———... . ' . .-—
IN OUR OPINION
Cathedrals
aren’t sacred
By now, USC’s drive to enter the Association of
American Universities—the group of more than 60
institutions of higher education that many consider
to be among the best in the world—is no secret. The
university talks endlessly about the goal, using it to
obtain funds from the Legislature, explain tuition
increases and justify the way it spends its budget.
But there is a portion of USC’s drive for prestige
that many students probably haven’t heard about:
the “Cathedrals of Excellence.”
The cathedrals are the four colleges and schools —
the College of Engineering and Information
Technology, the Moore School of Business, the
College of Science and Math and. the College of
-1- • 1 1A I ll ill
The university
should try to
achieve AAU
status by raising
the standards of
all its colleges.
ijiuei cu — mat me
administration says will vault
USC into the AAU if they
perform strongly.
What about the other colleges
and schools around campus?
. The recent department cuts
have made the administration’s
regard for other colleges clear. The university could
have distributed the cuts at the same level across the
board, sharing the pain among all of USC’s students
and faculty. Instead, it cut most departments by 1.5
percent while cutting the cathedrals by only 0.5
percent, taking a dangerous step toward creating
campus “haves” and “have-nots.”
That’s a shame. The university should try to
achieve AAU status by raising the standards of all its
colleges, not by raising the standards of some while
accepting mediocrity in others.
That shortcut might work to win USC the label of
an AAU school, but it will never make the university
a world-class institution. For that to happen, USC
must make all of its programs first-class — instead of
treating some of them like second-class citizens in
the campus’s academic society.
GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS
The student-created comic on Monday should have been credit
ed to James Mullen. The title of Mullen’s comic is “A Day in the Life
Charles Prashaw’s column in Monday’s edition should have said
there were two women and two non whites on the board of trustees.
An article on Habitat for Humanity should have said the house
being built by the USC chapter will be completed by Nov. 16.
_n an article on the Interfaith Celebration, a woman’s name should
have been spelled Rachel Rosansky. The Gamecock regrets the er
rors.
If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. Write us at
gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com.
ABOUT THE GAMECOCK
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the University of
South Carolina and is
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Wednesday and
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and spring semesters
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exception of
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CARTOON COURTESY KRT CAMPUS
Misadventures in Gatorland
PHIL WATSON
WATSONPHIL@YAHOO.COM
Don’t envy Florida fans
- they probably got
carjacked going home.
How ’bout those fairgrounds
on Saturday?! Some are calling
it a hideous display of USC
students at their worst. It was
an orgy of fights, obscene name
calling and substance abuse.
Many complained about it,
saying the way USC fans
treated Florida fans was
disgraceful.
If you ask me, those Florida
fans had it coming to them.
There they were, invading
Columbia in their fancy motor
homes, with their expensive
beer and stupid-looking
alligator arm-clap thing. If I had
a dime for every time I saw
some moron Gator fan do that
arm-clap thing, I could afford to
get my car out of the impound.
Those Florida fans came into
town acting like they were
God’s gift to football. They all
appeared rich with their fancy
orange shirts and then
expensive drug habits. All the
girls from Florida looked good,
too. My friend told me that
based on the Florida girls at the
game, all girls from Florida
must be hot.
Au contraire monorail, I told
him. I’m originally from
Florida. I know a little bit about
Florida, and let me tell you,
they might have won the
football game, but they’ve lost
the “who is less likely to get
shot to death in a random, gang
related drive-by,” war.
Those Gator fans looked
pretty happy on their way out of
the stadium. They had taken
their Prozac and martinis and
were in good spirits. But don’t
envy them too much. Chances
are, while those Gator fans
were cheering their team on to
victory in Williams-Brice, gang
members were pillaging then
houses back in Florida.
Chances are even better that
half those fans were carjacked
once they crossed the
Georgia/Florida line on their
way home.
Don’t misinterpret me again.
I love Florida. I’m from there,
and it’s my favorite state, but I
hate all its football teams. I also
hate the drug-addicted
criminals who infest it. I might
like the Sunshine State, but
every time I cross the border
I’m watching my back like
Mohamed Atta at a David Allen
Coe concert in hell.
Despite the expensive RVs
Gator fans drove to the game
Saturday, Florida is also a poor
state. Some Floridians might
look rich, but the state shares a
lot of traits with South
Carolina.
Being from such a hostile
environment as this, Florida
fans were prepared for
whatever we threw at them
’ Saturday, figuratively and
literally. They live in the
hottest state in the union and
never get caught with their
weapons on safety. They came
in to Columbia like Israeli
stormtroopers, accomplished
their mission and left just as
quickly. It made me sick and
angry.
But this Saturday’s Clemson
game is going to be a different
story. There will be no
blackout, and there will be no
holds barred before, during or
after the game. I’m not
♦ WATSON, SEE PAGE 7
T
IN YOUR OPINION
Game day is time
for fans to have fun
I would like to respond to
Andy Frassetto’s letter
concerning the behavior of
USC fans at the football game.
As a senior, I have seen the
football program at this
school turn around in the past
two years. With the
turnaround, the atmosphere
of the games has changed
because anticipation of
victory is now present at
every game. I enjoy not only
the actual games, but also the
entire game day. Game day is
the perfect opportunity to
spend time with friends, have
some drinks and food while
tailgating, and to watch the
vjtuiieuuui^a win. i leei piuuu
when I see people express
their love for Gamecock
football by dressing up,
yelling when we score or
however else they might
express their interest in our
football program. I, too,
realize that some people get a
little out of control at some
games, but whenever you
assemble more than 80,000
fans at an event, some minor
problems should be expected.
