Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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1 SOUND OFF ONLINE POLL Create message boards at Have you ever cheated www.dailygamecock.com or USC Parking Services? send letters to the editor to www.dailygamecock.com. gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com Results published on Fridays. THE LEADER Waiting for CP to rock campus Carolina Productions is one of the biggest student organizations — at least in the amount of money it receives annually from student activity fees. Students deserve high-quality programs and entertainment; Carolina Productions deserves capable leadership that will help the organization live up to its full potential. Money matters CP receives more than twice as much as most other student organizations combined. That level of funding should allow CP to attract first-rate programming and promote it accordingly. The CP calendar is 'already full of interesting'events, such as a sneak preview of “Slackers” and an appearance by former Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders. But such programming should be the rule and not the exception. We know CP has a lot brewing, and we hope USC will have the opportunity to see some big name acts on campus. Promoting CP The most unfortunate part of CP’s plight is the lack of effective self-promotion for the high-quality programming it does bring. For every student who knows about an upcoming CP event, there has to be at least five who know nothing about it. The organization isn’t taking full advantage of the outlets available to them to advertise — such as USC Student Media. And if Student Government candidates can cover every available surface around campus, why can’t CP? A call to action With new commissioners this semester, CP has an opportunity to do some outstanding things. CP’s Cinematic Arts Commission has a strong lineup of newly released movies, but that seems to be all CP has planned. Where are the concerts, the cultural events and the special programs they promise? We realize it’s still early in the semester, but we hope CP plans some great things before time runs out. Unfortunately, there’s no president to lead one of the largest and most important organizations on campus. It’s disappointing that no one has stepped forward to take on this responsibility. Surely, there is someone with the abilities to take CP where it needs to go. Students deserve better from Carolina Productions, and CP deserves a president. GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS In Friday’s Gamecock Quotables, a quote by Dave Odom should have identified him as the men’s basketball head coach. 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 Mary Hartney Editor in Chief Glnny Thornton News Editor Kevin Fellner Asst. News Editor Mackenzie Clements Viewpoints Editor Carrie Phillips The Mix Editor Justin Bajan Asst. The Mix Editor Chris Foy Sports Editor Keith Allen Asst. Sports Editor Brandon Larrabee Special Projects Martha Wright Design Editor Kyle Almond Copy Desk Chief Mark Hartney Online Editor Page Designers Crystal Dukes, Sarah McLaulin, Katie Smith, David Stagg Copy Editors Crystal Boyles. Jason Harmon, Jill Martin, Paul Rhine, Andrew Festa Photo Technicians Robert Gruen, Aaron Hark, Candi Hauglum CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@hotmail.com University Desk: gamecockudesk@hotmail.com City Desk: gamecockcitydesk@hotmail.com Viewpoints: gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com The Mix: gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com Sports: gamecocksports@hotmail.com Online: www.dailygamecock.com Newsroom: 777-7726 STUDENT MEDIA Erik Collins Faculty Adviser Ellen Parsons Director of Student Media Susan King Creative Director Carolyn Griffin Business Manager Sarah Scarborough Advertising Manager Sherry F. Holmes Classified Manager Creative Services Todd Hooks, Earl Jones, Jennie Moore, Beju Shah, Advertising Staff Betsy Baugh, Denise Levereaux, Laura Miller, Jackie Rice, Stacey Todd TO PUCE AN AD The Gamecock 1400 Greene Street Columbia, S.C. 29208 Advertising: 777-3888 Classified: 777-1184 Fax: 777-6482 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. BEELER’tiX WHAT?/THESE ARE JUST CANDIES TO HONOR THE DEAD/ • VOO TtPCf#? V) CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS How many T-shirts do you need? GREG HAMBR1CK GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM There actually are ways to survive credit cards. Pauline called me while she was clutching a credit card in one hand and a stiff martini in the other. Her son spent his $500 limit at an Internet gambling site within two hours of receiving the card. “Don’t they understand that he’s not an adult?” she cried while contemplating whether to give him another $25 to win his fortune back. The first thing I told her was to keep her money away from that gambling junky son of hers. The second was, “Yes, they’re perfectly aware he’s not an adult. Lucky for them, he’s 18.” Sure, the credit vendors seem so nice in front of the Russell House, hocking T-shirts, cheap sunglasses or other assorted freebies. It might surprise some people, especially