The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 16, 2001, Page 5, Image 5
THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, November 16, 2001
IN OUR OPINION
University
still hiding
A forum held last night by USC’s chapter of the
NAACP proves the university’s reaction to a racial
bias lawsuit gets more embarrassing every day.
At first, USC wouldn’t say anything about 26
maintenance workers’ claims that they were passed
over for pay or promotion because of their race. (Of
137 USC maintenance workers, 34 are black. None of
them are managers.) The university simply
dismissed the claims, called an Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission decision in favor of the
workers a “drive-by ruling” and then resorted to
labeling the lawsuit’s allegations
USC S reaction “groundless” without offering
to a lawsuit any specifics.
Continues to be When it did respond with a
embarrassing legal filing of its own, the
and cowardly, university just issued one-word
denials while claiming a litany of
immunities for itself and its co-defendants, President
John Palms and Gerald Goings, assistant director for
maintenance services.
Now the EEOC is investigating claims that, in its
response to the worker’s complaints to the
commission, USC might have misled the EEOC by
listing black supervisors as managers.
We hope the latest allegations will force USC to
respond to the workers’ charges. But we’re afraid it
will not. The administration will likely continue to
deny them without really answering them.
We applaud the NAACP for holding a forum, and
we applaud the workers for speaking out about then
lawsuit. We just wish USC would have the backbone
to do the same.
Winners and Sinners
CAROLINA FANS: The blackout looked great.
Can’t say the same about the scoreboard.
NAACP: Students speak out about racial bias.
When will USC?
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: If they build the
Wellness Center, 01’ Strom might get to see it.
CAROLINA FANS: Some of you could have stuck
around to see Spurrier run up the score.
CLEMSON: Thank you for getting the big game
, pushed to Jefferson-Pilot.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES: The business school is
great and all, but the journalism school would
like some new chalk. Please?
GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS
In a story on the USC tuition increase, a third-year finance
student should have been identified as Adam Barker. The
Gamecock regrets the error.
If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. Write us
at gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com.
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USCfans need to get rowdy
CLAYTON KALE
CEKALE@HOTMAIL.COM.
Fans need to be ready
for a loud, ugly football
game against Clemson.
Tomorrow is the most
important football game of the
year. Forget the “we’re going to
this bowl, we’re going to that
bowl” talk. Don’t stress too much
about Petty or Edwards or
Watson. Forget about last week’s
bummer. We need to be focused.
The majority of us on campus
are only simple fans. We’re not
Skip, so we can’t call better
plays. We’re not Petty so we can’t
throw better passes. For this
game — the game against the
luckiest, dirtiest team, the team
with the most god-awful
uniforms—we need to focus on
the one and only thing that we
can do to help our Gamecocks.
We need to make as much noise
as is humanly possible.
That involves yelling,
screaming, screeching, wailing,
clapping, slapping, stomping,
jumping and perhaps the
occasional bad word. To make
as much noise as we are capable
of, it’s no secret that many, if
not most, of the people in the
student section are tanked. If
that’s not your thing, great, but
your time will be much more
enjoyable if you watch the game
and cheer and laugh at the
drunken fools (drunks say the
darndest things) instead of
sulking. Besides, even the alma
mater endorses a good drink
now and then. Here’s a health,
Carolina!
We’re going to be crammed
into the student section pretty
tight, friends. And there will
probably be non-students who
bought standing room only
tickets who come and invade
our domain. Here’s how we
should handle iti take note what
seat and row they’re in, and
then ask them (politely!) what
their ticket says. When they
read off the numbers, if it’s not
the seat they’re in, tell them,
“um, sir (ma’am), these are my
seats.” Maybe a little rude, but
it’s the student section, not the
scheming 30-something section.
If this game is half as good as
I’m hoping it will be, it’s going to
be a close score, making us
nervous. I wish I had statistics
on the number of students who
smoke, but I don’t. However, I do
have eyes, and I can see that
there are many smokers in the
student body. It’s against the
rules to smoke in the stands, so
I’m in no way condoning
lighting up on a 4th and goal,
but there will be a lot of
students who do. If you despise
cigarette smoke and really
wish it out of your face, here’s
how to handle it: tap the
smoker on the shoulder and
say, “excuse me, would you
mind putting that out?” or
“you’re not supposed to smoke
in here.” The smoker might say
something rude to you (drunks
say the damdest things), but
nine times out of ten, they’ll
oblige and douse the butt. The
thing not to do is go tell USCPD.
By the time the cops wade
through the crowd to the
smoker, disturbing rows of fans
in the process, the smoker is
finished, and a cop can’t bust a
crime he doesn’t have evidence
for. It wastes everybody’s time.
Fans will be fans, so there are
times that the crowd is going to
be really, really ugly. Such as
when the tigers and their clashing
♦ CLEMSON, SEE PAGE 6
IN YOUR OPINION
Continue breathing
and hoping USC
James Enlow, you are
justifiably angry about the
pending budgetary issues.
However, even in your most
critical moods, you should
remember that your
university has led the way in
raising standards (for faculty
and students), raising money
($300 million in endowment
funds plus $120 million
annually in research dollars),
and raising the institutional
prefile (from tier 3 to tier 2 in
the short time I’ve been here).
This advance is also your
success, Janies!
I won’t say that our
situation.isn’t alarming, but I
do confess that my favorite
Latin motto is still dum spiro
spero (“while I breathe, I
hope”).
SCOTT GWARA
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR. ENGLISH
Professors should
donate paychecks
I have written to you guys
before and never had one
published, but hopefully
someone who writes a column
does read this.
