The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, August 16, 2002, Page A11, Image 11
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TH t?i§KAMEGOCK 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
IN OUR OPINION
, USC housing
still an issue
In our last issue, the staff editorial that occupied
this space dealt with a topic that occupied this space
one year ago, Derek Watson. Today, we are again
forced to visit another topic that occupied this space
one year ago.
Again this August, a small number of USC
freshmen will move into housing that most of them
don’t want and didn’t factor into their budgets: off
campus hotel rooms.
l This past year, it was only 90 freshmen in the
" Assembly Street Holiday Inn. This year, 300
freshmen will be divided between the Holiday Inn,
the Adam’s Mark Hotel, and Clarion Town House,
none of which are technically on campus.
Parents who expected their children to receive on
campus housing have expressed their
disappointment, and to its credit, Housing is
allowing contracts to be broken without penalty. But
that’s the only good decision USC made regarding
this matter.
USC shouldn’t even be in this predicament.
Everyone on a budget knows that you can’t live
outside your means. USC has a certain amount of
freshmen housing available, and given its desire for
\ freshmen to live on campus, should not admit more
* freshmen than it can house. Simple enough?
In order to increase its fiscal budget, USC instead
chose to admit the largest freshmen class in school
history, knowing that there isn’t anywhere to put
them all. What’s more, the freshmen forced to live in
hotels have to pay nearly double what freshmen in
the Towers pay, and they won’t get the same college
experience their on-campus peers will get, regardless
of the length of their hotel vacation.
Equally shameful is the spin USC is putting on
this situation. The accommodations might be “top
end housing,” but your freshman year isn’t about
. amenities, nor is it about whether the rooms are
I comparable to East Quad. It’s a unique experience of
self-discovery and handling independence, and 300
freshmen anticipating that experience have been
robbed. Ask them if the maid service is a fair trade
off. Ask their parents about the price increase
popped on them three weeks ago.
If anything, freshmen housing is about not having
enough space, having too many Palmetto bugs and
deciding when the stench coming from your
roommate’s sheets is enough to cause a
confrontation.
We don’t blame Housing for this. Someone, or
some group, here doesn’t see the big picture, and
Housing had to make do. Someone should have
^ learned from history, and kept this topic in the past.
GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS
If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us
at gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com.
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•t
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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
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Department of Student Media is the
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Student Me^'a.
Mf'
BOTToJA-of-THe-HifM-iNN'iNG STRSTCH
CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS
New year, new you... right...
PHIL WATSON
GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM
This new school year will un
doubtedly be like others in the
past — or like any others in the
future for you freshmen and
freshwomen. Old habits are hard
to kill.
Like many that want make the
honor roll, you’re geared up with
the right equipment and the right
mindset to make this year a suc
cess. Your No. 2 pencils are
sharpened, and your Mortar
Board is fresh and clean. You
might have even bought a new
scientific calculator to store all of
those Spanish vocabulary words
in or found a new ball cap with
an extra large bill to cover your
wandering eyes.
You’ve made the promise to
stay away from Five Points on
weeknights so you can make that
9:30 a.m. class on Tuesdays and
Thursdays, and you’re feeling
good about your ambition.
This is going to be the year you
take control of your life and live
up to your potential. You proba
bly even double-checked the set
ting on your alarm clock to make
sure you have two hours to get
ready for your first class at 9 a.m.
You’re finally back on track for
that 61/2 -year degree.
It’s 4 p.m. a week later. The
sunlight creeping through the
blind? hits your face and you
wake up. Your last class of the
day ended 15 minutes ago, and
you’re as hungry and poor as a
women’s studies professor in
Afghanistan. Too bad you bought
that $100 calculator.
Your vow to go to bed early
came to an.embarrassing halt af
ter you were checking out the
newest installment of the bare
ass bologna toss in the Vista until
3 a.m. This year will be like any
other; you’ll scrape by on peanut
butter and honey sandwiches and
miss 59 percent of your classes
that start before noon.
