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g THE GAMECOCK ♦ Monday, October 7, 2002 SOUND OFF XXX TX T“T\ /X XIV TfX^ ONLINE POLL Create message boards at I 1-^ * l\ I I * I 1 I A I Should freshmen be allowed to www.dailygamecock.com or I I 1 i ■ / I / I I III I l park on campus? send letters to the editor to I I A W W I \ / I 1 ^1 I k I www.daUygamecock.com. gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com I —™ ^ ™ l —™Results published on Fridays. _ .... IN OUR OPINION I Repair delay risks safety The health and safety of students and faculty is at stake, and USC’s research goals are being undermined by the state of its buildings. The Earth and Water Sciences building has had serious structural problems, and only haphazard measures have been taken to fix it. The EWS building was built in the 1960s, and its structure doesn’t hold up under today’s codes. The building wasn t made to nouse laboratories, but the work being done in these labs is integral to the university’s research mission. Geology students and faculty have been waiting since December for maintenance to be completed on a beam that was installed to hold up the structure under the weight of the labs and floors. The beam now sits, exposed, showing off gaping holes in the walls and the weakness of the building. What’s more disturbing is that the beam has not been fireproofed — the department needs $9,000 more to do that. Facilities says it’s the department’s burden; the department says it’s a structural problem and that Maintenance should take care of it. But the administration takes 45.5 percent of any grant the departments get for overhead. So how can the geology department be expected to pay for building repairs when so much of its funding is cut? While these arguments have been going on about funding, the building has continued to be used for classes and lab work. Students and faculty are laboring in a building that isn’t keeping them safe. And waiting for repairs isn’t new to the geology department’s faculty and students: In 2000, one lab had a broken hood, which sucks chemical fumes out of the lab. It took Facilities two years to complete the repairs — even as workers were getting sick. The bottom line is simply that there’s too much red tape in a system that can’t safeguard its patrons — the. faculty and students working in the labs and classrooms. When the university emphasizes bureaucracy over safety, something has gone terribly wrong. Geology students and faculty have been waiting since December for maintenance to be completed on a beam that was installed to hold up the structure under the weight of the labs and floors. GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS The information in the state fair graphic in Friday’s paper came from scstatefair.org and the photo was taken by Aaron Hark. If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us at gamecockviewpoints@hotmaiI.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 Kiran bnan TO PLACE AN AD The Gamecock 14(50 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. cAse CLOSeD* V J CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS Raising a stink for no reason JASON RAPP GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Representation reflects groups’ participation. There was a nice stink raised on campus last week, for those of you who paid attention. For a change, the stink had nothing to do with steam emanating from deep beneath campus, though there was a bad mishap involv ing that foul mess. The stink of which I speak in volved Homecoming and the way USC selects a king and queen for the week to which nobody pays attention. USC’s chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, unhappy about the demograph ics of the Homecoming Showcase contestants, decided to call out the people running it. The orga nization called the proceedings undemocratic because none of the final 14 contestants were mi norities and because students don’t pick the winners. One can only assume that Whitey must be up to his dirty tricks again. I will readily concede the point that, any way you look at it, said Showcase is not representative of USC. You can look at it from the standpoint of race, or Greek and non-Greek, or heterosexual and homosexual. It isn’t a cross section of our student body. The point that’s being missed, regardless of how many times people point it out, is that Showcase, like many other things on campus and in life, is voluntary. It’s also open to any one interested, provided the per son has a sponsoring student or ganization. That means that whether you’re in Zeta Zeta Zeta or the Student Dairy Farmer Club, you can enter Showcase. If you measure up, you can win — regardless of who chooses the winners. But you can’t make peo ple do something voluntary. The only catch here is that contestants must meet certain criteria, such as a minimum GPA. We wouldn’t want people to do that at an institution of higher learning. Perish the thought! The idea of Showcase is to pick a male and a female who best ex emplify USC students. Contestants are judged on their service to the community, aca demics, and even some sort of in dividual talent to represent this university and be held up as the “best” of USC. Your color, your gender, your sexual preference and even from where you come don’t matter. Showcase is open to everyone. If people are upset because there aren’t minorities or non-Greeks in Showcase, perhaps minorities and non-Greeks should enter. Where were the African American fraternities and soror ities? Where were USC’s non Greek student organizations? This is nothing more than a classic affirmative action argu ment. I will readily agree that mi norities get shafted in a lot of sit uations, especially the business world. Ignorance is everywhere, including corporate boardrooms that don’t want to break up the white boys’ club. But this is dif ferent. It’s reminiscent of the allega tions that The Gamecock is racist because it has mainly white male columnists. Perhaps that’s be cause minorities don’t volunteer to write. When I was Viewpoints editor this summer, I ran into this problem. To have a viable marketplace of ideas, you need many voices. But few minorities wanted to write, despite repeat ed pleas for writers. Don’t make something a race case when people opt not to do something that’s available for them to do. Don’t complain about not being involved when the door is open and you walk past it. If people don’t like that Homecoming is traditionally a white, Greek affair, get out there and do something. Don’t make a plea for affirmative action; get in volved. Rapp is a fifth-year print journalism student. IN YOUR OPINION Police not there to hold victims’ hands This is in reference to the ar ticle “Tires slashed around campus,” printed Wednesday. People need to understand that in such situations as