The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 04, 1999, Page 6, Image 6
TTi • , Quote,Unquote
\ I ~l /^\XX TT^V /^\~ t /~n* ‘In Canada it’s not about the size of turkey or the
\l I »—“ \/V/ I l| I II football games. It’s about togetherness.’
n f J_\y ▼ f V_>/_l_ Mark Hartney, USC sophomore
Page 6 ITIlC (BaiUCCOCk Monday, October 4,1999
Whe (Bamecoclt.
Serving the Carolina Community since 1Q08
Editorial Board
Sara Ladenheim • Editor in Chief
Kenley Ypung • Managing Editor
Emily Streyer • Viewpoints Editor
Corey Ford • Assistant Viewpoints Editor
Brad Walters • Editorial Contributor
Kiki McCormick • Editorial Contributor
Preventive actions
curb crime problem
College is the opportunity for students to explore freedom
from their parents and from high school. The new- found
freedoms of collegiate life raises justifiable concerns about
students’ safety and welfare.
The safety of the students must be the top priority for any ad
ministration of a university, yet the students must also realize and
adapt to the dangers of their surrounding environment.
Safety concern has become a perpetual issue here at Carolina.
The administration continually addresses the problems and how
they can improve the situation.
candidates tor student Government place tms issue at tne top
of their campaign agendas. The Gamecock also discusses the
problems by informing students on methods to protect them
selves.
And the latest wave of crime in or near parking garages here
on campus brings the issue back into the limelight.
Last week, a USC student was held up near the Bull Street
garage.
While the administration must make every effort to curb
crime, the students also have to understand that the campus lies
. within an urban area.
An urban environment certainly possesses the greatest crime
rates compared to suburban and rural regions in the country.
Going out of your way to protect your automobiles or person
al belongings will only help to prevent future break-ins or theft.
Of course, crime will always exist in an urban area like Co
lumbia. Yet education and crime awareness provide a start in
checking the wave of crime that has gripped the university.
All students able to
socialize with Palms
On Wednesday, Sept. 22, Horseshoe residents had the oppor
tunity to join USC President John Palms and his wife for a
picnic.
Some students question the invitation of only Horseshoe resi
dents to the get-together, citing that all students pay the same fees
to the school and should get the same opportunities to eat with
the Palmses.
What these students might not realize is that other chances
abound to socialize with the president. The Palmses have invited
students to breakfasts, football tailgating parties, receptions and
other events, all in the past several months. And President Palms
has been known to get out and interact with students, whether it’s
popping in for lunch at The Grand Marketplace or making snow
angels at 7 a.m.
Inviting all of the more than 5,800 on-campus residents to a
gathering at the president’s house would be impossible. This par
ticular event, much like you’d see in a typical residential commu
nity, was a way for the Palmses to get to know their Horseshoe
area neighbors.
We encourage students to keep their eyes and ears open to op
portunities to meet the President. And when you do have that
chance, take advantage of it.
About Us
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 nine 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 of The University of South Carolina.
The Board of Student Publications and Communications is the publisher of The Gamecock. The Department of Student Media is
xmnmtlnn The ftamernrlf k snnnnrtpd in nart hv student activities fees.
Address
The Gamecock
1400 Greene Street
Columbia, SC 29208
Offices on third floor of the Russell House.
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Online www.gamecock.sc.edu 777-2833
Sobmbsion Policy
Letters to the editor or guest columns are welcome
from all members of the Carolina community. Letters
should be 250-300 words. Guest columns should be ar
opinion piece of about 600-700 words.
Both must include name, phone number, profes
sional title or year and major, if a student. Handwritten
submissions must be personally delivered to Russell
House room 333. E-mail submissions must include
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The Gamecock reserves the right to edit for libel,
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lished. Photos are required for guest columnist and can
be provided by the submitter.
Call 777-7726 for more informat' i.