If this year of college is going
to be the same as the past five,
you need to at least take my ad
vice and get the right equipment.
Forget the calculators, Palm
Pilots and little dry-erase boards.
Stock up on some stuff you’ll ac
tually use. .
I’ve prepared for the new
semester with items such as the
“circulator:” a chrome-plated, in
dustrial-strength, freestanding,
three-speed, oscillating fan fit for
thugged-out, rich rappers such as
the Big Tymers. I think any rap
pers who would brag about hav
ing a “platinum toothbrush”
would also insist on having a
chromed-out fan that’s strong
enough to blow the top off an
obese Waffle House waitress.
Think a chrome fan is pimped
out? I’m taking it even further
this year by having a system in
stalled in my bathroom. That way
I can keep track of how many
times Channel 93.5 plays
Eminem’s “new rock” song while
I’m in the shower. Keep up the
good work, Dave.
Another item I highly suggest
getting is “The Executive.” I’m
talking, of course, about a huge
leather desk chair like Mr. Bums
from “The Simpsons” or the pres
ident of Phillip Morris would sit
in. I might be living on Bi-Lo -
brand macaroni and cheese, but
when I sit in that chair and write
my witty posts on Internet mes
sage boards about Disney’s latest
film, “The Country Bears,” I will
feel important like a university
parking meter maid and respect
ed like a “Girls Gone Wild” star.
Many of you who were so am
bitious about being straight-A
students will soon throw away
the calculators, fancy pencils,
and ambitions to make some
thing of yourself. After all, this is
college.
Maybe you’ll sleep late, get a
chrome-plated fan, a leather desk
chair worth more than your car,
and a way to entertain yourself
while you spend time in the bath
room.
You might not do well in your
classes, but maybe you wouldn't
have done well anyway. Sounds
justifiable to me.
, Watson is a fourth-year print
journalism student.
IN YOUR OPINION
Former student
regrets sensitive
survey
I would like to address a
letter of apology to students
and staff that is long overdue.
I attended USC in 1987 and
1989. While attending a soci
ology class, I took a survey for
a project I did on students’
sexual lifestyles.
I researched whether
knowledge of the dangers of
unsafe sex impacted students’
behavior.
Soon after I conducted the
written survey, I regretted the
private subject matter of
some of the questions, al
though I did not address my
mistake.
As I have grown older,
some of the more serious ram
ifications of this have become
more obvious to me than they
were 13 years ago, and I
would like to offer an apology
to any person that might have
been negatively affected in
cluding staff.
Among my concerns is
that the survey may have con
tributed to a complacency
among leadership regarding
a student’s sexual behavior
towards other students.
It could have suggested in
appropriate behaviors to
some more impressionable
students, and it probably
damaged my fellow students’
perception of me.
There are many other dan
gers of the type of survey I
took and i+s motivations, and
I especially apologize for
not being considerate of
some of my fellow student’s
sensibilities.
MONICA SWANSON
BARNUM. MINX.
Student upset
with board hike
I am really pissed off
with the Board of Trustees
at USC.
The “gestapo,” as I like to
refer to them, seems to not
give a rat’s ass about USC
students and is only inter
ested in the business side of
our university.
Those ass clowns go and
raise tuition by 17 percent
because they state that they
are starving for cash to fund
the university.
un ok, tnat maKes sense,
except for the fact that they
just decided to go blow a few
million bucks on a new are
na and health center, nei
ther of which were truly
needed. But the tuition is
sue isn’t the only example
of how the board screws us.
On top of building multi
million dollar buildings at
a time where we are de
prived of funds, they decid
ed to let our parking com
plaints fall on deaf ears, and
decided, “Hey, lets spend
thousands on planting trees
and stuff. Screw
parking!” They don’t quite
understand that this is an
urban campus.
