Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Quote, Unquote ‘The debate over the flag has claimed too much of our time and energy’ Gov. Jim Hodges Friday, January 21, 2000 Whe (5amecock . Serving the Carolina Community since 1Q08 Editorial Board Kenley Young • Editor in Chief Brad Walters r Managing Editor Brock Vergakis • Viewpoints Editor Peter Johnson • Assistant Viewpoints Editor Sara Ladenheim • Editorial Contributor Emily Streyer • Editorial Contributor Cockpit and athletics department to blame USC’s Athletics Department announced Monday that it was sus pending the Student Gamecock Club from its reserved seats in the Cockpit in the Carolina Coliseum after deeming the club’s behavior inappropriate. r During the USC-Kentucky men’s basketball game Saturday, the SGC began chanting “al-co-hol-ic” to Kentucky assistant and former USC head coach George Felton, who had been arrested in 1991 for driving under the influence. Originally, the SGC’s suspension was to last for the rest of the sea son, but the Athletics Department is now considering reducing the suspension to only three games. The decision, however, is in Athlet ics Director Mike McGee’s hands. While disparaging remarks are a Way of life for college student sections across the nation, it doesn’t justify the SGC’s comments, which were personal attacks made in poor taste. Moreover, the club’s behavior isn’t exactly the most compelling argument students could’ve made in favor of better student seating at basketball games. Nevertheless, if USC students had their own section and weren’t resigned to the outer reaches of every obscure nook and cranny of the Coliseum, maybe incidents like this would be less frequent, or at least less prominent. But because the Athletics Department hasn’t es tablished any definitive guidelines governing behavior at sporting events, it’s difficult for the SGC and other fans to distinguish be tween what is acceptable and what is inappropriate. Who knows? Maybe the phrase “Go ‘Cocks” is just as offensive a chant to some people as “al-co-hol-ic” is to others. The Athletics Department was right to punish the SGC for its actions. But suspension for an entire season seems rather excessive, particularly when no standards have been set to dictate proper behavior. The less-stringent punishment of three games is more reasonable, and it will still convey the Athletics Department’s message — that personal attacks cross the line of good heckling etiquette. Abstentions hurt unity of SG senate flag vote The student senate on Wednesday followed the lead of other leg islative bodies across the state by passing a measure in support of moving the Confederate flag from atop the Statehouse dome. SG Senate, however, distinguished itself from the other bodies with proceedings tainted by some unfortunate immaturity. After an attempt to table the measure failed, a roll-call vote was planned. At this point, according to several senators, Sen. Jessica Lentini (from the College of Liberal Arts) noisily gathered her things and exited the theater in the middle of the session. This childlike behavior would have been inappropriate in any situation, but during a roll-call vote on an issue that is undeniably important to the constituents she supposedly represents, it would appear that Lentini didn't even have the courage and responsibility to stick around and officially abstain. The roll-call vote produced one more mild surprise — no senator voted against the resolution. Several did abstain, however, including Finance Chairwoman Sally Anne Ballentine (from the College of En gineering). According to some senators, she cited her position as a reason for abstaining, but this is a weak excuse, at best, to abstain. In fact, hardly an excuse exists for abstaining on this issue; the political ly and socially aware in this state have been discussing the flag’s proper location for years, and the claim that one’s mind isn’t made . up yet is rather weak as well. We fear that some senators simply lack the courage to express an unpopular opinion these days. Should it be that some senators abstained (officially or unofficially) because they feared letting the public know of their opinion on such a contentious issue, then we can only hope they don't run for another public office. i. . I...