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IN OUR OPINION Too much team spirit Though Williams-Brice Stadium has a capacity of 80,250, there were 83,019 in attendance at Saturday’s football game, resulting in impassible walkways that were inconvenient and also dangerous. According to sources at the athletics ticket office, 11,500 student tickets are usually sold to each home game, but 400 extra tickets to this past Saturday’s game were sold as standing-room-only. Traditionally, however, students sit wherever they please, not in the seats assigned to them. As a result, _ . . there weren’t enough seats in The average tap thestudentsectionSaturday. to go to the Hundreds crowded between bathroom or get the fence and the bleachers refreshments behind the goal post, while lasted nearly an many more jammed the tunnel hour, near the entrance at the corner of the field. This made the average trip to go to the bathroom or get refreshments last nearly an hour. One student, resigned to standing near the field’s perimeter fence, was swept onto the field with the dance team. “It was like a mosh pit,” said Katie Wofford, a fourth-year liberal arts student. “A girl in front of me passed out, and I thought I was going to be crushed.” Therein lies some of the danger; without clear paths to ill or injured fans, medics might not be able to reach people soon enough. The band contributed to the problem. Though it’s necessary for band members to march on and off the field, the intermittent stream of band members, instruments and dance team members contributed to the congestion. The blame for this problem lies with officials who didn’t clear a path for them to pass, leaving them with just as much hassle getting back to their seats as other students. To avoid dangerous situations and potential fire hazards, fewer tickets need to be sold to the games. And the police need to do a better job controlling the crowd, whether this means blockading a path for the band or escorting students to available seats — of which there were some in the upper decks. ALSO IN TODAY’S VIEWPOINTS FRIDAY’S EDITORIAL, “WINNERS AND SINNERS,” AND “QUOTABLES” CAN BE FOUND ON PAGE 7 GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS In the Friday edition of The Gamecock, USC student Mark Schnee was referred to as a fourth-year student. He is a fifth-year student. The Gamecock regrets the error. 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. Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@hotmail.com Uni7 Ma, Crtitnr University Desk: gamecockudesk@hotmail.com versity tcmor City Desk: gamecockcitydesk@hotmail.com V1 . . Viewpoints: gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com The M a FrtT Spotlight: gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com e mix Editor Sports: gamecocksports@hotmail.com _ Online: www.dailygamecock.com ' F?» Newsroom: 777-7726 Sports Editor Preston Baines -m PLACE AN AD 77,6 Gamecock is the4 Asst. Sports Editor TOPWWWMV student newspaper of the The Gamecock University of South Beju Shah 1400 Greene Street Carolina and is published Online Editor Columbia, SC 29208 Monday, Wednesday and Advertising: 777-3888 Friday dadng the fall and Aaron Hark Classified: 777-1184 spring semesters and nine Photo Editor Fax: 777-6482 t"?!!!l?Unng th®summer with the exception of Greg Hambrick STUDENT MEDIA university holidays and City & State Editor OIUUtMl iflLUIH exam periods. Opinions Erik Collins, Faculty Adviser expressed in The Brandon Larrabee Ellen Parsons, Director of Gamecock are those of Viewpoints Editor Student Media editors or author and Susan King, Creative not those of the University Page Designers Director of South Carolina. The Mackenzie Carolyn Griffin, Business Board of Student Clements,Crystal Manager Publications and Dukes, Katie Smith Sarah Sims, Advertising Communications is the Manager publisher of The Community Affairs Sherry F. Holmes. Classified Gamecock. The Betsy Baugh, Karen Manager Department of Student Yip Media is the newspaper’s Creative Services parent organization. The Copy Editors Todd Hooks, Martin Gamecock is supported in Crystal Boyles Salisbury, Beju Shah part by student activities ‘ Jaspn Harmpn JIM fees- 0ne free c°Py Per Martin Advertising Staff reader. Additienal copies Betsy Baugh, Caryn may be purchased fcr cne nBarewsky, Denise Levereaux, dcllar each frcm the Jackie Rice, Stacey Tcdd Department of Student ■J i(jr Media. 1 v. . ... - v ■ .. . —.. ■. - . 1,1 — - i | Ufa ife-MAPPING /ifc 1 HUMAN GENOME, SCIENTISTS 3 hmc FINALLY PINPOINTED I ife/MT if'GENE.... 3 IWtUM* tHEVVflWt0 1WEKTML ■ ^. . . i _,_*_ Listening to USC’s students CLAYTON KALE CEKALE@HOTMAIL.COM As deans sharpen their axes for war, students shouldn’t be forgotten. The university has tightened its belt as much as it can be tightened. The budget will be trimmed, and certain “nonessential” programs will be cut. The Gamecock has reported that deans of the university’s disciplines are sharpening their axes for war. Every dean of every college will be busy writing papers on why his or her field is the keystone ofUSC. The administration is hearing from each department to determine which programs the university can base a national reputation on. The administration is basing the cuts on a 10-question pop quiz. The questions will help the university measure the revenue, productivity, impact and demand of each department. Each of the deans will come wearing their Sunday best and put on a good, albeit thoroughly biased, show for the administration. Unfortunately, the ones who could potentially feel the biggest changes are largely being ignored. The administration should look to the student body to measure how much demand exists for certain programs. The committee in charge of listening to the deans soon will be taking a break from the never-ending PowerPoint presentations to hear from students. But the three meetings hosted by the Strategic Directions and Initiatives Committee aren’t nearly enough to gauge student academic interest. More attention needs to be paid to the students of the university, because today’s students are tomorrow’s big dollar alumni. Holding meetings for students to air their concerns is a good start, but the university can do more. Already, students’ mailboxes are filled with solicitations from the university. Nearly every week; students receive something, whether it’s a postcard-sized advertisement for class rings or a brochure sized advertisement for Parent’s Weekend. The administration could suspend the