Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Quote, Unquote ‘I hope any political affiliation, by itself, would not disqualify me as president.’ John Palms, USC president t (Bamecock Serving the Carolina Community since 1Q08 Brock Vergakis Editor in Chief Brandon Larrabee Valerie Matchette University Editor City & State Editor Erin O’Neal Amanda Silva Spotlight Editor Spotlight Editor Kyle Almond Martha Wright Sports Editor Copy Desk Chief Brad Walters Charles Prashaw Design Editor Asst. City & State Editor Cristy Infinger Aubrey Fitzloff 0 Asst. University Editor Asst. Viewpoints Editor Palms should decide about U.S. Senate bid Cohn Palms has served the University of South Carolina well as president. In fact, when he leaves this university, he will probably be remembered as one of the best presidents this university has ever had. For this reason alone, we are disappointed about Palms’ recent actions surrounding his possible run for the U.S. Senate. For one, we are disappointed because the university would be losing a great president. Second, we truthfully expect a little more from a man like Palms, who has led this university well. ^ But the way Palms has handled his possible run for Senate so far is horrible. The news should never have leaked to the media. We should have found out about it the day he decides to run for Senate and steps down as president. We should not have to sit around for weeks wondering what will happen with our university. Palms’ indecision on whether to run is completely inexcusable, and he is risking the university’s future by dragging . his feet on the matter. South Carolina is a Republican state — the State House gang most likely would not look kindly on USC when the final decisions have to be made about the possible 12 percent budget cut. An active politician as a university president is something we do not need. Palms should either decide to run now or give the talk up %mipletely. Housing policy is unfair About two weeks ago, University Housing sent letters to all graduating on-campus students. Because they were being graduated, the letter said, seniors would have the “privilege” of an extra day to move out of on-campus housing. While all other students are expected to turn in their keys 24 hours after their last exam, seniors can wait until noon Sunday, May 13. While this is certainly nice for seniors, who won’t have to worry about packing and moving as they deal with graduation, Rousing has still fallen short. Students who aren’t being graduated still might be in town through the graduation ceremonies to support their friends or siblings. It’s not fair to ask students to leave, regardless of their class rank, until graduation is over. 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. One free copy per reader. Additional copies may be purchased for one dollar each from the Department of Student Media. Address The Gamecock 1400 Greene Street Columbia, SC 29208 ^ces on third floor of the Russell House. • Jdent 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 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-mailed to gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. The Gamecock reserves the right to edit for libel, and space. Anonymous letters will not be ^jlisbed. Photos are required for guest columnists and can be provided by the submitter. The CUmkock y WmSM James Battle Travis Lynn Ann Marie Miani Sean Rayford Jennie Moore Photo Editors Katie Smith Mark Yates Crystal Boyles Page Designers Mackenzie Clements Betsy Baugh Jason Harmon Sara McLaulin Jill Martin Community Affairs Copy Editors Qnxmn Max* Erik Collins Carolyn Griffin Faculty Adviser Business Manager Ellen Parsons Sarah Sims Director of Advertising Manager Student Media Susan King Jannell Deyo Creative Director RobY" Gombar 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@hotmail.com. Call 777-7726 for more information. College Press Exchange 'mLirtem we neet> a. Dirie mors me,,.' Campus Life More course information needed The teaching style of a professor can mean the difference between an A and an F. Some students Ben Edwards want the most is a first-year challenging Student in the courses. Some College of Liberal dread speaking in Arts. Send front of others, responses to Many students, gamecockviewpoints like myself, ©hotmail.com. despise making posters. All these factors can affect what class a person is going to choose. Students need to know more about the teaching style of professors before they decide whether to enroll in a course. Classes in the Honors College have student reviews of professors on file. Students wanting to know a professor’s grading style can check to see what their peers thought of the course. Student Government Vice President Nithya Bala ran on an academic platform, which included extending the Honors College privilege of having teacher evaluations on file to the general student body. Honors College students probably would appreciate the ability to check their non honors professors to determine their specific styles. Extending the reviews would be a benefit for everyone concerned. Take the self-paced