Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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% ^ Quote, Unquote ‘It was just a simple joke that went too far.’ Michael Berger, Sigma Chi president, concerning assault and battery allegations against fraternity members Page 4 Zhc 0aimcock Serving the Carolina Community since 1 QOS Editorial Board Brock Vergakis • Editor in Chief Kevin Langston • Viewpoints Editor Nathan White • Asst. Viewpoints Editor Patrick Rathbun • Editorial Contributor Brad Walters • Editorial Contributor Martha Wright • Editorial Contributor Holding Reading Day on Saturday is absurd On Saturday, students should be sure to use their time wisely and study for their upcoming exams — because it is, after all, Reading Day. Yes, Saturday has been labeled USC’s Reading Day. This is supposed to be a courteous gesture extended by the universi ty, so students should be thankful the university has allotted a day during the weekend to prepare for finals. How many students will use Saturday for finals prepara tion? Some students might abuse this invitation by goofing off and sleeping late, but others do use reading day for its intend ed purposes. But realistically, we can only assume few, if any, students will use this semester’s weekend Reading Day for its intended purpose. Either way, it’s the personal choice of the student. In fact, this year’s Reading Day falls on a day when the university has no authority to declare it as such. Some classes do meet on Saturdays, and some professors reserve the right to hold classes on Saturdays to make up missed sessions, but does the university have the right to give the students the right to study on that day? We are forced to wonder whether next semester’s or next year’s Reading Day will fall on a Sun day. These queries should have been considered by the univer sity before it decided to declare Saturday as Reading Day. The university must not think of Reading Day as useful or impor tant; otherwise they would have made Reading Day fall dur ing the regular school week. Many other universities provide students with several days for preparation, not counting the weekend. While Friday might not have been much of an im provement, some studying could be expected, and this is not the case for this semester’s Reading Day. Letters Reader finds column derogatory To the Editor Since when does having a title like sports editor give a person the right to make derogatory statements about some one else? In Wednesday’s issue of The Gamecock, sports editor Jared Kelowil/. used his final column to take cheap shots at the NBA. This isn’t alarming because that’s what most writers with too much free time do, but all the issues he raised focused heavily on the African-Americans in the league. He discussed comrows, tat toos, baggy shorts, headbands and rapping. His terminology was shallow, using words like “hoods” and “you guys.” The way he discussed the issues lead me to believe that little Jared has a much bigger problem than even he recognizes. What these players decide to do with their hair, skin and free time is their business. Jared should be reminded that he is nothing more than an amateur sports writer, who, from the look of that column, doesn’t seem very open-minded to diver sity. If he really wants to write a column on the NR\, he should report on those fat necks in the skyboxcs that make all the money off these so-called “hoods.” Then again, he might not have a problem with that system since that’s how it’s always been in “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” I ’ ve never really been too fond of this newspaper, and my feelingsgel worse every time someone like Kclowiiz gets a col umn published. Where do you all find these writers? 1 realize now that we haven’t made as much progress in this country as we have been led to believe. We arc far from the day when we learn to respect dif ferences in other people. We arc even far ther away from ridding our society of bad apples, because they frequently hide be hind job titles like sports editor. Edrin C. Williams African-American Studies Junior About Us The Gamecock is the student newspaper of The University ot South Carolina and is published Monday, Wednesday and Fnday 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 newsnaner's oarent crsanaation. 