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THE GAMECOCK ♦ Wednesday, January 15, 2003 3 SOUND OFF T TX TTT TA S~\ T XT ONLINE POLL Create message boards at I 1-4 I /1 / I I III I Axe you glad to be back in classes? www.dailygamecock.com or I I 1 i ■/ \l I I III ^ I l - www.dailygamecock.com. send letters to the editor to I I J W W I \/|ll Iky Results published on Fridays. gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com —®— m M ¥ ¥ —®^ 1 —■— ' IN OUR OPINION Griping gets you nowhere | In an interview with The Gamecock on Jan. 10, USC Provost Jerry Odom said USC students are not vocal enough to the state Legislature. He’s right. “I really think the students ought to be really expressive because they are the next generation in Students at USC are good at complaining about education, but putting those complaints into action is another matter. USC President Andrew Sorensen works hard to lobby the state Legislature for the university’s best interest —but that isn’t necessarily the students’ best interest. Students fail to understand that the more educated a population is, the more attractive it is for businesses to move into. With the state economy in shambles and the university facing a $33 million budget cut, USC students could find their degrees decreasing in value as well. USC students would be well served if they formed an organization expressly to lobby the state Legislature for student-body concerns. Student Government has done this before, but no specific group speaks on the students’ behalf. With the State House so close and USC students with something to fight for, it’s a perfect opportunity for students to make their voices heard. USC students should use their complaints constructively to lobby the state. - Winners and Sinners DINNING SERVICES Stayed on track and will open Jan. 27 as scheduled. It’ll be hard to decide where to eat with so many options available. K||| MARK SANFORD Breaks from tradition and pH** celebrates his inauguration with a barbecue pF today. Nothing says party like a pig-pickin’. NFL REFEREES Missed calls end Super Bowl hopes for the Steelers and the Giants. Not that there was much hope to begin with. FITNESS CENTER It’s not opening on time, but students who still want to work out can always ^ run around the building and try to peek inside. GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS S»$ USC spokesman Russ McKinney's name was misspelled in a story Monday about a leak in the Jones Physical Science Center. A story in The Mix on Monday should have said Ozma released its debut album in 2001, not 2002. A story in The Mix on Monday incorrectly stated that Elysium will happen again this month; it won't be celebrated again until next month. “Bob the Angry Flower” creator Stephen Notley’s name was misspelled Monday in The Mix. 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 Jill Martin r ' Managing Editor Charles Tomlinson New* Editor Adam Beam Asst. New Editor Wendy Jeffcoat Viewpoints Editor Erin O'Neal The Mix Editor Corey Garriott Asst. The Mix Editor Meg Moore Sports Editor Matt Rothenberg Asst. Sports Editor Brad Senkiw Photo Editor Johnny Haynes Asst. Photo Editor Mnrtfan Ford Head Page Designers Sarah McLaulin, Katie ^ Smith, David Stagg W\ Page Designers Justin Bajan, Samanthj Hall. Staci Jordan, Julij Knetzer, Shawn Rourk Slot Copy Editors Crystal Boyles, Tricia Ridgway, Emma Ritch Copy Editors Jennie Duggan, Tricia Ridgway, Holly Totherc Karen Vaught Online Editor Bessam Khadraoui Community Affairs Kiran Shah CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@hotmail.com News: gamecockudesk@hotmaii.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 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, Sean O'Meara, 1 Anastasia Oppert Melanie Roberts Advertising Staff John Blackshire, Adam Bourgoin, Bianca Knowles, Denise Levereaux, Jacqueline Rice, Stacey Todd w. The Gamecock is the editorially independent student newspaper of the University of South Carolina. It 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-activity fees. One free copy per reader. Additional copies may be purchased for $1 each from the Department of Student Media. TO PLACE AN AD I ne ijametuuK t>400 Greene St. Columbia, S.C. 29208 Advertising: 777-3888 Classified: 777-1184 Fax: 777-6482 yldikr BMisum/er, congotsswal jdtubr, announces te candidacy focihii, 2tW pntslMial Muon-.-' CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS Workers deserve recognition EDRIN WILLIAMS GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM USC employees aren’t given enough credit. Recognition is defined as ac knowledgement with a show of appreciation. It is something we all want or need. As students, we aim for the President’s List, ser vice awards or having some pro fessor remember our names. As faculty, there exists a desire to get tenure, produce respected re search or win grants. As an in stitution, we strive for AAU sta tus and focus a lot of energy to ward becoming one of the top-tier schools in America. Even with all this attention to personal recognition and achievement, many ignore the men and wom en on this campus who provide an invaluable service. Call them “the workers,” but they are much more than that. There is Ms. Shirley, the Queen of Preston Dining Services. There is Darrell, GMP wizard, who turns a trip to the food line into an experience you can’t for get. Most often forgotten are John and the fellows on the grounds crew. They are the ones who dress this place after hun dreds of spoiled brats decide to throw their Bud Light cans on the ground Friday nights. I could go on for days writing how these men and women have affected my time here at USC, but for the sake of time I’ll share this one story with you. During my sophomore year, I was a resident of the towers. As 18 year olds sometimes do, I mixed up my pri orities and did almost everything except what I needed to do. One weekday, I was returning to my room after being out all night. One of the ladies who worked the building, whom I had formed a pretty good relationship with, told me I was wasting an oppor tunity. Shocked as I was, I kept quiet and listened. She went on to tell me about her life and why she didn’t have a chance to go to college. She shared how good she feels when one of “her students” tells her about something they accomplished. More than that, she said how it hurts her and the other staff when they see stu dents walking around without understanding what they have the chance to do. It was one of those conversa tions that you would see in a movie or something. I left that hallway feeling that I was ruin ing the opportunity that my, mother, grandmother, other fam ily members and people like Ms. Savannah had made possible. Many of these men and wom en did not have the opportunities we are graced with because of the time and circumstances they grew up in. Many of them expe rience joy by living through us. When we achieve, so do they, but when we throw away our chances, they hurt, too. My praises alone aren’t enough. All members of the uni versity family are obligated to show more respect and appreci ation to these men and women. A paycheck is not enough. We can start by greeting them with a “hello” or ending an exchange with “thank you.” On a broader scale, the uni versity needs to have a special day set aside to show its appreci ation. Since getting elected last spring, SGA President Ankit Patel and others of us on his cab inet have fought to get a “Service Worker Appreciation Day” or something along those lines. Time after time, we have hit snags and encountered road blocks. Each time, it leaves a bad impression on us, and it makes one wonder how much of a pri ority these men and women real ly are. What we need is for a high ranking official to call the Student Government Office at 777-2654 and say, “Hi, my depart ment would like to co-sponsor an event like this. When can we get started?” It’s that easy. I’ve been in leadership all of my Carolina career. I know that it can happen if it is seen as important. We’ll be in the office waiting for someone to confirm that it really is a pri ority. Williams is a fourth-year African American studies student. s IN YOUR OPINION Old humor is still old in the new year In Brook Bristow’s column (“New year, new you — right?” Jan. 13) I was hoping to see that he might have resolved to end his nauseating habit of using the worst possible analogies in The Gamecock. Apparently, Bristow took his own advice on New Year’s resolutions and didn’t even bother. “Every year, we make the same promises and always end up with the same results,” he says. And it’s too bad, really, be cause I would have loved to read what might have come from an attempt at bettering himself and his analogical writ ing style. I’m still trying to top “there is probably as much of a chance of people keeping their New Year’s resolutions as there is of Ozzy Osbourne wearing a white T-shirt.” That’s rich right there; that’s some clever stuff. I’d also like to note the other dazzling spark of brilliance in his column that was “about as scarce as a business suit in Avril Lavigne’s wardrobe.” Stunning! And who would I be without quoting the best of them all: “abs tighter than Joan Rivers’ face.” I think we’ve got a future New York Times writer on our hands here, folks! In his earlier columns, I thought the analogies were a joke, but now it’s like laughing along with a sloppy-drunk, table dancing party girl at a bar; after a while, you start to wonder whether you’re laughing with her or at her. Now that’s a good analogy! I think it’s fair to say that af ter reading his column, my roommates and I have since stopped watching both MTV and E! entirely, for fear that Bristow’s genius will creep into our own vocabulary, and I’d re ally hate to jock such a sophis ticated style. COREY HUTCHINS third-year public relations STUDENT Sarcasm can’t hide Arroyo’s ignorance David Arroyo's letter to The Gamecock (“U.S.C. extends its support to Frost,” Jan. 13) was highly misinformed. The argument supporting the Boy Scouts of America's stance on membership seems simple, and