—1~—I. ~ ' 1 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 G"**00* The Gamecock Kcnlc» y°unS «x>fo Editors ■1400 Greene Street Edltor in Chief Kevin Langston Columbia. SC 29208 Wal,crs Encore Ed'tor * . ...... ... .... Managing Editor Will Gillaspy Offices on third floor of the Russell House. BrockVe^akis Online Editor Student Media Area code 803 Viewpoints Editor Peter Johnson -Advertising 777-3888 Clayton Kale Asst Viewpoints Editor Classified 777-1184 News Editor Kelly Haggerty Pax 777-6482 Brandon Larrabee Patrick Rathbun Office * 777-3888 Associate News Editor Asst. News Editors Rebecca Cronican MacKenzie Craven GAMECOCK Area code 803 Ann Marie Miani Asst. EtCetera Editor Editor gckeddsc.edu 777-3914 EtCetera Editors Shannon Rooke News gcknewsdsc.edu 777-7726 David Cioninger Asst. Sports Editor Viewpoints gckviewsdsc.edu 777-7181 Jeff Romig Robert Fleming Etc. gcketcdsc.edu 777-3913 Sports Editors Asst. Encore Editor Encore gamecockencoredhotmail.com 777-3913 Kristin Freestate Charles Prashaw Sports gcksportsdsc.edu 777-7182 Copy Desk Chief Shawn Singleton Online www.gamecock.sc.edu 777-2833 Renee Oligny Charlie Wallace Submission Poucy Copy Editor Senior Writers Letters to the editor or guest columns are welcome ]7tlnT£ntnbutors ' from all members of the Carolina community. Letters should be 250-300 words. Guest columns should be an Snjo£NT Media opinion piece of about 600-700 words. Ellen Parsons Business Manager . . , Director Sherry Holmes Both must include name, phone number, profes- ^ King SSfi*, Manager sional title or year and major, if a student. Handwritten Creative Director Erik Collins submissions must be personally delivered to Russell Kris Black Faculty Adviser House room 333. E-mail submissions must include Julie Burnett Jonathan Dunagin telephone number for confirmation. Todd Hooks Graduate Assistant The Gamecock reserves the right to edit for libel, ^ J RobjrnGombar • . . , „ „ , Kathy Van Nostrand Gina McKelvey style and space. Anonymous letters Will not be pub- Creative Services Melissa Millen fished. Photos are required for guest columnist and can Kenton Watt Brantley Roper )* provided by the submitter. Call 777-7726 for more Advertising Manager Nicole Russell information. Carolyn Griffin Advertising Staff The Washington Post "OF COURSE, IF I WERE IN A TEMPLE WHERE THEY WAN1EP TO ATTRIBUTE POLITICAL FUUPS, IT ASK mat! WHfir MlO BUPPHA PO?" Campus Issues Respect would be King's wish r t run. _ n _/•*.» i j 1 _*.*n II 1 w ci c Dr. Mar t i n Luther King Jr., I would be disap pointed with the legacy I left behind. It’s not about the King Day at the Dome protest at the Statehouse this past Monday. It was actu ally moving to see so many people gathered in peaceful demonstration, regardless of whether you think the flag should fly or die. It was beau tiful to see people immersed in their Amer ican freedom to disagree. So why would King be disappointed? King would be disappointed with the stagnation his people have undeigone since the late 1960s. He armed them with the legal freedom to be equal, and they have not cashed in that “check.” Rather, a sad thing seems to have happened after the Civil Rights movement and after King’s assassination. It seems the fire in the African-American went out It seems that upward mobility that began when the first slave was brought in from Africa finally reached its plateau. It seems the United States’ most brilliant chapter came to an end. The history of the African-Ameri ucui, a\j lun 1 tuuiagc, ouui^ui, resistance, resilience, brother and sister hood, and finally victory reached its finale in 1968. With King’s death, also came the death of the African-American will to fight and progress. Yes, they had one of the biggest social protests in South Caroli na’s history just this Monday. And while the protest in and of itself was wonderful to witness, the reason for the protest and some of my observations while attending where not so wonderful. A good example of what I mean were the three “niggers” in front of me who did not allow anyone to listen to what the speakers at the rally were saying. I only call them “niggers” because that is what they insisted on calling each oth er, much to the dismay of older African Americans. African Americans that prob ably dodged bullets trying to rid our country and all of its residents of that hideous and hateful, demeaning noun. It is hard to imagine that only one gen eration separates today’s African-Ameri can youth from the African Americans that so courageously fought alongside King to grant their people and their children to tal equality. All this makes me wonder how dif ferent things would be if we were wishing King a happy 71st birthday this year in stead of still mourning his death. Would he allow African-Americans to go around calling each other “niggers?” Would he allow brothers to treat sisters, they way some do? Would he allow brothers to leave af ter they get sisters pregnant? Would he al low rappers to promote the ghetto-thug life as an alternative lifestyle? iuajruc an ui uicjc v»uuiu nave aim happened even if Dr. King was here today, but I am certain he and the best of his peo ple would be head to head with these prob lems. In no way am I making a blanket state ment about all African-Americans, but