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. Student Media Area code 803 Advertising 777-3888 Classified 777-1184 Fax 777-6482 Office 777-3888 Gamecock Area code 803-777-7726 Editor in Chief gamecockeditor@hotmail.com University Desk gamecockudesk@hotmail.com City/State Desk gamecockcitydesk@hotmail.com Viewpoi nts gamecockviewpoi nts@hot ma i I. com Spotlight gamecockspotlight@hotmail.com Sports gamecocksports@hotmail.com SuBM&stON 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 tele phone number for confirmation and should be sent to gamecockviewpomts@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 columnists and can be provided by the submitter. Call 777-7726 for more information. The Gamecock Brock Vergakis Editor in Chief Brandon Larrabee University Editor John Huiett City/State Editor Kevin Langston Viewpoints Editor Jared Kelowitz Day Sports Editor Kyle Almond Night Sports Editor Mackenzie Clements Jason Harmon Ashley Melton Brad Walters Martha Wright Copy Editors Student Media Erik Collins Faculty Adviser Ellen Parsons Director of Student Media Susan King Creative Director Sean De Luna Todd Hooks Melanie Hutto Emilie Moca Martin Salisbury Creative Services MacKenzie Craven Spotlight Editor Travis Lynn Sean Rayford Photo Editors Charles Prashaw Amanda Silva Asst. University Editors John Bailey p Asst City/State Editor Nathan White Asst. Viewpoints Editor Aubrey Fitzloff Miranda LaLonde Ann Marie Miani Jennie Moore Katie Smith Page Designers Carolyn Griffin Business Manager Jannell Deyo Robyn Gombar Kera Khalil Denise Levereaux Brantley Roper Nicole Russell Advertising Staff Jonathan Dunagin Interim Ad Manager Sherry F. Holmes Classified Manager i:iie (SamecocR College Press Exchange ■ — \awpm fo me lAtesr exUPWi, 60% TKlNK YOU \^ZZ^S\ $#m pwvC^'yE7 k i ■» el / A. Mankind Time to start killing people * Please un derstand that Mr. Langston is not en couraging you to set off on your own killing spree. He is not planning on killing anyone, ei ther. He is a paci fist, OK? If you feel inspired to start killing after read ing this column, you arc giving him too much credit and should be ex amined as soon as humanly, possible. Besides, you wouldn ’t be that stupid, would you? Kevin Langston is a senior journalism major. This is his last contribution as a staff member of The Gamecock. He can be reached at gamecockview points© hotmail.com. Chere you arc, standing in a crowd ed elevator with seven strangers. You do your best to avoid eye con tact because, let’s face it, people do not like making eye contact in such tight spaces. All of you will transfix on the ceiling or the flashing light that tells you what floor you’re on. No one will say anything. There is an awful lot of trust being ex hibited in this scene, don’t you think? Who’s to say one of you doesn’t pull out a knife and start thrashing the other peo ple in the elevator? There would be no warning or explanation, but isn’t this how most murders go down? No one hovers over your trembling frame and politely tells you they’re about to kill you. They won’t give you that satisfaction. Have you ever really given thought to why someone can reach a point where killing a person isn’t a real problem for them? Sorry to close out my career as a staff member of The Gamecock with such a grim topic, but in my twisted psyche, this is a fitting and proper “so long.” I’ll save the sentimental banter for a spring guest column, when I am next in line to bow out gracefully. Until then, this will have to suffice. Besides, I have something important to say. rou see, i came 10 me siarr. lean/a tion that the only thing that really pre vents one man from killing another is restraint. I believe that mankind can be a very savage species. While we might con sider ourselves to be the most enlightened, I challenge you with this statement: “I used to think the brain was the most com plex and sophisticated mechanism in the known universe until I realized the source of this epiphany.” Of course, we’re going to say we’re the most intellectual creatures crawling on this planet. We’re egotistical. But 1 eas ily sec our species being as, if not more, savage than our brothers and sisters in the animal kingdom, Why more savage? Because we ap parently have the ability to realize we could be the higher order of species, yet we act no better at times. An opposing thumb doesn’t make us divine. Have you ever listened to a live record ing of a rock show? Have you ever been to a concert, a sporting event or any so cial gathering? Next time you’re in this environment, listen. Just listen. Listen out for what I consider tribal noises: clapping, shouting, hooting, hollering, chanting, booing, hissing, sneering, yelling, whistling and stomping. These noises clearly indi cate something primal and savage in our species.These are involuntary, for the most part, when you consider that we re ally don’t give these noises much thought when we make them. But 1 am not bas ing my aigument on a couple of noises. No; 1 am my own specimen. Please, read on. So what am 1 getting at? When some one strays from the ideal of normalcy and decent behavior (Columbine, Oklahoma City, Waco), we like to find a source or reason for the problem. Maybe the point ing of fingers is overlooking the simple fact that we might not be as advanced as we thought we were. Maybe people kill other people because they want to. 1 discovered the frightening fact that I hate stupid people. Now, I