The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 23, 2000, Page A8, Image 8
Quote, Unquote
‘You don’t have to be rich or smart to step onto
the pages of history.’
Cleveland Sellers, civil rights movement veteran
Wat (5amcock
Serving the Carolina Community since 1Q08
Edi+orial Board
Kenley Young • Editor in Chief
Brad Walters • Managing Editor
Brock Vergakis • Viewpoints Editor
Peter Johnson • Assistant Viewpoints Editor
Emily Streyer • Editorial Contributor
GMP makes positive
step toward service
he Grand Marketplace has taken a small step that is yielding
great improvements in its quality of service. Heeding calls to
alleviate the congestion around the hot line, the Healthy
Choice sandwich line has switched places with the grilled cheese
line.
This simple change has made a great improvement toward re
ducing congestion during peak eating hours. The GMP is to be
commended for being willing to make a change to benefit stu
dents. There is less congestion now, reducing the irritation of stu
dents in a rush to get their food.
The GMP doesn’t have a wonderful reputation for service, but
with innovations like changing where the lines are, that might
change. It must always remember that we are its customers, and
we can and will eat elsewhere if this progressive attitude toward
providing service changes. We should demand no less than excel
lence from dining services.
Although this small change has already made a difference in
lunch-line congestion, there is still room for improvement. The
confusion created by the placement of the salad bar and hot line
needs to be remedied.
Half of the congestion problem has been solved; now the GMP
needs only to fix the salad bar and hot-line fiasco. The momentum
toward positive change in the GMP’s service is increasing. Now is
the time to act upon it. Fill out those comment cards and demand
that the salad bar be moved. You have a voice — let it be heard.
Death penalty should
not mean electric chair
In a 5-4 vote Tuesday, the Supreme Court rejected a challenge
by a death row inmate to Alabama’s use of the electric chair as
the only means of execution. This decision is a step back from the
precedent being set by the rest of the country to phase out the
electric chair and move toward lethal injection instead.
Alabama, Georgia and Nebraska continue to offer no alterna
tive to electrocution for putting inmates to death. Of the 98 death
row inmates executed across the nation in 1999, 94 were killed
by injection. Three were electrocuted, and one was killed by
cyanide gas.
Clearly, most states are coming to a consensus that electrocu
tion not only borders on “cruel and unusual punishment” as de
fined in the Constitution, but is also a more costly way to kill in
mates. The nearly split decision by the Supreme Court puts an
even darker cloud of doubt over the constitutionality of the elec
tric chair, and we imagine that the court will hear similar cases
against electrocution in the near future and perhaps will vote one
day to ban electrocution.
In the meantime, the Alabama, Geoigia and Nebraska legisla
tures should push to allow lethal injection as the primary means
of execution — even if only because the chair is antiquated and
expensive.
A B O U T U s
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.
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Letters to the editor or guest columns are welcome £ncore E‘tor Editorial Contributor
from all members of the Carolina community. Letters Student Media
should be 260-300 words. Guest columns should be an „
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telephone number for confirmation. Todd Graduate Assistant
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lished. Photos are required for guest columnist and can Kenton Watt Brantley Roper
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College Press Exchange
National Issues
S.C. reputation still embarrassing
:
Brock Vergakis
is a journalism
junior and
Viewpoints editor.
He can be
reached at
gamecock
viewpoints®
hotmail.com:
One of the
benefits of my
job is that I lit
erally get to
travel and meet
people from all
over the coun
try and the
world.
This past
weekend was
no different as I
traveled to
Washington,
D.C. I got to
hang out with
kids from Cali
fornia, New
Hampshire,
Minnesota, Ten
nessee, Texas
and even some crazy lowans, among oth
ers.
Because this was the first time most
of us had met, we only had the geogra
phy of one another to go by. It didn’t mat
ter where we were all originally from or
what school we went to; each of us iden
tified the other by the state we went to
school in.
I’m not originally from South Car
olina, nor do I plan to live here after grad
uation, but suddenly I became a spokesman
for this state. And believe me, I did my
best to break as many stereotypes about
this state as possible, as I often find myself
doing when around people from other states
or countries.
