Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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All! IN OUR OPINION A spotlight on Columbia Now, maybe city and university officials will take safety seriously. Two assistant U.S. attorneys from Chicago were shot Monday night, bringing national attention to the alarming pattern of violence and crime in the area surrounding Five Points. The level of violent crime in Five Points is reasonably low, and many students feel safe there. But it’s becoming increasingly clear that something is wrong in the area surrounding USC students’ .... . favorite nightspot. These S ■ shootings are just the latest in increasingly clear a series of violent incidents that something is over past year that include wrong in the area the gunpoint robbery of two surrounding USC use students at the corner of Students’ favorite Barnwell and Greene streets nightspot, and the rape of a Columbia woman in a Greene Street apartment near campus. Meanwhile, university administrators say they’re “concerned” about safety after they blocked an off campus Safe Ride that would have spared students from the prospect of facing violent crime. Why? Liability for drunk students, although they didn’t put it in such blunt terms. College students will drink, and no show of police force at Five Points convenience stores will stop that. The failure to provide an off-campus Safe Ride won’t cause fewer students to drink; it will only expose drunken students to perilous situations. USC administrators and city police need to worry less about social engineering and more about students’ safety. Winners and Sinners E DEREK WATSON Star rusher returns to football team. Just try to stay out of trouble, OK? GOV. JIM HODGES Saves higher education, battles nuclear waste shipment. Charlie who? USC PRESIDENT JOHN PALMS Sticks with university; avoids debates with Lindsey Graham, having to worry about the next incendiary Harpootlian quote HOUSING Failure to account for 500 additional freshmen means some end up in Holiday Inn. Wouldn’t Econo Lodge be cheaper? BURGER KING Dispute between BK and franchise owner leads to closing of all Columbia locations. Can’t have it “your way” anymore. STROM THURMOND Takes “constituency service” to new heights by nominating son for top U.S. atty. post. Jenna Bush to lead SLED? GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. Write us at gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK Martha Wright CONTACT INFORMATION Editor in Chief Offices on third floor of the Russell House. MarvH rfnev Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@hotmail .com limvUo .Tcaifnr University Desk: gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Y City Desk: gamecockcitydesk@hotmail.com virtn.!. n Viewpoints: gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com Snntuoht ui,.. Spotlight: gamecockspotlight@hotmail.com P t ight Editor Sports: gamecocksports@hotmail.com .. . Online: www.dailygamecock.com Newsroom: 777-7726 Sports Editor Beju Shah The Gamecock is the Online Editor student newspaper of the The Gamecock University of South Aaron Hark 1400 Greene Street Carolina and is published Photo Editor Coiumbia.SC 29208 Monday. Wednesday and Advertising: 777-3888 Fnday durlng the fall and Greg Hambrlck Classified: 777-1184 spring semesters and nine City & State Editor Fax: 777-6482 times during the summer with the exception of Brandon Larrabee QTIinFNT MFniA university holidays and Viewpoints Editor SlUUtHI IVItUlM exam periods. Opinions Erik Collins, Faculty Adviser expressed in The Page Designers Ellen Parsons, Director of Gamecock are those of James Battle, Jennie Student Media the editors or author and Moore. Katie Smith, Susan King, Creative not those of the University Mark Yates Director of South Carolina. The Carolyn Griffin, Business Board of Student Community Affairs Manager Publications and Betsy Baugh. Sara Sarah Sims. Advertising Communications is the Mclaulin Manager publisher of The Sherry F. Holmes, Classified Gamecock. The Copy Editors Manager Department of Student Crystal Boyles Media is the newspaper’s Mackenzie Creative Services parent organization. The Clements Jason Sean De Luna. Todd Hooks, Gamecock is supported in Harmon Jill Martin Melanie Hutto, Emilie Moca, part by student activities Martin Salisbury fees. One free copy per Photographers reader’ Additional copies Sherry Holmes Advertising Staff may be purchased for one Travis Lynn ’ Jannell Deyo, Robyn Gombar, dollar each from the Kera Khalil, Denise Department of Student Levereaux, Nicole Russell Media. *. Zf- * ' —' Campus’credit card beasts PHIL WATSON WATSONPHIL@YAHOO.COM Companies lure us with free gifts, then try to own us through debt. The beginning of a fresh new school year is here at last, and with it comes many traditions that have forged their ways from back alleys and South American cult rituals to become well-known pillars of tradition in institutions of higher learning. This very semester, hundreds of virgin freshmen girls plagued with low self esteem, living away from home for the first time, will unsuspectingly and regretfully become fleshy tools of gratification to numerous men for the prospect of attention. Textbook store owners will continue to rob students with high prices and low buyback values. The beautiful people will still force pedestrians to take Zip Sheets, and panhandlers will again coerce naive people into giving them money. But there’s one beast on campus far more dangerous than the others. This predator is far more perilous than the virgin-hungry wolves in Five Points or the profit-driven, black-hearted bookstore owners. This beast is viler than a truck stop restroom, a personal injury lawyer or MTV. I’m talking, of course, about the .credit card jockeys. You’ve probably seen them around. They set up booths and lure people into their web of financial domination and control with the promise of a free T-shirt or a pair of sunglasses. Granted, a “I am sofa king we todd did” shirt is amusing and a fake pair of Oakley sunglasses (a.k.a. foakley sunglasses) can block dangerous U.V. rays from penetrating your delicate eyes, but there’s a price to pay for those mass-produced products from Taiwan. I'm not saying the people who take your application and give you a free piece of junk, however annoying they may be, are the ones wanting to own you. The companies they work for, however, do. When you go into debt, you are owned. You may not think so, and the credit card companies may not put it that way, but when you use that piece of plastic to buy things, you become Visa’s beeyotch. Credit card companies are right up there with tobacco companies when it comes to being evil. They use cheap gimmicks to pull you into using their product, then make unholy amounts of money from