Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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4 SOUND OFF ONLINE POLL Create message boards at Does PETA have a legitimate www.dailygamecock.com or point about the mascot this time? send letters to the editor to www.dailygamecock.com. gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com Results published on Fridays. IN OUR OPINION USC can’t ignore mold Students who moved in to South Tower and the Horseshoe this fall found an unexpected roommate - mold. Students started to get sick because of mold in the air-conditioning ducts in their rooms, which has posed serious health problems for some and forced one faculty member to resign. Mass e-mails were sent out to Horseshoe residents warning them to be WH 11U/ 1WXWUI 1U1 U1U1U 111 U1V/ air vents so Housing could be notified of the problem. Now, several months later, the Residence Hall Association Senate has passed a resolution demanding fhat Housing clean up the residence halls and evict the mold. While the RHA Senate’s intention of looking out for the students is admirable, it is disappointing that it had to draw up a resolution for the problem in the first place. An infestation of such magnitude should be a top priority for university officials,' not something to be delegated to the vast abyss that is deferred maintenance. You should not - and cannot - defer student safety. Now that a resolution has been passed by the RHA, one would expect Housing to be aware of the problem. But consider the fact that most of RHA’s resolutions go ignored. Last year, it passed legislation pertaining to visitation policies at residence halls, which would allow students in residence halls to vote on their own visitation policies. A year later, the resolution is nothing more than a suggestion that sits at the bottom of a box. Adam Hark, chair of the Housing and Campus Concerns Committee, said in an article on today’s front page that RHA has “brought the problem to everyone’s attention and no one can claim ignorance.” The sad part is that is all it can do. The responsibility now belongs to the university. The students have voiced their concerns. The only thing left to do is wait and see whether the university listens. It shouldn’t be the responsibility of the RHA to fix the problems for which Housing should be held accountable. GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS In Wednesday’s paper, the WUSC DJ in a photograph was incorrectly identified. He is Davie Ferguson. An article Friday about a PETA letter should have identified Nathan Salley as a first-year pharmacy student. An article Friday about a homelessness-awareness event should have said Food Not Bombs serves food Sundays in Finlay Park. Friday’s USC-Florida football preview should have said the Gamecocks had lost 11 consecutive times to the Gators before Saturday’s game. 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, Staci Jordan, 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 Public Affairs: gckpublicaffairs@hotmail.com Online: www.dailygamecock.com Newsroom: 777-7726 PHitrvr'c nffiro' 777.^Q1 4 STUDENT MEDIA Faculty Adviser Erik Collins Director of Student Media Ellen Parsons Creative Director Susan King r Business Manager Carolyn Griffin Advertising Manager Sarah Scarborough Classified Manager Sherry F. Holmes Creative Services Derek Goode, Earl Jones, Sean O'Meara, Anastasia Oppert Melanie Roberts Advertising Staff Adam Bourgoin, Justin Chappell, Bianca Knowles, Denise Levereaux, Jacqueline Rice, Stacey Todd 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. Kiran i>nan TO PLACE AN AD i ne bamecocK 1400 Greene St. Columbia, S.C. 29208 Advertising: (f r-j&au Classified: 777-1184 Fax: 777-6482 QK— NOW THe OTHER SLeeve... rniWiiT* CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS % America losing its nostalgia CATHERINE BAAB GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Major companies have commercialized society. Friday night found my friends and I in the dim, crowded, quiet conference room of the Columbia Chamber of Commerce, waiting to hear Ron Rash, a poet and nov elist, read. The content of his work almost exclusively con cerns South Carolina and its rivers, mountains and farms. I’ve got a radio station be tween my ears. It’s like wearing a Walkman continuously. At will, I can hear Wilco’s latest album. I can listen to my parents saying the rosary, aloud together, as if they were in the next room, rather than 300 miles away. I can listen to W. H. Auden reciting his elegy to Yeats. CDs don’t figure to my desert-island list of neces sities. They’re better to have, but my memory is fairly reliable. Now, my brain’s top-40 rotation includes Ron’s gentle yet evoca tive reading voice. Like his voice, Ron’s writing is utterly distinct. This is perhaps its finest quality. As Janies Dickey labored to capture the ec centricities of the South in words, Ron works to transcribe the quirks of his native country. The result is an acute, singular brand of beauty. As citizens of the same locality, we’re fortunate to have a writer, a laureate of sorts, both ering to do so because distinc tions are an endangered species here, as they are all over America. Our nation is becoming increasingly uniform, its regions less and less identifiable. I’m not referring to geography. The issue has nothing to do with maps. Imagine you’re standing in an aisle in Wal-Mart. On either side of you, products gleam in their bright packaging. Muzak wafts from hidden speakers. The fluo rescent lights buzz overhead. You might be in Columbia. You might be somewhere else. You might be anywhere in the United States. It’s the same story, more or less, in McDonald’s, in Food Lion, in any chain store or restaurant. The products, Muzak and lighting are all the same; else, their differences are so sub tle they can’t be detected. This fact is terrifying and depressing. The Starbucks Corporation is an aggressive contributor to the phenomenon. The atmosphere of its coffee shops suggests an inti macy, by means of low lighting and soft jazz, which is completely fabricated and manufactured. Its appeal lies in that atmosphere; yet the intimacy is spurious, it ex ists in every single shop. It’s the product of a careful design and marketing strategy. Starbucks is intentionally selling an identity to their customers, that of the cof fee-shopper, one who sips lattes, sits alone, reading some great, if obscure, work of literature. But the idea of the coffee shopper pre dates the Starbucks stores. The corporation takes commercial ad vantage of our nostalgia, our pin ing for the actual local coffee shop. The cornerstone of regional identity is the integrity of its man ifestations - i.e., its food, business es, dialect, et cetera. By integrity, I