it has nothing to do with his misguided opinions. BSA is a private institution. As such, it can decide who can join. That's it. It doesn't matter whether anyone else thinks the BSA is right. Private organiza tions such as BSA can regulate certain characteristics, such as membership. We have to allow private groups to make their own decisions, whether we agree or not. The right to be wrong in such a case is inher ent in America's fabric. It's disturbing to read Mr. Arroyo attacking things about which he obviously knows very little. First, he correlates BSA with white American males, all of whom are apparently homo sexual-bashing, unintelligent, woman-hating xenophobes. There are no race limitations in Boy Scouts; in fact, probably ev ery race in America is represent ed in BSA. Then he attacks the Bible when he clearly knows little about it. The Bible does not teach that slavery, particularly as we define the word from the U.S. South, is OK. And it's just stupid to say that, if those who follow "the Bible to the letter" had then way, "blacks would be back where they belong, picking cot ton." While the temptation to mis use the power wielded by any or ganization, including organized religion, indeed seems a part of human nature, it's the wrongdo ers who should be attacked, not the instrument they have mis used. Christianity preaches no hate. I hope most of Mr. Arroyo's points were purely sarcasm and that they do not represent a large group of people. With such short sighted, uninformed opinions, we might be in trouble. THOM HARMAN 1995 USC GRADUATE 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 lettecs will not be published. Call the newsroom at 777-7726 for more information. Liberals want to join in the race TYLER JONES GAMECOCKylEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM This winter, dismal days and Democrats abound. The frigid and dismal month of January has already leaked half of its days out into the catacombs of history, and I am not in the best of moods. Despite winning big with several ill-advised bets on the Georgia Bulldogs and the ousting of Trent Lott, I cannot help but lament over the vapid winter that will rule my emotions until spring blooms and sanity is restored. But why not use this dark and wretched milieu to inspire a scathing rant on the equally bleak and worthless fate of Joe Lieberman and the rest of the don keys he-hawing at Emperor George W. Bush? For those of us in the political methadone clinic, the presidential election has al ready lurched into high gear, and the announcement Monday from Connecticut’s junior senator, sim iirnm_ctortn/l n raorlio nirnne that will thrill and amaze until the first Tuesday in November 2004. I caught highlights of the staged press conference while I was ar guing with some pampered law student about how a Christopher Darden/Fred Goldman tag-team match against A.C. and O.J. would be a ratings winner for some seedy network, like Fox. “Are you insane?” “Quiet,” I said, “Let’s see what Lieberman and his wife, Hadassah, have to say.” Lieberman smiled and received several non-sexual smooches from his wife as he waved to the crowd gathered at his high school in Stanford, Conn. He looked like a man poised for second place, I told myself before he uttered the hideously outdated phrase, “The American Dream is in jeopardy.” The truth, Joe, is that the American Dream is not in Trebekville, it is in the morgue. The same “amoral, irresponsible mem bers of society” that Lieberman at tacks — rappers, porn stars and Jerry Springer — seem to have their own perverted version of the American Dream, but the innocent, sprightly vision that Lieberman is hoping for is done. Finished. Although one might achieve this bastardized version of the American Dream based solely on financial elevation, the once proud idea of the American Dream cen tered on freedom, happiness and security is sunk deeper than the Titanic. Frightening as it might sound, people once valued emo tional prosperity and liberty more than golf-ball-sized diamond ear rings or rims that cost more than a semester’s tuition. weren t we talking about Joe Lieberman? Not only is the Senator trying to become the first Orthodox Jew president, but he is also trying to overcome a list of fellow Democrats that reads like the credits of a Leslie Nielsen movie. I said it last November that the Democratic Party died when Big Willy Clinton stepped out to Harlem, but just looking at all the kooks and tax-raising weirdos on this list of potential candidates can only make the Bush adminis tration frolic with glee. Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, perennial loser Dick Gephardt, North Carolina’s John Edwards and the stoic John Kerry from Kennedy-land round out a list that might also include the Rev. A1 Sharpton. My guess is that it will come down to Kerry and Lieberman, but we all know that Herr Bush and his wolverines in Washington are looking more to ward war than toward re-election. Jones is a graduate student in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications