Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Quote, Unquote ‘We hope students become more aware about the impact HIV has on our community.’ Kim Sheffield, Program Director for Sexual Health Programs yy,^y^yyy.m.,^£ -' J fflic (5amcock Serving the Carolina Community since 1Q08 Editorial Board Sara Ladenheim • Editor in Chief Kenley Young • Managing Editor Emily Streyer • Viewpoints Editor Corey Ford • Assistant Viewpoints Editor Brad Walters • Editorial Contributor Kiki McCormick • Editorial Contributor Library hours need to be longer for finals Finals time ranks as one of the most stressful periods in many college students’ lives. Finding a quiet spot without interrup tion can be impossible at times. The traditional mecca for studying in near-perfect silence without interruption has always been the library. The mere mention of 24-hour library hours immediately draws attention away from USC students’ needs and focuses on adminis trative and budget decisions that obviously lack consideration of the bottom line of college: educational support. Choosing the specific times that students are “privileged” to study in their own library goes against any scholarly endeavor. The decision that each student makes about what time, where and for how long they can study should be determined by the student, not i i ii ,i . i__ vy me nuuia iiaicu un me uuui. Most prestigious universities in the country give their students unlimited 24-hour access to their libraries. If the issue were safety, , then the logical solution would be to restrict access to the building by requiring students to swipe their identification cards in order to unlock the door. This would limit outside access and could be easi ly regulated. One prime example of 24-hour library access with safety is Duke University. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill also has a similar program that enables its students to work study time around their schedules. While the Thomas Cooper Library will close at 2 a.m. during finals, which is later than the traditional midnight closing, it is not enough of an extension to benefit all 26,000 students who attend USC. The library should remain open 24 hours a day,, regardless of whether one student or 1,000 make the library their choice for a study location. Money safe in the bank on Jan. 1,2000 Cortunately, the Y2K hysteria seems to have decreased from its manic 1998 levels, but some people still plan drastic “pro tective” measures against the chaos that will supposedly en sue at 12:01 a.m. Jan. 1, 2000. Ignoring the paranoid people who are stockpiling munitions, generators and fuel, who we hope will retire to their mountain compounds and leave the rest of us alone, probably the biggest concern is those who worry that their money isn’t safe in the banks. The idea that a bank can fail is sometimes as dangerous to a bank as feeble financial management. If the idea worries enough people, they will withdraw their money — and the bank will fail, despite an otherwise solid financial position. The federal government insures all bank deposits (while not at every bank) up to $100,000, so if those banks fail — no matter what the reason — depositors don’t lose their money. Keep your money in the bank. The banks were way ahead of everyone else in verifying the re liability of their computers because they were one of the few types of institutions truly threatened by the Y2K bug. 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 the newspaper's parent organization. The Gamecock is supported in part by student activities fees. Address The Gamecock 1400 Greene Street Columbia, SC 29208 Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Student Media Area code 803 Advertising 777-3888 Classified 777-1184 Fax 777-6482 Office 777-3888 Gamecock Area code 803 Editor gckeddsc.edu 777-3914 News gcknewsdsc.edu 777-7726 Viewpoints gckviewsdsc.edu 777-7181 Etc. gcketcdsc.edu 777-3913 Sports gcksportsdsc.edu 777-7182 Online www.gamecock.sc.edu 777-2833 Submission 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 an 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 telephone number for confirmation. The Gamecock reserves the right to edit for libel, style and space. Anonymous letters will not be pub lished. Photos are required for guest columnist and can be provided by the submitter. Call 777-7726 for more information. The Gamecock Sara Ladenheim Editor in Chief Ken ley 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 Ckminger Ass/. 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 Letters Palms praised for call to remove flag To the Editor: Thank you, USC President Palms, for publicly expressing your support for removing the Confederate flag from the South Carolina Statehouse. It is refreshing to hear a clear voice of moral lead ership from a university president at a time when many institutional leaders shy away from public dis course altogether or shape their convictions around opinion polls. We can only hope that more legisla tors and a certain governor follow your lead and do the right thing by removing that relic of disunity. Neal R Jones Psychologist Intern USC Counseling and Human Development Center Lack of evidence refutes argument To the Editor: I am writing in response to the lack of response to my claim that the theory of evolution is wrong. I asked a very simple question back in October as to how irreducibly com plex structures could arise through Darwinian evolution. There was even a letter by Brian Habing, assis tant professor of statistics, stating that evolution was true because Nobel laureates said so. We can’t base popular opinion as scientific fact, so we must look to published works to determine the truth. When we look for evidence of evo lution, we find there are no publica tions, journals or books that detail how irreducibly complex structures could arise step by step. Where are these missing papers? Habing and others seemed to have the answers when they stated that I was mistaken for saying evolution did not occur. Why are they silent when it comes to the difficult ques tions? For instance, where are the answers to “How did the photosyn thetic reaction center develop?” and “How did intramolecular trans po start?” We would need to find papers titled something like “Twelve Intermediate Steps Leading to the Bacterial Photosynthetic Reaction Center” and “A Proto-Cilium Could Generate a Power Stroke Sufficient to Turn a Cell by Ten Degrees.” Unfortunately, nothing of the like has ever been published. Donnie Pritchett Media Arts Junior Students deserve section at games To the Editor: I am writing in support of David