Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Quote, Unquote ~ ‘If your life really were noticably. better, you’d know it full well — and [Bill Clinton] wouldn’t have to say more than a few words.’ K_/ Harry Brown, Libertarian Presidential Candidate Wednesday, September 13,2000 HullC 03ITlCCOCk „ Page 7 %he (Bamecock Serving the Carolina Community since 1Q0S Editorial Board Brock Vergakis • Editor in Chief Kevin Langston • Viewpoints Editor Nathan White • Asst. Viewpoints Editor Patrick Rathbun • Editorial Contributor Brad Walters • Editorial Contributor Construction agendas: Can USC meet them? rTHhe Strom Thurmond Fitness and Wellness Center was sup X posed to open in fall 2001. As of right now, the Wellness Center is a dirt clearing. How does the university expect to complete the center in less than one year? Students were supposed to see progress by now, but there has been no sign of production since the lot was leveled and cleared. Where is the foundation? Where is the infrastructure? What about the Greek Village? It was a very good sign when the Facilities Master Plan, but it is very disappointing that the uni versity is not following it. The East Quadrangle residence hall went up on time; why can’t everything else? rnntnr onH ftr-opt Villairp u/prp orninp to i’lUJ UV/ U MVUUVJJ -- U ^ be cash cows like East Quad, we would see some signs of progress. The university wasted no time in eliminating a parking lot, tearing down a building and throwing up a residential hall, but we’ve been handed excuse after excuse about the Wellness Center and Greek Village. Enough excuses. We want results. It’s unfortunate the university sets standards and goals that are a’ ost impossible to meet. What kind of example does this set for students at an institution where meeting deadlines regularly should be a common practice? If the university can’t complete buildings on time, why should students rush to turn in their English assign ments in a punctual manner? Ideally, the new Wellness Center — whenever it’s complete — will provide the latest in fitness thinking and provide an excellent facility to improve the overall quality of the university. The Greek Village will be an excellent improvement on the current Greek housing facilities of South Tower and McBryde Quadrangle. Both will one day be beautiful additions to the southwest part of cam pus. Every extra year of delay matters, particularly in terms of new student recruitment. If these facilities will not be in place by the time the university has said they will, it can only mean that future works will be in evitably delayed as well. If history proves correct, then the new a^ia, the new School of Law building, the Longstreet Greenway, the renovation of Russell House and the the moving of the College Of Journalism and Mass Communications to Petigru will be pushed back to completion dates that many of us, unfortunately, won’t live to see as students. What is the university’s excuse fyr being behind schedule? By now, the school has undertaken enough building projects and reno vations in its history to be able to set reasonable dates of comple tion that should be achievable. The university and administration, as always, should be com mended for attempting to bring USC to par with its peer institu tions wherever necessary. These improvements are not too much to ask for. They should be expected. A the same time, the university should also be condemned for raising our hopes and then failing to meet its goals. We hope future students who are lured to this university by the same promises we Y hi • d will grow impatient and demand more from their school. Only then might we see some signs of progress, or at least signs of nrrvrl i ir\n ■ 8P1P5^ About Us The Gamecock ^student newspaper of The University of South Carol,na and is published Monday. Wednesday and Frtt during the fall and spring semesters and n,ne times dunng the summer with the exception of university holidays and exam periods Opinions expressed in The Gamecock are those of the editor or author and not those of The University of South Carolina The . Bo*d of Student Publications an!) C^mumcatKx* ,s the publisher of The Gameccck. The Department of Student Media is the newspaper's parent orgamzatran The Gamecock is supported in part by student activities fees. . Adoress . The Gamecock f 1400 Greene Street Columbia, SC 29208 Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Student Media Area code 803 Advertising 777'll84 . f***1 777-6482 ^ of It 777-3888 Gamecock Area code 803-777-7726 Editor in Chief gamecockeditorehotmail.com University Desk gamecocudeskehotmail.com City/State Desk gamecockcitydeskehotmail.com Viewpoints gamecockviewpoints0hotmail.com Spotlight gamecockspotlight0hotmail.com Sports gamecocksports0hotmail.com Online www.gamecock.sc.edu 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 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 and should be sent to gamecockviewpoints0hotmail.com. 