Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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4 THE GAMECOCK ♦ Monday, April 15, 2002 SOUNDOFF TT7TT7Tl/ATATm O ONLINEPOLL Create message boards at I 1-4 * l\ I 1 I ■ I A I Who do you sympathize with more www.dailygamecock.com or U U } t \ \ I ■ ■ I I \ I l ^ in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? send letters to the editor to IIJWv l \ #I1^ILI www.dailygamecock.com. gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com ™ ^ w w ^ ^ ^ ^ ® ' Results published on Fridays. __ ■ THE LEADER Curbing college binge drinking A Harvard study released last week found that 44, percent of college students admitted to drinking to excess within the two weeks before the study — part of the “American college culture,” one student said. Qualitative vs. quantitative Drinking is definitely a part of the American college culture. But studies like this can be misleading and confusing. It defined binge drinking as having more than four drinks for a woman and more than five drinks for a man in one week. Factors such as height, weight, the amount of food a person has eaten, and time elapsed between drinks aren’t necessarily taken into consideration. Five drinks affect different people in different ways. And five drinks spread over five different days would make practically no one tipsy, much less a binge drinker. Binge drinking should be measured in qualitative terms, not by number of drinks. How many times has a person drank until he or she was sick or destructive, made bad judgments or didn’t remember what happened? Asking more subjective questions would yield far more descriptive results and accurate conclusions. i Moderate drinking To be more effective, schools should focus on promoting moderate drinking to bingers — slamming most sudents with “don’t drink” messages is pointless. Many college students are going to drink regardless, so promote responsible drinking. It’s similar to teaching safe sex. Students who have sex will continue to do so, so why not give them condoms? Larger societal problem Ultimately, it’s going to take more than university programs and administrators to fix drinking problems on college campuses. There’s a larger societal problem, like a drinking age that’s older than necessary and families without healthy attitudes toward establishing moderate drinking habits with their children. And much of binge drinking results from the “freedom” that students find when they’re living by themselves. Surveys about drinking need to take into account more qualitative measurements. ^. . GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us at gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK Mary Hartney Editor in Chief Ginny 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 J. Keith Allen Asst. Sports Editor Brandon Larrabee Special Projects Adam Beam Contributing Editor Martha Wright Design Editor Page Designers Crystal Dukes. Sarah McLauiin, Katie Smith, David Stagg Kyle Almond Copy Desk Chief Copy Editors Crystal Boyles, Andrew Festa, Jason Harmon, Jill Martin, Paul Rhine Mark Hartney Online Editor Corey Davis Photo Assignments Photo Editors Robert Gruen, Candi Hauglum Kelly Petruska Community Affairs CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@hotmail.com University Desk: gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Viewpoints: gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com The Mix: gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com Sports: gamecocksports@hotmail.com Online: www.dailygamecock.com Newsroom: 777-7726 EDITORIAL BOARD Kyle Almond. Mackenzie Clements, Chris Foy, Jason Harmon, Mary Hartney, Brandon Larrabee. Carrie Phillips, Ginny Thornton, Martha Wright 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 Derek Goode, Todd Hooks, Earl Jones, Jennie Moore, Melanie Roberts. Beju Shah Advertising Staff Betsy Baugh. Amanda Ingram, Denise Levereaux, Jackie Rice, Gloria Simpson, Stacey Todd 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. TO PLACE AN AD The Gamecock 1400 Greene Street Columbia, S.C. 29208 Advertising: 777-3888 , Classified: 777-1184 Fax: 777-6482 ' UMM.-DUB>AH... GOT ANY MORE BUCKETS? :artoon courtesy of krt campus War is life in the Middle East GREG HAMBRICK GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Bush is probably as confused as all of us. When you turn to MSNBC, the title for the news programming still reads “America at War.” But are we still at war? You can go days without hearing anything about the troubles in Afghanistan. Just months ago, every news story began with “Following the events of Sept. 11... ” Now, we’re in the new season for news and it’s “Crisis in the Middle East.” Yes, Washington is abuzz with varied concerns about Yasser Arafat and Ariel Sharon mixed with the threat of a campaign year. On the bright side for some politicians, it does hide a mixed bag of failure and inaction on domestic issues. For example, it seems the president was so busy that he couldn’t give the campaign finance reform a Rose Garden signing. Of course, there’s something else the Bush camp hopes you forget. Remember that “war on terrorism?” Well, Arafat, by most every account, is the godfather of terrorists. Are we hunting him like we’re hunting every other terrorist in the Philippines, Somalia and Afghanistan? No. Instead, we’re begging Israel not to kill him. Don’t get me wrong: I think killing Arafat would cause more problems than fewer, evidenced by the fact that bombings continue while Arafat is locked up watching last season’s “Sex and the City.” The big problem with Israel is that we, as the overbearing Americans we are, just don’t understand what the heck is going on over there. We don’t live in a country where American Indians blow themselves up in a Howard Johnson because we’ve encroached on their land. We don’t live in a country where Catholics and Baptists wear their religion on their chests strapped under a machine gun. We lose friends and family in one act of violence we will never forget. The people of Israel have, no doubt, stopped counting the days that violence has wrecked their world. There are many guesses as to why Bush has been dragging his feet on getting involved in this crisis. Some look back to the failed attempts at resolution by former President Bill Clinton. Others look toward the already stretched military manpower that we can’t afford to throw into Israel. I think it’s simply because he has no idea what to do. And I don’t blame him; I don’t think anyone has a really good idea. You’ve got these people who are being terrorized into giving up what they’ve always called home, both physically and spiritually. You’ve got this terrorist faction that refuses to back down until it takes back what it has claimed as its own. And how do you threaten these terrorists? Can you really threaten people’s lives when they freely give them up to become martyrs? You know, I don’t think we’ll see MSNBC changing that titling at the bottom of the screen any time soon. The war in Israel doesn’t appear to be news. It’s life. Hambrick is a fourth-year print journalism student. Pot reaches highest authorities DAVID STAGG GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM NYC mayor’s ad might encourage honesty. Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York City, was featured in a full-page advertisement in Tuesday’s issue of The New York Times. The ad highlights a statement he made to a reporter before his election: “You bet I did. And I enjoyed it.” Of course, he’s referring to smoking marijuana. This “coming-out,” so to speak — his admittance to the use of illegal substances — is making a world of difference in American politics. Maybe we could see a story like this in the future: NEW YORK, APRIL 20 — New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s recent statements have compelled former President Bill Clinton to fess up to previous rumors about smoking marijuana. “All right, so I might not of inhaled, but I pretended like I did,” Clinton said. “And I must admit — acting like I was ‘high’ was definitely some of the most fun I’ve had in my life.” Clinton was said to have pretended to have “lost his cigar,” and when presented with one, he “held the cigar high above his head before stomping around the room, occasionally stopping, bending over, shaking his head violently and making sounds reminiscent of ‘pppbbbbthhhh. ’ ” The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) has yet to comment publicly on Clinton’s statement as to whether he was advocating the group’s cause. However, sources close to the group report a somewhat negative reaction. “We applaud Clinton for his admittance,” a spokesperson wishing to remain anonymous said for the Washington-based group, “but I don’t know if we want him to support us. I mean, come on, we endorse marijuana, not Mary Jane or whoever else was in his office.” It seems only fitting that Clinton be tied with the following reports. Allegedly, Joycelyn Elders was said to have been “smoking a fat blunt” in the basement with some of her advisers before making her famous comments that maybe masturbation should “perhaps be taught” in schools in December 1994. “You see, this just testifies to the necessity of making marijuana legal,” NORML executives said. “These politicians are essential to appropriately dignifying the smoking of marijuana.” The official continued: “Have \ye gotten Elders on the phone yet? Our next ad is supposed to have her with a group of schoolchildren with the words ‘Not only is it fun, but it’s also good for you’ across the top.” In addition, after piecing together scraps of paper from office floors, Enron executives have been confirmed to have advocated the use of marijuana and encouraged their employees to smoke it. “We would sit in our offices and get blasted,” former Enron CEO Kenneth Lay said. “But we needed the peons to do so also. Otherwise, they might realize that we were stealing all the money in the corporation.” Though the ad by Bloomberg has encouraged honesty, other individuals remained silent. “So I might have gotten drunk once or twice,” said Jenna Bush, daughter of President George W. Bush. “But I’m glad they only caught me doing that. If they had found out any of the other things I had done, my dad might send me to Palestine.” John Rocker, Yasser Arafat, Susan Smith, Andrea Yates and Chelsea Clinton all refused to comment on their actions. Stagg is a first-year media arts student. What’s missing from this page? . Letters to the editor should be less than 300 words and include name, phone number, professional title or year and major, if a student. E-mail letters to gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. Letters wi^i be edited. Anonymous letters will not be published. Beyond SAT scores katie McClendon GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Working hard is just as important as testing well. Conversations at universities and high schools across the country have again turned to the SAT. The University of California is considering whether to make the test less important in the admission process. I wish I could say the SAT shouldn’t be de-emphasized. I wish I could make a nice cutoff, at which people below the mark would be required to attend community colleges, enlist in the military or join the work force while the rest of us use resources wisely at top universities. But reality tells a different story. While I did well enough on my SAT to get into the Honors College, my older brother didn’t. As a child, John struggled with learning disabilities like ADHD and dyslexia. This was in the ’80s, before teachers knew what to do with students like him. He was bright but hated reading. As he got older, he didn’t change much. He still dislikes literature, but my brother will graduate next month with a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Auburn University. I remember a real estate agent once told my father that anyone who couldn’t get a 1000 on the SAT should go to technical school. I’ve never seen my father as happy as when he replied that his oldest son didn’t get a 1000, but still managed to graduate summa cum laude. She shut up quickly after that. I’m glad John never listened to people like her or the person who recently wrote to The Gamecock with a similar sentiment. I imagine there are plenty of people like John on campus. Maybe these “Johns” include the quiet woman in the back of the class who sets the curve every time. She might not be the most brilliant student, but she works hard enough to make up for it. While Maxcy residents drink away their freshman year, “Johns” spend extra time in the library or take advantage of office hours. Some students can easily get an A, whereas “Johns” work hard for their grades. It’s important to admit students who have to work a little harder to catch up to the rest of the students. I remember my freshman year, when I took a 400 level musical film class that was cross-listed with the English Department. I have never worked so hard in a class, because the other students majored in either English or film studies. I had to teach myself the basics of film to be able to raise my hand in a discussion. While the professor could have required prerequisites, I was able to learn the equivalent of two classes because I had to teach myself introduction to film. w hue I might not have seemed prepared for the class, I was so happy that I was given the opportunity to learn and that I worked hard enough to make up for my lack of knowledge coming into the class. I consider that class to be one of my greatest achievements in my college career because, in the end, I was able to hold my own with film students. The same is true for the “Johns” or transitional students. In the end, when they have a degree in hand, they can honestly say they earned that piece of paper. “Johns” prove that the tortoise can beat the hare, or at least cross the finishing line with grace. McClendon is a third-year pharmacy Student.