If I rode my horse to class
then I would love some green
grass but, in the meantime, I’ll
be using my car so quit the
whole BS about green space
and let’s get some parking. My
whole beef with the Board of
Trustees is that they don’t
think before they act.
I mean they actually have
the nerve to sit there and say
they doubt it will really be a
burden for us because it’s only
a thousand dollars more per
year.
I pray one of them would
come watch a student work two
or even three jobs for a sum
mer hauling trash, serving
food, etc so they can put them
selves through school. Then
turn around and say “Oh, it
can’t be that much of a bur
den.” To do so is flat out
wrong.
If they want to lend me a
thousand bucks so I won’t have
to go get a third job this sum
mer then go ahead and raise
the tuition all you want.
I mean come on guys ... it’s
only a grand it can’t be that
much of a burden, right?
WILLIAM CRAWFORD
2ND YEAH BUSINESS STUDENT
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*•
Welcome
to USC’s
new mall
, BEN BRYAN
GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM
The first day of class this past
year, I walked into the Grand
Marketplace hoping to get a quick
breakfast before my first class.
By this point in my college ca- •
reer, I was quite familiar with the
process: Five items plus a 12
ounce coffee equals one meal from
the meal plan. Well, I wasn’t that
hungry, and I was pressed for
time, so I grabbed four items, got
my cup of coffee and quickly
made my way through the line
when I noticed that the cashier
was deducting from my bonus
bucks.
I tried to correct her, but she
told me that because I hadn’t got
ten five items, she couldn’t ring
me up for the meal combo. I of
fered to get another item and just
throw it in the trash if that would
make it cheaper, but she insisted
that she had already rung me up. I
didn’t have time to argue, so I fi
nally conceded and went on my
way.
The very next day, I again tried
to swing quickly through the
GMP on my way to class.
Remembering my mishap the day
before, I made sure to get my five
items (one of which I had no in
tention of eating) and my coffee
and got in line. The cashier, a dif
ferent one, rang it up to more than
a dollar over the meal allowance.
I immediately protested and
counted my items for her, “One,
two, three, four, five. See?”
She pointed at my cup of coffee.
“Six,” she said. A bitter debate en
sued over the exact wording of the
breakfast meal plan combo. In the
end I lost the argument, of course,
got to class late and decided I
couldn’t afford to eat breakfast
again for a while. I was angry at
first, but then I realized the
cashiers’ ploy, they were just try
ing to save the university money.
Yes, I’m sure that was their moti
vation.
While I can respect trying to
squeeze every penny in these
hard economic times with the
budget cuts and all, college stu
dents are not exactly the best
place to go looking for extra rev
enue. Admitting more students
might help slightly, but there’s
still the expense of having to build
more housing for them. At the
current rate, USC might run out
of names for new dorms before
they run out of space. I can hear
it now: “Where are you living
next year?”
“North-by-Northeast Quad.”
The naming rights to the new
basketball arena are rumored to
be going to Verizon. USC could
probably land a couple more mil
lion by doing the same to other
buildings on campus. Why not try
Cingular Sims, Bell South Quad
or Capital One Capstone?
The Russell House is already
being overhauled, adding a mul
titude of new stores. I guess
there’s nothing inherently wrong
with an academic institution be
coming commercial, but I’m start
ing to feel more like a customer
than a student. Betore long, stu
dents won’t even need to drive to
Harbison for a mall experience.
They’ll be able to be bombarded
with subtle ads as they walk to
class past Paramount’s Patterson,
North Face Cliff apartments,
Outback Bates House or Dollar
General Wade Hampton. Why
leave campus? Students could just
do a few laps around the food
court at the Sodexho Student
Union and see how many free
samples they can get before the
ladies handing out oriental chick
en on toothpicks start to recognize
them.
On second thought, maybe this
scenario is a bit far-fetched. USC
isn’t likely to replace the malls
anytime soon. Unless it’s
Christmas season, it’s much easi
er to find a place to park at
Columbiana Centre.
Bryan is a sociology graduate
student. K