Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Quote, Unquote ‘If we’re 23, there’s a lot of bad football teams out there.’ Lou Holtz, USC Head Football Coach -. Wednesday, September 27,2000 » ®he (Bamecock Serving the Carolina Community since 1Q08 Editorial Board Brock Vergakis • Editor in Chief Kevin Langston • Viewpoints Editor Nathan White • Asst. Viewpoints Editor Patrick Rathbun • Editorial Contributor Brad Walters • Editorial Contributor 'Search for Six' looks in all the wrong places p A s part of the University of South Carolina’s Bicenten /\ niai celebration, the university is conducting a search 1 jL for figures who best represent different parts of the Carolinian Creed. The categories for this “Search for Six” include the follow ing: Art, Entertainment, Pop Culture and Sports; Business, In dustry, Science, Technology and Medicine; Education, Litera ture and Media; Politics, Law, World Figures and Government; Religion and Alumni. wmie it is an important endeavor to nnd people wno per sonify these important parts of being a member of the Univer sity of South Carolina, we don’t necessarily support the meth ods being practiced in this endeavor. Why is there a specific category set aside for alumni? We feel all of these categories should be specific to graduates of the university. Otherwise, what purpose does it really serve to use? If the university can choose from anybody, they will be p saying nothing about the university and its code of ethical well-being. Michael Jordan would be a prime candidate for the sports category, but how does that present USC in a posi tive light? What does it say about the Carolinian Creed? In order for this “search” to be pertinent to the university, alumni should be the only candidates in this “Search for Six.” Only then can others see how special the Carolinian Creed re ally is. Competition is good for Alpha Phi Omega Something magnificent is happening on campus this year when it comes to campus safety, and that’s competition. Alpha Phi Omega and the new evening shuttle system are both serving to make campus safer. Previously, Alpha Phi Omega held a monopoly on the evening escort service. The only problem was that their service ended too early and didn’t take place on the weekends. Now that there is a new evening shuttle bus system safely t;iking students across cam pus, Alpha Phi Omegr. must realize it needs to provide better ser vices to stay competitive. The new USC shuttle operates later than APO and also runs on Fridays,. big plus for students who want to visit their friends on another part of campus on a Friday evening. APO only runs Sunday through Thursday evenings, neglecting the needs of students who need to be safely transported across campus. However, it’s not all bad for APO. It still offers service the evening shuttle can’t match. The USC evening shuttle bus picks up and drops off . '. ’dents only at certain designated areas on campus. t, The APO service picks up students anywhere on campus, offering flexibility to those students who don’t feel safe walking to USC’s designated pick-up locations. The new evening shuttle has chal lenged APO, and this can only be a good thing. Better service is of ten the direct result of competition, and perhaps as a result of this, USC will finally have a shuttle that runs all weekend, filling the void left on Saturday nights. About Us The Gamecock is the student newspaper of The University of South Carolina and is published Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the fall an- rrinj, semesters and nine times during the summer with the exception of university holidays and exam periods. Opinions expressed in The uamecock 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 publisfier of The Gamecock. The Department of Student Media is the newspaper s parent organization. Ihe Gamecock is supported in part by student activities fees. Address The Gamecock n 1400 Greene Street Columbia. SC 29208 Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Student Media Area cooe 303 Advertising 777-3888 Classified 777-1184 Fax 777-6482 Office 777-3888 Gamecock Area code 803-777-7726 Editor in Chief gamecockeditor0hotmail.com University Desk gamecocudesk@hotmail.com City/State Desk gamecockcitydesk@hotmail.com V iewpoi n ts gamecoc kviewpoi nts@hot ma i I. com Spotlight gamecockspotlight@hotmail.com Sports ganrecocksports@hotmail.com On|ine www.gamecock.sc.edu Submission Policy Letters to the editor or guest columns are welcome from all members of tire 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. | j The Gamecock reserves the right to edit for libel. I 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. The Gamecock Brock Vergakis Amy Goulding Editor in Chief Sean Rayford Brandon Larrabee Photo Editors University Editor Charles Prashaw . . u - ** Amanda Silva r-wl , « , ** University Editors City/State Editor John Bailey Kevin Langston Asst c,t,/State Editor Viewpoints Editor Nathan White Jared Kelowitz ,4ssf. Viewpoints Editor Daytime Sports Editor MacKenzie Craven Kyle Almond Meredith Davis Night Sports Editor Asst. Spotlight Editor Jason Harmon Miranda LaLonde Ashley Melton Ann Marie Miani Brad Walters Jennie Moore Martha Wright Katie Smith copy Honors Design Editors Studckt Media Erik Collms Robyn Gombar Faculty Adviser Melissa Millen Ellen Parsons Brantley Roper Director of Nicole Russell Student Media Advertising Staff Susan King Sean Oe Luna Creative Director Todd Hooks _ . _ Melanie Hutto Carolyn Griffin Emi|je Moca Business Manager Martin Salisbury Sherry F. Holmes Creative Services Classified Manager College Press Exchange HPS8H® w^mm ' >*. -.V ■. >. •;. • Election 2000 Minority vote needed in November In a time of eco nomic pros perity, as most Americans make strident gains in in come, African Americans in the state of South Car olina fall behind whites in most cat egories like health and education, which unveils the great divide that still dwells in the state. Now, these statistics do not de fine white South Carolinians as the dominant race: in have the opportunity to decide whether the Democrats regain the House and keep the Senate, and their turnout will be