The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, January 27, 1999, Page Page 2, Image 2
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tkC
Serving the Carolina
EDITOR1
Sara Ladenheii
Rob Gioielli, 1
Kevin Langston, /Iss
Emily Streyer, Ass is
Jennifer Stanley, Spec
Flagconl
comes to
The Citadel is
once again in the HHHUm
headlines, this time The Confi
courtesy of the prese
South Carolina 7hp (
Council of Consern*i
flHPPPPVI
vauve citizens.
The SCCCC be- _
lieves that the Con- ^ s no
federate anthem Confedei
"Dixie" and the today
Confederate flag Can
should be played
and waved at all
Citadel parades and games to commemorate
the memories of those
Citadel cadets who died 138 years
ago during the Civil War.
But the Confederate flag symbolizes
more than just Southern
pride and historical preservation.
To many native and non-native
South Carolinians the flag also
represents hate, oppression and
blatant abuse of fellow human beings.
Some South Carolinians think
the flag should be removed from
prominent display and remain reserved
for such holidays as Memorial
Day or Veterans Day.
Tt's the nennle sn stannrhlv
I 1 ? J
supportive of the flag remaining
on- top of the State Capitol and
other prominent buildings who
make South Carolina look like a
backwater to the rest of the United
States. If a conservative group
Loyalty of
define NB
In just a few
weeks, the NBA
will begin the 1999 Thelockcni
season, and some NBA St
have asked why it's
even bothering to
have a season.
But in a league
where rookies who ** ^ 8?^nS
don't even go to col- great effort
lege get $126 mil- and coacl
lion contracts, backth
there's simply too
much money involved.
Canceling a season isn't
an option for the players, owners
and myriad of others who
make millions off the NBA.
Basketball will go on. But
the real question is whether anybody
cares. The powers that be in
professional basketball must not
know their history, or they
would've looked at the baseball
strike in 1994 and realized how
bitter fans can get.
It took the heroic efforts of
Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire
this summer to get people to finally
care about baseball again.
There was one player in the NBA
who could captivate the most
-?m> ?ic(5ai
Sen-Inn tlx- Carolina Com
The Gamecock is the sluilent new spaper of lite University
Friday during the fall and spring semesters and five times during I
periods Opinions expressed in lire Gamecock are those of the eeli
The Hoard of Student Publications and Communkatkms is tlte pu
the newspaper s ptrent (rganizalktn
The Gamecock
Sara Ladenheim lidilor in Chief Emily Streyet
Rob Gioielli Vieufxiuits Editor Kevin Langst
Kenlcy Young Aeus lidilor Rachel Helw
Brad Walters A'eus lidilor Clayton Kale
Nathan Brown Sports lidilor Brt?ck Vergal
Erin Reed litxilnn-s lidilor Charlie Walla
Rob Lindscy I'ealnn-s lidilor Katy Evans
Sean Rayford Photo lidilor Deneshla Gra
Matt Ryan (Mine Htlilor Ashton June
Kristin Freestate Cn/iy Ikvlt Chief Ann Marie M
Todd Money Gyn Dlilnr Jennifer Stan
Rebecca Cronicaut Ciyiy Htlilor
Student Media
Ellen Parsons Din-ilor of Sherry F. Hoi
Sltidenl Media
Lee Phipps Adrertisinf- Manager Carolyn Grift
Susan King Cn-alin- Din-dor Erik Collins
Jeff Slenslant
(I 1
'
.
iamccoch
Community since 1908
AX BOARD
11, Editor in Chief
Viewpoints Editor ,
istant Vieupoints Editor
'tant Vieupoints Editor
zial Projects Coordinator
trovers1
i
iCitade
1=55551 in Germs
MJmI manded t
?derateflag Nazi f 1 a
mce at raised over
Atadel. in Berlii
asked
"Deutschla
, . Alles"bep
roomforthe all officiFa
ateflag in tions, th(
's South would cry f
olina. the reques
? be denied.
This con
is not that far off. The Na:
as responsible for the h
pression and blatant abus
low human beings, astl
federacy was. The only di:
is that such a request ir
is denied on basic grounc
spect to the dead and to th
suffered under the Nazi
nySouth
Carolina needs
up. The SCCCC is but one
groups that wish to preser
ture and society of oppress
ripped apart our count
caused today's struggles t
blacks and whites.