the outrageous interest rates they charge. What’s even worse is that they heavily market their products to college students, who are typically hard-pressed for cash as it is. Now they’ve even started taking a digital picture of your student ID card when you fill out an application. If you haven’t noticed, your social security number is on that card, so, even if you lie on your application, they cam still get your real information. If you want to be a big credit card spender, fine. If you like the thought of greedy, faceless corporations getting richer off you, spend! After all, the economy has to have gullible consumers buying worthless items that are marketed well. But if you don’t like being an evil corporation’s submissive girlfriend, there are several things you cam do to retaliate. When you pass the table with all the T-shirts and sunglasses, you could grab a handful of them and run. That way, you still get free stuff, but you don’t have to fill out an application to get it. If you’re not much for stealing, you could just run up, throw the tables upside down and take off. Be sure you’re wearing your running shoes if you choose this route. You’re parents and the police may say it was a stupid idea, but it would be so funny it would almost be worth it. And then there’s the conventional option of walking past the tables and not risking going to jail, but that’s kind of boring. Remember that just about everyone wants something from you. So have fun, get decent grades and beware of the predators. WE WANT LETTERS Submission Policy Letters to the editor or guest columns are welcome from the Carolina community. Letters should be 250-300 words. Guest columns should be about 600 words. Both must include name, phone number, professional title or year and major, if a student. Deliver handwritten submissions to Russell House room 333, or send e-mail to gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. The Gamecock reserves the right to edit for libel, style and space. Anonymous letters will not be published. Photos are required for guest columnists and can be provided by the submitter. Call 777-7726 for more information. NEW IN VIEWPOINTS This semester’s Viewpoints will house new features every day, in addition to the insightful columns and editorials you’ve come to expect from The Gamecock. Here’s a look at what you can look for each day in Viewpoints. Monday THE LEADER - An in-depth editorial that will analyze an issue of relevance to USC, explaining why it’s important and giving The Gamecock’s opinion about what should happen. WEEK IN REVIEW - A look at the events that made the past week interesting, and what impact those events might have on the future. Wednesday THE RANT - A feature that allows you to let everyone know what you think through short, one- to three-sentence comments. E-mail submissions, which should run no longer than 100 words. Look for ways to submit rants by chat and phone messages later in the semester. Friday WINNERS AND SINNERS - An entertaining weekly look at the performance of people in the news over the past week. QUOTABLES - The quotes that made the news, summed it up or simply made a statement of their own. From the Editor You belong on this page. At USC, we have a new semester, new friends, new classes. That’s why our paper needs new faces. We’re looking for columnists, reporters, photographers, copy editors, graphic artists and designers to apply their talents at The Gamecock. It doesn’t matter whether you're a journalism major - if you want to tell stories, capture campus life, get the facts straight or just make us look good, we want to hear from you. Write our section editors at the addresses in our “About Us” box. Visit the newsroom in Russell House 333. For the USC community, working at The Gamecock is the best education money can’t buy. I look forward to meeting you! Martha Wright http://WWW.DAILYGAMECOCK.COM * DAILY. OF COURSE. W r* Capital effort changes campus BRANDON LARRABEE GA M ECOCKVIEWPOI NTS@HOTM AI L.COM The bicentennial campaign has brought USC funding, prestige. Sometimes, it’s hard to sift through all the administration press releases. I know this because, as a former university editor, I used to get press releases from the administration. All the time. But every once in a while, the Office of Media Relations sends us something useful. And I could always count on a story when they sent us a release about the Bicentennial Campaign. Launched in 1995, the Bicentennial Campaign is a so called “capital campaign,” basically a fund-raising tool of the university. Being the forward-thinking and progressive university we are, the bicentennial effort was USC’s first. But once it actually got one underway, the university took to the capital campaign with vigor. It shattered goals of $200 million and $300 million well ahead of schedule. It’s ambitious goal of $500 million by June 2002 would have been viewed with skepticism - if not laughter - when the campaign got underway in 1995. nuu ti ic Luaagcs ui gi v mg a± c real. Before the campaign, gifts to the university of more than $1 million were practically unheard of, despite the purported fund-raising prowess of President Jim Holderman. Now, gifts of more than $1 million aren’t viewed indifferently, but they aren’t front-page news. In the past fiscal year, seven donors gave the university seven-digit donations. That’s half the number for the previous year, but the previous year wasn’t clouded with doubts about the economy. “It’s been a whole change in the culture of giving,” USC Development Vice President Bob Staton said in an interview. “That has changed dramatically.” There are more examples of how the university has changed because of the new gift-giving culture. Four years ago, the Darla Moore School of Business was simply the School of Business. One year ago, the Norman J. Arnold School of Public Health was just the School of Public Health. Naming colleges might seem like a cosmetic change, but in the world of academics, it’s not. When Moore gave $25 million in 1998 and Arnold gave the uuivcisu^ <piu immuii uuo paoi November, it was an indication of their faith in the programs that would bear their names. Arnold’s gift gave the university the first named school of public health at an American public university. Dean Harris Pasitides said at the time that it was a sign Arnold saw potential in the program. “He would not have made this investment if he thought we were just a nice group of people,” Pastides said. There have been tangible benefits for students as well. Robert McNair’s $25 million gift helps the university attract out of-state students with $64,000 scholarships. That helps the students with the scholarships, but it also helps the rest of us by raising the prestige of USC and ♦ SEE CAMPAIGN, PAGE AIS*