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Hey kids, be on the look out for new columnist Ryan Vescio, as well as another thought-provoking editorial. I Hit 6 Sening Ibe Carolina ( EDITOR1A Jennifer Stanley Kurt Johnson, Rob Gioelli, Assista Kathleen McCorm State's h distort r< We like The | State newspaper. Lil In fact, we depend Hurricaru on it. And, until re- coverage fa cently, we trusted it. HKTITVT11 The State has always done a good Newsp job of bringing us compromise timely news. And it has done so with a sense of propor tion. The headlines were large when a country was at war, or a president shot. The headlines were very large when our country had won a major war, or a president was dead. Lately, though, we've been confused. For the past few days, the headlines have been getting progressively larger as the subject of those lines, the former Hurricane Bonnie, has gotten smaller. On Wednesday, the front page held three stories ? all on Bonnie and her effects. One would assume that ~ i : l i j j uitj iiuinumt: iiau uevasuiuiu uui state. Bonnie is a big deal in North Carolina, and there has been a little damage and some economic loss in South Carolina. However, Bonnie is not an earthshattering occurence. use dor top moi Harvard University, the Uni- IHiHUgii versity of California USC's ra at Los Angeles, the yidtiofi University of Pennsylvania, and the BTrfTTTT I Ini vprsitv nf Smith Carolina. We still We are in the academics, ssrss thanks to recent big donations. The on-line magazine "Slate" has published what they bill as "the 60 largest American charitable contributions for the first half (January through June) of 1998." Along with the above mentioned schools and two others, the City Universtiy of New York and the University of Southern California (what is it with USC's?), our USC was mentioned twice. Only Columbia University (is it something about the name Columbia?) was mentioned more, with three donations. In that respect, then, we've come out ahead of Duke, the Mass acnucjeixs iiisLuuie ui lecimuiug.y, and numerous other schools who Hit(5ai **^3T Serving the Carolina Comi The Gamecock is the student newspaper of The University Friday during the fall and spring semesters and five times during t periods. Opinions expressed in The Gamecock are those oftheedi The Board of Student Publications and Communications is the p is the newspaper's parent organization. The Gamecock JannHar Stanley Editor in Chief Rob Lindsay Sara ladanhalm Managing Editor Jessica Barfle Kurt Johnson Viewpoints Editor Jackie Poaton Josh Lonon News Editors Todd Money Erin Reed Rosalind Harvi Kristin Freestate Features Editor Bryan Johnston Editorial Assistant Rob Gloelll Nathan Brown Sports Editors Brad Walters Nlkkl Thorpe Photo Editors Henley Young Sean Rayford Ruth Nettles Brian Rlsh Online Editor Denlsha Graht Student Media Ellen Parsons Director of Erik Collins Student Media Jeff Stensland Lee Phlpps Advertising Manager Sherry F. Holmes Classified Ad Manager Carolyn Griffin Business Manager Jim Green Creative Director atnccoch Community since 1908 lL board y, Editor in Chief Viewpoints Editor nt Viewpoints Editor ick, Editorial Writer eadlines eaiity The exaggeraliSflHH tion is not limited to 2Bonnie storms. Friday's } the State, headline was the largest, a giant "U.S. JTJJHJ* STRIKES BACK," in reference to the aper retaliatory missiles s integrity in Afganistan and headlines Sudan. We've heard it was even bigger than the headline The State used for D-Day. This practice is compromising the integrity of the newspaper. We can only wonder why The State has chosen to sensationalize this and other recent events. We know there is a new executive editor and page designer, and we are guessing they are responsible for the changes. We hope our guess, that they are making events appear more important than they are in order to sell newspapers, is not correct. We even doubt it will work, as soon the readership will become used to large headlines no longer think they are cause for alarm. We hope that The State will reverse its current trend towards sensationalism, and give us the quality news we expect and need. rations nw Uct IVJ iiai either got only one tttaHBlH large donation or nkings in none worthy of the al polls. listWe didn't have rjHr|TjTnBB| such a great showing on another re1 lag in cent list, however. but USC is . The^Vfu?,t31 issue of U.S. N ews donations. and World Report ranked all of the above mentioned schools, with the exceptions of CUNY and our USC, in the top 50 Best National Universities. We weren't even in the top hundred. In fact, we were listed in the third tier. We could complain about the criteria used by USN&WR, but we'd rather focus on the positive, which is this: perhaps the gifts that got us the first ranking will help bring us up on the other list. If we are to improve our academic reputation, we need money. And money, it seems, is just what we are receiving. rock ? nuuity since t'XXi 1 of South Carolina and is published Monday. Wednesday and he summer with the exception of university holidays and exam tors or author and not those of The University of South Carolina ubhsher of The