As the future leaders c
Carolina, we need to star
these symbols of oppr
dressed up as "heritage" ai
that our freedom of speei
dominant as theirs.
ferns wi
Aseasoi
apathetic ol
JmSHHIH fans, but ft
t-shortened Jordan dec
eason. retire wh<
league need
most.
The mosi
esting playe
to take a NBA right
by players Percy Mille
hes to win as rapper I
efans. one 1
?*? mostsuccesi
tertainers
country. It remains to b
whether Miller's inclusion
Charlotte Hornets roster i:
fort to fill the seats or actu;
fleets his abilities.
Considering the nature
labor problems, it wouldn't
prising if people stay awa
NBA basketball. The pi a
owners and league are gc
have to work hard to win b;
goodwill of the fans.
It's quite an effort for a
of multimillionaires to pro\
actually care about the gar
not just the balances in thei
accounts.
mecodi Egg
mn nily since 1 90M
of South Carolina anil is published Monday. \X'ei
[he summer with the exception of university holida
itors or author and not those of The I niversity of So
blisher of 11 ie Gamecock. Hie Department of Stud
All area e<xles
r Asst. VicujxriMs
on lulilors hditor
lg Asst. Sciiy lulihtrs
Viewpoints
ds AvV Sfurts lulilors fit t rim
ice News
As# /'cuttin's lulilors fit la tew
i ha in Etc.
Assl. I'hoto lulilors fitkelt?
ianl Sports
ley S/nxial l*roji\h f>tksj>on
Coordinator C )n I ine
Advertising
lines Classified classified
Mtinuf>er
In Hiisiness Manager Fax
i'at ully Adt'isor
1 (iraduaU' Assist a nl ()''11 c
S
ViewThe
Y
1 r
i ll?
my de- ,m I V
hat the ji 11J||||
g was I1 IE
a school | vj?
n, and || 111" IC?
that " * ?
nd Uber
5b Govemri
oul, and
t would T n his State of the State address la
I week, Gov. Jim Hodges said, "Mai
lpanson JLparents think that education r
zis were snnnsihilii
i d h' ^T^he United States has enjoyed
unique relationship with Iraq ove
JL the course of the decade. It seem
t inter- as the year
r in the Ifek. roll on, th
now'is tension be
r, who, jflr tween th
in'tte the J?iUl
ally re KEVIN LANGSTON ?h^tl
Iraqi sol
; of the diers eigh
be sur- years ago? What fools we were to ac
y from tually think we solved the problem thi
y e r s time.
)ine to rej?^ce(^ when our troop
i .1 returned home, seemingly victorious
The yellow ribbons came down from ou
car antennas, and once again Ameri
group ca proved to the rest of the work
re they that it was the .dominant military force
ne and So why were we shocked when Sad
rbank dam Hussein refused to let U.N. in
spectors look at his nuclear weapon:
Incsdav and
K? Palms pleased
cnt Media is - -g
with service
arc Kd.-t To the Editor:
m-?m Although the university has cele
ir/Osc.iiiti brated Martin Luther Kine Jr. Dav fni
s@sc.cfiu 17 years, two weeks ago today, we toot
777-7726 another step and suspended classes
in Dr. King's honor. The students turned
s vt/ii the day into a complete success and
777-7IK2 made their university proud. Throughout
the year, the USC community
^ provides countless hours of service in
the Midlands, individually and through
organizations. But on Jan. 18, in mem-7-MK2
ory of Dr. King, you created a unified
777-.-wan Day 0f Service. More than 750 gradu
1 ' ,
rvf monu A LI I ^ A^l
VI llltuij IIVU^
veacul- columnist didn't acti
ion that 1 ally mea
ry and the government has no role in educi
)etween tion. Hodges' proposal of education i
a No. 1 budget and policy priorit
g, , demonstrates his belief in governmer
1 0U responsibility. Similarly, Clinton pr<
up to posed federal involvement and spent
e s s l o n mg increases for education in his Stat
id show of the Union address. For those who n
ch is as alize the importance of education, sue
proposals might initially seem a joy an
relief, but rather they should be war
nof government involvement.