those who fill out 10 applications at a time, but credit is more of a curse for college students than a blessing. It’s no shock that college students are prey for credit companies. We’re an easy sell, and they expect us to pay them back faster, if only slightly faster, than someone who only has a high school diploma. But there are some things you don’t get with the T-shirt. For instance, every time you apply for a card, it’s registered on your credit report. These inquiries might prevent you hum getting the preferred rates on other credit products in the future. It’s these important, though often missed facts, that have prompted California to enact a law barring credit card vendors from offering free gifts on campuses. They also require schools to provide debt education for students. That would have probably been helpful for Pauline. I’m not sure it would have helped Ron. Some students get all the credit they can and stop there. Others, like Ron, forge then father’s signature to amass a credit collection of $70,000. Because his father was nice enough not to press'charges, Ron got off with just bankruptcy on his record. A bankruptcy is kind of like wearing Hammer pants at Knock Knock — not a soul wants to dance with you. There are some things you can do to save yourself from the “College Credit Card Crunch.” First, don’t get a credit card. Instead, sign up for a CD club. If you can’t manage an account with BMG, then you can’t be trusted to mail in your monthly statements on time to a credit card companies. Trust me, there is no wrath like a credit card company scorned. If you aspire to get a credit card in the future, but want to wait until you actually have some income to afford it, a good idea would be to start putting your monthly bills in your name, even if daddy pays them. A good history with the gas or phone company could help get you a better rate when you start shopping around for your card or when you start looking for that new car. For those in that “never going-to-get-out-from-under this” place, fear not. Ron’s doing just fine. Besides getting to keep the personal tanning bed he bought with his fraudulent cards, Ron started building his credit back up with high-interest credit cards just six months after the bankruptcy. Two and a half years later, he signed the mortgage on his first home. My advice for Pauline: I told her to cut up her son’s card and let him pay it off. After the three and a half years it’ll take to get back to a zero balance, he’ll understand just fine the good and bad of credit. Hambrick is a fourth-year print journalism student. IN YOUR OPINION Redskins’ Snyder is decent NFL owner Daniel Snyder is no idiot. He’s a self-made billionaire who has turned the Washington Redskins into one of sport’s most valuable franchises. True, he hasn’t fully learned what it takes to be a NFL owner, but as a lifetime Redskins fan, I, for one, am willing to wait until he has it figured out. If he mastered the business world, I know he can do the same in the football world. Just like being a good coach, player or trainer, most of your learning comes on the job. Snyder has admitted to his past mistakes, most notably Deion Sanders — that bum is still collecting money. Steve Spurrier is inheriting a great team really only needing a good quarterback. No, the Redskins aren’t “salary-cap strapped,” as Chris Foy wrote in a Jan. 16 column. In fact, they are among the league’s best in that department, with about $11 million under the cap. Do your homework before you trash the owner who’s going to bring this great franchise back to glory. Marty Schottenheimer is no angel in all of this. The reason he was fired is because he wouldn’t concede his power of general manager. Yes, I agree with you that he’s a good coach, but he’s a poor general manager. He made bad moves when he came in, most notably James Thrash (Philly’s best receiver) and Larry Centers (a Pro Bowler in Buffalo). As a result, Snyder is about to bring in a new GM. Bobby Beatherd (old Redskins GM), Ron Wolf and George Allen Jr. (son of old Redskins coach George Allen) are among the candidates. Steve Spurrier is no idiot, either. His career record at Florida is 122-27-1. You have to be an idiot to contend that Spurrier is one. As for the hours, he’ll put them in. He wants to succeed in the pros and will do everything necessary to accomplish that. And how much he gets paid shouldn’t bother anyone. The $25 million over five years doesn’t affect the cap; Snyder could give him $25 million a year for all I care. He has the money. So don’t worry how much Spurrier gets paid. BRANDON ADAMS FOURTH-YEAR RETAILING STUDENT College professor shows no heart Rumor has it that college professors could care less about their students and that they’re just there to make their money. But not all USC professors are that way. Recently, I’ve been fortunate to have some of the best professors at USC. The worst experience I ever had to go through was my father dying this past November. I’m 20 years old, and my father had just turned 50 in October. He passed away on a Friday morning, Nov. 9. Of course, I went home to be with my family and to be there through all the