am not talk ing about the mentally handicapped and challenged, I am referring to those who lack common sense. As ashamed as I am to admit it, 1 despise the type of person who, when you’re in the elevator at the top floor of a building, they ask you if you’re going down. Do we really need this type of per son? Some cynics would say we need these people to perform the most meager and simple tasks for the better of our civi lization, and I would tell them to build a robot or machine to handle that stuff. Call me crazy, but 1 have actually plotted out a nationwide killing spree in my spare limn Care to talk a wall/, inside the head of a potential madman? You see, I was eating dinner in a Ryan’s Family Steak House one evening with a friend (now an undeniable accomplice), and I took a staggering look around me. In conversation, I toyed with the notion of blowing up all the Ryan’s in the coun try to see if our overall IQ level would in crease instantly. From there, 1 was on a slippery slope of bad ideas. It started with Ryan’s and fans ofTed Nugent, and it was all downhill from there. 1 envisioned this scheme where 1 would set out across the nation, killing people whom I deemed stu pid and unimportant to the advance ment of our society. Trim the fat, if you will. To show you I’m serious, I’d even start with a family member. It’s pretty scary, but I know which one 1 ’d start with, loo. (No one in the immediate family, though. I’m not a monster.) In the interest of keeping things brand new and interesting, I’d even have a Web site that would be updated periodically. On this site, you’d find stunning anecdotes of where I’ve been and what I’ve been up to. It would be complete with a detailed map that shows my path of homicidal de struction. Hell, I’d even keep a current list of the people I’ve killed just to make sure you weren’t related to, or friends with, one of them (because stupid iscon tagious, people). I’d even send press releases, complete with photographs and contact informa tion, to nationwide newspapers, giving them all the details and information they would ever need. I might even give them a preview of my next stop so they could possibly cover it. Why keep things hidden? Why leave room for spec illation? I’d tell the world why I did it, and then no one else could get blamed for it, right? Don’t get me wrong, folks. I would n’t be a complete animal. If, while I’m preparing to mercilessly torture you un til you die, you can convince me that you deserve another chance, I just might take you up on it. Instead of doing something really terrible, 1 might only lake a limb or an opposing thumb as collateral. Then, after an unnamed period of time, if you have proven your worth, I’d send the part back to you, complete with enough money to get it reattached. It would be perfectly preserved — don’t you worry about that. But I am sure some or you are won dering where I’d get the money for all these suigical reattachments. Well, I’d have a sponsor, of course. Raid would prob ably crawl all over this deal. I’d simply ask them for transportation, the financing of the surgeries and enough money for food and lodging. In return, it would be “The Raid Killing Spree of Moral, So cial and Ethical Cleansing.” If this fell through, the book and movie deals and exclusive interviews and tele vision spots would fund some portion of this tour de force. Ask me if I haven’t thought things through. If you were a stu pid person, I’d make you think twice about having kids, because I would have to leave nn Qlnno i mill mod Bui 1 know you. I know that you will look for someone lo blame. Whai music have I been listening lo? What movies do I like watching? What do I do in my spare lime? What books do I read? Who are my idols? Well, I’m here to tell you that I blame it on one person. Thai’s right, there is a single soul to lay all the blame on. It doesn’t have anything to do with society pr the hand it has dealt me. I blame ene person and one person alone: me. When I’m on the witness stand, and the tail end of my reign of terror, I will not plead insanity, nor will I try to lay it on an unknown and intangible aspect. Hell, someone save this column and present it to the authorities as my manifesto, just lo keep me honest. But when 1 am on the witness stand, I will declare that my in tentions were lo better this savage soci ety through savagery. Plain and simple. With a convincing enough argument, I think I could get off I really do. After all, how could an entire society of savages persecute an individual savage for being a part of the whole? What does this say about all of us if I, a relatively normal fel low, can have these thoughts (but suppress them)? So, the next time you see me in an el evator, think it about it. Mussolini, Marx ... these people started off as journalists, and look at what they did. The world is undeniably different because of these