Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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r, 4 ■ • ,t: • i ■ 1 ,cr Quote, Unquote ‘You’re running out of room. You’re running into our community, and we don’t want you in our com munity.’ Betty Hilliard, Olympia area resident Page A7 Whc (5amcock 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 Emily Streyer • Editorial Contributor Bob Jones University catching up with times Bob Jones University is back in the spotlight this week, as it erased statements from its Web site calling Catholicism and Mormonism cults. The conservative Christian college in Greenville has been the subject of much debate lately, particularly for its ban that, until recently, prohibited interracial dating on its campus. In an interview March 3 with talk-show host Larry King, University President Bob Jones III said the school was dropping the interracial ban, not so much to save face, but more because it was giving people the wrong idea about the school and its reli gion. Jones claimed that the school is not racist. It’s disappointing that the school didn’t allow its students to talk to news reporters about the repeal, but the reasons why Bob Jones University is eliminating these bigoted, arcane bans and statements are secondary. At a school so far behind the times that it prohibits students from holding hands, it is amazing and suffi cient that such policies are nullified at all. It seems allowances must always be made for South Carolina, a state that moves at its own distinctively snail-like pace and, of course, refuses to be told what to do by anyone. It thus will al ways finish last in the race for social progress. But at least Bob Jones University is taking steps in the right direction. Alcohol abstinence on rise among students Encouraging news has come out concerning college students and heavy drinking. According to a report released Tuesday by the Harvard School of Public Health, the number of stu dents abstaining from alcohol use increased during the 1990s. In a survey of 14,000 undergraduate students in 39 states, 19 percent of respondents identified themselves as abstainers — up from 15 percent in a study six years before. Not all the results were as encouraging. Twenty-three percent of students said they went on a binge at least three times in the two weeks before the survey — compared to 20 percent six years earlier. Researchers say one model program aimed at reducing drink ing has been successful: It’s based on the finding that students tend to drink less when they learn their classmates drink less. USC’s Office of Alcohol and Drug Programs has taken advan tage of this finding by running advertisements announcing that 71 percent of students tend to drink 0-4 drinks when they party. This is a positive step, and other organizations right here on campus can do their part in bringing alcohol levels down at Car olina. Greek organizations at Michigan State University, for exam ple, have gone voluntarily dry, and our Greek organizations that aren’t already voluntarily dry can set a good example by doing so, even if only temporarily. 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 T?0?88 . Kenley Young Amy Goulding The Gamecock Editor in CMef Travis Lynn 1400 Greene Street Brad Walters Photo Editors Columbia, SC 29208 Managing Editor Will Gillaspy Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Brock Vergakis Online Editor Student Media Area code 803 Viewpoint Editor Peter Johnson Advertising 777-3888 Clayton Kale AsstVrewpomtsEdrtor Classified 777-1184 P 777-6482 Brandon Larrabee Patrick Rathbun 0 777 oooq Associate News Editor Asst. News Editors 0f,'“ 777-3888 Rebecca Cronic3n MacKenz* Craven Gamecock Area code 803 Ann Marie Miani Asst. EtCetera Editor Editor gcked@sc.edu 777-3914 EtCetera Editors Elizabeth Rod News gcknews@sc.edu 777-7726 David Cloninger Asst. Sports Editor Viewpoints gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com Shannon Rooke Rob Fleming Etc. gcketc@sc.edu 777-3913 Sports Editors Asst. Encore Edita 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 ruuur K«in Ungston Emil, Stayer Letters to the editor or guest columns are welcome £ncwe £*f(Jr Editorial Contributor from all members of the Carolina community. Letters Mqjw should be 250-300 words. Guest columns should be an „ .. snouia oe cou- Ellen Parsons Business Manager , JBI nion piece of about 600-700 words. Director Sheny Holmes Both must include name, phone number, profes- Susan Kjng Classified Manager s,i>nal 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. g*1 K . .. . ., v_,iK„. Betsy Martin Robyn Gombar The Gamecock reserves the right to edit for libel, ^ Van Nostrand Gina McKelve, style and space. Anonymous letters will not be pub- Creative Services Melissa Millen lished. Photos are required for guest columnist and can Kenton Watt Brantley Roper provided by the submitter. ,, Advertisng Manager Nicole Russell Call 777-7726 for more information. Carolyn uriffin Advertising Stan College Press Exchange Campus Issues SG needs to do more for students some o d y ease tell me why there are SO many “Vote for Joe” posters on this campus? Oh yeah, Student Govern ment elections were last month (woohoo). I know, I know, SG is very important. USC’s student senate is the backbone of this campus and where it is headed in the future. They are responsible for many necessary things on this campus, such as painting a gamecock on the street in front of Russell House. I have also noticed that there are even gamecock TALONS by the Greene Street gates. What genius, what vision! Why didn’t I think of that? They have passed crucial legislation like ... like ... well, I can’t think of anything offhand. By now, the few dozen people who care about SG are offended. They are all saying, “What does ‘No-name John’ know about Student Government? He’s not a senator, nor a Cabinet member, and thus has no idea about all the things that Student Government accomplishes.” And they are right. I don’t know what senate has accomplished recently. That is, how ever, for one of two reasons. 