Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Zhc (Bam cock Serving the Carolina Community since 1Q08 q Editorial Board Brock Vergakis • Editor in Chief Kevin Langston • Viewpoints Editor Nathan White • Asst. Viewpoints Editor Patrick Rathbun • Editorial Contributor Brad Walters • Editorial Contributor Removal of Greene gates would pose safety threat Parents, beware. Your children’s safety could be threatened if the university gets its way. ^ USC is planning on taking down the gates on Greene Street "that prevent traffic from passing through from 9:30 until 4 on weekdays. Those gates were put up for a reason — student safety. The amount of foot traffic during the day on Greene Street in front of the Russell House is much too great to consider safely re opening the gates. The university is supposedly looking out for students’ safety by supporting the construction of pedestrian bridges across As sembly and Blossom streets, but removing the gates would negate any safety improvements those bridges would add. Another factor to consider in this decision is that the quality of programming that occurs on Greene Street will decline if the street is opened all day. Bands play here, carnivals occur here, the Kappa Delta teeter-totter fund raiser is held here, organizations recruit here, debates occur here and all types of student activities take place here. Where will all these activities take place if the street is opened for traffic during the day? What purpose does the opening of Greene Street serve? The administration has so far done everything in its power to take ^vay our parking and replace it with “green space.” It follows that USC would just go ahead and remove Greene Street com pletely and replace it with grass. Then safety would be ensured, and the school would get its precious green space. Closing the street altogether would be unnecessarily inconvenient, though, and the school and its students would be best served if the gates were kept closed during the day. Daytime bus system still lacks efficiency USC might have implemented a new (and long overdue) late ®ight shuttle bus system, but the daytime buses are in dire need of some improvements. While the buses are supposed to run on 15-minute schedules, there should be an exact time schedule implemented. Too often, students arrive at a bus stop having just missed the bus by a minute or so. They wouldn't know this because there is no set schedule. They would probably stand at the bus stop for another 10 to 15 minutes until the bus returns. By this time, the student is late for class. By having a time schedule, a student can decide whether wait ing for the bus or walking to class would be a better choice. There would be less risk in waiting and more assurance in walking. While we wouldn’t expect these buses to run on a to-the-sec ond schedule, we would like a see a frame of reference estab lished. ^ With these improvements, the Carolina shuttle bus system Tould only improve its services to the students of USC. Then maybe we could see it advance the the professional-style system that the University of North Carolina enjoys. 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 Gamecock 1400 Greene Street Columbia, SC 29208 Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Area code 803 777-3888 777-1184 777-6482 Office 777-3888 Gamecock Area code 803-777-7726 Editor in Chief gamecockeditor@hotmail.com University Desk gamecocudesk@hotmail.com City/State Desk gamecockcitydesk@hotmail.com Viewpoints gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com Spotlight gamecockspotlight@hotmail.com Sports gamecocksports@hotmail.com Online www.gamecock.sc.edu Submissjon 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 gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.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 ¥ovided by the submitter. Call 777-7726 for more information. THE GAMECOCK Brock Vergakis Amy Goulding Editor in Chief Sean Rayford Brandon Larrabee Photo Edlt0's University Editor John Bai|ey John Huiett Asst City/State Editor City/State Editor Charles Prashaw Kevin Langston Amanda Silva Viewpoints Editor Asst. University Editors Jared Kelowitz Nathan White Daytime Sports Editor Asst viewpoints Editor Kyle Almond .. „ . _ Night Sports Editor MacKenzte Craven Meredith Davis Jason Harmon Asst. Spotlight Editor Ashley Melton Brad Walters Miranda LaLonde Martha Wright Ann Marie Miani Copy Editors Design Editors Student Media Erik Collins Robyn Gombar Faculty Adviser Melissa Millen Ellen Parsons Brant'ey Roper Director of Nicole Russell Student Media Advertising Staff Susan King Sean De Luna Creative Director Todd Hooks _ . „ Melanie Hutto Carolyn Griffin Emj|ie Moca Business Manager Martin Sa|isbury Sherry F. Holmes Creative Services Classified Manager College Press Exchange DOooPS' • ■ "'>snv / X C^ess \ ^ jW 601 A $A0 KAtflM Of f4 CKI ^ tf £6f-J-~ \jj^ V* 0vftttr*/fi v^'^csxnf// rrr-r^TVV J'll '% Religious Ethics You think it's ethics; it's not It was no secret that I was late to class. I’m sure everyone could hear my heavy breathing as -I slammed myself down in the clos est vacant seat. I am certain a few of them turned