Increasing security would not
curb drinking but would
increase the time it takes to
get into the game. If you want
to go to a school that doesn’t
party for football, go to
Wofford. As long as I’m a
Gamecock, I hope the stands
stay packed with rowdy and
enthusiastic fans.
DANIEL PERLMUTTER
FOURTH YEAR STUDENT,
INTERDISCIPLINARY
Complaints by ‘fan’
are just ridiculous
This is a response to the
“Fan’s behavior is
embarrassing” letter.
First of all, where does any
second-year student come off
criticizing any fourth-year
student at a USC game? They
weren’t there when we lost to
Vanderbilt, they weren’t there
when we were 0-21, they
weren’t at Lou Holtz’s
coaching debut at N.C. State.
They are just here now, and
they don’t know all the
hardships the TRUE fans had
to go through. It’s also evident
that the writer hasn’t been to
ANY sporting events at all.
The law says you have to be 21
years or older to drinK, so
what is wrong with drinking
and going to the game? Look
around the nation and tell me
how many football tailgates
carry no alcohol. Yeah, I
didn’t think you could think
of any, either. In any level of
the game, there is going to be
taunting. If you can’t handle
the taunting of other players,
maybe this might not be the
right place for you and your
friends. Your solution is not to
allow ANYONE in the
stadium who has alcohol. My
friend, if that is the case, the
stadium would have exactly
you and your friends, and
that’s about all.
I have noticed that you
brought out our student body
president, Corey Ford. I have
been friends with Mr. Ford for
four years now, and I was
proud to be standing by that
man at the Florida game.
Yeah, I was that guy who was
yelling “Corso Sucks” at
halftime; I take FULL credit on
that. Mr. Corso did not treat the
USC fans with respect since he
got here. I am also that guy who
was yelling at Coach Spurrier,
too; that guy is just a plain ass.
Corey Ford is one of the most
die-hard USC fans you will ever
meet in your life. This man
bleeds garnet, so don’t question
his loyalty to USC.
I am just hoping that you
don’t go to the Clemson game,
because that’s when it really
gets ugly.
NIRMESH SHAH
FIRST YEAR GRADUATE STUDENT
Powers that be don’t
care about students
I was going to wait until I
graduated in May to make these
remarks in order to avoid any
retaliatory effects, but Charles
Prashaw’s most recent column
(“Taking Away 112 Soup Cans,”
Nov. 12) compelled me to speak
out.
It is my belief that the most
recent tuition increase is merely
the latest symptom of an ongoing
problem: the administration’s
unmitigated and unabashed
scorn for the concerns and needs
of the student body. The board of
trustees does whatever it wants
to whomever it wants, and
complaining to or about them is
akin to screaming at a brick wall.
They want to raise tuition at
whim? It is raised. They want to
close down NAD A? It is closed.
They want more green space
instead of parking? Green space
they get.
And do not repeat to me the
♦ LETTERS, SEE PAGE 7
So I look
like an
Italian
to you?
ANN MARIE MIAN I
GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM
You think we’re all
members of the mafia?
Why I oughta...
I’ve been writing for this
newspaper for a few years now,
and if you can’t tell by the last
name or my so-called
“Mediterranean” looks, I’m
Italian. And no, I am not in the
Mafia. Like I would tell you if I
was. I know that’s what all you
people are thinking. She’s
Italian, so she must be. Well, I’m
not. And if I find you bastards
that think I am, you’ll be
wearing cement booties and
taking a swim in the Congaree
River.
I am taking a journalism class
this semester called women and
minorities in the mass media. In
this class we discuss the role of,
you guessed it, women and
minorities in the mass media.
So I got to thinking, how do
television and the movies
portray my heritage? We don’t
get to discuss Italians in the
class because it isn’t considered
a “minority.” Why I oughta...
1 tried to think of all the
movies I could with an Italian as
one of the main characters. And
do you know what I realized?
Italians are usually portrayed in
a negative light. I was in
complete shock. We were either
depicted as being in the Mafia,
eating pasta all the time,
drinking wine, having
something to do with
bootlegging and drugs or being
involved in some sort of illegal
activities.
Here are five of the
movies/TV shows I thought of:
1. The Sopranos
2. All three of The Godfather
movies
a. uooajeuas
4. Scarface
5. The Untouchables
And to further my irritation,
every one of the movies I listed
above has either a wife who has
no idea what her Mafia-boss
husband does for a living, a
daughter who is equally clueless
and a mistress who is more of a
“wise guy” groupie than
anything else.
Now I know why people ask
me if I’m in the Mafia. It’s
Hollywood’s fault. Movies with
an Italian as the lead character
usually give them a tendency to
order the deaths of people or run
some kind of illegal bootlegging
operation. Thank God, I guess
they didn’t see the clip on the
news of Cousin Angelo gettin’
busted for rum running.
So let me take the liberty to
dispel some common
misconceptions that these
movies have put in the minds of
thp nnhlir.
I can’t remember the last time
the family sat around the table
and plotted the deaths of our
enemies. That’s what Pop’s
office was for. We don’t do that
kind of thing out in the open. Do
you really think a people who
enjoy food as much as we do f
could possibly discuss murder
over a plate of pasta and a glass
of red wine?
Pop and my uncles don’t walk
around the house in three-piece
suits, black shirts and white
ties. Come on, that's only for
special occasions. We dress and
act just like every other group of
Americans. Just because most of
us kill for a living doesn’t make
us any different from you.
I don’t know anyone who
speaks in a thick New York
accent and says things like
♦ MIAMI, SEE PAGE 7