1 )Maybe SG does NOT get anything done. Maybe it really is a “resume builder” organization. Or, on the more hopeful hand, 2) SG only gets unimportant measures passed. This would explain why none of the thou sands of “No-name Johns” on this cam pus have heard about anything SG has ac complished. I dare any of you “no-namers” to ask your senate representatives what SG has done between the fall of ‘99 and today. I guarantee their first answer is: “We got the gamecock painted on Greene Street.” (Enter eye rolling.) When asked “what else?,” chances are a reply of: “Wfell, I can’t think of anything right now.” I’H be the first to admit that the game cock painting is great. It’s a nice little ad dition to the spirit of the school. Never theless, it is not important to the university. It is not something that the “high and mighty” USC senate should spend its weekly meeting brooding over. Speaking of their weekly meetings, what DO our senators discuss? Do they really get down to the nitty-gritty prob lems of this campus, or is it just a social gathering for the most ambitious students? ' I haven’t heard of any “tough debates” taking place on the senate floor. This leads me to believe the latter part of the ques tion. So far, I have basically come to the conclusion that the SG at USC is unnec essary and unimportant. And senators, don’t waste your time and money on the fliers and posters. You might as well save a few trees on an organization that will do nothing but look good on your resume. There is one thing that I do under stand and believe about SG. I do know why it was developed. It was created so that the student body could be represented and those representatives could bring re form to this campus. The reason I question and criticize SG is because I do not see ANY reform by my representatives. I wish to ask all you senators out there, when are you going to get something ac complished that affects me? When am I going to see the impact you were designed to make on my cam pus? I am not presenting my negative opin ions to the student population purely to insult the senators of the past. Instead, I am attempting to motivate my upcom ing representatives to change this pattern of passiveness. I hope I have challenged you to make next year at this university a little bet ter somehow. Try to do something to make the stu dent population truly believe that you have some clout on this campus. You have only one administration left to convince this “No-name John.” John Dixon is a business administration sophomore. He can be reached at gamecockview points@hotmai!.c om Letters K’-^&SsvSV-t -. i \ ■,■■ #'',3fe?* I ' ,<■ &.-.>vS;y^^^^TOswaKiHWwwiMtiS^^^^V^'aSS-Si»;>■ #CS5wi8S^ia&J2&’v>»'S»x-s:Sa^<^^^¥i^^6lKrowW6iWgaK«^S«w^Ssi^tS<*. The word ‘Cocks’ not offensive Ann Blackmon Moore’s March 3 let ter finding “Cocks” highly offensive is so insane that I had to reply. Miss Black mon’s comment that “the word ‘Cocks’ printed on a hat or a T-shirt is actually quite offensive” is totally ridiculous. Both the Random House and Amer ican Heritage College Dictionaries list 18 definitions for the word “cock.” In the abovementioned dictionaries, the first de finition for the word “cock” is “a male rooster.” It is only when you go down to definition No. 7 that you find “slang (usu ally vulgar) for penis.” If Miss Blackmon is quite.offended by the word “cocks” printed anywhere, it’s obvious she has no idea what a “Game cock” is. Miss Blackmon must have taken the 18th definition of “game” as “having the required will or spirit” (RandomHouse College Dictionary) and added it to the seventh definition for “cocks,” thereby determining that our mascot is a “spirit ed penis.” Actually, Miss Blackmon, “game” does indeed refer to “spirited,” but a “gamecock” is a spirited rooster that will fight to the death. It seems to me that anyone who sees the word “cocks” and automatically discards the 17 other definitions and im mediately thinks about “slang for penis” must have some deeply repressed issues (i.e. a lack of something or a bad experi ence with). I would think that anyone pursuing a graduate degree would use more intelli gence. This leaves me with no other op tion but to look at this person as “a per son lacking in good judgment,” which is the second definition for the word “mo ron” (RandomHouse College Dictionary). Martin Streett USC Class of‘93 Pharmacy editorial misconstrues facts The article in the March 3 issue ti tled “Pharmacy allocations unfair to oth er students” is a misconstrued column based on the journalist’s ignorance. First of all, the bill that passed in the senate was a compromise. It guaranteed a per centage of the student activity fees paid by only the students in the last two years of the program. The Schools of Law and Medicine are guaranteed a percent age of their student activity fees for all of their students. Also, the article implied that the Col lege of Pharmacy is not a professional school. However, when our students are graduated, they receive a doctor of phar macy degree. Just like a doctor of medi cine and the doctor of jurisprudence, the doctor of pharmacy degree is a profes sional degree that requires extended du ration and differs greatly from B.A. or B.S. degrees. The doctor of pharmacy de gree requires two years of pre-pharmacy courses and four-and-a-half years of professional pharmacy