Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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' 4 . «r • . ' . ' 4 THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, February 7, 2003 SOUND OFF ONLINE POLL Create message boards at Should LeBron James have www.dailygamecock.com or lost his amateur status? send letters to the editor to YES 48% gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com NO 30% I DON’T CARE 22% I IN OUR OPINION Speech avoids key concerns After USC President Andrew Sorensen took the podium Wednesday, he summed up his speech in three words: “Excellence in Engagement.” The actual words of his speech, however, could also be summed up in three words: “Evasive on Essentials.” Although Sorensen spoke about his plans to bring the USC community together at events other than toot ball games — an admirable cause — he didn’t begin addressing the issues that most affect students until after his speech was done, and only after questions from the audience prompted him. He didn’t initially volunteer any iiuvi uiui-iuu v/n iyyv ui uuv o muoi v/ooiu^ iouuvvj. tuition and parking. And he never volunteered any solutions to those issues — except paying $50 a month for 30 years for a. parking space. If it was the state of the university Sorensen was describing, he should have focused more on the core of Carolina. How USC relates to the rest of the state is important, especially in the long term, but that doesn’t change the fact that students are facing steep tuition increases and a horrific parking mess right now. With these issues weighing on the minds of students, faculty and parents alike, what USC needs is answers — not evasion. Sorensen offered no solutions to some of the most important issues on students’ minds: tuition and parking. Gamecock Quotables “He can run, he can catch, he can field points, he can break tackles, he can run over you." LOU HOLTZ use COACH ON DEMETRIS SUMMERS “Technology is evolving so rapidly that the half-life of knowledge in many domains is measured in months. But the ability to think creatively and to use information productively is measured in lifetimes.” ANDREW SORENSEN use PRESIDENT ON HIS ‘EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH" PLAN “I don’t want to be a pop star. I don’t want to be on MTV or anything like that, but I do want to be known. Respected, not idolized.” RONI ZAGORIA WINNER OF THE B.Y.O.B. CONTEST ON HER FUTURE IN MUSIC “What is love anyway, aside from a liquor-fueled period of psychosis?” CARINO CHOCANO AUTHOR OF "DO YOU LOVE ME OR AM I JUST PARANOID?" ON ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS In a story Wednesday about tuition, Dennis Pruitt’s name was misspelled. The Viewpoints section Wednesday should have stated that Brook Bristow is a fifth-year advertising student. 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 Managing Editor Charles Tomlinson News Editor Adam Beam Asst. News 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 Morgan Ford ncou rage i/csigncis Sarah McLaulin, Katie Smith. David Stagg Page Designers Justin Bajan. Samantha Hall. Staci Jordan, Julia Knetzer, Shawn Rourk Slot Copy Editors Crystal Boyles, Tricia Ridgway, Emma Ritch Copy Editors Alyson Goff, Mary Waters Online Editor Bessam Khadraoui Community Affairs Kir5i Shah CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@hotmail.com News: 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 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 Production Manager Patrick Bergen Creative Services Derek Goode. Earl Jones, Sean O’Meara, Anastasia Oppert Advertising Staff John Blackshire, Adam Bourgoin, Bianca Knowles. Denise Levereaux, Jacqueline Rice, Stacey Todd 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 thejeditors 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 The Gamiecock 1400 Greene St. Columbia, S.C. 29208 Advertising: 777-3888 Classified: 777-1184 Fax: 777-6482 War debates cause confusion ROB SEAL GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Watching the news only raises more questions. At 2 every morning on cable access, the Rev. Arnold Murray broadcasts his message of peace and harmony to Columbia. His tape, which is free, is called “The Mark of the Beast. ” On this tape, the Rev. Murray talks about Revelations. Listening to his tape, one can’t help but think that his wisdom applies to the situation arising in Iraq. “We can see here that this mys tery is connected with Babylon,” Murray says on his tape. “And what does Babylon mean? It comes from the base root ‘Babel,’ which means confusion. And... this being a state of confusion, and that confusion being, in part, that that has to do with you; the Babel that is coming, and the Babylon is the confusion, in the one world system, taught by men.” Exactly. Murray maintains on his tape that the first beast of