Gamecock. The Department of Student Media All area codes are 803 Copy Editors ?mor 777-3914 to Viewpoints 777-7726 ay Public Relations News 777-7726 Director Asst.Viewpoints Editor Etc. 777-3913 Asst. News Editor Sports 777-7182 Encore Editor . ___ Online 777-2833 im Asst. features Editor Faculty Advisor Student Media Graduate Assistant Advertising 777-3888 Classified 777-1184 Fax 777-6482 Office 1 777-3888 VIEWF i /i Green sp; Being a student at the Universi- 1 ty of South Carolina at the end 1 of the second millenium means ? accepting construction " ? when the ROB GiOiELLI master plan < columnist js complete- 1 ly finished, ' and USC is a more modern, more beautiful campus. ( It's hard hearing about a new build- i ing or new dorm without feeling re- < sentful about the fact I'll be gone by the 1 time it's finished. But the one thing that 1 does encourage me about all this new ( building is what seems to be a commitment by the university to increas- i ing the amount of green space on cam- i pus. ^ 1 Green space (trees, grass, plants $ etc.) is one of the most important parts of an aesthetically pleasing campus, t c 1 o ouuai oecuj Exactly two weeks ago I stood on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol building and handed out tiny pink plastic pigs, S branded with the words, "Social Security reform makes sense." Despite the festive appearance of the pink piggie All Freeman banks, it c guest columnist w a s a 6 somber cele- v bration. Yes, friends, it has been a grand 60 years, but it is time to let Social Security c rest in peace... before it wreaks havoc. ? On Monday, when The Gamecock 1 printed a brief article on Social Secu- 11 rity, I heard one of my fellow students ? ask, "Why would I care about Social Se- J curity?" There are certainly philosophical and political reasons to care, but ^ the more obvious answer is simple. It does and will affect you financially, both r greatly and negatively. e So. it's time to disDel a few mvths ? about Social Security. ^ 1. It should not matter to me. Ever 0 received a paycheck? Ever seen that c large sum going to Social Security a and FICA? Ever wondered when you v are going to see that 12.4 percent of Sorority Council President Apologizes 8 To the editor: ^ On behalf of the nine sororities pre- ^ sent in the NPC Rush this year, I would g 'PINT tHfe'9Qg, IB ice good Green space coincides with the design of university buildings and the overall campus layout to ensure that a school is a pleasant place to look at as well as work and live in. As we all know, USC has, on the whole, a very beautiful campus. The Horseshoe is a landmark for the city and state as well as the university. Thomas Cooper library is included in many books on campus architecture as a great library design. And even though we have our share of ugly buildings, the university seems to be committed to replacing them with ones that are bit easier on the eye than the Towers (Which I thought was a power plant when I first visited Columbia). But one of the most important things )n any campus, and especially on an lrban campus, is having the requisite amount of greens, yellows and Drowns to compliment the grays and slacks. USC has a reasonable share >f these but it needs more. As Columbia grows, downtown real estate will become more and more valuable, and the desire will be to build sigh rises and parking lots. Campus jreen space could be sacrificed. This has already happened in one ;oo many urban universities. I retity: Don't < rour earnings again? Well, you won't. " the Supreme Court has even ruled that rou have no right to Social Security benifits based on your contributions. 2. But that money is being saved for ne, right/ Wrong. Your contributions ire used immediately to pay current >eneficiaries. 3. But when I am ready to collect, von't other people be paying in? Errr, ry again. The problem with the payis-you-go system rests in demographc changes. It worked great in 1950 when here were sixteen workers for every leneficiary, but that is no longer the ase. There are presently only 3.3 workirs for every beneficiary. By 2030, there vill be fewer than two. 4. But isn't there a trust fund? ["hanks for playing, try again. Although urrently the revenues into Social Seurity exceed payouts, the "trust fund" s nothing more than a polite fiction. It s filled with government IOlTs. Confess has "borrowed" the money from he trust fund for other programs and replaced" the money with government >onds. But in 2012, when Social Security's evenues from payroll taxes are not nought to support benefits for the beginning of the baby boomer retirees, the ederal government will have to shell iut cash for those bonds. Guess what, omrades? The government does not ictually have any cash or other assets vith which to do that. Even if the government were able o wave its magic "bad economics" wand 3 Ij I 111 I land written plKMK* numlx-r IT Va fn annlnoriTP fnr fho mpoo lnfV nn tho lorseshoe on our Bid Day, Sunday, Auust 23. Although food and drinks were not art of our activities on the Horsehoe that day, we take full responsiility for the trash that was left by ur members and by by-standing obervers. p eh "Ho rr wiw WflT sreaiw us; " wn's^^i itooestfTTO y?M potaa A. a for urban "One of the qualities t great campus is it's ur a suburban feel. " member walking around the Georgetown University campus in Washington D.C. with my father, and him lamenting how they had taken away all the green space in their desire for more and more modern buildings. When it was founded, Georgetown was on the outskirts of the District of Columbia. But as the city grew, the urban J sprawl crept around the entire campus. 