courses. Students in the last two years of our program take 600-level courses, unlike any un dergraduate program. The $3,830 is small amount out of $615,774 in tuition and fees allocated for student programs and organizations for the 2000-2001 school year. Also, the amount the College of Pharmacy is re ceiving is nowhere close to the amount the Schools of Medicine or Law are re ceiving. As for the New Clubs Fund, it could be that a decrease in its funds is attributed to the decline in enrollment from the pre vious years, which means less money to allocate. Kevin E. Cogsdill Pharmacy Senator An explanation of what you see on the Viewpoints page Ad editorial represents' the opinion of Hit 0aaiecodt and is written by one of five members of the Editorial Board. The board meets daily to discuss issues and formulate opinions on those issues. You’ll always find our editorials, along with the names of the members of the Editorial Board, on the left side of the page. Anyone is encouraged to write a letter to the editor dis cussing something we’ve ran in the newspaper or any thing else that’s on your mind. letters always appear in the lower half of the center of the page. All letters should be between 200 and 300 words long and must be signed in order to be printed. __:---i A column is a commentary written by one staff member and does not necessarily represent the opinion of Hit Samttoclt. Columns will always include tbe name of the writer, and usually a photo of the writer. The public may submit guest columns between 600 and 700 words long to be considered for publication. An article is a factual piece. No articles will ever be found on the Viewpoints page. The Quote, Unquote is a quote believed by the Viewpoints editor to be particularly interesting or meaningful that is taken from an article in the day’s Samtcod!. Editorial cartoons are illustrations representing the opinion of the entire staff. ■ _ r-jf • State Issues Hollings has v accomplished % much for S.C. With Sen. Fritz Holling’s lagging at tendance record on the Senate Commerce Committee this ses sion, the South Car olina Republican Par ty and the state’s media have begun unleashing attacks upon Democ ratic legend. Hollings, either with his unique dialect or his sometimes tact less way of describ ing opponents, seems to always draw atten tion. The Republicans seek to oust Hollings more than any other Democrat when he comes up for re-election. The GOP and its soldiers hail Sen. Strom Thurmond as the true Palmetto legend. Sim ply, with his long stretch of public service, they try to claim that Thurmond — and not Hollings — has done more to reform the state of South Carolina. Because of his seniority, they claim, South Carolina attains more fed eral funds to improve the state. However, Hollings — in the long run — has provided the needed leadership to place the Palmetto State on the map. Hollings, the instrumental figure in the GSP International Airport expansion for BMW, has unceasingly worked for representing the state’s citizens by bringing the “pork” home. When President Clinton proposed mas sive military closings, including the Charleston naval base, he staunchly defended the base as the economic lifeline for the port city. And his call for fiscal responsibility, his defense of minority rights and his push for ed ucational reform have been the cornerstone of his career of public service, one which in many ways outshines the work of Thurmond. Being Republican, of course, Thurmond has-been a supporter of reigning in federal waste dispelled by the nation’s government. But unlike Hollings, Thurmond has not been the passionate leader for balancing the federal budget and maintaining the solvency of Social Security. Whenever debate on appropriations or So cial Security arises on the floor of the Senate, Hollings, with his Charlestonian accent and his unequaled one-liners, rises to defend what many times is a lost cause because of both par ties raiding the Social Security Trust Fund, the so-called surplus, thus unbalancing the bud get. Hollings usually teams up with other mod erate senators to stop this waste and raid of funds. But despite his drive to be fiscally re sponsible, the media overlook his accom plishments here. And hardly a journalist re members what Hollings did for the state when he was governor. In just one term, he did much more than Thurmond has done throughout his reign in the Senate. When Hollings became governor in the 1960s, the state along with the rest of the South was embroiled in the civil rights movement. Despite being a Southern Democrat, Hollings became a proponent for minority rights and was the chief executive who oversaw the initial segregation of public schools in the state. During Harvey Gannt’s first days at Clemson University, Hollings was the state leader who ensured that the process would be a smooth, peaceful one. Yet the mark of his leadership can still be seen today in regard to one issue: educa tion. Always an annual, volatile issue in this state, Hollings became one of the first gover nors to address the issue in a significant mag nitude. He created South Carolina’s technical collegiate school system during his term. In order for workers to gain more voca tional skills, Hollings recognized the need for colleges that were solely dedicated to this pur pose. And many of the schools still provide quality education for the state’s workers. Hollings can offend many with his off-the wall remarks, but these mishaps must not cast a dark shadow upon the senator’s career rep resenting the Palmetto State. Besides, did any of you really want Bob Inglis to represent you in Washington? Corey Ford is a libera! arts sophomore. He can be reached at gamecock viewpoints® hotmail.com