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Quote, Unquote ■ m -r-| | ‘Please join me in greeting the Gamecocks' head football coach ■ ^ \/%/ I | Mike McGee, USC Athletics Director, f f I * introducing new men’s basketball coach Dave Odom Wednesday, April 11, 2001 ^|]C 03ITIECQCk Page 5 * C5amccock ~X'*S* Serving the Carolina Community since 1Q08 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 Don’t hike enrollment In the face of likely budget cuts, the board of trustees Thurs day will decide whether to approve a proposal to increase freshman enrollment by 20 percent this fall, going from about 2,500 to about 3,000. This proposal is short-sighted at best and hardly a solution to the problem; in fact, if anything, it will only make things worse in the long run. Administrators have said admitting an extra 500 students would bring in about $1.8 million in tuition and fees, which sounds good in the short term. But $1.8 million is a comparative drop in the bucket when the university is facing what might amount to a $20 million budget cut. Any monetary benefit this move might bring would be far outweighed by the potential dam age a the school’s prestige that could result. The obvious risk USC would take if it increased enrollment would be a possible decrease in the academic quality of the stu dent body — a potentially long-lasting effect that prospective students will take into account when deciding whether to enroll here. Sure, freshman applications have increased-'this year, but with such a high enrollment target, it’s impossible to say quality of a USC education won’t go down as class size increases. Adding more students means you have to pay for more profes sors if you want quality of instruction to remain consistent, and it seems unlikely the school will hire any new professors during a hiring freeze. As a result, the faculty-to-student ratio would de crease, giving prospective students another reason not to choose USC in the future. The university hasn’t had 3,000 freshmen since 1992. USC has come a long way since then; taking a step back to solve tem porary problems will only make these problems permanent. ■m w 1 • 1 1 • McCree makes rignt cnoice With the announcement from USC Athletics Director Mike McGee that Dave Odom is USC’s new head bas ketball coach, Gamecock fans have a reason to cele brate. Odom brings solid credentials to Carolina and will un doubtedly improve what has been a bad situation for the basketball program. What makes Odom a great choice, other than his experience and name recognition, is that he sincerely wanted to come to USC. Over the past few weeks, the athletics depart ment was reportedly offering millions of dollars to top-notch coaches like Tubby Smith. The only problem is that it would have been the money that drew these coaches here, not the university. Odo-\i chose to come here because he wanted a challenge, not because he wanted a fleet of Lexuses. He seems sincerely excited about his new opportunity and looks forward to building a strong program with the support that has made Gamecock fans famous. Carolina basketball has a bright future, lit by the torch of Dave Odom. 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 tees. The Gamecock 1400 Greene Street ColumKb.se 29208 Offices 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 Viewpoints gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com Spotlight gamecockspotlight@hotmail com Sports gamecocksports@hotmail.com Online www.dailygamecock.com Submission Poucy ' Letters to the editor or guest columns are welcome from all members ol 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 mailed to gameco^ttiewpointsdhotmail corn, ffjimecock reserves the right to edit for l»l>el style any space Anonymous letters will riot !*■ Published Photos} are required lor guest column!* s and can be provided try the submitter i James Battle Travis I vnn Ann Marie Miani Jennie Moore Katie Smith Mark Yates Page Designers Betsy Baugh Sara McLaulin Community Affairs Sean Rayford Photo Editors Crystal Boyles Mackenzie Clements Jason Harmon Jill Martin Copy Editors Stvocht 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 Snrvices Carolyn Griffin Business Manager Sarah Sims Advertising Manager Jannell Deyo Robyn Gombar Kera Khalil Denise Levereaux Nicole Russell Advertising Staff Sherry F. Holmes Classified Manager Only two letters to the editor per student will be printed in a semester Staff columns take priority over guest columns, unl»*s the guest columnist offers exj»ertiso on a subject, or if the subject's relevance is limited fry time. Ouest columns and letters may be submitted by e mail to gamecockviewf aints&hotmail com Call III I/?i> for more information College Press Exchoange Social Issues Three steps