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. THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, September 6, 2002 4 SOUND OFF ONLINE POLL Create message boards at , Should USC include Birth Control on www,dailygamecock.com or its health plan? send letters to the editor to YES 63% gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com NO 37% , IN OUR OPINION SAT holds too much clout This past week, South Carolina celebrated its escape from the bottom of the nation’s SAT rankings— a development that follows USC’s announcement that this year’s average freshman SAT score is the university’s best ever. While this is good news, one wonders whether state high school students will be able to keep up as USC aims even higher. According to the Strategic Directives and Initiatives Committee report, the university wants to increase the freshman average from 1130, up 11 points over last year, to 1175, a distant 45 points higher. The administration’s reasons for raising the bar are .. o a m_i _ USC should focus on a student’s merits, not SAT scores. _3_x_3 _ 1 _ . 1_xx . uiiucioiauuauic, ucuci uni ov/Uico iiicau uiguci rankings and more prestige, which brings in money for research. And more money for research will help USC in its quest for AAU status. But who is the university excluding as it seeks to conform to the U.S. News and World Report ideal for research institutions? Having a less-than-stellar SAT score does not preclude a student’s making valuable contributions, academic or otherwise. The axed Transition Year program, for freshmen with borderline qualifications, helped ensure that talented students did not fall through the cracks. That program’s elimination, plus increasing SAT goals, will likely translate to a lower proportion of in-state students. Though bringing in more research could improve the state’s economy, educating fewer South Carolinians can only hurt it. Prestigious universities such as those in the University of California system are looking at abolishing their SAT requirements. USC should follow their lead and emphasize the student rather than a higher spot in a subjective ranking system. Perhaps changes in academia will also follow, so that an institution can become a quality research facility without that arbitrary measure of prestige. Gamecock Quotables “We found a way to win. That’s the important thing.” LOU HOLTZ use HEAD FOOTBALL COACH. ON LAST SATURDAY’S WIN AGAINST NEW MEXICO STATE ’’There will be some inconvenience now, but enormous benefit later.” HELEN ZEIGLER DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS AFFAIRS, ON DINING SERVICE CONSTRUCTION GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS In Wednesday’s edition of The Gamecock, the staff editorial inaccurately reported that the university pays for the hotels where some first-year students are housed. The students are paying for it. The Gamecock regrets the error. In an article Wednesday about new soft drinks, Dr Pepper was identified as being a Pepsi product. Dr Pepper is only bottled by Pepsi in certain areas. If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us at gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK i Mary Hartney Editor in Chief \ Adam Beam News Editor Emma Rltch Asst. News Editor Chris Foy Viewpoints Editor Erin O'Neal Asst. Viewpoints Editor Justin Bajan, Charles Tomlinson The Mix Editors Kyle Almond Sports Editor Matt Rothenberg Asst. Sports Editor Candi Hauglum Photo Editor Katie Smith Head Designer Page Designer David Stagg Jill Martin Copy Desk Chief Copy Editors Jennie Duggan, Tricia Ridgeway, Holly Totherow, Karen Vaught Bessam Khadhraoul Online Editor Klran Shah Community Affairs CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@hotmail.com News Desk: gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Viewpoints: gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com The Mix: gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com Sports: gamecocksports@hotmail.com. Online: www.dailygamecock.com Newsroom: 777-7726 Fditnr*<s nffirp- 777-^014 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., Earl Jones, Kimberly Myles Melanie Roberts Advertising Staff Adam Bourgoin, Justin Chappell, Amanda Ingram, Bianca Knowles, Denise Levereaux, Jacqueline Rice, Stacey Todd TO PLACE AN AD The Gamecock 1400 Greene Street Columbia. S.C. 29208 a 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. I „NO Hard _ FeeLMQS 0 * CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS American apathy is pathetic TYLER JONES GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Americans need to tune into what matters. It’s always refreshing when the brain drifts off into the infi nite world of the daydream. Time becomes a lost love and reality is that distant land beyond a sea of fantasy. Ahh, but for some of us this is the only life we know — at least, if you live in a place called the White House or perhaps a ridiculously fortified bunker on the Gaza Strip. With the days of Pax Romana long gone, we find ourselves on the brink of yet another world wide fistfight. Except now, the greasy, mustached one in Mesopotamia might be fighting