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Dr e Quote, Unquote \ / 1 ~ |/~\ T" ‘I just feellike we are going to get "fee-ed” to death next year.’ I ■ ™•%/%/ I II I ill Aaron Hark, Third-year Honors College student | ... mi... ■— ——— Clie (gamecock Wednesday, February 28,2001 IDie <3amecock Serving the Carolina Community since 1Q08 I Brock Vergakis Editor in Chief Brandon Larrabee University Editor Erin O’Neal Spotlight Editor Kyle Almond Sports Editor Brad Walters Design Editor Cristy Infinger Asst. University Editor Valerie Matchette City & State Editor Amanda Silva Spotlight Editor Martha Wright Copy Desk Chief Charles Prashaw Asst. City & State Editor Aubrey Fitzloff Asst. Viewpoints Editor White can break down SG clique Chis year’s election has made crystal clear who should be the Student Government vice president. It is the person who cares about Greeks and non-Greeks. It is the person who cares about on-campus and off-campus students. It is the person who has conducted himself with class and dignity throughout an election marred by the pettiness and juvenile tac tics of certain candidates. Without a doubt, the simple choice for SG vice president is Nathan White. White embodies everything the SG clique is scared of and everything the Greek system should be proud of. He is the type of candidate who represents the interests of all students, not just certain groups, such as the Honors College. He is humble, not ar rogant. He is an advocate of reform, not of maintaining the status quo. He has worked within Student Government and knows that while it can be effective when run well, it isn’t nearly as impor tant as its members often think it is. He is proud of his Greek affiliation, but does not flaunt it or think badly of those who are not Greek. He has no problem laughing at himself or taking criticism from others. He can handle the pressures associated with being a public figure. He realizes as vice president he would be subject to public scrutiny and criti cism — and this only drives him to do a better job, not whine and complain. His opponent, Nithya Bala, has lost the respect of SG officers with her hardball campaigning style. It now seems unlikely Bala can inspire Senate to do anything besides become hopelessly di vided, making its weekly sessions pointless. And Bala’s platform puts her on an inevitable collision course • . i n _ • J _ * _r_1 TL ____uln/N Willi riC31UClll-UCUl AU1U. 111^ IWO^/V/lAJAl/AAAVj V/A wiv » president is to conduct Senate business and support the president — period. We’re afraid Bala has forgotten which race she’s in. Throughout this campaign, White has demonstrated he is will ing to be fully accountable for his actions, not to hide behind vague and possibly unconstitutional codes. White has run an hon est campaign, and not one with the type of back-room politics that makes the mafia look like the Boy Scouts — something quite different from what the SG establishment is used to. And unlike certain people in SG, he has also read the First Amendment and understands it. We like literacy and a basic un derstanding of the Constitution in our elected officials. While other candidates have probably scared off students from voting because of their take-no-prisoners attitude in this election, White gives every student a reason to hope and believe that things won’t be the same if he’s elected. He gives every student a reason to vote and every SG official a reason to start worrying the little clique could be in danger. i « ^ TT « ■ n d u u i v-/ a 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 a 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 organisation. The Gamecock is supported in part by student activities fees. The Gamecock 1400 Greene Street Columbia. SC 29208 Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Student Media Area code 803 m Advertising 777-3888 Classified 777-1184 Fax 777-6482 Office 777-3888 GAMECOCK Area code 803-777-7726 Editor in Chief gamecockeditorOhotmail.com University Desk gamecockudeskOhotmail.com City/State Desk gamecockcitydeskOhotmail.com Viewpoints gamecockviewpointsOhotmail.com Spotl ight gamecockspotl ightOhotmail com Sports gamecocksportsOhotmail.com Online wwwdailygamecock.com Subm»sk>n 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, professional 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 e-rnailed to gamecockviewpoints0hotmail.com The Gamecock reserves the right to edit for libel, style and space Anonymous letters will not be J published. Photos are required fdr guest columnists and can be provided by the submitter Ann Marie Miani Travis Lynn Jennie Moore Sean Rayford Katie Smith Pdoto Editors Mark Yates Mackenzie Clements Page Designers jason Harmon Betsy Baugh Ow Editors Sara McLaulin Charles Tomlinson Community Affairs Senior Reporter Sruoorr Mm | Erik Collins Carolyn Griffin Faculty Adviser Business Manager Ellen Parsons Sarah Sims Director of Advertising Manager Student Media . Jannell Deyo asss* Kera Khalil Sean De Luna Denise Levereaux Todd Hooks Nicole Russell Melanie Hutto Advertising Staff Emilie Moca Martin Salisbury Sherry F. Holmes Creative Services Classified Manager Only two letters to the editor per student will be printed in a semester. Staff columns take priority over guest columns, unless the guest columnist offers expertise on a subject, or if the subject's relevance is limited by time. Guest columns and letters may be submitted by e-mail to gamecockviewpoints©hotrr^ail.com. Call 777-7726 for more information. Religion isn’t about who finishes first To the Editor This is a response to the column, “New set of rules for good Catholics,” (Feb. 26). I’m Catholic and was very appalled at her thoughts about Catholicism. I was not up set by her questioning Catholicism but by her ignorance. Ann Marie, from one Catholic woman to another: ■ I, too, have questioned the com mandments and Catholic