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4 ' THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, October 4,2002 . 1 SOUND OFF TTT^lTTTl/^Y VimO ONLINE POLL Create message boards at I B—^ ¥ / ¥ / I-* ■ I I Is Homecoming too Greek? www.dailygamecock.com or I ■ i i ¥/ ¥/ I ■ ■ I L YES, THEY CAN HAVE IT 48% send letters to the editor to I I J ¥ V I \ / 1 I k I NO, THERE’S ENOUGH DIVERSITY 23% gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com —®-w * —B^^ — ^-1 —H— rV—S WHO PAYS ATTENTION TO THIS PREGAME STUFF? 29% IN OUR OPINION Grant helps entire state When the Board of Trustees announced that Andrew Sorensen would be the next USC president, it charged him with taking the flagship university of South Carolina and actually making it the flagship university of South Carolina. With the announcement of an $11 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, it looks as if USC might finally be gbing in that direction. It is assuring to know that millions of dollars will be pouring into the state over the next five years to fund something other than treating the common cold. Instead, USC will be searching for a solution to a problem so many South Carolinians deal with: colorectal cancer. Considering that the disease is the fourth most common cancer m South Carolina, it makes sense that the state’s leading research institution is taking the initiative to do something about it. We commend Fr^nk Berger, head of USC’s Biology Department, and the colleagues who worked with him for three years for making sure the NIH took notice of USC’s potential to make a difference. Their diligence in this endeavor reveals their positive agenda for the university as well as for the state of South Carolina. use will be searching for a solution to a problem so many South Carolinians deal with: colorectal cancer. Gamecock Quotables “Our concern is is not just with racial aspects, but also how the court is selected as a whole.” JEROME BRYANT use NAACP PRESIDENT, ON THE SELECTION PROCESS FOR SHOWCASE “We’re going into the seven toughest games in a row that I have ever encountered as a football coach.” LOU HOLTZ FOOTBALL COACH, ON THE REST OF THE GAMECOCKS’ SEASON “It’s a 200-acre campus, so it’s difficult to be everywhere at once. It takes everyone to be a risk manager.” SHEALY MCCOY DIRECTOR OF RISK MANAGEMENT, ON THE STEAM LEAK ON DAVIS FIELD “I was asked if I have ever had sex with a monkey. It’s just ridiculous. Even if someone did have sex with a monkey, I seriously doubt he or she would admit to it.” JANICE BLACKER NMSU STUDENT, ON QUESTIONS ASKED BEFORE BLOOD DONATIONS GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS In an article Monday about the NAACP’s petition against Homecoming selection, the races of the finalists were incorrect. All 20 finalists were white, as defined by the U.S. Census. Part of a headline for an article Wednesday about the death of a University 101 professor was incorrect. It was University 101 chairman Dan Berman who said Darrick Hart’s death was “completely unexpected.” The Gamecock regrets the errors. If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us at gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK Editor in Chief Mary Hartney News Editor Adam Beam Asst. News Editor Emma Ritch Viewpoints Editor Chris Foy Asst. Viewpoints Editor Erin O’Neal The Mix Editors Justin Bajan. Charles Tomlinson Sports Editor Kyle Almond Asst. Sports Editor Matt Rothenberg Photo Editor Candi Hauglum Head Designer Katie Smith Page Designers Samantha Hall, Julia Knetzer, Sarah McLaulin, Shawn Rourk, David Stagg Copy Desk Chief Jill Martin Copy Editors Jennie Duggan, Tricia Ridgway, Holly Totherow Karen Vaught Online Editor Bessam Khadraoui 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 Public Affairs: gckpublicaffairs@hotmail.com Newsroom: 777-7726 Editor's Office: 777-3914 STUDENT MEDIA Faculty Adviser Erik Collins Director of Student Media Ellen Parsons Creative Director Susan King Business Manager Carolyn Griffin Advertising Manager Sarah Scarborough Classified Manager Sherry F. Holmes 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 St. Columbia. S.C. 29208 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. / WHAT GIVES? THE ©SKST THING KEEK TAKING m men y WtLBR'tt The &//& CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS Youth lack political interest ROB SEAL GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM It’s time to turn on the power of the people. Last week, a foreign affairs championship cage match was held in a Gambrell lecture hall. The match featured my class against