with a fistful of lead. But what’s all this concern about our entertaining foe Saddam? Sure, Iraq has more dirty weapons than citizens, but what about us? I’m sure ole’ Georgie Boy and the rest of the Cowboys in D.C. have some real i nice bottle rockets they’d like to i test in the Arabian desert. I forgot. We’re the protectors 1 of freedom and democracy. ; The problem with all this PR work the goofy child president is ’ churning out of Ari Fleisher’s i bald dome is that no one seems s to be buying it. It’s not as if < America doesn’t want to march i a phalanx of meatheads into Iraq < and redecorate the lovely coun- i tryside of Baghdad’s affluent sub urbs. i No, sir. The problem is that i America is the most apathetic — i or perhaps pathetic — and ' spoiled country in the history of i human existence. j Sure, next week when the 1 Sept. 11 memorials take place, i there might be a momentary gal vanizing of the American people, i and, yes, the mighty Rumsfeld < will find ways to weave a sub- < liminal “Attack Iraq” into the i gratuitous flag-waving, but let’s < face it — more Americans are f concerned with the Osbournes or whether their 401k will rebound t after second-quarter losses. < The problem is that not only 1 are we a nation afflicted with the < worst case of Attention Deficit - Disorder, but we are comfortable J with the fact that there is a dis- C turbing number of idiots in our a nidst. Complexity and foreign elations scare the average American lemming; just think low lost Dubya and his strong irmed charlatans feel. Yes, America is a great place. Ve have plastic surgery and Irive-through windows that erve thick cheeseburgers at 4 i.m. and we have 450 cable chan lels, but just think what we :ould be if we used our brains in tead of our wallets. What would happen if people ictually voted and cultivated neaningful discourse instead of vondering who will win American Idol”? Maybe, just naybe, our scripted and often nanufactured culture could re ive itself from the mediocrity it s mired in. The world sits on the irecipice of monumental politi al change, and vacuums of pow r will open in the Middle East, lot to mention Washington. You an either tune at 11 or write his ory yourself. But perhaps this is too much o ask and war Is not only in vitable, it’s natural. Oh, well, at sast there’ll be something decent m television. mes is a graduate student in the o liege of Mass Communications td Information Studies. IN YOUR OPINION Handicapped need parking spaces, too As a senior, I have had many infuriating experiences with the parking at USC. I am a handicapped person, and most people assume that I have it made as far as parking is con cerned. Believe me, nothing could be further from the truth. I might have more parking options, but it still remains a problem even for handicapped students. It's a race to see who is lucky enough to get to the sev erly limited handicapped places, and those who don't are trying to find a place with everyone else. If more handicapped places were available to the numerous students who need them, it would cut down on the mad dash for parking each day. While I was driving to class Wednesday morning, I noticed that the parking lot behind the BA building had been closed off and reserved for other people at the University. The last time I looked, a university was an in stitution that educated people. How on earth does the school hope to educate people if the students can't find a place to park in order to go to class? Trees and bushes are nice, but only if there is ample park ing for every student. I think it was a horrid decision on the Dart of the universitv to tear down perfectly good parking when parking was so desper ately needed. This school needs more park ing before anything else is built, and the parking needs to be cen trally located. This school is for the students, and students need parking. Students get no use out of trees and bushes. They might look nice, but that is all they are good for. I think all USC students would agree that more parking would be the most beautiful thing that this campus has ever seen. FRANCES BEDENBAUGH FOURTH-YEAR HISTORY STUDENT War in Iraq not a laughing matter I am sure that George W. ap preciates the simple-minded chauvinism you display in sup porting his policy of "kickin' ass and taking names," though I as sure you the rest of the world is not so enthusiastic. Many of us are disturbed by the fact that your summary is, in fact, no less detailed than any policy statement this administration has issued on Iraq. (And I as sume it is Iraq you are referring to, though you might just as eas ily mean our attorney general’s attacks on civil rights). There is little to indicate that W., Kummy or Cheney nave any idea what to do with Iraq other than "kick ass." Indeed, if our mission in Afghanistan is any indication, one must be worried. Though W. and his cronies claim this as the first victory in the (pseudo) war on terror, Americans must ask what we have accomplished. We have not caught bin Laden (remember him?), we have not caught Mullah Omar, and we have not brought order to Afghanistan. In fact, while Bush claims