around as I rifled through my book ing in search of my notebook. So I suppose 1 deserved what was coming to me. Ten minutes past my grand entrance, 1 telt the hairs on my body stand up. My eyes began to wa ter, and 1 drew back. I was going to sneeze. If you’ve heard me sneeze (and you probably have without even knowing it), you know that I don’t hold back. If I did, I think I’d blow out my sinuses. I cocked back, raised my hands to block any po tential flying objects, and let nature run its course. I know everyone in that class heard me sneeze. As much as I enjoy the class, the professor and the course material, no one in that class was so drawn in that they didn’t hear the eruption in the back of the room. What surprised me wasn’t the fact that no one acknowledged my elephant roar. I was more taken aback by the fact no one blessed me. There wasn’t a “God bless you” or “bless you” to be heard from the peanut gallery. This wouldn’t have been a big deal if I weren’t in a religious studies class. Most of these students seem to know their Bible from front to back. They all seem to be active participants in class discussion. So I would assume they are moral people. Before my next class, I was telling a friend how no one in the class had blessed me when I sneezed. I told him that, of all places, I figured I was safe in that class when it came down to a “bless you.” He told me I’m probably the only per son who would notice such a thing. Maybe so. The sneeze bug hit me again in my journalism class, and this time, I was blessed by three complete strangers. They all turned around and blessed me, and 1 think one of them did it in German. I thought it was quite fitting and prop er because I was in my journalism ethics class. In this upper-level elective, we discuss ethical decision-making processes we should use in the profession of jour nalism. The material is quite abstract, but the decisions we make as journalists are more or less universal to society. In short, we treat people how we’d want to be treated. We do what’s in the best interest of the most people. We’re civil and moral. Now, I assume the students in my re- | ligious studies class are practicing Chris tians. They might not attend weekly ser vices, but I’ll wager that they go whenever they can. So why didn’t any of them feel obligated to bless me? Why did my fellow journalism students bless me? It didn’t seem like a chore for them. In our ethics class, we apply a series of ethical frameworks to different cases to 1 determine whether a certain action is moral 1 or not. One of the frameworks we apply 1 is Jesus’ lesson that we should never use ' another person as a means to an end. Along with this framework, we use the teachings 1 of philosophers like Kant, Rawls, Mill and ^ Aristotle. Perhaps some of my fellow re- s ligious studies classmates could benefit by r studying these people. r You see, I think Jesus can be viewed 1 as a philosopher in many respects. He a offered a great deal of commentary and c advice for mankind, and his teachings are I still in practice to this day. Perhaps no oth- 1 er philosopher is as influential as Jesus. Many of us look at Jesus as the savior of a mankind. We are taught that he died’ for t our sins and that, because of his sacrifice, F we can enjoy eternal salvation. t I think Jesus gave us more than sal va- s lion. I think he gave us hope, and I don’t a think it was because he opened the gates a of Heaven to us. s I think he gave us something more than Heaven. Jesus more or less gave us the moral and ethical code by which we .try live our lives. Through practicing his teach- . ngs, we’re supposed to be guaranteed a ilace in his eternal kingdom. But I think that too many of us are :oncemed more with the reward than we ire with the way to get there. 1 also hink too many of us are concerned more vith the lesson than with the implemen ation of this lesson. We bury our noses in rur Bibles, and we recite the Apostle’s Ireed in a drone, monotoned voice. Do ve actually know or believe what we’ye aying, or is it routine? I think this routine is what makes us ose sight of each other. No one wants to go to hell, right? To pend eternity in burning sulfur would le a harsh consolation price when com lared to eternal paradise. So we want to lo what we can to avoid the sulfur, right? Tierefore, we act as civil human beings a the name of Jesus. Or do we? I think many of us are disconnected rom one other. While we might fully un lerstand Jesus’ teachings, we fail to car y them out in a moral and ethical man er. Are you nice to people because you «nt to be or because you have to be? I am civil in the name of civility, not 1 the name of Jesus. I am nice to people ecause that’s the way we should be. We Wouldn’t always have the weight of eter ity on our shoulders. We should think lore for the moment, and not about some ling as grim as our deaths. If we’re moral ad ethical in our actions, eternity will talk are of itself. Faith and good deeds, right? should be a balance, and 1 think, as Chris ans, we tend to tip the scales sometimes. Perhaps this is why I found virtuous ad civil beings in my ethical class. Maybe ley are more