things to come. While I was home, I contacted all my professors to let them know about what was going on in my life and that I wouldn’t be in class for a few days. Nevertheless, one of my professors expected me to be in Columbia taking a test. He had no heart whatsoever, showing that he actually thought my schoolwork was more important that my family. Well, professor Eric Johnson was wrong. He told me if I missed the test, he wouldn’t offer me a retake. He said there were no exceptions. “Even if my father died?” I asked. The answer was still no. Now, imagine your father passing away and then hearing this the next day from your economics professor. I was not in the best of moods. But I still had to call my other teachers. This is where my outlook on professors changed. My other professors were the four most sincere, heart warming, caring individuals I have ever known. They didn’t take it easy on me; I got the grades I deserved in their classes. But I actually had to drop my economics class with only one month of class left. So now I have to take it again sometime, and I have to take a summer school class so I can have the hours I need to keep my LIFE scholarship. But that’s life I guess. Bad things happen, some more bad things happen, and then some very good things happen. My four former professors are now my four new friends. ANDY BACOT SECOND-YEAR BUSINESS STUDENT Submission Policy Letters to the editor should be less than 300 words and include name, phone number, professional title or year and major, if a student. Bring letters to Russell House 333 or e-mail gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. The Gamecock reserves the right to edit for libel, style and space. Anonymous letters will not be published. Call the newsroom at 777-7726 for more information. Those words I can’t say —— ■-ai-i——• ..*!■■■. katie McClendon GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Hate, pain shouldn't be comfortable language. The “n-word” has been the big word lately, in part because of a new book by Columbia native and Harvard law professor Randall Kennedy. “Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word” examines the history of the word, analyzing its use throughout history. He argues that the word has a place in modern society. As obvious from the picture above, I’m a white girl. No one has ever used the n-world to describe me. In fact, I can’t think of the first time I heard someone say it, but it was probably on film or when my father made us listen to “Huckleberry Finn” on long road trips. It wasn’t something my parents, friends, neighbors or anyone said — ever. Perhaps I was naive in thinking the word only existed in stories. In fact, only in reading Kennedy’s book did I learn the “real” words to the childhood saying “Eeny Meeny Miney Moe,” which originally included the n-world in its verses. I always thought it was a tiger that you caught by the toe. In reality, the n-world isn’t restricted to movies, books and history lessons. People of all races continue to use it. Despite Kennedy’s arguments, I can’t accept the “n-word.” I can’t accept its use to voice hate, to be humorous or to greet close friends when both parties are of African descent. I don’t think I’ll ever be comfortable with the part of American history that created it. But I’m glad I’m not comfortable. No one should be comfortable with hate and discrimination. But being uncomfortable doesn’t mean I can’t talk or think about it. It’s most important that everyone, regardless of skin tone or comfort level, discusses that part of our history. We need to discuss slavery, the “n-word,” Jim Crow, civil rights, racial profiling and other issues about race. I can only hope that after much thought and discussion, our society will decide that the n world should only be used in historical situations. I want kids to learn about the n-world in history class, but I also want them to learn that there is no other situation to use this word seeped in hate and pain. I don’t want to hear the n world when I turn on the television or put a CD into my stereo. No social situation is improved by the use of “the filthiest, dirtiest, nastiest word in the English language,” as Christopher Darden described it during the O. J. Simpson trial. I don’t think it’s wise for people to call friends by words that hurt. I would never consider calling my Jewish best friend a “kike” or my bisexual Chicana friend a “dyke wetback.” True, these words don’t have quite the same history of hate behind them, but they’re epithets rooted in hate nonetheless. But my lesbian friend says “dyke. ” That’s the thing—some people feel these words can be subversive if used in a powerful way by those who historically didn’t have power. “Bitch” can be a good thing to an independent woman who gets what she wants. “Dyke” can be empowering to a lesbian. I still choose not to accept the words, just as I don’t accept “gay” as a synonym for stupid. I don’t want to eliminate these words; I just don’t want to hear them on an everyday basis. It might be idealistic to hope that people can abandon a word they grew up with, but I have faith. -- McClendon is a third-year pharmacy student.