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 I HE UAMtWVtv Brock Vergakis Editor in Chief Brandon Larrabee University Editor John Huiett City/State Editor Kevin Langston Viewpoints Editor Brad Walters Martha Wright Jason Harmon Copy Editas Jared Kelowitz Sports Editor John Bailey Asst. City/State Edita Student Media Erik Collins Faculty Adviser Susan King Creative Director Sean De Luna Todd Hooks Melanie Hutto Emilie Moca Martin Salisbury Creative Services Amanda Silva Charles Prashaw Asst University Edita Nathan White Asst Viewpoints Edih MacKenzie Craven Meredith Davis Asst. Spotlight Editor Amy Goulding Photo Editor Sean Rayford Sports Photo Edita Miranda LaLonde Ann Marie Miani Design Editors Kyle Almond Asst Sports Editor Kenton Watt Advertising Manager Robyn Gombar Melissa Millen Brantley Roper Nicole Russell Advertising Stall Carolyn Griffin Business Manager Sherry Holmes Classified Manager College Press Exchange WHAT REALLY HAPPENED... '— / F I UFT Tvm. • EFA&AR&O.OR. I I^£rtE»m.K)b I BACK ON A I RAPT. I { / . •w ^_ mmm __ ^ Election 2000 ■ Two guys from down the hall Recently, I’ve been in volved in various dialogues pertaining to the 2000 election. I’ve been dis cussing the various pros and cons of the candidates, as well as what their *3atnc*c Rathbun future administra- 's a junior tions might have in journalism major store for Ameri- and writes every ca. In analyzing Wednesday. He these dialogues, can be reached I’ve come to cer- at gamecockview tain realizations. p0jnts@hotmail. I’m concerned _ , , com. about the overex posure and disillu sionment some young people might experience or have already experienced because of the atten tion the election has received. The ubiquity of the debates and mud slinging rages on, leaving young voters to question the credibility of the candi dates. The dubious feelings younger gen erations share about politicians might ac count for their indifference towards politics. Doubt might also arise in the minds of young voters because of the lip service we’ve been fed. I ask myself whether my vote matters. But I’ve come up with a solution to end apathy among college students and young people alike. I’m also trying to con vince myself to exercise my right to choose. This particular race pits two middle of-the-road candidates against each other, which increases the chances for poor vot er turnout. Both men also appear phleg matic much of the time, and having ro botic characteristics certainly won’t send the youngergenerations to the polls. So, I’ve decided to attempt to portray the candidates as guys with personality traits that college student can relate to. I’ll attempt to size up the candidates in the vernacular of the college student. This election isn’t about abortion or health care or gun control or the envi ronment. It’s not about government spend ing or tax cuts or social security or mili tary funding. It’s not about choosing the candidate who is more qualified for the presidency or who will have a more suc cessful administration. It’s about choosing the guy who you’d rather hang out with. Bush might be the guy you know who gets a little rowdy at parties, and he might snort a couple lines now and then. He’s the guy with sadistic, self-destructive ten dencies who has strong views for capital punishment. Upon reading the paper, he might even make the comment that the criminal arrested for petit larceny should be “cooked.” He’s the guy with the rich, demanding father, and he just can’t evei live up to old dad’s expectations, but maybe someday he’ll make something out of him self. Not now though, because he says col lege is the time for “experimentation’ (with synthetic drugs). Vice President Gore is like the guy you know who smokes pot occasionally and he’s given to dense, intellectual de bates about the future of the rain forests He harbors strong feelings about the en vironment, and he might even be involved in some kind of cause to preserve it. He can carry a conversation, and he doesn’t mix up the words “persevere” and “pre serve” like the guy you know that reminds you of Geoige W. He does limited “ex perimenting,” and never with anything chemically synthesized. He’s harmless, al though he might insist “Love Story” par allels his life too closely. I don’t know if I’m suffering from Clin ton fatigue, but I’ve got more Reagan or Bush fatigue than anything else. Perhaps I’m writing this because I doubt Bush’s intelligence. Or is it because I favor Gore’s record (he has done a lot as VP)? Or is it because what Bush did as the Texas governor is objectionable to me? I think he had an aversion to pardons. My descriptions could easily be char acterized as oversimplifications. But I think, certainly in my experiences, noble peo ple with moral foundations make the right decisions most of the time. I’ll take a guy who might have accepted illegal cam paign contributions over a guy who exe cuted for efficacy. I think politicians’ dishonesty and cor ruption is tired and has fallen on younger generations’ deaf ears. I see the candi date of the future as candid and comfort able in expressing raw emotion, not whis pering expletives about the media. But I’m still feeling apathetic. Letters Pre-game prayer is unconstitutional, . heavily biased j,' To The Editor My name is Kyle Oden, and I am the South Carolina State Director of Ameri can Atheists and a full-time graduate stu dent at USC. Once again, I have to take a stand against the policy of pre-game prayer 5 at Williams-Brice Stadium [“USC sanc tions pre-game prayer,” Sept. 8], On June r 19, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that any type of religious invocation before a sport ing event of a public school is unconsti tutional, as it is in direct violation of the Establishment Clause and an infringement of the separation of state and church. Therefore, the continuing of such pol icy by USC’s athletics department is in di rect violation of the Supreme Court rul ing. Even without the ruling, this policy needs to stop. USC needs to wake up and realize that, as a public university, it receives its funding from taxpayer dollars. Taxpayers include Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Mormons, Muslims, Buddhists, Sa tanists, agnostics, atheists and all sorts of other groups of skeptics, freethinkers and pagans. It is appalling that USC clearly shows favoritism to one type of group, while alienating several others. The prayer has to place at a sporting event in the first place. Some will aigue that it’s tradition, but it was also tradition 25 years ago to have the black