Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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PRESiDeKT l CA«NeT l <? Letters CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 creating a living and learning community for students, not about generating revenue for the university. If the Honors College and the Housing Department were really interested in developing a heightened sense of community for honors students, they should consider asking Honors College upperclassmen how living on the Horseshoe during their sophomore year would have impacted their experience. If my three roommates and I didn’t live in Capstone together, we would have never gotten to know each other. We would have split off into pairs in the two bedroom, shoebox Horseshoe apartments and never developed the friendships we now have. To put it bluntly, when you live on the hall of a dorm, you run into people in the stairwells and lobby. We all remember our freshman days when you would walk down the hall to take a study break, talking to a slew of other residents. When you live in a Horseshoe apartment, you have individual entrances to your own apartment and are virtually secluded from other residents. As a sophomore, we were unhappy to have the Horseshoe apartment option taken away from us. In hindsight, however, I formed many friendships living in a dorm that I would be without otherwise. Non-honors students see honors students as having extra perks. There are two perks. We have access to extra classes that we pay an additional fee to take. Second, those of us who maintain our academic standing tnrougn our junior year get preference Oh the Horseshoe. The Honors College and Housing’s decision to open Horseshoe apartments to sophomores only increases factions that already exist on campus, giving validity to now unwarranted claims. It further divides non-honors and honors upperclassmen because it unjustly reduces the option of apartment-style housing for deserving non honors students. It makes room for a large gap to develop in the cohesiveness of the Honors College community. It doesn’t really accomplish the goals our administration says it will. NITHYA BALA FOURTH-YEAR HONORS COLLEGE FINANCE STUDENT, STUDENT GOVERNMENT VICE PRESIDENT Housing decision narrows all options When I first read the headline in The Gamecock on Monday about housing, my reaction was disgust. I then read on to see how much the decision would affect me. As a sophomore with a 3.5 GPA, I could be in the Honors College. But to be in the Honors College as a music education student is a waste of time. Sure, your core classes get to be “honors” classes, but, in all honesty, most of my core classes were advanced placement credits that I came with into college. Because of this new decision, my housing option for next year is East Quad or South Quad. But what about other juniors and seniors who were planning on living on the Horseshoe? I have upperclassmen friends who applied for East Quad, South Quad and the Horseshoe and ended up in Capstone. By changing the Horseshoe into a honors-only housing option, more housing is again taken away from students who wanted to live on campus. If Housing is so excited about students living on campus, then why do they leave only two apartment-style options for juniors and seniors? JENNIFER E. HESS SECOND-YEAR MUSIC STUDENT Housing needed to have student input Shhh! I’ve got this horrible secret to tell you about myself, but you can’t tell anyone else. You see, I’m an honors college student. I’ve never been so ashamed in my life. As an R.A. in Maxcy, I guess I shouldn’t even be writing this letter, seeing as how I work for Housing. But I feel I need to express my feelings. The Horseshoe policy change is the worst decision ever made by the student body. Oh wait, that’s right... students weren’t even asked. My mistake — it’s not like it’s our housing or anything. What I am most irritated at, however, is the fact that this “mandate from above” was handed down at a point where signing a petition is utterly useless. Honors College housing sign-up is on March 19, and with elections, no student organization has the ability to face this issue. Pretty slick, Dean Peter Sederberg! Your segregation plan is working! Maurice Bessenger would be proud. Talk is cheap though, and all I’ve seen so far is talk. When are students going to realize that this is our school, it’s our money that pays for it and it’s our housing! Are we cattle? Is that what we pay to be treated like? EVAN OWENS SECOND-YEAR STUDIO ART MAJOR Stall doors needed for men’s bathroom The other day, I went to the first-floor Russell House bathroom (where the hall is that leads downstairs). It occurred to me that I’ve been at USC for four years, and I don’t remember when that bathroom has ever had any stall doors. If you walk in, there they are — wide-open toilets. I’m sure not everyone wants to see a fellow squatting down. I feel sorry for those chaps who commute to school, only to find out there are no doors on the stalls and then have to run upstairs to use the bathroom. Poor guys. How about buying some doors for the fellows? It’s been four years, if not longer — fix it already! ANDY GASKINS FOURTH-YEAR COMPUTER SCIENCE , STUDENT Trustee confuses ‘degree’ and ‘major’ I wanted to commend Brandon Larrabee for covering the beat like a true professional on the piece titled “SC House enters SDI fight” in the Feb. 11, 2002 issue of The Gamecock — especially when The State newspaper hasn’t printed word one on the unanimous resolution. I am impressed by the degree of journalistic research done — good job! However, I did want to clarify some information in your story. Board of Trustees member Herbert Adams said (and I quote The Gamecock here), “students’ degrees wouldn’t change, but they would get them from liberal arts instead of criminal justice” — which wasn’t true. Did Adams really believe that statement to be accurate? Maybe he was simply misinformed as to the difference between a degree and a major. Here is why — the College of Criminal Justice grants a bachelor’s of science in criminal justice degree as well as master’s of criminal justice