Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Quote, Unquote “Tonight let us take our long look ahead and set great goals for our nation.” President Bill Clinton i Whc (Bamcock I Serving the Carolina Community since 1Q08 Editorial Board Kenley Young • Editor in Chief Brad Walters • Managing Editor Brock Vergakis • Viewpoints Editor Peter Johnson • Assistant Viewpoints Editor Sara Ladenheim • Editorial Contributor Emily Streyer • Editorial Contributor UGA tramples on »First Amendment A student at the Univeristy of Georgia was expelled from school Tuesday for incidents including writing a check to the university’s parking services with anti-semitic remarks on it. The student drew a Nazi swastika and wrote “Jews” on the check. Employees at UGA’s parking services said the student’s voice was raised when he came in to complain about being charged for a car towing that never occurred, and he crossed the line by drawing the swastika and writing “Jews” on the check. Employees said it made them feel uncomfortable, leaving them no option but to transfer the issue to UGA’s Office of Judicial Programs. According to UGA’s judicial office, the student “did infringe upon the rights of the clerk in Parking Services and all other indi * viduals to whom the check would pass.” Even though the remarks on his check might have been offen sive to the employees at parking services, it’s no excuse to expell a student from school. The university’s office of judicial programs overreacted and endangered the student’s future with such a harsh punishment. This sets a dangerous precedent at UGA that any student can be expelled for saying or writing remarks that make others feel “un comfortable.” UGA has trampled all over the First Amendment by expelling this student. If they can expel a student for remarks written on a check, what guarantee is there that they won’t try to expel students who work at UGA’s student newspaper The Red and Black anytime a member of its opinion page writes an unpopular editorial or column? We don’t always agree with what people say, but it’s an ab solute necessity td defend their right to say it. I Safety at USC still needs improvement Che area on Greene Street between the Russell House and Five Points is notoriously dangerous at night. Last semester, Student Government, USC’s administration and the city of Columbia pledged to make Greene Street and the rest of campus a safer place. So far, there is little to show for their efforts. I Lighting on Greene Street remains a concern for students who have evening classes or those who walk to Five Points at night to avoid driving drunk. Some students even elect not to take evening classes, and others simply don’t go to Five Points for fear of what might happen to them while walking. Student Government proposed a safe-ride program that would have given students a ride on one of the shuttlecocks to avoid walking around campus late at night. This program is still yet to be approved, and most likely never will be. It’s time for students to see something tangible in the way of campus safety. If nothing is done, we’ll be held hostage by the night on our own campus. USC, the city of Columbia and SG must work together so incidents like last semester’s armed rob beries and kidnapping will never happen again. i -*<----— 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. The Gamecock ^5S . Kenley Young Amy Goulding 1400 Greme Street B^ttelf Pht SL Columbia. SC 29208 Vanaging Edlt„ Will Gillaspy Offices on third floor ot the Russell House. Brock Vergakis Online Edita Student Media Area code 803 VieerpooUs Editor Peter Johnson Advertising 777-3888 Clayton Kale Asst. V,ewpo£s Eddor Classified 777-1184 News.Ed,to, KeHy H«gertff F 777-6482 Brandon Larrabee Patrick Rathbun a? 777-3888 Associate News Editor Asst. News Editors Rebecca Cronican MacKenzie Craven GAMECOCK Area code 803 Ann Marie Miani Asst. EtCetera Editor Editor gcked@sc.edu 777-3914 EtCetera Editors Shannon Rooke News gcknews@sc.edu 777-7726 David Cloninger Asst. Sports Editor Viewpoints gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com Jeff Romig Robert Fleming Etc. gcketc@sc.edu 777-3913 Sports Editors Asst. Encore Editor Encore! gamecockencore@hotmail.com 777-3913 Kristin Freestate Charles Prashaw Sports gcksports@sc.edu 777-7182 Copy Desk Chief Shawn Singleton Online www.gamecock.sc.edu 777-2833 Renee Oligny Charlie Wallace Submission policy 4 Fmii* •Utters to the editor or guest columns are welcome Editorial Contributor It members ol the Carolina community Letters SnJO£MT Medw be 250-300 words. Guest columns should be an _ , u ♦ crvwnn^Hc Ellen Parsons Business Manager opinion piece of about 600-700 words. Director Sherry Holmes Both must include name, phone number, profes- Susan King Classified 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 lor confirmation. Todd Hooks Graduate Assistant The Gamecock reserves the right jp edit for I,bel, Ka|h' Van Ndftrand Gina McKelve, style aid space. Anonymous letters wWnot be pub- Creative Series Melissa Millen lished. Photos are required lor guest columnist and can Kenton Watt Brantley Roper be provided by the submitter. Advertising Manager Nicole Russell Call 777-7726 for more information. Carolyn Griffin Advertising Staff COLLEGE PRESS EXCHANGE /HW1UIS corner^. (3ennN(3 cc^iuc^?