1 So when it came time to build, the uni- ' versity found that they had run out of : room. They then decided to sacrifice the green for gray. Eventually Columbia will be big 1 enough that the University will have ! to make that crucial decision on whether to keep the green space or build more. ^ But with decisions to remove the parking lots from in front of the Russell House and the library, along with other parts of the Master Plan, the pow- 1 ;ven think 2 "Social Security is obv with or without our h failing." and find a way to redeem the bonds, even that surplus would be depleted by 2029. The government would have to raise Social Security taxes by 50 percent or slash benefits. 5. But what about little old helpless grandma? Doesn't Social Security help the helpless? Well, sort of, but not really. Social Security does go to the less fortunate, but if you examine the i distribution, you would see that much i more of it goes to Beverly Hills, the upper east side of Manhattan and the swanky retirement communities in 1 Florida. Rich people. Of course, those people do pay a lot more into the sys- I tem. But the belief that Social Security 1 works well for the less well-off is wrong. Low-wage workers, minorities and 1 women receive an especially low rate of return. The average poor person pays more into the system than he or she ever receives. 6. But isn't there a good alternative? Actually, there is. As was branded on 4-V\n /-v'foi* oi^n fV>A mftmn Konlro Ulv UUl^l OiUt VJI U1C piilA HA6oAC wUiUVO^ "Bank on personal retirement accounts." ^ These accounts could be either com- 1 pletely privatized or come in a form simck will try lo print all k'ttcrs rvceived Letters slxxikl lx* 2^0-SOO words and m s must lx* personally delivered by tlx* author lo The (iameaxk ncwsftxrm in K' (i.imeaxk reserves the right to edit all letter for style, potisil^e Nhel or spoc I am particulaly embarrassed by 1 the mess because USC's sororities have 1 a history of caring about campus beau- ( tification. Last year, we won the School ^ of Environment's Student Campus Stewardship Award for our campus cleanup project during Greek Week. I will see to it that every sorority ^ present at Bid Day receives a copy,of I ckey can probably generate lore money than it would cost USC." Antonio Edwards USC Junior w| ! I 'J &Mt&. I I (W !! . i S was l i 65W 1 S ?jc&J M ?m i i campus hat makes this a ban location with ers that be have hopefully showed us they are committed to keeping as much green space on campus as possible. One of qualities that makes this a great campus is its urban location with a suburban feel. We have all the convenience of being in a city center, but our campus is very easy to navigate. \nyone who has seen an urban university in cities bigger than Columbia knows the concrete jungles that these supposed "campuses" are. They are either completely lost in the city, with classroom buildings and forms right next to office buildings, 3r they are fenced off compounds; isolated cities within cities. With any luck, in 50 years USC will be neither of these, but a beautiful campus that is an integrated part of the nty, with its own distinct character and plenty of green space. ibout it iously going down elp. The system is ilar to a 401(k) or an IRA. Even a risk-averse investor would see substantial gains through private investment. Someone making $1,429 a month from Social Security could be making $3,636 a month from a modest stock fund or $2,654 a month from an even safer mixed fund. Social Security reform is a hot topic in D.C. right now. Changes are being discussed, and if the right changes are made, you could really benefit. Call your representatives, join the million byte march at www.march.org, or ally yourself with one of the grassroots organizations involved in this debate. Social Security is obviously going down with or without our help. The system is failing. Don't follow the advice of that person who looked past the short Social Security article on Monday, mistakenly thinking it irrelevant. Don't wait until 2012 or 2030 when the system collapses. Let's let it rest in peace. The longer we wait, the less peaceful its demise will be. Start stuffing those pink plastic piggie bank, kids, because that's the only retirement money you are going to see. list include full name, professksial litlc or year and major if a student Russell House nx>m Mi E-mail letters musi include ihe authors tele c limitations. Names will ma lie withltekl ha any circumstance Karen Cochran's letter about the trash eft on the Horseshoe, ans we will decide as a group what step wil rectify our responsible actions. Sincerely Debby Hames Sorority Council, President \