I am suggesting the once-loud collective voice of the African-American has turned into a whisper that is seldom heard. There are African-Americans who have risen above. There are African-Americans that are advancing socially and economically. The problem is, as a culture stagnationseems to reign. If King were still here, there would have been a protest on the state grounds on his birthday, but instead of chant ing “take down the flag” they would have been screaming, “get our children better schools!” The lack of education, particularly for low-income African-American neighbor hoods is a real and very present issue, yet the flag seems to take precedence in the eyes of the NAACP. And if King were still here, Jesse Jack son would have been at his side in South Carolina Jan. 15, 2000 instead of trying to be so involved in defending some crim inal kids in Decatur, ILL, who not only de serve to be expelled, but should be in jail. There is nothing I would like to see more than King’s dream to stop being a dream-not only for African-Americans, but for all Americans, including myself and my struggling Latino culture. Mario Ona is a junior journal ism major and Viewpoints editor. He can be reached via The Gamecock at gamecockview points@hotmail.com Mono tries student's patience t TWyFn I—I d a y JL JLevery one. Here I am back with a new batch for you to feast your eyes on. It is a serious issue, but if you’ve seen me around campus this week, I can’t really say that it is no laughing matter. Yes, what I am referring to is that dreaded “kissing dis ease,” mono. Many of you might be uninterested in learning about mono. Well, you are all in luck. Since I’ve come to the realization that I’m not an ex pert on the topic, this will probably be more of a rant than a lesson. First of all, I have absolutely no clue where or who I got mono from. Accord ing to the informational packet that the health center gave me entitled, “So You’ve Got Mono,” (laughable, isn’t it?) 94 per cent of people who get mono don’t re call any direct contact with an infected person. There are a few common mis conceptions about mono that need to be addressed. First of all, if you see me on campus, don’t walk away with your hand over your mouth. Mono is not an airborne virus. It is only transmitted through saliva exchange from either kissing, or the sharing of food or beverages. The incuba tion period for mono usually lasts until a few months after recovery, but in extreme cases mono can stick around in an infect ed person’s saliva for up to 18 months. Usually, the subject is infected with mono 30 to 50 days before symptoms first appear. That means that over Christmas break and up until my return to school, I still had no idea that I had been infected with mono. Lord knows I shared quite a few beverages with family and friends since I went home for Christmas break. Now that I’m finished with the informative sec tion of this column, it’s time for you to learn what mono actually feels like. To give you an idea, I will give you the pros and cons of having mono. When you first come down with mono, before you have any idea that it’s mono, it feels a little like an oncoming flu that has yet to strike with all of its fury. Symptoms include body aches, slight headache, swollen glands and sore throat. But rather than oth er symptoms appearing, these symptoms intensify, especially the swollen glands and sore throat. If you’ve always dreamed of having the neck size of a football player and are dissatisfied with your puny, girly-man neck, then mono might be the answer for you. But you can rule out physical activity for the duration of your mono infection and a few weeks thereafter. Any rigorous exer cise or contact sports could cause a seri ous injury. Just one good hit to the left side could result in a ruptured spleen, since mono causes an enlarging of the spleen. “Physical activity” could also cover overexertion of oneself in an attempt to make it to class on time. I’m late to class often enough when I’m healthy, so mono now provides me with an excuse for my sluggishness. It’s truek, though, that in the middle of ths column I laid down to take a “quick nap.” When I awoke two hours later, I had to listen to the teasing of my fellow Gamecock staff members, illus trating just how loud I had been snoring. You can also expect the worst sore throat of your life. It feels like Bob Vila has been refurbishing a home, starting by rubbing the inside of the throat with the roughest sandpaper at the hardware store. Never before have I had to eat soup for three days straight because I couldn’t swallow anything solid. Even drinking wa ter is painful. One more point-no drink ing. There was a time when this would have decimated my weekend life and left me babbling, sober in