The Gamecock
Sara Ladenheim
Editor in Chief
Kenley Young
Managing Editor
Emily Streyer
Viewpoints Editor
Kevin Langston
Brock Vergakis
News Editors
Clayton Kale
Associate News Editor
Rachel Helwig
EtCetera Editor
Todd Money
Jared Kelowitz
Sports Editor
Kristin Freestate
Copy Desk Chief
Sean Rayford
Photo Editor
Rob Lindsey
Encore Editor
Student Media
Ellen Parsons
Director of
Student Media
Susan King
Creative Director
Kris Black
Julia Burnett
Betsy Martin
Kathy Van Nostrand
Creative Services
Will Gillaspy
Online Editor
Corey Ford
Asst. Viewpoints Editor
John Huiett
Asst. News Editor
Ann Marie Miani
Asst. EtCetera Editor
David Cloninger
Asst. Sports Editor
Greg Farley
Asst. Photo Editor
Casey Williams
Asst. Online Editor
Brad Walters
Graphics Editor,
Copy Editor,
Editorial Contributor
MacKenzie Craven
Charlie Wallace
Philip Burt
Senior Writers
Lee Phipps
Advertising Manager
Sherry Holmes
Classified Manager
Carolyn Griffin
Business Manager
Erik Collins
Faculty Adviser
Jonathan Dunagin
Graduate Assistant
College Press Exchange
Campus Issues
University of Second Choice
One of the
first things
a USC
freshman and
child of a USC
professor said to
me was, “I can’t
believe I ended
up here.” ^
Idi*,Vn; Michaei
derstand it, but 1
assumed that this DiPr8S*°
student was dis- a senior
appointed with fnaj°r
the prospect of and writes every
staying in Co- other Monday. He
lumbia for anoth- can be reached
er four years. It via The
wasn’t this that Gamecock at:
was bothering the gckviews@sc.edu
student, but at
tending USC was.
This student really wanted to go to a dif
ferent school.
I found this attitude again in a young
lady I dated my freshman year. One cool,
sunny, autumn day we took a stroll through
the Horseshoe, and she kept going on about
how she thought the USC campus is ugly
and how much beautiful she thought the
College of Charleston is. I had a feeling
that she really didn’t think USC is ugly,
but would rather have attended the Col
lege of Charleston.
During my stay here at USC, I have
met many very talented students. Most
were somewhat unsatisfied with their at
tendance here. Usually they had offers
from other schools, but lacked the fund
ing to go to their first -choice school be
cause of a lack of funds.
USC provided them a university ed
ucation without having to go into tens of
thousands of dollars into debt. They still
become successful students, but they would
have rather been successful students some
where else.
USC surely wasn’t my first choice.
The application just appeared in my mail
box one day, and because there were no
essays and the fee was only $25,1 applied.
A few months later, 1 get a letter telling
me that USC would give me a scholarship
that would reduce the cost of education
and housing to only a couple of thousand
dollars.
My first-choice schools in Boston al
so offered me scholarships. After four years
of college, this would only mean shaving
$30,000 offofa$120,000debt.
This doesn’t mean that USC’s a bad
school. 1 could have gone to one of the
schools of SUNY (State University of New
York), but these schools are bachelor’s de
gree factories with a physical atmos
phere akin to a Soviet steel factory.
Even worse are the options open to stu
dents in New Jersey (the biggest contrib
utor of out-of-state students at USC).
Princeton is a long shot for anyone, and
Rutgers ... well, who wants to go to high
school for another four years?
USC isn’t a bad school. There are good
facilities, a competent and eager faculty
and a large student population. These
are all attributes of a really great institute
of higher learning and one that can offer
a lot of opportunities. The only problem
is a demoralized student body. Who’s
demoralizing them? They are.
If there was even a presence of pride
in being a USC student amongst the ma
jority of students, the atmosphere here
would be that found in the most of the high
ly prestigious universities.
Sure, the football team would still lose,
Five Points would still be a thriving cesspit
and the highly religious would create a In
quisition-like atmosphere unmatched by
any non-secular university, but a lot of good
things would rise out of USC.
To the university (faculty and admin
. istration), I have a request. If you are look
ing to motivate more students to get in
volved in the university (anything from
joining organizations to simply voting in
student elections), keep in mind that for
many of your students, USC doesn’t mean
what you think it to mean.
For us, it is the “University of Sec
ond Choice.”