doctrine. How ever, my uncle, who is a priest, told me, “There aren’t any rules, just suggestions.” ■ We are now allowed to eat poultry on Fridays during Lent, just not red meat. This isn’t as big a sacrifice as Jesus’ life was! ■ The pope recently announced con doms and foams are now allowed for use to decrease the incidence of abortions and the spread of HIV among Catholics. Maybe you should brush up on your Catholic doc trine. Loaning a pen or helping an old lady cross the street doesn’t make you a “good Catholic” —just a warm, caring person. Doing bad deeds doesn’t make you a “bad Catholic”—just a fallible human. As for the point system and Catholics as “players,” being Catholic is not about points or about crossing the finish line first. It’s about living a good life. Being Catholic is not the equivalent of being a football player. Points don’t count — your over all character does. JillGaspi Third-year Student College of Nursing Miani should learn about Catholicism To the Editor I am a recently converted Catholic. I was raised Methodist, and once I was old enough to decide what I believe in, and after a lot of deliberation, I decided to con vert to Catholicism. I took classes on the faith and beliefs of Catholicism, and nowhere in that class did we discuss the point system of the column (“New set of rules for good Catholics,” Feb. 26) pub lished in The Gamecock The basic belief is that Jesus is your savior and the son of God and that loving him with all your heart, soul and mind will get you to Heaven. We are NOT forgiven through our good deeds, though they do reap rewards in Heaven (Matthew 5:3-11, Luke 6:20-23). To be forgiven, we must first ask for giveness, accept our actions as sinful and make a commitment not to repeat such a sin again. We must also forgive our selves. Whom can man love if he does not fiHt love himself? And whom can man forgive if he does not first forgive himself? Yes, the Bible was written by man. But it was written by man through “deus ex machina” (literally, God out of the ma chine), meaning “divine inspiration.” For the next author of an anti-anything column, know what you are talking about before you say it. It is better to research your facts to avoid embarrassing yourself. Michael Patrick Cavin Second-year Student College of Engineering » Old rules are there for a good reason To the Editor Just when I thought I’d heard it all, I open The Gamecock and find the column, “New set of rules for good Catholics.” God has indeed graced us all with Ann Marie’s views. Ann... may I call you Ann? It appears from your column that you are ignorant of your church’s practices from either lack of participation or from just not giving a ... oops, that wouldn’t be nice, now would it? Before you set off making up new rules, you might want to research the old ones. Rules, I might add, which have a source in the living traditions of the ancient Catholic Church. Now, before you say, “Oh, I’m being persecuted by a priest sent from God to beat me,” let me say that I’m not a Roman Catholic, I am an Orthodox priest with no allegiance to the Roman Church. Maybe it would be good for you to run down the street to St. Thomas More, the Catholic Student Center, and learn more about your traditions before criticizing them and demonstrating how little you know. Do you really believe the church teach es you’ll go to hell for using contracep tives and eating meat on Good Friday? Give me a break. God isn’t keeping a score card. Bless His Name! These are simply standards set to make the faith walk of Christians stronger. Remember that God is eager to foigive and reconcile us to him self. The minute the fall occurred, he set up the way to resolve our failure. Thank God we aren’t using your point system. If we were, nobody would have hope of getting to Heaven, especially grumpy, old priests like myself. One day, Ann, we’ll laugh about these two letters in Heaven... until then, I won der how many points will we lose for writ !__o Ulg vl IV III . Father Aaron Cass Orthodox Catholic Church of America MFA Candidate Department of Art Whaley’s Mill not the safest place to live To the Editor. I feel that all students should know about the way the Whaley’s Mill staff treats their tenants. My two roommates and I have been living at Whaley’s since August, and our treatment here has been appalling. We have asked over and over again for new furniture, to no avail. Our water heater and fridge barely work. Wfe have bugs every where, and we had a hot water leak that cost around $100 a month. Our windows have missing panes of glass, and the ele vators have no inspection stickers. And the list goes on. For $915 a month, we at least expect some maintenance! The final straw was when we were robbed at gunpoint in our own apartment, while the night manager stood 15 feet away, teaching karate in the hallway. He was sup posed to be on duty. The police declined to fingerprint the evidence that was han dled by the thieves, preferring instead to lecture us on how we were “irresponsi ble” for having our door unlocked at 9 p.m. When we looked at the videos, near ly half the cameras were broken, espe cially ones which would have given a clear view of the criminals. Afterward, we asked the management about terminating our lease because we didn’t (and still don’t) feel safe. We were told we’d have to pay $900 and lose our deposit ($300 each). No effort has been done to increase security in the building, and the night manager is still teaching karate while on duty. We don’t want anything special, just what we’ve paid for basic repairs and some security. That isn’t at Whaley’s Mill. Steven Krusinski Second-year Student Darla Moore School of Business Hunter thanks staff, endorses White To the Editor: I would like to extend a special thanks to all of those who worked on my cam paign staff for the vice presidency. A very special thanks to Martin Salisbury, my cam paign manager, who worked every night for me. Special thanks to Gabby Palacios, Susan Hunter, Katrina Bevis, Meagan Flo ry, Amber Cantrell, Lynn Briggs, Lonnie Spires, Michael Haney, Chris Odom, Bri an Phillips and Corey Ford. I appreciate all that you did and for believing in me. Thank you to all who supported me in my quest for the vice presidency; we fought an honest and good fight. 