The increasing tuition rate
has us all concerned, yeah, no
problem. I am writing real
fast to explain a possible
solution I have, and you don’t
have to publish my letter, but
maybe someone else can write
a column on this.
Did I read somewhere that
65% of the professors at USC
make at least $100,000 per
year? That is not up to be
disputed, thatis fine,
whatever, but has anyone
ever thought of having the
professors donate a portion
of their paycheck to some
sort of fund, and in return
they receive their name
engraved on a plaque or
something.
Hear me out: If the
teachers all donated a
thousand dollars out of their
yearly salary, not much to
them in the long run, not only
would this help with the
money issue, but eventually
USC would be more attractive
to higher qualified students,
thus being able to join the
AAU, make money, and keep
the students happy by not
raising the tuition every
semester.
In the long run this would
mean that students with
better grades would attend
USC, it would be able to join
the AAU and get whatever
national recognition it
needs, and even in the long
term be able to decrease
tuition.
I also want to say that Lee
Corso is a jackass, ever since
his comment last winter with
“how could Ohio State lose to
a team from South
Carolina?!?!” He can kiss my
ass.
Also, Charles Prashaw
and Phil Watson are exactly
, the kind of writers The
Gamecock needs, they tell it
like it is... love the cigarette
behind your ear Charles.
You guys do a great job,
thanks for entertaining me
three days out of the week.
MIKE BUCHANAN
SECOND-YEAR STUDENT,
RETAIL!NO MAJOR
Columnist off track
on Palms’ record
Mr. Prashaw’s Nov. 5 column
highlights the lack of quality
that is the cornerstone of many
of your columnists’ drivel that
passes for columns. Mr. Prashaw
is foolish and ignorant and his
column reveals. Mr. Prashaw’s
columns are typical of the angry
social misfit persona that he
portrays, no doubt because that’s
who he really is.
Mr. Prashaw’s disdain for our
President, Dr. John Palms, is
based on misinformation. He is
angered by the fact that Dr.
Palms leaked word of his bid for
Senate to The State and not our
illustrious student newspaper
The Gamecock. First of all, Dr.
Palms did not leak anything to
any newspaper. Somebody else,
most likely with cruel intentions,
leaked the information in an
attempt to embarrass Dr. Palms.
At the time The State ran its
orfiplo Hr Polmp urne folhinrr
key Democratic leaders and
exploring the idea. That is why
he deliberated for the period he
did before giving his answer to
the board of trustees on whether
or not he would indeed run.
Mr. Prashaw, you didn’t even
get your facts straight. Also, you
insinuate the Dr. Palms is
retiring at a convenient time
when the budget crisis is
beginning. Once again, you err
on the side of idiocy. Dr. Palms
was going to retire in 2002
regardless of the budget
situation; that’s why he was
exploring the idea of running for
Senate. Ten years is a good term
for a University President and
♦ LETTERS, SEE PAGE 6
Campus
should
combat
racism
TACARAL. HALL
GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM
Just writing, complaining
about racism doesn’t
help solve the problem.
Two fraternities suspended
for KKK costumes at Auburn
University... Darryl Green’s
comparison of Maurice
Bessinger to Osama bin Laden...
a freshman’s comparison of Jesse
Jackson to Maurice Bessinger—
"here at USC as well... In times
like these, we all stand in need of
a little “Racism 101.”
I read Darryl Green’s column
in which he compared Maurice
Bessinger to Osama bin Laden.
As a black woman in today’s
society, I understand the point
that he was trying to make, but
don’t necessarily agree with the
method he chose to communicate
his message. Darryl’s column
provoked strong emotions
within the hearts and minds of
USC students, but was it
enough? A freshman student
responded to Darryl’s column by
saying it was ignorant of him to
compare Maurice Bessinger to
Osama bin Laden, yet the same
“intelligent” student turned
around and said that he could
make the comparison of the Rev.
Jesse Jackson to Maurice
Bessinger. Ignorance is defined
as “a lack of knowledge.” The
freshman student, just as
Darryl, was trying to get a point
across, but exemplified his
ignorance of historical black
figures, and their viewpoints of
race relations in the process.
All LAIC UNUV. I iaauc VJA 1 UK
Gamecock, an article was
written about the two
fraternities at Auburn
University that dressed in KKK
robes and black faces for
Halloween. I was appalled after
reading the article, but after going
to the Web site, www.tolerance.org,
and seeing actual pictures, I was
completely speechless. What type
of society do we live in that would
~ convince anyone that there is
humor in placing a noose around
the neck of someone with a black
painted face? I find it ironic that
the Web site that featured the
Auburn incident is indeed entitled
“tolerance.” Is that what we have
become, a society whose tolerance
levels of racism are so high that we
can’t recognize it when we see it?
Though I am a senior, this is
my second semester here. Since I
have been at USC, I’ve noticed
various subtle acts of racism on
campus. I feel that since this
campus is so diverse, racism is
downplayed greatly. In one of my
classes, I had to interview three
professors on the topic of
“Bettering the University.” I
found that members of the faculty
feel the same as I do, and believe
that racism on campus isn’t
addressed, as it should be—on all
levels of the university.
I recall a particular incident I
encountered with one of my
professors. (Out of respect, I
won’t name him 11 haH spnrpH
low on a test in one of my
classes. The professor said in
class, that if anyone felt they
didn’t do as well as they should
have, come speak with him
privately in his office. I decided
to speak with the professor, as
he advised, and explain why I
felt I didn’t do well.
Once I met with him, he asked
me whether I was working too
many hours outside of school. I
then explained to him I hadn’t
done well on the exam because I
didn’t have the book with which
to study. I also explained that I
♦RACISM, SEE PAGE 6