Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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THE GAMECOCK ♦ Wednesday, June 19, 2002 5 _Viewpoints thjH&amecock editorial board Chris Foy Editor in Chief Ben Bryan News Editor Carrie Phillips The Mix Editor J. Keith Allen Sports Editor Jason L. Rapp Viewpoints Editor No room for inn, use space for USC USC wants to turn two boarded-up buildings, located on Pendleton Street across from the National Advocacy Center, into an 80-to-100-room inn to house federal prosecutors being trained at the NAC. Why is this a priority? We have a dire need for additional housing, particularly for freshmen, on this campus. Some of those freshmen have the dubious distinction of living in the Holiday Inn on Assembly Street because there is nowhere else to put them. But let tne teas overload tnerr training center ana usu will build them an inn. Why can't the NAC crowd stay in the Holiday Inn? And who's paying for this inn? The property isn't the most ideal for undergraduate student housing, but using the property for that makes infinitely more sense than building something to house a few prosecutors who are overflow. USC and the federal government evidently don't know when to say "satis" when it comes to admitting people, but at least it's USC property and provides a possible solution to a problem that's ours. There are better uses for the property than a Hotel NAC. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK STAFF STUDENT MEDIA Angel Sizemore Erik Collins Asst. News Editor Faculty Adviser Robert Gruen Ellen Parsons Photo Editor Director of Student .Media Lindsey Walker Online Editor Susan King Creative Director Page Designers Crystal Dukes, Carolyn Griffin Melissa Miklus Business Manager Copy Editors Sarah Scarborough Lyndsey Hicks. Advertising Manager Laurie Sanders Sherry F. Holmes PLACING ADS Classified Manager The Gamecock Creative Services 1400 Greene St. Derek Goode Ear, SS!Hvo>,a* Jones. Jennie Moore. 29208 , Melanie Roberts, ^vert's,ng reps: Beju Shah 777-3888 Classified ads: c*.m 777 11 ra Advertising Staff Jackie Rice, Stacey Fax:777-6482 Todd 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 GAMECOCK POLICIES 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. TiJAETABUe FcR A PALeSTiNiAN STATS? FiNe-I'LL PENCILT&U iN FoR THe TWELFTH.... CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS Freshman class growing pains CHRIS FOY GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Dr. Andrew Sorensen will be ar riving at the University of South Carolina in a few weeks, and most likely one of his first matters of business will be to address our large freshman class. You can learn all about this subject by pick ing up an issue of the Gamecock next Wednesday, but for the time being, the only important fact to keep in mind is that this year's freshman class is bigger than last year's. bounds good doesn t it: we re growing in size, possibly even com peting with in-state rival Clemson, who last year could only accept 2,500 of 10,000 applicants. But our growing institution comes at a cost: Housing. If you look back to a year ago, you'd remember that we had a large freshman class. It was so large that many had to be housed in the Holiday Inn since there weren’t enough rooms on campus. So, you do the math. This year we have more students. Housing space, however, remains the same. I don't have exact figures on housing students in the Holiday Inn, but I can guarantee you that it isn't cheap. The problem has even escalated to the point where all transfer stu dents have no choice but to live off campus. School officials now en courage all students to live off campus, and there are USC spon sored flyers being passed around with web sites to find housing else where in Columbia. This is a serious problem that needs to stop. The housing office needs to keep up with how much space is available for incoming stu dents. I don't believe many stu dents chose the option "in limbo” for their first-year housing. I guess I fail to see why fresh men housing facilities can't be built. We have plans for a West Quad in place, but no changes are being made for our first-year stu dents. There are actually talks to turn some USC property into an inn for the National Advocacy Center. If they can get through the red tape of historical considerations, it clearly shows where our problem lies. This university has made many bold decisions in the past year about housing. It is willing to sac rifice the majority of the students on this campus to appease the Honors College and its dean. It is willing to tear up a heavily used practice field to build another' state-of-the-art Quad to spruce up our housing facilities in the na tional arena. It is prepared to use our property to house people who are not students here, but use the National Advocacy Center on our campus. However, they are not willing to take the necessary steps to house the number of freshman they are willing to accept. If I m not mistaken, don t many universities stress the importance of living on campus during the ■freshman year? It is important. If students take the option to live off campus, that's fine, but there should at least be sufficient hous ing on campus to meet the demand of those who actually wish to live here. Foy is a fourth-year entrepreneur management student.