Letters
Article falsifies truth
about Carolina mascol
To the Editor
This letter is written in reference tc
historical inaccuracies found in the Oct. 1
edition of The Gamecock. Specifically, the
article titled “Alumnus proposes mascot
change” and advertisements funded by Ken
Scarlett promoting the alteration of Car
olina’s mascot to the Jaguar contain sever
al false or misleading statements. In the ar
ticle, it is stated that, “According tc
university folklore, the [chicken] curse be
gan when former S.C. Gov. Ben Tillmar
was rejected for a position.” The article al
so reports that Tillman was a president o:
Clemson University. The latter statemem
is entirely false. He was, in his role a<
governor, decisively influential in the found
ing of the university and the ex-officio heat
of the Boards of Trustees of all state-sup
ported institutions of higher learning. He
was also an avowed enemy of Carolina. Five
years before becoming governor, he pub
lished an article in the Nov. 19,1885, edi
tion of the Charleston News and Courie
suggesting that the university belonged t<
a “ghastly heap of skeletons at the foot o
the professional ladder.” However, as car
be ascertained in appendices of Wrigh
Bryan’s 1979 monograph, Clemson: An In
formal History of the University 1889-197$
he was never a president of Clemson Uni
versity.
As regards the former, the assertion tha
Tillman was once denied a position at Car
olina cannot be corroborated by any sec
ondary source familiar to this writer. It i
mentioned neither in Daniel Hollis’ de
finitive 1956 history, University of Sout,
Carolina, nor Francis Simkin’s widely re
spected biography entitled Pitchfork Be.
Tillman.
In speaking to both Dr. Hollis, a retired
USC professor who specialized in the
university’s history, and John Heiting, di
rector of university archives, on Oct. 1,
1999,1 was told by both that there is no
substantiation for the allegation that Till
man ever applied for a position at USC.
Finally, in reference to the university’s
first mascot being the jaguar, I can find no
substantive proof of this claim. It is found
in many secondary sources, including John
Griffin’s The first hundred years: a histo
ry of South Carolina football and Kamon
Simpson’s Gamecock Handbook: Stories
Stats and Stuff About South Carolina Foot
ball. However, as related to me by Mr. Heit
ing, who has access to the entirety of sources
contained in the university archives,
there are no primary documents that he has
ever seen or heard of that authenticate
the claim that the jaguars were the univer
sity’s first mascot. Also, Dr. Hollis informed
me that he did not mention the jaguars as
a mascot in his text because he could not
find any documentary evidence to sub
stantiate the claim.
In fact, the picture of the 1899 football
team which is labeled in Scarlett’s adverti
1 tisement as “the USC jaguars of 1899” was
taken from the athletics section of the 1900
Garnet and Black yearbook. In that source,
it is captioned simply as the “Team of ‘99.”
Actually, no mention is made in that
' yearbook or in any Carolina yearbook, from
that time period, of the name “jaguars.” The
simple fact of the matter is both the article
and the paid advertisements are filled with
historical falsehoods and unsubstantiated
misrepresentations of the truth. Howev
er, I welcome any information that can shed
light on this topic.
i Jacob L McCormick
BducationDoctoral student
i
Changing mascot is
pointless, outrageous
To the Editor
Hardly ever am I more outraged by the
news page than I am by the editorial page,
but somehow, as I ate my Grand Market
place breakfast on Friday, I became out
raged.
Mr. Scarlett, suggesting a mascot change,
says that the jaguar is a proud and dignified
animal.
He then questions the dignity of the
Gamecock since it is an animal bred for
gambling. He also proposes an idea of the
“Chicken Curse” which is an absurdity
in itself.
I remember growing up on freezing No
vember nights at Williams-Brice Stadium
watching the Gamecocks beat Geoigia Tech
and burning my tongue on too-hot hot
chocolate. My parents met here, scream
ing ‘Goooo Cocks’ at sporting events and
other pivital moments in their dating ca
reer.
My first crush was on Cocky; no
joke. Dignity is a nonissue. Ask your av
erage college student if they’d rather
have a “dignified” mascot or a pretty dig
nified mascot with a sense of humor and a
history.