that an attack on Iraq would be an effort to liberate its people, our record says otherwise. Not only is Afghanistan still law less, but many of our closest al lies in this "new war" are the harshest dictatorial regimes in the world, including Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. When will we call for regime change in those countries? Worst of all, we have squan dered the good will expressed by the world after Sept. 11. I know, we don't need anyone, we are the big, bad U.S. of A. But the people who are full of go-it-alone bluster are the same ones who complain when Germany, France or Spain doesn't hand over sus pects or evidence in terrorism cases. This is not a war we can win alone. We should not forget that Saddam Hussein might be a symptom of a global problem (though Bush has not shown a shred of evidence), but he is not the ultimate cause. Terror springs from a global hatred of our policies, particularly those that center on the Middle East. We should be reaching out, not lashing out. Indeed, it is stunning that we are coupling the lead-up to an attack on Iraq with our de facto boycott of the Environmental Summit in South Africa. Whatever happened to the P.R. people Bush hired to help our image abroad? Neither I, nor W., nor any oth er of the uber-Hawks have served in the military, but people who have, including Generals Powell, Schwarzkopf and Clark all recom mend caution. I, too, could blithely advocate massive invasion with The Gamecock and blowhards like Ann Coulter or Sean Hannity from the safety of my couch. But I choose to listen to the real experts and wait for Bush to put forth and justify an attack and a detailed plan. Until then, I stand with most of the world against an attack that will lead to more dead Americans and thousands of dead Iraqis. BRIAN COONEY GRADUATE ENGLISH 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. E-mail letters to gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. Letters will be edited. Anonymous letters will not be published. Call the newsroom at 777-7726 for more information. Put the bucks toward students DEE MARTIN GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Can you find a good use for $2.5 million? I can. What can one do with $2.5 mil lion? Hmm ... how about build parking garages for a university (perhaps a school called USC?) in desperate need of parking spaces? Or how about taking a small slice (not even the whole half) from this huge amount of mon ey for a huge campus (USC, maybe?) and providing more shuttles for each route so that students can get to class only 10 minutes late instead of 20 min utes? Of course, the complaints about too few USC shuttles wouldn’t be so bad if, one, we had more than one running for each route, and, two, if it were actual ly possible to drive to class (which is literally across campus from most dorms — and let’s not mention the trouble off-campus students go through). But as we do not have enough parking, this is just wishful thinking. If only it was just a bad dream that every parking space that once existed was turned into “beautiful green grass.” So it only makes sense that, with $2.5 million, USC could build at least one parking garage and add a few shuttle to each route. That’s not asking too much, right? Wrong! Duh! What, are you dreaming or something? Have you no sense? Didn’t you know that spend ing $2.5 million makes sense only when it comes to renovating the president’s house on the Horseshoe? I mean, come on. Can you not see how badly it needs renovat ing so that our new President can finally move out of his tem porary home (which cost a measly $500,000)? Go by it and see for yourself. OK, sure they say the presi dent’s house op the Horseshoe needs new heating and air. But what else? Better grass? More flowers? Better plumbing? Oh, wait. From the looks of it, the house stands perfectly erect. The windows, doors and every thing else seem intact. In fact, unless the inside is as rotten and as dilapidated as the Towers’ (yeah, right, only students de serve to live under those condi tions) $2.5 million is a tad bit much, don’t you think? So is USC trying to say that spending $2.5 million for reno vations means the house is in such poor condition and that it would be unethical to allow USC’s new president and com pany to live there? If so, then what does that say about former President John Palms? Wasn’t it not too long ago that he lived there? I understand the importance of preserving the president’s house on the Horseshoe for his torical purposes, but what about preserving some of that money and spending it on something that could help the entire USC community — for instance, new parking garages or at least two more shuttles, perhaps? We already have enough “beautiful green grass,” and USC campus can’t get any more “beautified” than it already is, so there’s no excuse. But, hey, I’m just a college stu dent trying to figure out why there is $2.5 million set aside to renovate an already beautiful house when tuition goes up ev ery year and the USC communi ty is in desperate need of so many other things. Martin is dthird-year print journalism student.