At first, I just laughed off all the stereo
types about South Carolina and its resi
dents, but after a while, it became annoy
ing and I fell victim to saying the same
stereotypical statements about kids from
other states. I made fun of someone from
Wisconsin for going to “Cheese U” and
having wild fraternity parties that result
ed in a raucous night of cow tipping.
I was quick to make fun of someone
from a California school for being the on
ly person to set off a metal detector and
be searched by security guards. And I
was sure to make fun of two girls from the
other USC for being snobby California pri
vate-school kids.
Nothing that was said about anyone
there was meant to be taken seriously, but
it just goes to show that a million stereo
types exist about people from all parts of
the country, particularly the South.
Whether anyone here wants to admit
it or not, the rest of the country still thinks
this is a backward, redneck place. They
perceive this state as one completely op
posed to change and progress, where the
people talk slowly and think even more
slowly. They know our education system
is the worst in the country and are quick
to call us out on it.
Fortunately, all those I’ve been around
know that for the most part, this isn’t re
ally the case, but many do not. The only
knowledge most of the country has
about South Carolina is what is shown in
newspapers and on television.
hr regards to coverage of the state Leg
islature, South Carolina is coming off as
the racist redneck state it’s always been
perceived as. Even in the presidential pri
mary, political commentators have said a
large reason that Bush won is because Mc
Cain was too liberal for this state, and
change in South Carolina even among Re
publicans is traditionally a bad thing.
In movies and television shows, South
Carolina doesn ’t exactly get a good repu
tation, either. Remember the movie
“There’s Something About Mary”? This
is the state where Ben Stiller gets arrest
ed and interrogated by cops too stupid to
figure out the truth after being arrested
at one of our lovely rest areas known to
be a hangout for homosexuals. And for a
little school pride, it does say “Go
Gamecocks” on his jail cell wall.
Many might think that nobody seri
ously thinks that this state or the South is
really like this. I guarantee you’re wrong.
Until people are proved otherwise, stereo
types are the only source of knowledge
many have. Most people come here only
to go to the beaches, and Myrtle Beach is
n’t exactly known as the classiest place on
the East Coast.
I know that some people here could
n’t care less what the rest of the country
or the world thinks of them. However,
each person here should. We’re all stu
dents of the University of South Carolina,
and our reputation goes hand in hand with
the state’s.
If South Carolina is perceived as a state
of uneducated rednecks, so will our school.
After all, 85 percent of the students here
are products of South Carolina’s educa
tional system. And the farther away from
our borders we go, the less impressive a
degree from here looks to prospective em
ployers. To someone from Chicago or Dal
las, USC and S.C. State might as well be
the same school because our reputation is
n’t strong enough to stand out on its
own.
We must always be careful when
around others from different parts of the
country or world, or stereotypes will per
sist. I know that this is not the place oth
ers would make it out to be, but trust me,
the rest of the country does not.
Letters
USC students show
their good side
On Feb. 19, Republican primary day,
a group of M BA students from USC spent
much of their day performing some com
munity service that probably will go un
recognized but, hopefully, not unappreci
ated.
The students methodically worked a
stretch of south Beltline Boulevard be
tween Rosewood Drive and Shop Road,
picking up trash that easily filled several
dozen plastic bags.
They also found a tire, old five-gal
lon buckets and a hubcap.
The students waded through muddy
ditches and prickly weeds to rid the
roadway of the unsightly trash that coach
Lou Holtz so appropriately noted was a
major problem in this state shortly after his
arrival.
Some passing motorists unbelievably
chastised them for their efforts. On behalf
of residents who live in southeast Colum
bia and travel along Beltline Boulevard, a
tip of the cap and heartfelt “thank you” to
those students.
Bill Robinson
Columbia
Police resources
should go to real
crimes, not parking
OK, imagine the scenario: You have
just gotten back from spending the week
end at home. You have four huge loads of
freshly washed laundry to unload from your
car. You park in front of your dorm, put
on your emeigency flashers and start
hauling up all of your stuff.
After your fourth and final trip to the
room, you come back down just in time
to see a meter maid standing behind your
car, writing you a parking citation! This
just happened to me no more than fifteen
minutes ago.