itself. It was the clash of the pseudolectuals. The start of the ordeal was a short film we watched that sati rized the original Gulf War. “That movie was crap,” said a frattie in the front of the class. “Saddam Hussein is completely crazy, and that war wasn’t just about oil. It was also about con tainment. He needs to be dealt with.” True, Saddam is a psychopath. Stars and stripes forever. There’s a student in that class who reminds me of Guli Bull from a Bugs Bunny cartoon fea turing Bugs as a matador. “Whatever,” Gulli said. “Are we just going to gang up on ev eryone? If Pakistan’s government gets overthrown in a few months and some dictator gets his nuke, are we going to pave over him? If we keep doing that to every coun try we think is a threat, it’s only a matter of time before some coun try uses its new weapons on us be fore we can invade it.” This was a good point. Are we the world’s police force? Nobody likes the police. Then some hippies from the back of the class joined in a cho rus of “For What It’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield. Not really, but you get the point. They don’t want to kill anybody. I also don’t want to kill anybody. A guy with dreadlocks point ed out that our president has ties to the oil business and wants to invade a country with the second richest oil reserves in the world. That’s another good point. Bush also doesn’t talk good, and he’s on television in other countries a lot, ranting at the United Nations. All of a sudden, I had a realiza tion. There are tons of good points to be made about foreign policy in Iraq. Saddam is crazy and might have weapons. Bush likes oil and wants to set a dangerous precedent by invading without in ternational support. These are not mutually exclusive opinions. The lack of ideological unity in our generation isn’t a result of igno ranee. We’re just lazy young Americans. We each have a piece of the puzzle, and nobody’s coop erating to put it all together. Debate is a great way to shape ideas. It’s also supposed to pro vide a clearer understanding of the question, if not an answer. This was more like people bang ing their heads on a brick wall to see who can make the biggest brain stain. I don’t think any body walked out with a changed opinion, one way or the other. Our voter turnout is among the poorest among developed countries. The power of the peo ple hasn’t been switched on in years. I didn’t vote in the last presidential election, and that puts me in the majority for peo ple our age. So it’s our fault. Some people think we should skewer Hussein on a Patriot mis sile and sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” as it explodes into a gi ant fireworks display of the flag. That doesn’t mean those people are rushing to enlist. If the news breaks that Bush is actually a de monic robot designed by greedy corporate oil tycoons, how many students will stop driving in protest? As one person pointed out in the discussion, some of us drove to class that day. Seal is a fourth-year print journalism student. IN YOUR OPINION Don’t let freshmen bring cars to USC Everyone who attends USC knows that parking on campus and in this city is absolutely horrible. I think the problem is not the lack of parking spaces; the university is just not looking for a simple solution. It wants to build some parking utopia that is at least a 10-minute (more like 15- to 20-minute) walk to anywhere on campus. I am a fourth-year resident adviser on the McBryde quad, and I cannot even park in Blossom or Bull Street garage because there are no more passes. It is ridiculous that I cannot park in one of the two garages within one minute of my dorm. I have paid more in parking tickets this year than a parking pass costs. I am from Colorado, and the colleges and universities there, as well as in many other places, do not allow freshmen to have cars on campus. I think this would solve the parking prob lem at USC. If you think about it, most parking passes go to freshmen. Because of the limited number of passes, many students can not get a parking pass. If fresh men were taken out of the pic ture, there would not be a park ing problem. I understand the need for some freshmen to have cars. If you are from out of state, you need to find some way to get to USC, and parents are often un able to make a huge road trip. If you are from Columbia, however, you should not be al lowed to have a car on campus. Your parents or friends can come pick you up every day and take you home so that you can have your car. If you ask me, the simplest solution to the parking problem would be to prohibit