the comer. I’ve handled myself quite well, though, and it is an in teresting and new perspective seeing just how funny drunk people are when you’re the sober one. Well, at least I can say to myself that this is probably the worst my mono is go ing to be, and if not, there’s always the Tylenol with codeine that the health center prescribed for me. I’d have no prob lem taking a quick nap right about now. Pete Johnson is a senior journalism major and Assistant Viewpoints Editor. He can be reached via The Gamecock at: gamecockview points@hotmail.com Campus Issues Master Plan has problems Man^ Nathan White m ° y is a sophomore remember the P°litical column I wrote major and can be last fall entitled reached via The “Good school, Gamecock at game no campus,” cockviewpoints®hot which talked mail.com about the over all poor state of ourcampus, or lack there of. Afterwards, I wrote a letter to Dr. Palms with my column enclosed. A few weeks later, I received a letter from Mr. Charles G. Jeffcoat, the university archi tect. In the letter, he addressed some of my points and I would like to share with you parts of his letter. First of all, he agreed that the campus environment is just as important as the aca demic environment of a college for prospec tive students. He discussed the master plan for the campus approved by the Board of Trustees in 1994, which is designed to cre ate a more “pedestrian-friendly campus”. Some recent improvements have been the Graduate Sciences Center, which will result in the demolition of those ugly green buildings between Preston and the Horse shoe. The area will be converted into green space. The parking lots by Longstreet and the Russell House will eventually be re moved, but for reasons Mr. Jeffcoat did not mention, that project is “not progressing as quickly” as he would like. He also men tioned the South Quad and South Quad East residence halls are successful and that the old “pit” is going to be converted in to greenspace. versity intends to buy an office building near campus to remove several “back-of fice’ support units,” which would result in an ease in the parking situation. Also to combat the parking problem the Univer sity will improve the shuttle system be tween the core campus and already ex isting perimeter parking. They are also designing plans to better define the cam pus with “brick piers, better lighting,” etc. There were a few problems I had with some of his answers, but unfortunately I was unable to get in touch with him to dis cuss them. He mentioned that there are plans under way to redevelop Sumter Street and calm traffic on Greene Street. Here I have a big problem with the master plan. Simply put Sumter and Greene Streets are thoroughfares running direct ly through the campus. To me, this is the equivalent of say, having a road running right through the State House grounds. Thoroughfares through the campus create an unsafe en vironment for pedestrians (e.g. students going to class), indirectly invite people un affiliated with the school onto the campus (did you know that Sumter is part of a pub lic transit busing route?) and effectively split the campus into fragments. The best solution is not to improve Sumter and Greene Streets, but to remove them. Doing this will have little impact on thoroughfare traffic because vehicular traf fic, can use Main or Blossom Streets to supplant Sumter and Greene Streets, re spectively. Removing them would in stantaneously create a more conducive campus environment for USC. Now, granted, there are going to be ir repressible problems between creating a campus in an urban landscape. USC will never be like Furman (which is okay), but, like all things, it could be better. All it takes is a little money. And that’s where the prob lem begins. The most startling (shocking is probably more appropriate) thing in Jef fcoat’s letter was that the budget for the campus grounds department, which is $960,841, amounts to only 0.32 percent of the 99/00 educational and general budget of $299,543,789! Before you faint, let me add that Jef fcoat added that the grounds budget does not include landscaping improvements as sociated with capital projects (e.g. South Quad-East). But still, 0.32 percent? Why not reduce it to $320,280, so I could capitalize my point by saying that 99.9 per cent of this school’s budget goes to every thing but the campus (title for next col umn: Good school budget, no campus budget). Last of all, I do want to applaud Palms and Jeffcoat for getting the campus ball rolling, albeit starting 193 years after the fact (something that isn’t their fault but their opportunity to remedy). With their efforts and a little budget reworking and street removals,they might prove me wrong and create a worthy campus, before I ac tually am dead and gone.