mean its steadfast adherence to its own characteristics. When chain stores such as Wal-Mart and Starbucks enter the area, some of those precious particularities are lost. And you find yourself any where. Nowhere, really. What’s the use of traveling if all places resemble each other? At present, that fabled Main Street of every American town is only one long blur of strip malls. After a time, one’s eye blends them: One ceases to notice any details. Baab is a third-year English and advertising student. IN YOUR OPINION A real idiot uses the term ‘retard’ In a letter to the Gamecock this past Monday (“Society’s stupidity reflected in Rapp”), Brent Campbell uses the word “retard” and implies it is syn onymous with “stupid.” Is he kidding? Did he miss the part of elementary school where we are taught that it is not nice to refer to people with mental re tardation as “retards”? In fact, it is completely un acceptable to use such disre spectful and derogatory lan guage, and I find it embarrass ing to be at the same university with people who are still in this mentality. I guess I can take consolation in knowing that in Mr. Campbell’s attempt to il lustrate the stupidity of some one else, he merely reveals his own ignorance. VALERIE BURTON GRADUATE STUDENT IN COLLEGE OF SOCIAL WORK Leave play calling to professionals This letter is in response to Josh Cheney’s letter “Gamecocks’ offense sputter ing since UT” from the Nov. 11 issue of The Gamecock. The last time I checked, Lou Holtz was a smart, experienced man when it comes to coaching col lege football, and the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice did not in clude any courses on football play calling. Lou and Skip are smart guys; I doubt they need to be told our offense hasn’t been pro ducing lately. I’m sure they are doing all they can to fix the problem, and I’m confident they will get our team back on track. Lou and Skip are at all the prac tices, watch all the film, know what kind of talent we have on our team and know where our offense’s strengths and weak nesses lie. Josh Cheney, as well as the other numerous critics of our coaching staff and their offensive play calling, on the other hand, do not. I, for one, would much rather have Lou or Skip calling “predictable” and “inappropri ate plays for the situation” with all their knowledge, experience and time invested in the team in preparation for each and ev ery game, than Josh Cheney giving his worthless, incoher ent, unfounded two cents about what he thinks would make our offense successful. Josh Cheney should stick to marching-band practice and hitting the lanes at Royal Z, and leave the Gamecocks’ offensive strategy to the professionals MATT GEARY SECOND-YEAR CRIMINAL JUSTICE STUDENT | ‘Quigmans’shows distasteful humor This letter is in response to two distasteful caricatures by Buddy Hickerson (“Quigmans”) that appeared in The Gamecock on Sept. 9 and Sept. 27. Mr. Hickerson’s sense of hu mor is far from funny and is very offensive. To make fun of a per son because of his size shows a lack of sensitivity. About 8 mil lion to 10 million women and 1 million men suffer from eating disorders, and this is something that needs to be taken seriously. Promoting, Educating and Encouraging Realistic Self-Image (PEERS) is a student organiza tion here at USC that strives to make students aware of eating disorders. Therefore, we are ask ing that caricatures of this na ture not be published in the fu ture. LINDSAY TRAMMELL AND PEERS MEMBERS TRAMMELL IS PRESIDENTOE PEERS 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. E-mail letters to the editor to gamecockviewpoints@hotmaii.com. ■>' 3 Scouts’ policy is perfectly legal CHRIS FOY GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM The BSA is justified in keeping out gay leaders. Last week, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals made a decision that the Boy Scouts of America did not act illegally in barring two homosexual men from their ranks. The court made the right decision. I am an Eagle Scout. I went through Scouting growing up and have a lot of appreciation for what that program can do for young teenagers. And being able to look from aside at situations such as this, it is clear to me that homosexual adult leaders have no place in DatT CnAll+C I hope no one thinks I am sug gesting that homosexual men (or women, for that matter) be stripped of any of their rights. Sexual preference shouldn’t be something that restricts people from being hired, or from any thing that could keep them from living normal lives. But sexual preference should be a strong consideration when you’re dealing with people who watch over groups of teenage boys. Consider this: You, as a par ent, have a young daughter in Girl Scouts. Would you feel com fortable allowing her to go on a camping trip if you knew the troop’s only leaders were adult men? Because of the perverts and pedophiles in this world, so ciety has grown distrustful of adults left alone with children. But even having an open poli cy of prohibiting homosexual leaders has not prevented young boys from being molested in Boy Scouts. It’s a sick but true fact. These kinds of people exist in the world, and every now and then, they do slip by. It happens in Boy Scouts. It happens with Catholic priests, for goodness’ sake. There’s no reason the BSA shouldn’t take measures to re duce such heinous crimes. The Boy Scout program hires adult leaders to teach the values and morals of Scouting. And the truth of the matter is, part of the morals involved is that the prac tice of homosexuality is wrong. Since the formation of the Scouts in 1910, the leaders have found the practice immoral, and ho mosexuals have not been al lowed in. Scouting leaders are hired be cause they are expected to dis play the highest level of personal integrity to the young boys in such a critical time of their lives. The Scouts don’t tolerate alco holics or drug abusers; they want leaders to uphold the morals they think are appropri ate for young men. A lot of the values taught by the Boy Scouts are Christian in nature. But membership does not require boys to be Christian. The BSA admits any teenage boy who wants to join its program, as long as he agrees to uphold the program’s values and morals. It’s not out to pinpoint certain groups to discriminate against. It’s simply holding its rights as a private organization to decide what values it deems are appro priate, and to deem those they feel are not. We live in a free country. We all have the right to express our selves. But if people are allowed to express their sexual orienta tions, then organizations such as the Boy Scouts should be allowed to express their dissent for that type of behavior. Foy is a fourfh-year entrepreneur management student.