^ 1 EX- I NFL '! COMBS. '< Campus Issues Restroom advertising perplexes Guys, have you ever taken notice of ■the “solicita tions” written on the walls of the bathroom stalls? Girls, I’d ask you the same question, but obvious ig norance leaves me to believe that you don’t have such “so licitations.” Anyway, whether you write or read these bathroom ciassineas, tney nave been a part of my bathroom-going experiences since I knew what most of those requests actually called for. Now, my curiosity has gotten the better of me, and I want to know what kind of people write these “calls to arms.” Do people respond? And more im portantly, do they work? Now while I’m curious, I will never try to satisfy this cu riosity first hand. I’m just going on hypo thetical speculation here. First of all, be it heterosexual or homosexual, if you are try ing to find a partner by writing your name, number, “statistics” and preferences in bathroom stalls, you’re looking for love in all the wrong places (pardon the horrible pun). Would you not be worried about the type of people to respond, or is that why your criteria are so strict and well tapered? I saw one today that asked for “men be tween the ages of 18 and 35 only.” Sorry to all the guys who don’t meet this de mographic. I guess you’ll have to look for your action in the next stall. Have you ever been one of these guys slimmed down by the horrible scrutiny of the requesting par ty? You’ve got feelings too, dammit. I’d say screw him (not literally) and foiget about it altogether. Another point would be the question of monetary income. Are you so stripped for cash that you can’t do proper advertising in proper publications? Is it that bad, people? Can you not scrounge up enough money? I am sorry to hear it, but if I’m the interested party, I already know that this guy couldn’t support me in the long run. I’d go looking elsewhere for possibil ities. I’m worth more than that, and so are you. Other advertisements call for specif ic meeting times and places. I want to know if these “showdowns” actually material ize. Do you drop by the third-floor bath rooms in the library to meet the stranger on the other side of the pencil lead? Talk about your awkward first impressions. There you are, meeting for the first time (I assume... How awkward would it be for you to see someone you know?), and you’re there for one thing and one thing only. What if you’re the person who wrote the request and you aren’t satisfied with the interested party? What if he didn’t follow your scrutiny and decided to show up any way? And what if you’re the guy getting rejected? How bad will you feel when a complete stranger turns you away? His luck must be bad in the first place or he wouldn’t be looking for love through the bathroom market, and now he’s sending you off in the cold world of rejection and reality. Let’s flip the coin here. What if the interested party rejects you, the writer? What if he takes one look at you and scoffs? Your reputation and cre dentials are shot to hell. That would be horrible. Now what if you’re neither the interested party nor the requester? What if you’re some poor kid who walks into the bathroom and has to bear witness to this “engagement”? This sight will forever scar your life. No rubber room would ever be able to hold you. You will live the rest of your life with that image burnt into your memory. You walked in there just to wash your hands or something, but now you’re bur dened with knowing things like this actu ally happen. These people are getting in credible kicks from things you’ll never know ... and right in the men’s room too. Finally, do these advertisements work? To the people who write these requests, do you get a healthy response, and are they the demographic you’re looking for? If so, let this be a lesson to all advertising ma jors who will need an unorthodox method of improving the profits of your client: bathroom advertising. Hire people to write little messages in the stalls of men’s and women’s bathrooms. This could be a steady job, as custo dians will probably wipe them off every few days or so. How would you like to be “doing your business” and see an ad? “Wacky Wally’s is having a giant liquida tion sale. We’re wiping the prices on all our stock. You’ll go nuts for our prices. Call me corny, but penny pinchers will think we’re wacky when they see our sale. Come one, come all.” People are always more logical in the bathroom anyway. Hell, I’ve had some prize-winning ideas whilst spending some “quality time” with the john. People are bound to respond to these ads. It’s a sure success. A-nd if this doesn’t pan out, simply write down all the numbers of the bath room-stall pimps and try to offer them proper representation. Either that, or con struct a book on all the real funny “solic itations.” That would be a sure-fire best seller. I can see it now. “The Dow was down a few points today, and the Nasdaq held firm. In other news, topping The New York Times' Best-Seller list this week was ‘Pot ty Talk.’ It has held onto the spot for four weeks now.” Would it not be worth it to see Tom Brokaw or Dan Rather say “Potty Talk” on national television? Now I think this whole bathroom mar ket could prove fulfilling if people just use their imaginations and keep an open mind about the whole thing. , After all, I’ve always said love finds you, you don’t find love. If you meet the man of your dreams through “potty talk,” it was meant to be. Kevin Langston is a journalism junior and Encore editor. He can be reached via at gamecock viewpoints@hot mail.com Letters Carolina for Kids Kick-Off a success Thank you very much for your article about the Carolina for Kids Kick-Off ral ly and program Jan. 19 and 20. The infor mation was very receptive and informa tive for the students. Our Kick-Off was a success and we obtained a laige number of volunteers for our program. Again, thank you for your article, and we look for ward to your assistance in the fall. Phyllis Davis Carolina for Kids Kick off Chairwoman Palms shows terrible leadership John Palms failed the students, facul ty and staff of the university for his failure to take decisive action regarding the win ter weaker. No one can fault the admin istration for its slow reaction Monday because the storm was a surprise to every one. However, the glacier-like response on Tuesday was intolerable, reckless and irresponsible. The obvious dodge was that it was Gov. Hodges, and not Palms, who was responsible for the about-face Tues day morning. However, I hold Palms at fault for the mess than many of us en countered Tuesday. 