connected to people and eople’s feelings. They certainly appear ) be. Meanwhile, my fellow religious udies classmates are more in touch with book that was written hundreds of years jo. Who seems to be acting more in Je is’ name there? Kevin Langston is a senior journalism major. He can be reached at game cockview pointsOhotmail. com. Letters Athletics director asks fans to stay off field To the editor South Carolina’s football victory Saturday was a team effort, and the stu dent body was a critical part of that team. One of the reasons the Geoigia team was kept off balance throughout the game was a direct result of your cheering. The Gamecock players kept their en thusiasm and intensity up for four quar ters because of the support you and all the fans kept providing. Coach Holtz said the continuous noise level was unprecedent ed in his catching experience, and he tlianks you for that. 1 firmly believe we will have a suc cessful season. The last two wins have been critical in beginning a tradition that will result in South Carolina becoming a peren nial challenger for the Southeastern Con ference title. Part of the success this year is because the team believes in itself and has adopt ed a mature, togetherness attitude. The team enjoys the game of football and loves playing in front of the fans at Williams Brice Stadium. Part of that success must become sec ond nature to our team and our fans. We need to act like we have been there be fore! When one of the Gamecocks scores a touchdown, he doesn't run up into the stands with excitement or bring attention to himself. The team acknowledges other teammates’ success, and then moves on to the next play. As fans, we should do the same thing. Beginning with the Eastern Michigan game, I respectfully ask that your actions after the game mirror our players’ de meanor. We cannot continue to tear up the field, the end zones and the goalposts. We, too, need to act as if we have been there before and enjoy the good play and victory. Let’s let the team come to the stu dent seating section and let them ac knowledge their appreciation for your ef forts! Thank you for being a part of the team in what should prove to be a very excit ing season for Carolina Go Cocks! Sincerely, Mike B. McGee Director of Athletics Gun Control 'Dumb' law allows guns to go where they please South Caroli na, like any other state, has its fair share of dumb laws aid reg ulations. Yeah, we all know the law for bidding oral sex in this state. We all know the law that says it’s illegal to have sex in any other position but the missionary. We’ve all cracked the Bible Thump ing S.W.A.T. team jokes that go along with these ridiculous laws. Yes, we all understand just how dumb these laws are in modem society. But it is understood by everyone, including the lawmakers themselves, that these laws are outdated. The fact is that it would be a waste of time to go through all the paperwork it would take to change them in the law books. They will likely forever remain unenforced. But there is one dumb and very dangerous law that should be ad dressed. The problem lies within the legality of carrying concealed weapons within our fine state. We have to ask ourselves what good it does allowing the citizens of South Carolina to carry around concealed weapons. I don't know about you, but I think it does nothing but harm. First of all, convince me that you aren't unstable or insane. Now, somebody nor mal please tell me how carrying a gun in your jacket pocket will ever come in handy? That is, besides giving socially in ept and mentally unstable people a false sense of confidence. Here’s some food for thought: The next guy you cut off on the interstate could very well blow your head off. Sure, this kind of thing is fun on PlayStation, but in reality, this law could provide for some very dangerous situations. Allowing concealed weapons creates another problem. Well, maybe it isn't a problem, but it could be. I’ve seen “No Concealed Weapons Allowed” stickers on a variety of store front windows throughout establishments in Columbia. Just lately, I started to real ize how ridiculous the whole concept of this was. Are shoppers with concealed weapons supposed to just walk into the store, throw their guns in the air and wave ‘em around like they just don't care? “Hey, it's not concealed anymore, can I shop here?” Perhaps placing a “No Exposed Weapons Allowed” sticker in the window would help to clear up any confusion. The legality of concealed weapons boggles the mind. It doesn't really do so ciety any good. It's one thing to have a gun in your home to protect your family. If hunting is your thing, that’s cool, too (well, from a legal aspect anyway). But it is ridiculous to think that I could legally walk down the street and shoot somebody who was trying to take my wal let at knifepoint. That is what the police are for. Why have police if being a vigilante is pretty much legally acceptable by this law? I have a few suggestions: Either be careful who you cut off or get bullet-proof glass. Pete Johnson is a senior journalism major. He writes a col umn every Friday. He can be reached at game cock view pointsOhotmail. com.