Now, I owe $25 more to a school that
I already pay thousands of dollars to at
tend. 1 have observed, time and time again,
these meter maids writing tickets. Yet si
multaneously, I am reading stories in The
Gamecock about muggings, rapes and thefts
that are taking place on our campus.
There are several solutions to this prob
lem: (1) Fire all of the meter maids and
invest the money used to pay their salaries
into the campus police department to
hire more police officers. (2) Let them
keep their jobs, but make them do some
thing constructive like walking around the
campus or in the garages at night to ward
off potential predators. (3) Just make more
parking spaces that are closer to the build
ings so parking problems would be elimi
nated and there would be no need for me
ter maids!
If even half of the effort put into writ
ing ridiculous tickets was put into pro
tecting and serving the students at USC,
we wouldn't see most of the parking ci
tations or crimes that we see now.
Jennifer K. Frommer
Psychology Freshman
Campus Issues
use
standard
of living
too low
Nathan White
is a political
science junior,
H a can be
reached at
gamecock
viewpoints®
hotmail.com
For the first
18 years of
my life, I had
a room to myself.
For the past two,
I’ve had to live
with another per
son. At this rate,
I’ll be living with
two people when
I’m 36. Some
times I feel as if
my “standard of
living” has de
clined since I came
to USC.
When I was a
baby, my mom fed
me blueberry
buckle (good
stuff). Now, I go to the Grand Marketplace
and get reconstituted food and dehydrated
water.
When I was a little kid just learning to
use the “grown-up” toilet, I indulged my
behind with double-ply toilet paper. Now,
I use single-ply on my bottom, which has
since become callous and leathery. When
1 was in high school, I would get up in the
morning and walk barefoot to the bath
room where I would shower, and if I
dropped the soap, I would pick it up.
Now I walk with sandals on and let
the soap go if I happen to drop it. I mourn
fully watch as it hits the shower floor and
grows hair in a sort of instant puberty be
fore my eyes.
Please tell me I am not the only stu
dent living on campus who thinks my liv- ,
ing standards have regressed since com
ing to college.
Mediocre housing, mediocre food and
mediocre everything, etc. I have often won
dered why. Why? Here is my answer. The
reason we all live in mediocrity is not
because of any “college experience” or
crap like that.
It’s because most college-age kids could
not care less about how they live. USC
gives us cells to live in; we live in them.
They give us fake food; we eat fake food.
They give us single-ply; we have chaffed
bottoms.
We live in mediocrity because we don’t
realize that there’s abetter way. You think
the faculty and the administration are go
ing to call for double-ply — no! We must
empower ourselves with the knowledge '
that there is abetter way. Listen, I am not
talking revolution here, I’m talking reason.
I grew up in a nice, clean house with
a clean bathroom (with all the modem tech
nologies — double-ply toilet paper, etc.),
and I ate decent (edible) food.
So why can’t I have all those things
here? Recent studies have shown that col
lege students prefer apartment-style dorms
to the traditional prison cell-style dorms.
Ya think?
The day I was bom, I had a room to
myself. Now, I share one. Not that I don’t
like my roommate, I just wish that I had a
room and no “mate.”
I wish I had my own bathroom, or at
least a bathroom that looks less like the
ones at the Coliseum. ^ j?
And what about the food? The GMP,
Pizza Butt, Taco Hell, oh my!
When I ate on campus, I decided where
I ate by what food I hated the least. The
reason I say “ate” is because 1 don’t have
a meal plan and I don’t eat on campus any
more. Pure genius. Not getting a meal plan
this semester was the smartest thing I’ve
done in 2000.
And what about double-ply? Need I
say more? I happened to go home recently.
I used some double-ply with aloe. Wow. It
was ecstasy after the single-ply torture I’ve
endured for so long.
Listen, my fellow college students.
There is a better way, and we must em
power ourselves so that we can realize it
someday.
In the weeks to come, I will show you
how we can empower ourselves and tde-,^
vale our standard of living. Until then, i*lpe
softly and carry a big stick.
Send your letter to
qamecockviewpoints @ hotmail.com