guys, and who’s to say I couldn’t measure up? Surely I won’t reach their notoriety, but I could revolutionize the way people look at their species. Or I could just make an awful mess. This society is almost begging for the type of mayhem 1 would bring, and I might have to succumb to my inner rage. So if you’re stupid, you might want to lay low for a while. You never know — I just might start a nationwide killing spree. Those interested in writing columns for Viewpoints next semester should e-mail: gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com Friday, December 8,2000 Millenniausm The end of the world is at hand Exactly 343 days ago, the world was in the midst of a cele bration. People were in the streets party ing like it was 1999, because it was, and the new millennium hung just around the bend. Y2K had been averted, and all was safe in the world, right? Wrong. Much like USC’s error in celebrating its 200th anniversary on its 196th, the world cel ebrated the millenni um a year early. Jonathan Dunagin is a mass communications graduate student. He can be reached at game cockviewpoints ©hotmail.com So what s that have to do with you/ Well, it depends on who you are. It is the belief of some apocalyptic theorists, among others, that the beginning of the new millennium will mark the end of the world. Even depending on which religious schol ars you consult, a formula has been devel oped, based on religious text, that also marks this dale on the calendar with a big red X. So whether you buy into all this deter mines what the upcoming year will repre sent. To me, it’ll just serve to show how peo- ' pie are false-hearted and gullible. Believe it or not, I remember people were truly starting to panic less than a year ago. Street-comer prophets demanded at tention from anyone with an ear, and the me dia reported on the impending Y2K disas Ipr Even television shows began pointing to society and religious text and started mak ing connections. Now, I don’t know all of them, but I definitely remember mentions of war in the Middle East, frequent natural disasters and a falling away from Christian faith, all of which have arguably been pre dicted in religious text and occur today. However, this year there has been no mention of an impending apocalypse. In fact, the debate over what to name this decade is hotter. (I’m going with USC student Ryan Guerra’s idea to call it the “Unies.”) My point is that some people are false hearted, and others are gullible. I’m not sure if I made up the word “false-hearted,” but if so, I’m trademarking it. It could be defined i as one who is a hypocrite, but “hypocrite” ' doesn’t have the same effect. I want to know why people are only strongly into religion when it serves them. When people feared the inevitable would occur, they started paying attention in church, listening to Gospel 95.3 and entertaining every discussion involving heaven and hell. But once last year’s “millennium” dis aster was avoided, it was back to sleeping in on Sunday, talking about football and lis tening to WUSC. Mmif I’m nnt tho nrvdor frnli -- ^ r---- , gion, and 1 dofiT claim to be, but what tru ly annoys me are these people who only i adopt religion when it stands to serve them. Especially those fair-weather hypocritical Biblc-thumpers who one day can talk about , hell atjd damnation, and the next day enjoy its companionship. Why is it I haven’t seen them of late? Why is it when the millennium is truly com ing to an end, they arc not on their pedestals, as they were last year, proclaiming mankind to be doomed? Because they are false-hearted (there’s that word again). They don’t practice what they preach, and don’t even believe it; they just like to gamer attention. These are people who look to the pub lic, sec how to manipulate them and take ad vantage. And as the public, we arc the gullible. - Now, I don’t mean to dishearten anyone, but face it, society on the whole dictates everything we are. We are susceptible to even the slightest amount of influence, and that’s what these false oroDhcls see and use to their advantage. That’s also why you haven’t heard word from them yet this year. To the public, the millennium has already changed over, so why be worried about apocalyptic predictions? And these false-hearted individuals see that, and choose not to stand up on their pedestals, because after all, they don’t actu ally believe what they preach, they just like being in the spotlight. Now, I'm not saying that there won’t be an evangelistic group that decides to spread messages of armageddon. In fact, I could safely bet that some cult religious group will lake part in a mass suicide, but no one has stepped up on the soapbox yet. And until they do, the public will ignore the fact that the millennium is upon us, and instead focus their attention on avoiding el evators that have psychotic Gamecock columnists lerking in them.