students sit in separate sec tions as white students. Not all traditions are good for the people, and this is an other one that needs to stop once and for all. If USC wants to promote itself as a progressive learning environment for stu dents and a leader in higher education, then holding on to backwards, old-fashioned values is not going to help in its cause. It’s time that USC treats all of its students equally, and not discriminate against a large portion of its student and faculty population. Agood first step would be for the USC Athletics Department to recognize the diversity of the university and put an end to this favoritism. Kyle M. Oden Graduate Student, Dept, of Geography Students have more than one loyalty To the Editor. Corey Ford was on top of everything in his column about the Gamecocks’ first victory last week [“Celebration offers USC rallying point,” Sept. 6]. It was a well-writ ten piece of sports commentary. But it all fell apart once he started writ ing about his opinions rather than facts. The only section of his work that disturbs me is when he goes on to say that “noth ing angers me more than when students wear apparel displaying logos of other col legiate teams.” Well, 1 must be at the top of your hit list because I am your No. 1 culprit. Just because I am a student at the University of South Carolina does not mean in any way that I must wear only Gamecock apparel. Do not get me wrong; I haye been at both football games and have cheered my lungs out .every game. But that does not constitute me to wear only Gamecock apparel. I was bom and raised in South Carolina, but I bleed North Carolina blue. Nothing will every stop me from cheer ing for the Tar Heels. But it just does not end there. I have had the distinct honor of going to high school with future college football players. With them being very good friends, I have and always will sup port them. They are now at different schools other than your “coveted USC ath letics program.” So, you will still see me wearing ap parel from their respected universities be cause it is not out of disrespect to USC but respect to my friends. So, the next time you write a column and try to give pride to USC, remember the other very small point you withheld from your ignorant comment. Not everyone is from South Carolina, and not everybody loves your Gamecocks. The athletic program is getting ample support from the student body. Just re member, everyone has their own opinion and deserves to support whatever school they wish. Craig Roark Election 2000 Nader's - « remarks powerful, accurate , In the Septem ber 2000 issue of Harper’s magazine, con sumer advocate and Green Party presidential candi date Ralph Nader made an interest- Jonathan < ing comment that Qarrjck has stuck with is a senior me for days. English major He In talking can be reached about the current at gamecockview state of political in- points@hotmail. volvement, artis- com. tic creation and other forms of cre ative thinking, Nader said that “the oli garchy never wants anyone to know what, or how much, ordinary citizens can ac complish if they leam to use the power of their own laws. Apathy is good for busi ness-as-usual; so is cynicism.” He then went onto to talk about the apathy of younger Americans: “Convince kids that all the wars are over, that histo ry is at an end, that nothing important re mains to be discovered, done, or said, and maybe"they won’t ask why a corporate CEO receives a salary four hundred times greater than that of the lowest paid work er in his own company.” These statements by Nader rolled around in my brain until 1 finally realized he’s 100 percent right. America’s youth have been growing wearier of political involvement since 1970, when the popularity of protest fell with the dead bodies at Kent State Uni versity. I use the word “popularity” for a reason. An amalgamation of “cool” and “politics” has existed since the birth of the subculture. Why do I talk about the ’60s when we are in the 2000s? Because the same exact mistakes are destined to happen again, only under a different guise. In the past year, the media has picked up the “cool new left” as one of its fo cus of broadcast. With the World Trade Organization protests and punk-metal bands with dreaded-haired lead singers spouting anti-establishment leftist ideol ogy into the faces of mainstream Ameri ca it’s hard to not say that political in volvement is once again becoming cool and chic. That’s where the problem is, and the link between the ’60s and the ’00s can be found. In addition, we as a group of Ameri can youths must embrace political in volvement (whether it be left- or right wing), and we must do so with a sincere heart and strong ideology. UUling yourseir a raaicai just Decause of a punk-metal band with a dreaded-haired lead singer is not good enough, nor is it ethically justified. Even if that musical • group is sincere in their beliefs, are you really sincere in your beliefs? Only when the left/right/whatcver ac tivists put themselves under the micro scope of self-criticism and really justify to no one but themselves why they be lieve the way they do can real political activism begin as a whole and ethical idea. After that has been achieved, the most important question must be raised—the level of commitment. When our leaders and even some of our brothers and sisters have fallen for what they believe, will you still carry on, or will you fall into the den of normality with 2.5 million kids and a gas-guzzling Sports Utility Vehicle like previous gen erations? Staying true to beliefs is the most cru cial element, even us the bad begins to outweigh the good. I know it sounds scary, but with a true heart and confidence in your beliefs, a cause will never die. And, by the way, vote for Nader.