degree. If the college was merged with the Sociology Department within the College of Liberal Arts, then the degree (key word here is “degree”) granted would be a bachelor’s (or master’s) of liberal arts. That would reduce criminal justice to a major. That also would certainly change the current criminal justice “degree” to a liberal arts degree, and by definition, the resulting degree wouldn’t be a criminal justice degree, but a criminal justice major. Adams was quoted in The Gamecock as saying, “There will continue to be a degree in criminal justice”. Not true — it would be a major and not a degree. Investigate and do the research for yourself. I’m sure you will find Adams’ statements to be inaccurate. Again, good job, and I’m glad to see The Gamecock covering topics in a timely manner that many students are greatly concerned about and The State seems to overlook. ROB RINKER COLLEGE OF CltlMINAL JUSTICE ALUMNI Legal drinking age should be lowered This letter, while not about the specific candidate ticketed for underage drinking, is about exactly that subject. The legal drinking age, when I attended USC back in the late ’60s and early ’70s was 18 for beer and 21 for liquor. This was the standard in almost all states. This was changed because of the actions of primarily one person—the U.S. Department of Transportation head, Elizabeth Dole. Under her mandate, any state that refused to raise the drinking age to 21 would lose millions of dollars in federal highway aid — money sent to Washington but collected by the states from the gasoline tax. I’ve always been against the manner in which this change was brought about. Had the individual states, on their own initiatives, chosen to raise the drinking age, so be it. What I object to was all 50 states being dictated to by one Derson. I still believe that if an individual is old enough to die for their country or vote for elected officials, then they are old enough to decide whether they want to drink a beer. If I had returned from overseas at the age of 20 and had been told I could not buy a beer, I would have been more than willing to spend the night in jail because I never would have paid a fine. If you don’t want to drink, I applaud your choice, but don’t tell me or any other person, “You’re old enough to die for your country, but not old enough to ■ buy a beer.” STEPHEN DAVIS 1974 SOCIOLOGY ALUMNI Story helps students relate to candidate I would like to thank The Gamecock for publishing the article about David Bornemann’s drinking violation. You actually sealed his fate as USC’s next Student Government president. You began by endorsing presidential candidate Ankit Patel, who proceeded to lose the first election. Then you entered the first day of the runoff mudslinging. As a result, though I’m sure not intended, students saw Bomemann as someone they could relate to and were more likely to vote for him. While we’re at it, let’s air some of Patel’s dirty laundry: Though he claims to support the Greek community, in truth he despises the Greek system and has accused sorority members of “buying their friends.” The funniest part is that if only 3,000 of our 27,000 students are voting, then most people don’t care about elections. I think you should re-evaluate the topics you focus. How about giving more publicity to events like Dance Marathon? Maybe you could mention the organizations involved, including one that raised more than $16,000 on its own and won the Miracle Cup. Students are going to read the paper regardless of what you publish because it gives them something to do during monotone lectures. You exercise j your rights as journalists to write what you want and endorse whom you want. And I will exercise my right to be . j disgusted at half of what you publish. B.V. WARREN THIRD-YEAR PUBLIC RELATION STUDENT Holidays should be recognized equally * Why is it that the university didn’t hold classes on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but it did hold classes on Presidents Day? Not to disrespect King—he did do a lot for civil rights — but is he really a more important historical figure than George Washington and Abraham Lincoln combined? This seems to be a trend I’ve noticed lately in the United States. We are forgetting our history and adopting someone else’s. I think we should hold each history with an equal reverence. The three men all held an important role in U.S. history. Observe both or observe neither. Racial equality is a hot topic for this nation, yet we fail to recognize some of the most important presidents in our history. It’s just not right. DOUGLAS HILL FIRST-YEAR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES STUDENT Bornemann article is sensationalism As a former reporter for The Gamecock, I can’t express my disgust for the sudden turn at sensationalism this paper has taken. I’ve often been upset with the lack of national and international news in The Gamecock, but the blatant attack on presidential candidate David Bornemann’s character is something I thought the newspaper was above. The one sided story, which contained no actual news, was obviously a well-timed attack by The Gamecock on a candidate it chose not to endorse, reminiscent of the George W. Bush “drunk-driving” story released a few days before the U.S. presidential election. Did news editor Ginny Thornton think to put in perspective the drinking violations Bornemann received? As a third-year student and an occassional visitor to Five Points, I’d say Bomemann’s two drinking violations are, if nothing else, common for most USC students. Maybe The Gamecock could have done more research into campus statistics. While the editorial on how it shouldn’t affect our decision too much was nice, the editors’ advice that it be “taken into consideration” makes me sick. What presidential duties are affected by Bomemann’s bad luck? Though The Gamecock is right in saying the article itself wasn’t a value judgment, I think the actual decision to run this article was a value judgment. I’m not sure where exactly in our journalism classes we Were taught that a college ► student drinking beer was news. For some reason, I thought news was