astronomy course. I bet it’s the most-failed course at USC. If students knew how hard the course is, many would not take it. Implementing the idea might seem difficult. The university offers a massive number of classes, and many students would be writing reviews. All the papyrus would certainly fomi an impressive stack. However, each department could take care of the reviews for its courses. That way there would be no need to create a separate office to manage the stream of incoming reviews. On the other hand, with budget cuts looming, perhaps this idea won’t be feasible in the near future. Another way to solve the problem of inadequate course information would be to post each professor’s syllabus online. Online syllabuses wouldn’t be very difficult to implement, and they would tell students exactly what they want to know about the course in most cases. I want to know what kind of a course I’ll be sitting in before I decide whether to sign up. There’s always the option of dropping a course and getting another, but if I decide to drop one course, chances are all the other courses I’d want would already be filled, and I won’t be able to get a seat in a course that I need. More importantly, I hate making posters. Letters People’s Republic of China not for people To the Editor I am writing in response to Kui Chen’s letter which appeared in last Wednesday’s edition of The Gamecock. Chen expressed his disgust at The Gamecock’s apparent incompetence. Now, I’m not going to sit here and say the staff of The Giunecock isn’t incompetent— there’s plenty of evidence to the contrary of that. However, perhaps this once, they decided to make a political statement. Maybe they were trying to imply that the United States should stick it to the United Nations as well as the “People’s Republic” of China (now, there’s a misnomer) by diplomatically recognizing the sovereignty of the true Republic of China (Taiwan). If this is so, I applaud The Gamecock for taking a stand against the free world’s acceptance of the PRC’s “peculiar institutions” (violations of human rights en masse) simply because they, as a nation, are on the rise in the wake of the fall of the Soviet Union. We should no longer simply turn our heads while one billion plus people do whatever they want just because they are raised believing that they are the superior race. James Whittingham Second-year Student College of Science and Math Serious problems exist with East Quad To the Editor I am a student living in East Quad, which is supposed to be the newest and best dorm on campus. Well, East Quad is new, but it’s also breaking apart. Since moving in August, many students in East Quad have had serious problems with their rooms. I, personally, have had a toilet explode, and my air conditioner hits never worked. When the maintenance people came to fix my air conditioner, they told me the air blowing out of my vents was 91 degrees. Also, the elevators have broken at least 10 times, and most recently, the elevator has been broken for a week. East Quad is the highest-priced dorm on this campus, and yet it seems to be the one with the most problems. I don’t understand why I am paying $2,000 a semester for a hot room that has unreliable plumbing and an elevator that does not work a majority of the time. 1 think that before the university thinks about raising housing costs, they should concentrate on repairing the broken-down dorms we have now. I don’t believe the university is concerned with the repair of the dorms once they have received the student’s money for their living expenses. For this reason, I am moving off campus next year, where hopefully, I will have better management of my living arrangements. Colleen Dixon Third-year Student College of Liberal Arts Abortion is a choice, but it’s still murder To the Editor With many recent articles and letters to the editor discussing abortion issues, I could no longer sit quietly and hold my peace. 1 would like to point out the fact that “pro-choice” is a misnomer. The freedom of making choices is always accompanied by the responsibility to accept the consequences of those choices. Many of those who claim to be “pro-choice” want nothing more than to use abortion as a fonn of birth control for girls, young and old, who have decided to engage in premarital sex, knowing there is a risk of pregnancy. However, pro-abortionists declare a need for abortion by citing other types of “noble” causes, such as cases in which the health of the mother is at stake or in which the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest. Who do you know that has had an abortion for either of those reasons? Who do you know that has had an abortion simply because she had an unwanted pregnancy? In the case of unwanted pregnancy, the couple has made a choice. The consequence of that choice is that their current choices are now limited. Adoption is always an option. When pro-abortionists hide behind die name “pro choice,” they are attempting to persuade the American people that they are fighting for something that we all believe in—the freedom to choose. In reality, however, they are