1 would like to take the time to address the coming runoff election between Sen. White and Freshman Council Adviser Bala. Ether would be an excellent vice presi dent, but I believe White has the experi ence and the leadership capability to run the Senate more effectively. Therefore, I endorse Sen. Nathan White as the next vice president. I hope all who voted for me will cast their ballots Feb. 28 and March 1 for Nathan White. Brian Hunter Third-year Student College of Liberal Aits Former Vice Presidential Candidate Greek is hypocritical To the Editor The past couple of weeks, the letters to the editor have been filled with disputes between Greeks and non-Greeks. The most recent addition was a letter submitted by B. V. Warren, a member of Tri Delta soror ity. Her letter began as a somewhat in telligent view, but the last paragraph showed her lack of good intentions. Saying that the non-Greek population is jealous of the Greek status is an egotistical statement. I find it ironic that Ms. Warren could write such a letter, considering her views of non-Greeks. 1 can recall an instance at aGreek func tion when Ms. Warren called me a “no name” because I’m not in a sorority. She then inquired as to why I was there (I had been invited). Because I’m not a part of the 8 percent population of Greeks, I was stereotyped as a “no-name.” I decided not to join one of the many wonderful sororities this campus has to of fer, not because they are considered “snob by,” something I truly don’t believe, but because it wasn’t the thing for me. I be lieve for this debate to be over with, Greeks like Ms. Warren need to consider what they say to the non-Greek members of USC, and the same goes for the non-Greeks, such as Eddie Hill. G. Altman Second-year Student College of Science and Mathematics Time Management Laundry consumes my room, my life Feeling over whelmed? With classes and extracurricular activities and work all spilling over into my free time, I’ve found that time management is quickly becoming my biggest problem. And what suffers from this lack of time? Well, to be honest, my dirty laundry. It’s stacked practically to the ceiling of my crowded little dorm room, and I wouldn’t i__v. j :r.t_ Michelle Pittman is a second-year student in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications. Send letters to gamecockviewpo ints©hotmail.co m. L/VJ DUl^UJCU 11 lllt/lV/ were a person or at least a small animal buried underneath the rubble. It’s been weeks since I’ve washed anything, and now I’m finally thankful for being a clotheshorse. Once every other week, I try to sort through the untidiness and separate the whites from the darks and the delicates , from the rough-and-tumble clothes, but I usually find an important paper or a book I’ve been reading that got thrown in the mix, and so trying to manage my clothing is futile. It’s consuming my baskets, my closet and even my bed. I’m not a messy person, though my roommate might beg to differ. My jewelry and makeup and books are organized to the point of obsessive-compulsiveness, but when it comes to clothing, I could really care less. Regardless of what’s clean or what’s in my drawers, it still takes me an hour of staring at cotton in the morning to figure out what matches and what doesn’t and what’s appropriate for school, work and parties. To add to my dilemma, this mountain is located in front of a faulty electric socket that powers my refrigerator and microwave. I’ve recently noticed sparks emanating from this power source, and I’m wondering if I soon might be learning a valuable laundry lesson. All it would take is one misdirected electrical charge, and that would be the end of my problem, as my sweaters ana jeans ana socks an went up in flames, eventually moving to my bed and spreading to my computer and school stuff, which I guess wouldn’t be that bad, except that they’re really expensive to replace. My worst nightmare used to be falling asleep with a lit cigarette, but now I wake up in a panic that the dirty clothes might go up in flames and torch my sleeping body. Instead of sitting and typing at the computer, I stare at that faulty socket and wonder when the spark will arrive. Well, I can’t really see the outlet from that perspective, but I know it’s there, lurking behind dirty socks and sweatshirts. But I still don’t have time to do my laundry, and if you live in a dorm, you know that there are very few placement options. I’ve resorted to throwing certain articles in with my roommate’s load, and wearing her clothes seems to cut back on the amassing, but there are definite problems with this temporary solution. First, roomie doesn’t need another reason to get pissed off with me. Second, the faulty socket needs to be resolved. Of course, instead of motivating _ myself to fix this little situation. I’m going to bitch and moan until I run out of underwear. I’ll promise myself that as soon as I get a paycheck, I’ll find that piece-of-crap plastic card for which I paid two dollars, and I’ll try to ward off the thousands who seem to flock to Capstone for their laundry needs. All I need is two free hours, some patience and a cage for all the other dirty kids out there who haven’t done laundry in weeks and are trying to capitalize on empty laundry room time. Until then, I’ll be sitting and worrying, one hand typing away, the other calling 777-FIXX in the hopes that they can fix the outlet and save me from a fiery end. Wish me luck. MMHL —J 5TA C TAv 0C/A/-€_ L E T T ERS (no problcmo*) pH