something important. And being public record doesn’t qualify something as important. Is there not enough news about the War on Terrorism that you have to create some by attacking a good person’s reputation? While this disguised attack on Bornemann could help the student body’s awareness of the election, The Gamecock was taking the easy way out. The editors should have- . confidence that reporting quality news will earn the newspaper the reputation, respect and readership it deserves. But stories that belong in the National Enquirer will only repel quality writers and readers, and The Gamecock will return to the joke of a paper it once was. EMMA RITCH THIRD-YEAR PRINT JOURNALISM STUDENT Sexual responsibility up to parents, not TV Greg Hambrick was right in his Monday column that someone dropped the ball when it comes to sex education. But it’s not the media, government or public schools. It’s parents! One of the reasons that schools and the media think they need to address sex is that too many parents don’t talk to their children about sex. Being a parent is all about responsibly providing for that child emotionally and physically. Part of that nurture includes teaching children about sexual responsibility. Some parents don’t discuss sex at all with their children because they’re ashamed that they themselves haven’t been sexually responsible. Sex opens a whole new realm of responsibilities. Not taking these responsibilities into account and having sex soleiy for selfish gratification is a huge mistake that leads to huge problems and unavoiaaDie regret. Personally, I find it refreshing that we have a U.S. president with the guts to stand up for what he believes, regardless of popular opinion. Why should we give fantasy television more of hearing than the president of our nation? Abstinence happens to be a definite option that avoids a lot of problems like STDs, unplanned pregnancies and emotional trauma. I’m not waiting for Hollywood Or the government to propound safe sex or sexual responsibility 101.1 am taking that responsibility upon myself. We students at USC are the next group of parents. Within the next 10 years, many of us will have children. We need to catch the sex ed ball that too many parents before us have completely dropped. We need to plan today to teach our future children to be sexually responsible. JULIA KELLEY 'r.AW'STUUliNT Moving beyond the Metro section to adopt a world view ANGELA DIAMOND gamecockviewpoints®hotmail.com For most Americans, the ‘American way’ is the world’s best way. I was sharing a newspaper with a friend over our lunch break. As he skimmed the headlines of the Nation/World section, his expression alternated between horror and relief. “What? A woman suicide bomber? Oh, in Palestine. Huh?! Kidnappers behead American? Oh, the Philippines.” The reason for his reaction? He was surprised by the atrocities, but as long as they aren’t happening in the United States, they don’t matter to him. You can easily spot a student who, like my friend, lacks a world view. They completely ignore national and world news. They complain about having to take foreign-language requirements to complete their major. They’ve never traveled outside of their suburb, much less the country, and they don’t plan to. And they smirk when presented with anything foreign, whether it’s a pair of chopsticks at a restaurant or a film with subtitles. “I have a world view,” my friend claims. “I drive a Japanese car.” Sorry, but that doesn’t count. Perhaps it’s a symptom of being American. We’re so ethnocentric that we believe the American way is the best way and that we can’t possibly be missing much by not seeing other parts of the globe. After all, we have Disney World. It’s time we as college students realize the importance of holding a world view. If we graduate without one, then we don’t truly have an education. Without a world view, not only will we not be able to compete on a global level with our counterparts in France or Germany who can speak three or four languages fluently, but our ignorance of the important events going on in the world will eventually make us victims of those events. If we learn anything from the terrorist attacks on our country and their aftermath, it should be that it’s in our best interest not to ignore other countries and cultures, but to immerse ourselves in them when the opportunity arises. Because of technology, the world is shrinking more every day. What happens in other countries affects us. Think if India and Pakistan got into a nuclear bomb brawl. Or if the cure for cancer was found in a rainforest in New Zealand. We see how interdependent international economies are when the value of the yen goes down and, as a result, our stock market suffers. The fact is that disease, pollution, economics, trade, dictatorships, war and terrorism all make an impact on us as Americans, even if they don’t take place on American soil. Before Sept. 11, few people in America outside of the CIA cared about the poverty-stricken, crater-ridden country of Afghanistan. It literally took a bomb to blow up in our faces before many of us realized that the radicalism and terrorism fermenting in a sand trap half a world away could possibly affect us. We might be the big fish in the pond, but when that pond gets polluted, we feel its effects just as much as the other fish. The best way to develop a world view is to travel and to immerse oneself in another culture. If we are the sum of our experiences, imagine what kind of person you would be after traveling and experiencing things you’ve only dreamed of or heard about. The South Carolina Legislature recently announced that Palmetto Fellow and Life scholarships can be used to study abroad. Even a state ranked near the bottom in education is , recognizing that having a world view and experiencing other cultures is a valuable part of being an educated person. We owe it to ourselves as future members of the global community to travel as much as possible, value every chance we have to explore another way of life, and seek experiences outside of our own ethnocentric circles. Diamond is a fourth-year advertising student.