crit ical for the re-election of S.C.'s two con gressional Democrats. Nearly fifteen years after the Voting Rights Act of 1965, African-American turnout has gradually declined — every voting group has fallen pathetically—but this group has become one, if not the es sential, determinant in South Carolina elec tions. In 1998, the huge turnout from mi norities gave Sen. Fritz Hollings another six years in Washington and gave Gov. Jim Hodges one of the greatest upsets in state history over David Beasley, a Re publican. The 1998 general election saw African-Americans as nearly a fourth of the electorate. Even with this electoral power, the . statistics paint a bleak picture. From pover ty to education, categories show African Americans without the benefits other groups possess. In South Carolina, which has one of the worst rankings in child pover ty, 38 percent of African-American chil dren grow up in a state of poverty — this destitution can be seen throughout many counties in the Lowcountry. African-Americans have three times infant mortality than whites, two times HIV/AIDS than whites and lower life ex pectancies overall. Education, too, is a problem. In SAT scores, African-American students fall be hind whites by 200 points on average. Stud ies show this gap only increases over time. Other statistics maintain many African American children are not fully prepared to start first grade — most are not ade quately immunized. Why can't positive reform change this state for African- Amer icans? Many of the state's white voters think the issues African-Americans es pouse are issues that only benefifone group. However, this misconception lias been one of the underlying factors as to why African Americans are underrepresented and why the agenda of the Black Caucus in the state legislature is unheard by the powerful con servative politicians. The rural community bill, a bill that African-American leaders have been push ing for many years, possesses the support of Gov. Hodges, and, I hope, will be adopt ed in the next legislative term. Frankly, though many view this piece of legislation as consequential only to the African- Amer ican community, this bill would create needed aid to die poorest of counties across the state whether the counties are white or black, promoting economic growth in areas left behind during this trend. To begin initiating change for African Americans, their turnout has to be huge Nov. 7. If the turnout comes through, De . mocrats could regain the House and hold the Senate with a Democratic governor in power, allowing the African-American lawmakers an opportunity to push forward their agenda for rural areas. The gradual ly approaching Election Day presents a challenge for African-Americans: a huge turnout could signal the beginning of a new period in which African-Americans and die government can finally start im proving the situation in South Carolina. stead, they show the lagging equality oc curring here because of neglect and un derrepresentation from the government. This inequality punctuates the ancient struggle between the two social groups: the class conflict among the haves and the have nots continues despite our current prosperity. After the colonization of the New World, African-Americans, initially, did not have the basic human right of in dividual liberty. Even after this right was established by the 13th Amendment, the group did not have the single distinction of citizenship: the right to vote. Yet after this came to be, the nation still endures the problems of inequality among mi norities and their communities. This year's general election in No vember looms large, especially for African Americans in the Palmetto State. They Coray Ford is a political sci ence major and writes every Wednesday. He can be reached at gamecockview points ©hotmail.com. LETTERS ‘Liberal’ writer ought to research columns To the editor, I am writing in response to Pete John son’s column on Friday about American patriotism in the Olympics and politics. 1 agree that voter apathy is getting out of hand, especially among people our age. And, in a fashion consistent with that of the typical liberal media standard, he made some sweeping generalizations and blatant errors, illustrating that he does not deem facts to be necessary components of a news article. This writer obviously did not do proper research on these candidates or he would be awiire that there is much more to them than just two equally “evil politi cians” vying for the presidency. Instead, he chose to loosely quote what we have all heard liberal commentators say on the news about the candidates, particular ly Republican presidential candidate Geotgc W. Bush. Just because Bush did not feel it nec essary to dignify with a response a ridiculous and inappropriate question posed to him during a press conference about il legal drugs, the press has decided that this must mean he has done cocaine and just doesn't want people to find out. Doesn’t it make sense that if this were true, the same liberal media that made a huge deal out of Bill Clinton’s alleged marijuana us age would have absolutely crucified a con servative candidate in the same position? Try as they might, there is nothing or no one to say that Geotge W. Bush ever used an illegal drug. It is simply wishful thinking on the media’s part that there may have been some dirty laundry to air on a conservative candidate. In response to the statement that Geoige W. Bush “has put astounding num bers of people to death in Texas,” again, Mr. Johnson has obviously not done his research or attempted to leant the slight est bit about the legal system. If he had, he would know that it is impossible for one person to have this kind of power. The death penalty is suite law in Texas and no governor, Democrat or Republican, has the power to abolish it. The governor can only grant the offender a 30-day re prieve for that person to review his/her le gal options. Need I also remind you that the death penalty is not assigned to a per son by the governor of the state, but by a jury of his peers? Mr. Johnson also failed to mention that Geoige W. Bush is en dorsed by police forces nationwide