There would be no market for bumper
stickers bearing “You can’t lick our Jaguars.”
It just isn’t catchy.
Say whatever you want about our mas
cot. We don’t want it changed. It is our mas
cot, and we need to be true to it. As for your
arguments, Mr. Scarlett, frankly, I don’t
give a damn.
Jessica Clary
Honors College Journalism student
Social Issues
Pro golfer
structures
career with
alcohol
Professional | I
golfer John
Daly has un- j
veiled an impres- ;
sive, ambitious
game plan for the \
rest of his career
— it’s called
drinking lots of
alcohol. Daly,
one of the longest Kenley Young
drivers on the writes every
tour, has been on Monday. He can
*
and off the bottle be reached via
for several years, The Gamecock at
but it seems he’s gckviews@sc.edu
fallen off the
wagon for good
this time.
“It’s in my blood,” he told Golf
World magazine. Yeah, John, we know.
That’s how alcohol works.
Callaway Golf, Daly’s sponsor, was
nrpnarpH rn chpll nut ahnnf $ 1 millinn fn
the beleaguered golfer, had he made a
successful attempt at sobriety. But Daly
said claiming that money would’ve been
too easy. “It was either golf and drinking,
or no golf and no drinking,” Daly told
The Associated Press, citing the tremen
dous pressure to stay sober as the main
force that drove him to drink again. “I’m
33 years old. It’s a decision I have to
make,” he said.
Both inspired by and a bit in awe of
Daly’s candid declaration, I decided to
follow his lead and map out my very
own “strategy of honesty” for the rest of
this week. Here’s my grocery list of
things to do:
Sunday: First things first. Mom, I’m
dropping out of school. In fact, as soon as
I’m finished with this column, I'm going
home to crack open a case of Bud Light
so I can get it “in my blood.” I’m going
to throw away all my textbooks, bum all
my assignments for the rest of the year
and then tear up my Roommate Contract
(which prohibits me from smoking or
drinking in the living area). Then, it’s
back to the beer and, eventually, the side
of the commode.
Monday: I plan to sleep until 4 p.m.
After I’ve called all my professors and
told them where they can put my home
work, I’ll make a mad rush for Happy
Hour in Five Points and see what kind of
trouble a 20-year-old can get into. (Men
tal note: Borrow, steal or make an I.D.)
Tuesday: I’ll have to quit my job at
The Gamecock. I’ll be forced to give
Sara, my editor in chief, an ultimatum:
“Look, it’s either writing AND drinking,
or no writing and no drinking.” That’s
sure to get me good and fired. Yippee! I
can then spend the rest of the day plan
ning my keg party for Thursday night.
Wednesday: I won’t have time to
sleep late today. I’ll have no source of
income at this point, so I’ll have to hold
an early-moming yard sale on the Horse
shoe. Other than beer, I won’t have any
thing anyone would want to buy, so I’ll
have to raid my roommates’ closets and
private trunks. By the end of the day, I
should have enough for a keg of Killians.
(Mental note: Borrow, steal or make a
keg tap.)
Thursday: I’m having a keg party,
and I’m not even going to notify Hous
ing. How about that? I’m going to orga
nize a game of strip poker, with the mor.
ey I got for my roommate’s PlayStation,
and I'm hiring a live deejay and an exotic
dancer with the last of my scholarship
excess.
Friday: Today, I’m going to turn
down a $3,000 scholarship on the
grounds that claiming the money will be
too easy: “I’m 20 years old. It’s a deci
sion I have to make.”
Saturday: I’ll play a round of golf.
(Mental note: Bring a cooler.)
Basically, John Daly has decided to
be a bum who might occasionally play a
mediocre round of golf. Sounds a lot like
my dad. But at least Dad’s decision is an
honest one.
Daly’s not kidding himself into be
lieving he’s okay; he’s just too stubborn
to seek help on other people’s terms.
But as foolish as his decision proba
bly sounds to overachieving bootlickers
everywhere, I’ll bet Daly is articulating a
message many mild-mannered pushovers
have wanted to tell their supervisors for
years: “If it means I have to follow your
rules, I don’t want your stupid money.
I’ll use my own and blow it on beer.”
What a concept.