next round of university junk mail and seek student comment instead. Perhaps the university could send a questionnaire to the students asking them what programs they find indispensable, what classes they would like to see offered at the university and which classes and programs are useless. The administration would be able to better judge what classes are in demand if they were to go straight to the ones who have to sit through the classes.Of course, not every student would take the time to fill out such a questionnaire, but I’m willing to bet the life of my cat that there would be more response to a mailing than to the three meetings combined. Student apathy is a constant here, but by actively seeking student comment, the administration would get some valuable feedback from the only people who make this univefsity exist. The administration will be faced with some tough decision making in the coming months, and they are to be applauded for asking the deans for their input. Indeed, the face of the faculty could be drastically altered by the conclusions drawn by the board of trustees. But let us not forget the students who chose to come to USC. They’re as much a part of the university as the board of trustees, and they should be considered when major changes are on the line. IN YOUR OPINION Don’t blame workers for service As a food and beverage worker, I feel compelled to give a worker’s perspective on the attitudes in the industry. The problem, or solution that is badly needed, doesn’t lie in the hourly workers themselves, but in the owners and managers who are sometimes one and the same. The amount of work that goes into opening a food and beverage outlet is enormous. An often-neglected aspect is employee management. The components that make or break people’s attitudes in this industry are restaurant design (does an employee have to suck in his or her belly just to get in the cooler?), a job description (which is only handed out 1 percent of the time), verbal encouragement (undermining an employee is the norm) and using common sense (which is a scarce notion in food and beverage outlets). How would all you workers out there who wear “Fortune 500” clothes to work like it if you had to answer your business phone located between two walls by sucking in your belly so you could reach the phdne? In most situations, the blame is dealt out as follows: owners are 60 percent at fault and the managers are 40 percent at fault. The title in many restaurant ads says it all: “Now Hiring All Positions.” TACKY. Low level employees don’t have tacky attitudes, they have tacky jobs. Because of low wages, a lot of owners/managers think they can treat their help like garbage. So if you, the paying public, ever get treated like garbage, you can thank the incompetent owners and managers. The next time you’re in a food and beverage outlet, take notice of the workers’ faces. Do they look happy to be there or would they rather be somewhere else? If they aren’t smiling, reach out and make them smile. You might make their day. JOSEPH MORGERA SENIOR, HOTEL RESTAURANT TOURISM MANAGEMENT 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. WE WANT YOUR RANTS “The Rant,” a weekly feature that will run every Wednesday, is one more way you can let everybody know how you feel. Send your anonymous, one- to three-sentence comments (no longer than 100 words, please) to gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. And look for more ways to rant, via phone or our www.daUygamecock.com, in the coming weeks. NEWS HAPPENS FIVE DAYS A WEEK. ; NOW, SO DO W^. http://WWW.DAILYGAMECOCK.COM A few of my least favorite things PHIL WATSON WATSONPHIL@YAHOO.COM Annoyed by trains, partial male nudity, and whining about S.C. The first days of school have certainly been exciting. For me they’ve beep a non-stop thrill ride filled with many ironic twists and turns. I can’t complain, though. I like surprises and new discoveries. Life would be gloomy and boring if we always knew how things would turn out. All the breaking news has also added to my recent days of surprises. Since I’ve been back in.Columbia. Aaliyah died in a plane crash, two attorneys were . ambushed near Five Points, Preston College decided to make its reputation even more masculine by splitting up into “houses” and naming them after characters from Harry Potter books, and some sorority I had never neara ot ceasea to De. I ought to write my column about all this thrilling news. I could talk about how tragic plane crashes are, how dangerous Five Points is, and how hard I laugh when I think about Preston College. This could be a great opportunity for me to relate my compassionate conservative views to recent news. Instead I’m going to go off on one of my traditional rants and talk about three things that have irked me in the past week. Like many other students, I live near the train tracks. Some nights, just after I drift off, I’m violently woken by the hideous screech of a train whistle and the thunderous sounds of thousands of pounds rolling over steel tracks. Usually, after I wake up and realize it’s not the apocalypse, I get angry. Sometimes I want to destroy the tracks with a jackhammer so trains won’t be able to go over them anymore. I’d probably go to jail, though, and I hear it’s even harder to sleep there. I would think we’re through with the barbaric practice of using trains. In these modern time's there’s surely more prudent means of transporting things. Using trucks, planes and stem cell babies to carry goods from place to place would probably be less costly and less annoying. i saw anoiner ming inai bugged me when I was walking to class the other day. Some shirtless moron was walking to or from class with his books in one hand and his shirt in another. There’s a time and place for everything. When you’re jogging, hanging out at the beach, or at home, it’s appropriate to take off your shirt, but not when you’re walking to class. This guy was in front of the Humanities Classroom Building when I saw him. Walking on the main campus to or from a class is no time to take off your shirt. It’s a trashy practice that everyone except females should be discouraged from doing. I know it was hot that day, but sometimes it's best to deal with the discomfort. The whole thing reminded me of the television show Cops. It seems like every toothless hillbilly that gets arrested for domestic violence on that show isn’t wearing a shirt. I’m not saying this guy was a hillbilly. He may have been <;■ ♦ ANNOYANCES, SEE PAGE 6