Funding education with tax dollar
in many ways makes sense. Educatio
seems to function as a public good, pre
. viding numerous benefits to those wh
^ live in an educated society.
is Wrong int
ided to
poin
Gamecock
/V A /A
aent stun
sf. The problem with U.S. sch<
Xy doesn't lie in a lack of funding. A
e_ adjustment for inflation, spending
ty pupil is five times what it was 50 y<
v_ ago. Over the past 30 years, w.
s test scores have been sliding down,
e pupil spending has been on the upsw
ie with a more than double increase r
$2,500 per pupil to nearly $7,000.
n The problem is, money poorly sp
ie Districts try to put out the fire in
ie ban schools by essentially pointii
y hose and spraying money at them. R
j. money is spent in the average ur
j _ school than in other schools, but
3S National Assessment of Educatic
Progress showed in a recent study 1
n most students in urban schools fa
a_ master even basic reading, math
iS science skills.
y Americans aren't getting w
lt they're paying for. More money is sp
y per pupil in the average public scl
j. than in the tuition of the average
.g vate school. There are certainly a
y riety of factors influencing the gree
h success of the lesser-funded priv
d schools. But one key to their succ
y is their autonomy. Their funding st
within the school, and decisions ab
.s tne students needs are made Dy p
n pie who actually work with the s
j_ dents.
0 We might all be better off if Hod
truly believed responsibility for edc
tion doesn't belong to the gove
tendons ke
a sites? Why should he have let them 1
T at the sites? America had just bom
s the hell out of him, and then he \
s supposed to cooperate completely?
e one likes to lose, and Hussein must h
been quite upset when Iraq failec
e put up a decent fight in Desert Sto:
Hussein had gotten what he wa
ed. The people of Iraq hated the Ui
0 ed States more than ever, and the
t loyally rally behind their fearless lea
e as he openly rejected America and
h U.N. Hussein was more powerful tl
1 ever in the eyes of his people. He 1
s them hating a country they knew nc
h ine about. Does this sound famili
In keeping with our overconfid
t nature, we kept that "how dare you"
titude as Clinton literally dared H
e sein to deny his authority again. H
sein called his bluff, and Clinton reac
s by doing the least logical thing, bor
ing Iraq ... again. Gung-ho Americ;
r saluted this move, while pacifists cr
out against such a ridiculous attack.
1 course, more attacks were to folk
:. Why is America even interestec
Iraq? What threat do they pose to
world? Sure, they have nuclear weapc
s but several other nations have th<
SuTmiissiur
^ W length.
[ I I l' 777-7726
L ~ A ^ The
student. Hani
ate ana unaergraauate stuaents, t
ulty, and staff of various races a
creeds walked together to MLK Pe
and then traveled into the commun
to complete various projects. You
rectly helped those in need, whetf
through renovation work or by talki
to homeless and elderly citizens w
. were inspired by your optimism a
[ idealism. For your committed and ;
tive sense of social responsibility a:
for offering a great tribute to the leg
cy of Dr. King, on behalf of your ui
versity, I simply wanted to offer y
our commendations and say thank yc
John M. Pair
University Preside
<
QL
a ?n
its i
w
THIS COUNTRY
DESPERATELY ui
NEEDS RftHT C
NOW... ft
III fwi
II ^ ;
ts educatio
iter "We might all be bei
e^s believed responsibil
pgj.0 doesn't belong to th
Tng,
rom
ment. Governmental control creates
ient. problems with layers of expensive buur.
reaucracy that spend money poorly and
ig a get between the money and the stulore
dents it should benefit. Government
ban spending "per pupil" is misleading bethe
cause the money has to filter through
I guest columnists can only lie printed twice a semester. Please d
:'k will try to print all letters. Letters should he 2s(MU" words and must indud
Jwritten letters must lx- personally delivered by the author to the Russell llous
necock reserves the right to edit all letter lor style, libel or space. Names will r
*cd Mural a positive
city landmark
diier
To the Editor;
ng This letter is in response to the
j^0 editorial "Removal of mural points to
ncj the future" on Jan. 22.1 am definitely
ac_ for getting over the past and working
toward the future.
ra. There are some things, however,
that you are just not going to forget.
ou George Rogers was a hero to most of us.
)u HeisahugepartofhistoryatUSC.lt
seems that USC doesn't care, though.
ns It seems to me money is more impornf.
tant than having a state hero.
