 mere were two ainerent )unts, instead of trying to find the er>r they would throw out the copy and ;art again. There are also too many ipies of the New Testament manu:ripts. Way more than the majority f these manuscripts are the same. "All that aside. Yes, there is alays more than the possibility that umans will make errors. But with le Bible, it is a living word from God. elief in its infallibility is based on ith, but supported by logic. With an Den mind and heart, God will rejal the ultimate truth to any analys into any paradox." I admit that the faith argument aves me aeienseiess. l ne concept or ilieving something on faith is one The Gam ] 11 111 a student. Hari elude the held for any cir the Uquor store. I don't know how r. Singleton could be so critical of a bject that he obviously doesn't have due about. If you are going to disss a topic, at least know what you b talking about. Whether an athlete is competing gold in the 100-meter sprint or the nan bobsled doesn't matter. Both ents are of equal importance in the es of the Olympic movement. In my home of Greenock, Scotland, ave a friend by the name of Graham >ree. Graham is an Olympic cyclist at builds his own bicycles to comjust as unfair as not hiring and proDting based on a racist attitude. The imecock cited that Bobby Gist, exutive assistant of USC's Equal Oprtunities Program, claims "affirative action does not work to replace lite workers with blacks and women, only says that if a workplace has an ening, it should consider hiring em. I agree with Mr. Gist on this statesnt, only if he means that the workice should look at everybody, Africannericans, women, Caucasian men, [ equally. Anything else is discrimatory and racist. We are about to enter a new milinium, and put behind us, yet not rget, the discrimination that hapned during America's history. But, w, in the nineties, minorities have e same opportunities as I. During 1 > \i ri \W! 11 \ "Ti irsiIrK Aft " ^ Jh Bible WI have some i the Bible wa outers, conic u how the with which I grapple, becai ply don't understand it. Sometimes I think that victim of an age that, to its o ment, values only one kind o making process. I can't bel thing unless it is logical, ar ism defies logic. I sympathiz remy Touzel, a sop Mathematical Science major a problem with"... the fact Bible's only support comes Bible itself. That's like me s? I am God, and validating it that because I'm God, only I that I'm God (I hope that mac To some extent, I feel 1 missing out on something, alists, the great questions ai answered. I'm sure this gi a sense of peace that I will ne Maybe that is more import the logic of it all. Maybe s< doesn't have to be true to b< route. I guess I wouldn't ha1 ry about these questions if I ir eraiisi myseii. Perhaps the conflict bet eralists and those of us whc demned to a materialist m most intense in the creatioi lution debate. Trent Smitl student in Biology, says th are just as many leaps of fa ecock will try to print all letters received. Letters sho d written letters must be personally delivered by the or's telephone number. The Gamecock reserves the n icumstance. pete with. Graham has v Olympic gold and four World onship medals in the 1000-r dividual pursuit. I'm sure gleton has never even hear event, but that doesn't make i of time. Mr. Singleton, can y ine the hard work and dedica an Olympic athlete must en< tr? m air a it tr? tVio cTamoa 1 l/VS 1UUUV IV VU VIIV gUlllV/Oj 1 win a medal? I bet you can't. In regards to your comme the lack of participation of American athletes, I must you. Do the names Hershel my pre-college education, we same tests together, read 1 same books and were taugl same instructors. Why then are achieven qualifications such as GPA, scores being thought of as a discrimination? The argume: frequently hear is that these made by white males and t are biased to the minorit take them. Where does affirmative ac If students of unequal status ? ed jobs and scholarships be race, not merit, then why nol norities different tests in the c or different assignments? If a minority student wis equality, then let true equal: Does affirmative action supj rior work? Hopefully not. Cor "If I had to play with 0 one eye, I would still go back out there." Melvin Watson, USC basketball Monday, March 2,1998 ^ A . I* L. nv college press EXCHANGE ^ lU^ll.T iitci Miy deas of the context in which is written, but I, like many 0 different conclusions about 0 Bible should be read." ise I sim- lieving evolution as there are with accepting creationism," because a major 1 am the jaw 0f therodynamics has to be brown detri- ^en an(j "the dating system used to ievTany1 ^ve a^e eartb at billions of ^ id literal- years ?ld or whatever is flawed at its ^ e with Je- basic assumptions." h o m o r e "The question is which story is a , who has person to accept, God's version as told ; that the to the ancients, or the more recent verfrom the sjon a(j0pted by humans recently. Ac.a tually the Bible makes more sense. DV SSVLQff can prove Look at the genetic code...that's dele sense)." sig11' I study the molecules that make like I am us work. They are too big and too com- a For liter- plicated to have arisen by chance, even ^ e already if it supposedly took a long time." ves them j can't argue evolution's case, but ant than ^en * d?n't really want to. The imDmething Portant thing is that Smith accepts no a KpqI explanation other than the prepos ve to wor- terous sounding creation story in Genwas a lit- esis. That's literalism for you. And that's faith. ween lit- Something else that Smith says, ?are con- though, intrigues me. He says the 0 ^gS evo^ "Proves to ^ guidebook for ti a grad the best way to live at peace with God at "there and with other people." That, I will ith in be- not argue. uld be 250-300 words and must include full name, professional title or year and major if author to The Gamecock newsroom in Russell House room 333. E-mail letters must inight to edit all letter for style, possible libel or space limitations Names will not be withvon two and Edwin Moses ring a bell? Both champi- are Winter Olympic veterans. Or what neter in- about the Jamaican bobsled team, or A Mr. Sin- even the Kenyan cross country ski ~ d of this team? Don't be ignorant of a topic, Mr. t a waste Singleton, if you are going to print your ou imag- opinions for the world to read, tion that We should all as spectators of athiure just letic competition stand up and cheer et alone for our nation's athletes as well as our university's athletes, not because they int about are winning, but because they are cornAfrican peting. laugh at Allan Tucker I Walker Senior, Exercise Science ^ i took the among industry and individuals has From the long been a motivating force in proit by the during excellence. Most black, Hispanic, or other milent and nority students that I know would and SAT agree that they want to be judged on means of a fair playing field, not with different nt I most rules from their counterparts. After tests are all, in sports, don't all players have to herefore measure up to the same standard? ies that Mr. White Man on the basketball court must play by the same rules...no tion end? one will offer him affirmative action ire grant- so that he can bend the rules in his faicause of vor. Life is full of inequities for all of ; give mi- us. The standards should be set and ilassroom the players should all follow those standards. "May the best man win!" 3hes true ity reign. jort infe- James Edwards npetition Sophomore, Pharmacy ^