be cause of his strong sUrnce on law mid or der and his fight against crime. It is my hope that those who choose to write about politics or any subject will get their facts straight, and if they choose to present their readers with opinions, make sure they are more than unfounded claims. Jennifer Carter English Senior USC students must be assimilated To the editor, On Sept. 25, as I turned to the View points page of the Gamecock, I was greet ed with an editorial entitled “Preston Col lege should be open to all students.” The thrust of this article seems to be that Pre ston College represents an unfair use of the University’s housing resources. The Gamecock asserts, “The only thing Pre ston accomplishes is segregating students from one another” I couldn’t agree more. Moreover, I believe that the women’s quad Cimnot possibly continue to exist as is, because single-sex dorms do nothing but segregate the student population. Al so, all Greek housing simply has to go. We quite plainly cannot afford to have fra ternities and sororities drive a divisive wedge into the student population. Keep ing NADA is definitely out of the ques tion. Nada has been a long-time obstacle to the struggle for student unity. 1 will be submitting a proposal to Pres ident Palms that will incorporate the de molition of all residence halls into the mas ter plan. In place of the current housing system, I propose we implement a bold new initiative: Coliseum housing. Under this exciting new housing strategy, there will be only one residence hall: the Car olina Coliseum. I’ve taken a few mea surements, and the Coliseum, once filled with triple-stacked bunk beds, will be more than able to accommodate the entire stu dent population in blissful unity. Only then will the student body be truly united. Through this plan, it will finally be possi ble to turn the students into faceless car bon copies of one another, so that all traces of individual personality and thought can be effectively removed. I would like to thank The Gamecock for its progressive and enlightened view on this subject. Based on their past record of support for the re moval of all differences between students, I am sure that they will be firmly in the vanguard of this great movement. Richard Joy Computer Science Junior Delusions of Grandeur Warhol can keep those 15 minutes Advertising signs that con you into thinking you ’re the one that can do what’s never been done, that can win what's never been won. Meanwhile, life goes on all around you. I can always leave it up to Bob Dylan (the voice of experi ence) to express how I’m feeling. And I’m sure it’s how a lot of us American, delu sional and foolish wannabe Holly woodians think. Everyone wants their 15 minutes. In my mind, dichotomies exist. I have visions of individuality and homogeny, winch twist and tangle my brain, leaving me in a flummoxed state. Sometimes I’m not sure how much in dividuality is possible. I’ve dreamed of in spiration and been awakened by.reality. Tliese polarities’ battles leave me disillusioned. I’m not even sure whether I should be inspired or realistic. I’m not sure which is more fruitful. If one is realistic, then is the other not motivated? If one is inspired and determined, then is the other setting one self up for disappointment? I’ve had grand aspirations. I’ve made promises to myself. I told myself to write and think of novel ideas. I read a book on screenplays in high, school and promised my self I’d craft one by the time I was gradu ated. I hoped to have an extensive body of work by now. I thought I’d liave many more experiences under my belt. None of these (pipe) dreams materialized, and I’m left to question my self-worth. I’ve been told some of the most renowned geniuses in history had their mas terworks completed while in their early twenties. I think of myself as late in devel opment, but then reality creeps in, dark ening illuminations and screaming “9 to 5!” As I’m writing this, I’m thinking some one before me said all of this much better. I even had to use Dylan as a conduit for ex pressing my distaste. In fact, all of this writing might be a con glomeration of all of the things I saw on TV and read. I might simply be reguigitating what I’ve heard or seen, and none of this could be original. Maybe even what I just wrote or what I’m writing now is devoid of creativity. Per haps, my experiences have been so trivia! as to be rendered meaningless. And at the same time, I feel Uiat I luiven't read enough and I don’t possess enough knowledge. I want direct experience and conceived, vicarious experience. I feel insufficient and underdeveloped for my age. And I have a feeling that I’m not just speaking for myself. I also have die feel ing that no matter how much I accomplished, I’d still feel the same way. I’m not sure where to put the blame eL ther. Maybe it’s just a symptom of Ameri cans, but I don’t think it’s that simple. Amer ica might have a prurient fascination with celebrities and glamour, but I’m not too sure how it originated. I know I’ve been spoon-fed ideas of fame and glory since I was a kid, but there’s not one particular area to place the blame. Maybe it’s a part of human nature. But it doesn’t seem present in many other areas. Though cynicism and sadness are too easy to practice. I’ve learned that happiness is transient and elusive, and it needs to be cherished. I also know that my thirst for knowledge will never be satisfied. I also know that “we sit here stranded, though we’re all doin’ our best to deny it.” But I still don’t know what composes my reality or my future or my motivations or inspirations. Like Dylan, I just want to know this: “What am I doin’ on this road I’m walkin'?” We live within ourselves, and this has been some inner monologue transferred into a computer and onto a piece of paper. I’ve turned 21, ;md I’m feeling ordinary, with out accomplishments, but full of (imagi nary?) ambitions. Neil Young sang, “you can’t be 20 on Sugar Mountain,” but as Dylan said, “it’s all right, Ma, I’m only sighing.” Patrick Rathbun is a junior journalism major and writes every Wednesday, He can be reached at gamec'ock viewpoints@hot mail.com.