4
>nal federal and state departments of eduthat
cation and school district offices before
il to it ever makes it to the school,
and When funding finally makes its way
down to the public schools, it comes with
hat instructions, stipulations and govern>ent
ment mandates. The bureaucracy leads
100I to a public school system that favors inpri
puts, procedures and rules over innova
vation, results and excellence,
iter Education's funds shouldn't be wastate
ed on bureaucracy and government
:ess mandates. Do bureaucrats know
ays what children need better than parout
ents? What our state needs is a dynamic
>eo- school system full of choice.
:tu- Hodges' State of the State proposals
for smaller classes, laptops and the
ges First Steps program sound great, but
ica- they aren't guaranteed to produce betrn
- ter schools or better-educated students.
ep U.S. in M
ted "We don't care abou
17Q C ?
No Middle East, as long
Z coming."
rm.
intuit
cool toys, too. Americans don't worry
sy'd themselves with those countries,
der What makes Iraq so special? They
the refuse to respect us, and we get mad.
ian All it takes is for us to rub one of
lad these nuclear powers the wrong way,
>th- and they could attack us. Why should
ar? they care about our retaliation? The
ent damage would be done. The world would
at- be engulfed in a nuclear war to put all
us- minds to shame,
us- There's bad blood between Iraq and
ted America, and I see it as being our fault,
nb- Why do we waste our time worrying
ans about Iraq's nuclear weapons sites?
ied Why worry about Iraq at all? Money is
Of the only logical answer. We were all
aw. captivated when we saw the oil fires
1 in clog the sky during Desert Storm. We
the knew we were losing thousands of
>ns, dollars in oil. We don't care about the
Dse state of the Middle East, as long as our
is for columns art? welcome from nil mi?mh<*rs of thr Carolina C.oi
IQTE, UNQUOTE
'It's virtually as though their
ionization no longer exists on
this campus."
rena Staggs, director of Greek
ife, in response to thepunishinnnt
nf Ploltn ^iamn Thotn
ednesday, January 27, 1999
J 3
/ M. Td.O, ^ Z
A
me
OPMC E.U6.P?
(
i_
n growth
tter if Hodges truly
lily for education
le government"
They are grandiose, generic, governmental
generalizations that don't come
from educational innovators attuned to >
the specific needs of certain school districts,
classes or students. Even if his
proposals were successful, as centrally
nlonno^ monrlofoe mnnM ovnln^n
I^IUIUXV/U U1CU1UUI/VO W1V/J VTV/U1U (/AViUU^
innovations that might be more successful.
Clinton was closer to the mark with
his State of the Union proposal of an
Education Accountability Act. The act
finally demands that states and school
districts become accountable for
progress. The government would change
the way it invests money in education,
supporting what works and revoking
funds for what doesn't.
Advice to Clinton and Hodges: Keep
your demands and structures simple.
A demand for schools to show progress
is a good idea, but qualifying it with
government stipulations is not. Let those ,
close to the students decide what's best
for them. And cut down the education
bureaucracy to spend your money well
by concentrating it in the classroom.
iddle East
t the state of the
as our oil keeps
oil keeps coming. That 15 cents we save
on a gallon of gasoline sure is worth all
the mayhem we stir up with Iraq.
This aspect, added to our mentality
to be the global protector, can come
back to bite us in the butt one day. Since
President Theodore Roosevelt introduced
that attitude of global protection,
Americans have felt it necessary to
snoop around in other countries' affairs.
If those countries stonewall us, there
is always hell to pay. We keep flexing
our muscles to keep the smaller countries
in check. It's typical American behavior.
What do you expect from a country
that professionalized wrestling?
The entire situation reeks of cockiness.
We should not be over there. Perhaps
it would be better for the world to
respect us for our ability to leave countries
to their own devices. Everybody
hates a bully.
i
ninuniiy. They must be between 650 and 750 words in
diver all submissions to Russell Mouse room 333. or call
e full name, phone number, professional title or year and major if a
e room 333 E-mail lellers must include the author s telephone nunv
lever lx withheld.
To me, this is all very upsetting. To
sit here and watch a wall that I have
seen my whole life be torn down for
dorms makes me feel sick.
The article that I read had a little
"our opinion" box. In it read, "Its destruction
helps us look toward the future,
not past glories." If it was not for
those "past glories," USC would have
never been the school it is today. See:
i-U J I 1J _ ilsA
mg umi wail eveiy uay siiuuiu give uic
coaches and players of the football team
incentive to work even harder to
bring another Heisman to South Carolina.
I
Jessica Johnson
Psychology Freshman
> *