fighting for the right to kill an innocent child because it’s more convenient dian accepting responsibility for their choices. Anita Ervin Fifth-year Student School of Public Health Nettles was a great attribute of paper To the Editor I ask, “Where is Hamp Nettles?” That columnist, in my opinion, did more to better The Gamecock than all other columnists’ efforts combined. Nettles tackled issues that no one else addressed. It is not that he was trying to better the populace — he just wanted to get his ideas out to everyone so they might arrive at some conclusions for themselves. Debate is a very popular idea with Nettles, but only the informal kind, where the parties involved are always working toward a common goal. He believes in the Socratic method of debate, where the two debaters try to learn from one another. After one of his particularly controversial articles about the right to discriminate, Nettles actually went to two BGLA meetings and visited a class in the Women’s Studies Program. Now that he is gone, his space is filled with columns on professional wrestling and pro-smoking. Where is the thought provoking material that Nettles contributed? Perhaps I can look toward columnists like Nathan White to offer some stimulating, intelligent, humorous articles, but I won’t get my hopes up. The absence of Hamp Nettles, the cowboy-hat-wearing economist/ philosopher/Dylan junkie, is a loss to the USC community. Jake Chapiesky First-year Student College of Liberal Arts Sports Clubs Turtle Tug mires field in leftover, smelly Jell-0 Blatt Field F is an often overlooked scientist’s dream and a sports club’s nightmare. I don’t pretend to be anything close to Maiy Hartney a scientist, but it is a second-year Strikes me as odd student in the College that on a small of Journalism and field, there’s a . Mass swamp, rolling Communications, hills, various large Send response to rock specimens gamecockviewpoints _ and a small sandy ehotmaii.com. area right smack in the middle. And for the past three weeks, just to the right of our lovely “beach,” a strange and crunchy substance has covered the field — decaying Jell-0. Yes, it’s the Jell-0 left from that illustrious event, important enough to garner a front-page headline in The Gamecock “The first annual Delta Zeta Tuttle Tug.” I play field hockey at USC, and we’ve had a lot of obstacles to overcome for decent practice times and play spaces. But never have I encountered something so gross, weird and unacceptable as a laige patch of red Jell-0 on a playing field. USC’s sports clubs have learned to take a lot of things in stride and to share our practice field among five teams and the marching band. But we have to draw the line somewhere. And I think a Jell O-infested tug-of-war might just be that i*_ line. *• I learned of the Jell-0 after the Women’s Lacrosse Team didn’t practice because the smell was so overpowering, and the next morning I went to Campus Recreation and spoke with the field coordinator. He assured me that it would be taken care of by that evening and told me that Delta Zeta was responsible for the cleanup. It’s still there, three weeks later. The Jell-0 has turned from a smelly, gooey, red mess to a smelly, crunchy, brown mess. And its presence says a lot of things about the field and sports clubs. It shows that Field F has become a catchall for too many different oiganizations and events. Field F is known as the Band Field because USC’s marching band practices there three hours a day, three days a week during the fall football season. Five sports clubs share the few remaining weekday hours available for practice. And now gelatinous charity events are being held there on the weekends. ftKirirtiicK/ tlio fiolrl ic in Hicr£»nair from overuse. I have been informed that the field undeigoes treatments four times a year. That’s not good enough. It needs a complete overhaul. It’s embarrassing for sports clubs to play host to other schools on the field. It slopes downward at an awkward angle. It isn’t regulation size, and it’s actually hazardous to players. I’ve seen fist-sized bruises on players who’ve fallen on the rocks. The Jell-0 incident also illustrates the serious lack of communication between Campus Recreation and the organizations that use the field. Delta Zeta says Campus Recreation was supposed to clean up after the tug-of war. Campus Recreation says Delta Zeta is responsible. I say somebody needs to do something. And I know of several other teams who have complained as well. So let’s tighten up down there and get something fixed. If the field can’t be fixed without a long period of being left alone, that’s fine. Put us somewhere else, somewliere better, like the intramural fields. It’s common knowledge that the fields closest to Blatt are better. And for some reason that I haven’t quite figured out, intramurals get priority over sports clubs. I know intramurals are popular. But they’re seasonal. We’re out there all year, practicing and playing hard to bring success to USC in our respective leagues and club circuits all over the East Coast. So we’d like a little respect, for both our field and us.