Cloninger’s article “Students Need Own Section for Basketball.” As I was straining to see our team from my seat in the rafters at the Wofford game, I wondered to myself why I had been shafted in the ticket distri bution. So I began looking around the Coliseum and realized that 3/4 of the lower-level seats had been given to “fans” who wouldn’t have stood and cheered if we were in an overtime game against Kentucky for the SEC title! I then began thinking of my other favorite basketball team, the Duke Blue Devils. As Mr. Cloninger said in his article, “The Cameron Crazies are some of the nation’s most revered fans.” So, why are the crazies so intimidating? I believe it may have something to do with the fact that they have sev eral thousand students screaming at the visiting team from just a few feet off the court ... OK, so we won’t become a final four team just by giving students good seats, but it would be a great show of support to the team and the students if the administration reprioritized the dis tribution of tickets. Give us the lower level behind the benches and the section behind one goal; you may be surprised at the support the team gains. So as our team enters another season, I’ll scream from my seat 400 rows off the court and hope that our administration will give us the opportunity to show as much support for our basketball team as we give our football team six Saturdays every fall. Jay Nash Engineering and Business Senior Stuffy’s support for family appreciated To the Editor: I am a 2L at USC School of Law, and I wanted to publicly thank Stuffy’s for having “Katie Krize Day” on Nov. 18. Stuffy’s donated 25 percent of its profits that day to my family. I have taken a leave of absence from law school to help my daughter fight neuroblastoma — a cancerous tumor in her abdomen. Katie is 5 years old and a real fight er. Dealing with childhood cancer is terrifying, but thanks to all of our friends and family, including those at USC and Stuffy’s, we have felt that we can get through this. I have felt such comfort and support by being part of USC, and I just wanted everyone in the community to know how much my family appreci ates everything being done for us! Oh, and please, patronize Stuffy’s! They are the best! Michele Krize USC School of Law College Press Exchange // /// ——- ■— JM-WMaty Millennium Issues America's century With a new millenni um ap proaching - which, | according to most historians, has ar rived by now - f some crazy stuff has ! been occurring in this already crazy _ _. world. We have all :®ore^ witnessed the pro- ^tes each moted hype, which Wednesday. E in extreme cases has rnail him at theendoftime gckviews@sc.edu coming. NBC stooped to a new low by running “Y2K,” a movie that had the worst-case scenario taking place. Even the Arts and Entertainment chan nel has the millennium fever. A&E, the network channel with the renowned show “Biography,” gathered a group of people to devise a list ranking the top 100 influ ential people of the millennium. Justifi ably, Johann Guttenburg - the inventor of the printing press — received the most votes for the No. 1 spot. This invention revolutionized many aspects of European life. Christianity spread like wildfire be iciusc iiiuuro uu uvyiicu uic lauuu ous task of writing individual Bibles. With the printing press, more Bibles circulated around Europe, eventually the New World and other locales invaded by imperialistic Europeans. And without the invention, Martin Luther’s call for church reform would have been crushed. In concurrence with this theme, this column will reflect upon this past centu ry and how it’s shaped our present state. The 20th century is the American cen tury. Stating otherwise defies common sense. This statement does not seek to stir up nationalistic pride among the read ers of this column, but this statement rec ognizes the illustration—good or bad — that the United States provided the world for most of the century. After President Theodore Roosevelt’s launching of the Great White Fleet, the United States entered the category of a true world power. Then, U.S. infantry created the imperative advantage needed in order to break the stalemate in the Great War. Following the second World War — the largest conflict our planet has seen — our nation accepted the position as the leader of the free world simply because it was the only country left standing after the war. Our geographical location—protected by two oceans—and our late entrance in to the war allowed the U.S. to survive the catastrophic outcome of modem war fare in Europe and Asia. For this reason, President Franklin Roosevelt receives my vote as the most influential person of the century. Unlike the visions of Stalin and Hitler, only Roosevelt’s vision — one of democracy in the world and a united in ternational organization of nations — be came reality and still holds true today. The United States undoubtedly led as the dominant player in foreign policy for the second half of the century. The stal wart Soviet Union fell to the strength of not only America, but also the American ideals of personal liberty and market place capitalism. Lately, the nation has pos tlio rlmintinrr orirl nniirontoH of being the “Policeman of the World.” Every oppressed nation or people — Koso vo, Bosnia, Haiti, etc. — looks to the U.S. for aid in times of political strife. The U.S. also contributed with tech nological advances this century. World Whr II saw the American development of new effective war machinery, namely the atom ic bomb that ushered in an era of constant fear of nuclear proliferation. The Ameri cans also beat the Soviets in the race to the moon, probably the greatest achievement of the millennium. With an upper hand in technological expertise and an unmatched courage from astronauts, the U.S. be came the first nation to ever set foot on a foreign planetary body. Now, American ideals many times por tray mere myth. Despite this actuality, no one can deny the United States’ role in shaping the history of the 20th century. By continuing to preserve freedom here at home and abroad, this nation’s government of the people, by the people, for the peo ple will once again stand as the world’s leader. Otherwise, the American ideals will be nothing more than a fading dream. The next century, I hope, will not be termed the American century, but as the century when all of humanity sought to improve its condition. A world where slave labor ends, a world where governments work to alleviate child poverty, a world where right-wingers cease their message of intoler.ince. I hope that Bill Bradley will have a significant part in doing so.