freshmen from having vehicles on cam pus. JON BRUCKER FOURTH-YEAR MARINE SCIENCE STUDENT Delay in reporting rape is inexcusable Like graduate student Suzanne Wilson (“Ignorance keeps rape victims quiet,” Sept. 27), I was so bewildered by your article on Sept. 16, “Rape spurs concerns for safety,” that it took me this long to put pen to paper. I have grave concerns that it took The Gamecock — by col lege students, for college stu dents — two weeks to report a campus rape. All other crimes, including larcenies and public intoxication, are without hesi tation given newspaper space, but a sex crime is silenced. All that this silencing serves to do is enforce the harmful message that rape should not and cannot be spoken of, that people who are raped must maintain silence because of the brutal stigma of the crime com mitted against them. Your refusal to cover the matter indicates an inappropri ate effort to avoid something that students need awareness of to protect themselves. Please realize that one of the most influential ways in which society can combat sex crimes is by positive change in the social treatment of survivors. Only one person deserves pun ishing, and that is the offender. The survivor should not be treat ed with ignorance or silence, as this only casts doubt upon credi bility. I am also deeply disturbed by the inexcusable comments of Safety Director Ernie Ellis. If rape victims are throwing a “chicken leg ... out there,” then he has not progressed beyond the misogynistic attitude of decades ago, when rape victims were blamed in court for their rapes based upon their life choices. I can only hope that any sur vivor was not subjected to his comments while reading your newspaper. Rape is the crime of the rapist alone, never the victim. Let us not regress. Progress, especially in the area of sex crimes, might sadly be a myth, but let us not take two steps backward for every step forward. SARA KIMBERL1N (1HADUATK STUDENT, ENGLISH 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. Don’t look to me for answers,, BETHANY MITCHELL GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Some things in life just have no explanation. I just want to know why the best times of your life usually oc cur when you’re with your , friends. I just want to know why the funniest thing in the world is al ways seen when no one but you is looking. (Like when that girl tripped over a crack and you tried not to laugh. But you know you would have if you were with your crew.) I just want to know why the best assignment you think you did always turns out to be a D+. I just want to know why your sleep gets best right before it’s time to wake up. I just want to know why ugly people always feel they have a right to try to holla at you, and when you refuse them, they al ways get mad as if they didn’t ex pect that. I just want to know why the [ cutest outfit in the store is just three sizes too small for you. I just want to know why some peo ple will try to squeeze into that outfit. I just want to know why pro fessors who think they know ev erything demand you call them Dr. blah-blah-blah, as if it makes their lectures any less boring. I just want to know why there are two kinds of waves — to a friend you see, you just wave your arm gently, but to that person who let you have his parking spot or let you into traffic, you just hold your hand up and pause. I just want to know why rain seems to kill all skills on the foot, ball field. I just want to know why the football players and fraternities are still mad at me. I just want to know why girls can’t buy a pair of shoes in Foot Locker without one of the guys’ trying to get their number. I just want to know why any one actually sells boxes of just eight crayons, when life is full of so much color. I just want to know why babies sometimes laugh at nothing. I just want to know why some people feel it is OK to wear a full suit and tie with Birkenstocks or thong sandals. I just want to know why other people will leave a restauraift if f they don’t see any people of th£ same race in there. (You know, ' just in case the revolution breaks out. They don’t want to be out numbered.) I just want to know why a gamecock is our mascot, anyway. Don’t get me wrong; I love Cocky. But doesn’t that whole gamecock thing remind you of slavery? Anyone? I just want to know why you are actually reading this. But don’t worry; this column wasn’t meant to make sense. It was meant to make you think. Mitchell is a fourth-year electronic journalism student. Don’t agree with t this week’s poll 1 results? Vote next week at WWW.DAILYGAMECOCK.COM