to your own month I am sick and tired.of all of these specialty months. It all started with Black History Month, which by no means is a bad Ann Marie Miani thing. Since then, is a third-year seemingly every student in the nationality and College of organization has Journalism and deemed itself Mass worthy of a whole Communications, month dedicated Send responses to to their “cause,” gamecockviewpoints “issue,” or ©hotmail.com. whatever the hell they think is important. Now you, too, can have your own month in three easy steps. Fust, you must decide which month of the year you want. For my purposes, I’ll choose May, for no other reason than to just choose it. Besides, I don’t think May has been taken by anyone. Oh, a side note: Make sure you don’t take another group’s month. This could get ugly. You never want issues competing with each other in the same month. Once you choose a month, you must choose a cause. I know this must seem out of order, but it’s better to have a month first and think of the cause later. It you don t choose a month, they could go fast. There are only 12. Because I’ve already chosen my month, I must now form an oiganization and come up with a cause., My oiganization will be called The Yankee Italian American Catholic Women Living in the South Against a Male-Dominated White Southern Baptist Society. Of course, being the open society we are, we’ll let in females who fall into at least one of the classifications — Yankee, Italian, American and/or Catholic. So my cause is The Plight of Yankee Italian American Catholic Women in a Male-Dominated White Southern Baptist Society. Now that we have our month, organization and cause, we can now plan activities — the second step. In the beginning of the month, we will boycott Maurice’s and protest outside wearing Union soldier’s uniforms. We do tliis for no other reason than that we hate barbecue and we want pasta to become the staple of diets for all South Carolinians. In the middle of the month, we'll stage a protest against NASCAR by taking a horse and buggy to Darlington International Speedway. At the end of the month, we’ll have a Confederate Flag Burning Ceremony. At this ceremony, we will first remove the flag from'its “place of honor in front of the Suite House. Then, we’ll turn to the American flag that is on top of the dome and say the Pledge of Allegiance and sing the National Anthem. Next, we will douse the Rebel Flag in gasoline, and the president of Y1ACWLSAMDWSBS will strike the match and set the flag on fire. By order of the city of Columbia, we can’t leave the fire bunting, so we’ll use a hardy dose of horse manure to put out the flames. The third and final step is to advertise, advertise, advertise. We’ll have banners, fliers, TV and radio spots, a Wfeb site, planes, billboards, skywriting, newspaper ads and magazine ads. We’ll also have a table set up outside the Russell House for daily giveaways promoting our cause. Finally, when the month of May comes around, people will know about our cause and the plight we as Yankee Italian American Catholic Women Living in the South carry on our shoulders. In the beginning of the month, people will feel sorry for us for having to deal with the issues we face. But . by the end of the month, people will probably be sick and tired of our bitching and tell us to get a grip and shut the hell up. By then, the month will be«over, and they won’t have to deal with us again until next year. Letters Gamecock mistake offensive to student To the Editor I am shocked by a very unprofes sional blunder in the Nation & World sec tion in the April 4 issue of The Gamecock. In the caption of a picture accompanying the story “Diplomats visit Navy crew in China,” the “People’s Republic of China” is mistaken as “Republic of China.” This raised my doubts on the competence of the editorial staff, since anyone with com mon sense should be able to spot such an obvious mistake at first glance. As is generally accepted by the Unit ed Nations and the international com munity, Taiwan, which is referred to as “Republic of China” in the caption, is part of China, the People’s Republic of China. I I think a correction of this blunder should be made immediately. And such a mistake should never, ever appear in the universi ty’s newspaper again. KuiChen Graduate Student Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Nothing wrong with USC dining services To the Editor: Do you know Pat? How about Lucy? Do the names Linda or Paula ring a bell? These are some of the the men and women who work in the Grand Marketplace whom I know personally. Every day, I have the privilege of eat mg at the GMP. 1 enjoy seeing the faces of the employees, anti I also enjoy a great meal. The food is always well-pre pared, and the service