1 live in Shandon, and I really did not want to drive into campus until it was obvious that I had to. I left early knowing that parking would be an even bigger headache than normal. By the time I parked and walked to the law school, classes were canceled. Palms, both in last spring’s winter weather and Tuesday, has shown a com plete lack of regard for the safety of commuting students, faculty and staff. It was obvious Monday night that the weath er situation was not going to be resolved by Tuesday morning. Instead of waiting on the governor, Dr. Palms should have went ahead and can celled class. He camelled class in antici pation of Hurricane Floyd without wait ing for the governor to order the closing of state offices. Why couldn t he do the same for Tuesday class? The university, led by Palms, needs to come up with a better way of handling win ter weather. Even if class had not been can celed, the sidewalks around USC were in horrible condition. The university needs to come up with a more efficient way of notifying students of potential problems. For example, the university could use WUSC-FM 90.5 to broadcast weather-related closing infor mation and let it be the “olficial” source of information. The university also needs to make a policy decision such as automatically clos ing if local school districts close because of the weather fornontraditional students who might have children. A friend from law school was killed in a car wreck a year and a half ago because she was trying to get to class in in clement weather. I think that was intoler able. Let’s err on the side of caution and not let that ever happen again. Brian Gambrell Law Student Campus Issues Snowfall shows ugly side It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world. 1 have seen more snow fall in Columbia in the past year than I have seen over four Christmas breaks at hpme in New York. What is it about the sight of snow that brings out .the kid in all of L us? At the sight of snow, people either run outside and play in it or sit in side and pout, just like children. Mixed reac tions greeted the snow. From joy to anger, from childlike giddiness to panic. Emotions ran rampant when the flakes started to fall. The two most prominent student reactions to the white stuff were rather different. Group 1 - You complained about how much you hate the snow and how you don’t like walking around in wet socks. You wor ried about driving in it and then ran down to the supermarket as quickly as possible to buy bread and milk (Why do people do that anyway? Are we worried about get ting snowed in?). You cursed toward the sky and shook your fist because your day didn’t go as smoothly as you had planned when you rolled out of bed in the morn ing. Group 2 - You went outside and en joyed the snow while it lasted. You threw snowballs. You built snowmen. You made snow angels. You went sledding on the hill next to the Bull Street parking garage us ing those garnet lunch trays from the Grand Market Place as a vessel. You laughed cru elly as your friends fell down time and again on slippery ground. You wandered around with your tongues hanging out of your mouths collecting flakes. Too many of us spent Monday pouting rather than enjoying the afternoon. We don’t get snow in Columbia very frequently. A day like Monday should be one to re member. I saw one student near the Towers yelling at the top of his lungs about just how much he hated the snow. I scooped up a handfull and packed it tightly, but my better half stopped me from throwing it. As encouraging as it was that I had been pelting strangers with snowballs earlier in the day, this one obviously didn’t have the spirit and probably would have kicked my ass. v_naiu.es are v_oiumoia won v see a snowstorm as large for many years. If you spent Monday complaining and worry ing, the only person you ruined the expe rience for was yourself. Despite the whiners, it was the most alive I’ve seen this campus in my four years here. I saw more smiling faces on Monday than on any other single occasion on cam pus since I first arrived as a wide-eyed fresh man. Students who didn’t even know one another seemed to revel in sharing the snow with whomever they could, literally. I shared some snow with a few unsuspecting stu dents with a snowball in the leg or the chest. That brings me to the art of the spo radic snowball fight. The rules are simply (a) no rocks or ice into your snowball, (b) every person for himself, c) no mercy for the weak, and d) no time outs. Several other Gamecock staff members and myself had the pleasure of a spur-of-the-moment snowball fight in front of the Russell House on Monday af ternoon. Despite being strategically trapped on the ramp leading to the front of the build ing, my side (consisting of our illustrious editor-in-chief, managing editor and view points editor) outnumbered Gamecock sports by 4 to 3 and subsequently defeat ed the undermanned squad. It was a hard fought battle and they put up a good fight, but in my estimation, we won. Only in a war or a snowball fight can brother be pitted against brotlier, friend against friend. Hell, if I was armed with a snowball, I’d probably be likely to pelt my own mother if she stood near me, unsus pecting. You might think this is cruel and evil, but all’s fair in snow and war. I hope you all had as much fun as I did and took lots of pictures, because a day like Monday probabty won't happen ag;iin in Columbia for a lOTg time. Pete Johnson is a journalism senior and assis tant Viewpoints editor. He can be reached at gamecockview points@hotmail.c om