tire slashing (discovery crimes) there is not much the police department can do for the vic tim besides call a tow truck or take a report. - Some of you people think the police have to hold your hand through your entire “hard ship.” Many of you complain about the lack of police pres ence around campus when crimes are committed. If you want more police pres ence, look for an increase in tu ition —again. Aren’t we all op posed to that idea already? Law enforcement does what it can for all of you, so please stop complaining. STEFFONIE SCHREIBER KOliimi-YKAHCRIMINAUI'.STICK STUDKNT Librarians deserve thanks, respect As a doctoral student new to the USC campus this year, I feel the need to express my appre ciation of the faculty and staff at the Thomas Cooper Library. The dedication and sinceri ty in helping students under stand the library’s many meth ods for locating materials are refreshing and encouraging. I have consulted with the refer ence libraf ians on several oc casions and have discovered they not only don’t mind your questions, but also will go to great lengths to ensure you re ceive an adequate answer. A tour of the library and a brief lecture that reference li brarians gave on electronic re sources to one of my classes fa miliarized me with numerous avenues to literary searches. When 1 could not find a docu ment that was badly cited in a book, a reference librarian and graduate assistant both took time to examine multiple in dexes to find the source. The staff of interlibrary loan has been diligent in providing efficient services, while the peo ple at the circulation desk have been both friendly and well or ganized in their presentation. The staff in the microfilm and microfiche area has been ex tremely helpful in instructing me on how best to use the anti quated equipment provided for viewing materials. I think the professionalism demonstrated by these mem bers of the USC community warrants recognition and many thanks from the teaching faculty and students. PHYLLIS ROBERTSON FIRST-YEAR DOCTORAL STUDENT. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCUOLOUY atuaenis, Tacuiiy debate U.S. policy A group of students and pro fessors are holding a teach-in today to address the Bush ad ministration’s unilateralist, pre-emptive Iraq policy..We’re worried that this issue has not been the subject of serious public dialogue. There is a stigma attached to questioning the wisdom of this war, as if having a different opin ion from our national leader somehow makes us unpatriotic or un-American. Being able to disagree is right at the heart of being an American, and if we think our government is leading us down a foolhardy, unethical or danger ous path and we don’t speak up, we are remiss in our duty as American citizens. As such, this event is an open forum. Professors in such fields as government, international re lations, history and religious studies, as well as community members and students, will speak and answer questions, and all people — whether for a U.S. at tack or against it — are invited to come and speak about what they think or how they feel about this issue. I encourage everyone on cam pus to join us today from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. on the Greene Street side of Preston College for what should be an informative and en gaging experience. “Learning humanizes charac ter and does not permit it to be cruel.” JOEY OPPERMANN THIRD-YEAR HISTORY 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 gamecockviewpo:'.ts@hot mail.com. Letters will be edited. Anonymous letters will not be published. Call the newsroom at 777-7726 for more information. War can leave a lasting memory CATHERINE BAAB GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM It’s hard to grasp what my dad felt in Vietnam. He had volunteered. He was a Marine, he fought in combat. I’ve heard a few stories from my moth er about that part of his life. And yet I’ve never truly tried to push my mind there — into what my fa ther must have felt and experi enced in 1968 Vietnam. I don’t know exactly what has kept me from making the effort. I don’t know whether the obstacle was something as involved as dread or pride, or rather something more typical and lazy — a disbe lief in his having fully existed be fore I did. My memories of him are sim ple enough, which is to say that they are tender and happy. They cleave easily one from the other, like pages or leaves. We are driv ing home from church. With his index finger, he taps out a Beatles riff on the steering wheel. It is ev ery Sunday morning of my girl hood. On school nights, he reads “James and the Giant Peach” to my sister Amy and me once we are in bed. His rough-soft voice di rects our imagining. It surrounds and encloses us. Tonight, many years later, my eyes and thoughts return to a dif ferent picture I have of my Dad— one I can touch. He stands with his back to the bookcase in the den of his parents’ house. His uni form is crisp; it pleats appropri ately at his shoulders and waist. His eyes are serious; the camera affirms this, but tactfully doesn’t comment further. There is a tac iturn set to his mouth. If pictures say a thousand words, they must also tell the oc casional lie. Often, they offer us a view of a bright smile or an os tensibly authentic embrace, faces and poses that seem to speak: I was happy then. I kneyv what I was doing. I really wanted to be there. But it isn’t wise to trust pic tures. They lack something nec essary, vital: another dimension, a mouthpiece. They are only a sin gle piece of evidence; they can’t corroborate themselves. Said my mom: “He wasn’t com fortable watching a crowd of poor men, most of them black, go fight a war that he could avoid fighting because his parents could afford college. So he enlisted.” Said my dad: “I remember, on our way over on the ship, I was the day guard for the keep. I sat across from them, watched the prisoners in their cells. There was a particular prisoner—I think he was from Ohio — he had been act ing strangely. He couldn’t yield. Several nights later, he was show ering and he slashed his wrists with his shaving razor. Depression wasn’t the same word then as now.” Said my mom: “We weren’t al ways in constant touch while he was overseas, but I remember that, upon his coming back, his mother rented a cottage on the beach in North Carolina so that he could, well, decompress. It was a deserted stretch, very peaceful. She’d invited me to come down, too. I think we all stayed a week there.” I imagine the two of them, walking down the beach togeth er. Loosely, just by the fingers, they hold each other’s hands. Tracks trail back to the cabin long behind them. The sun goes about its setting neatly, as it does in late spring. My quiet parents walk on, into the early dark. Time leaves them there. Baab is a third-year English and advertising student.