is speedy and ac commodating. I’m a senior, and I have yet to find an eyelash or a live fly in my food, but there is about a month left before my grad uation. To make a long story short, I love campus food — I really think it’s great. I find that far too often people have a ten dency to maximize the small faults of things and minimize the good points. In my book, the GM P doesn’t get the praise and thanks it deserves. Thank you, Grand Marketplace employees and man agers Mike Griffin and Arthur Pinking for providing great food and great service. NseEkpo Fourth-year Student School of Music Applications to be a columnist for The Gamecock in the fall semester will be available beginning Thursday in RH 343. Columnists must turn in one column (about 600 words) as often as their position requires — weekly or otherwise. Columns must be submitted to the Viewpoints editor at a mutually agreeable deadline at least two days before publication, without exception. Columnists must attend a weekly columnist meeting where they will confer with the Viewpoints editor and other columnists on ideas and possible topics. The Viewpoints editor will edit the columns for style, ease-of-reading and grammar. The Viewpoints editor can’t change the essential idea of the column. The Viewpoints editor, managing editor and editor in chief retain the right to hold any column for any reason. Columnists must abide by all Gamecock policies. Good communication skills, an understanding of journalistic composition and a passion for intelligent and well-crafted discussion on timely local issues are essential. f Exam Preparation Learning to buckle down and study hard I’m in a study group. The group is made up of two girls and a guy I sort of know. We’re studying for a test, and at 7 p.m. we James Battle meet to discuss it. is a third-year We’re in one-of studentinthe the girls' bed rooms, and pic- . r. Journalism and tures of the girl and her friends ass . Communications, surround us. She . Send response to opens a large binder filled with g^mecockviewpomts notes, folders and ®ho,mail com' dividers. She is the leader. We never decided she's the leader, nor do we particularly need one, but there it k “Here are my notes for the semester thus far,” she says, waving a hand over the pre;irranged display. Site's sitting at her desk. ‘1 don’t really have much,” the other girl says. “I hate this class.” “Yeah, I hate it too," I say. “The professor sucks. I can’t believe how hard he made the last test.” “I know,” the other girl says. “I made a C, and I studied so hard.” The other girl is kind of hot. “Let’s start with chapter one,” the leader says. “What’s that guy’s name?” I whisper to the kind-of-hot girl. “I’m Irving,” he says. “Nice to meet’ you," I say. “What do y’all think about those Japanese?” lie says. Our class is astronomy. “You know how those Japanese want an apology for us coming up on one of their cruise boats? With a submarine?” ” I_ “Tliey want an apology. But we didn’t ask for any apology when they bombed us at Pearl Harbor. Did we?” he says. “Nope,” I say. “The dumbest man in the world could run a submarine up on a boat,” he says. “James, what do you have?” the leader says. I think she’s pissed. “From chapter one? I have written, ‘Stars are cool,’ and then I wrote, ‘They come from nebulas.’ Then my notes end, and they pick up somewhere around chapter nine.” “Man, we’re screwed,” Irving says, clutching his baseball hat. “Here, look at my notes,” the leader says. “Jesus,” I say. “When did he go over that?” the kind of-hot girl says. “What is a quasar?” Irving says. “Here, give them back,” the leader says, and we huddle among each other, while she looks down at us. “Y’all are pitiful,” she says. “Don’t y’all ever go to class? Haven’t you read the syllabus? We’ve known about this test for weeks. What do your parents think about you wasting their money?” “Shut up,” Irving says. “Yeah, you’re a nerd,” I say. The kind-of-hotgirl slips her hand into mine. Ornro “I think everyone should leave. I have two other tests in a week, and I haven’t started studying,” the leader says. “But, hey, what about the group? What are we going to do without you?” I say. “Out,” she says. Sitting on the front step, Irving lights a cigarette. It’s dark and cold. “What are you going to do?” I ask the kind-of-hot girl. “I think I’nt going to get up at 10:30 and start studying. Get an early start,” she says. The cl;iss is at 11, ;uid she speeds off in a secondhand sports car. “What about you?” I say. “I’mgoing to work for my daddy in Lucknow,” Irving says. “No, I mean about the lest.” I say. “I’m going to work for my daddy in Lucknow,” Irving says, and he gets in a truck and leaves me. Standing on the front steps, I look up at the sky and spit.’I love study groups.