Revelations represents a political system that is bound to bring con fusion. There can be no political situation more confusing than the question of action against Iraq. The presentation made Wednesday by Secretary of State Colin Powell was perhaps too di rect for the convoluted world of international politics. He made it very clear to the United Nations that the Bush adminis tration thinks that a war against Iraq is in Bush’s — rather the world’s—best interests. Instead of a polished PowerPoint presentation by one of our country’s most respected men, the United States should have presented Murray to the U.N. to explain our position against Iraq. The Rev. Murray would have used his unparalleled oratorical abilities to bamboozle the repre sentative of the world community into agreeing that Iraq was in ma terial breach of U.N. resolution 1441. Screaming about “Kennites” and the fall of Gomorrah, Murray would have blinded the U.N. with his glistening comb-over hairdo, and probably procured significant foreign donations to his Shepherd’s Chapel televangelist program in Gravette, Ark., while he was at it. At least then we would have international support for what seems an inevitable war. Instead, we are left between the proverbial rock and hard place. The facts presented to the U.N. by Powell, the repeated statements of Kaiser Bush and the catchy phrases being used by the media — like “Showdown: Iraq” and “The Road to War”—all indicate that a war is at least probable, if not inevitable. The French, Chinese, Russian and German re actions to Powell’s presentation indicated they would like to see more time for the inspections to go forward and a peaceful resolu tion to the dangers presented by Saddam Hussein. If Saddam’s government is in deed allied with terrorists and he does pose a viable threat to the United States, then what? Should we fly in the face of the U.N. and condemn our international gov erning body to the inconsequen tial fate of the League of Nations by charging into Iraq cowboy-style and playing a game of “topple the dictator”? Or do we seek a second resolution and try to bully foreign powers into a multilateral action sometime down the road? What about North Korea? What ever happened to bin Laden? What the hell is going on? Watching the news seems to create more ques tions than it does answers. Confusion. If only Murray, the undisputed master of confusion, could make heads or tails of this and explain it to the rest of us on cable access, the whole situation could seem so much simpler. Seal is a fourth-year print journalism student. IN YOUR OPINION USC robs the poor to feed the rich I understand that the uni versity is still trying to balance a budget, but increasing tuition. College is expensive enough, es pecially a good college, such as USC. I am still surprised that after the last tuition increase, they still want to increase it. Federal aid covers only so much, and the same goes for loans. Do not assume we have a lot of financial aid, because we do not. Many people who are eligible for aid do not get it. But who is taking the brunt of the budget cuts? The students. A17 percent in crease in tuition is not a hard ship for some people, but for oth ers, it is. I don’t want to be even more in debt than I already am, and neither do other students. If the university wants to bal ance the budget, here is a com mon-sense solution: Stop build ing everything we do not need. USC is in debt because it is building everything at the same time at the expense of students. USC made the Carolina Center and scheduled more acts to cov er the cost — big-name acts. Cut down on making more dorms, accept fewer students and build competitive programs at the satellite campuses to lessen the load. Find a feasible solution to the problem before you open another can of worms. A good education is a costly investment. If the university increases tuition again, it will deny more students, especially in-state students, the chance to have a good education. SHANDRA KOGER THIRD-YEAR ENGLISH STUDENT Bush can’t afford to leave Iraq alone It’s evident in today’s news that it is no longer a question of whether we go to war with Iraq; it’s a question of when. But is this war really such a bad idea? It’s true that many Americans are not backing Bush on this is sue. Then again, many Americans don’t really know much about Saddam Hussein. Saddam still has large amounts of VX, mustard and serin gasses; anthrax; ricin; and things much worse that are unaccounted for. The inspec tors aren’t finding these mate rials, which leaves tons of these weapons that Saddam is hiding. Also, empty chemical warheads have been found. Of course they’re empty. The warhead is simply the explosive device. To store warheads and chemicals in the same place is foolhardy. Saddam has these weapons and is not afraid to use them. He proved this in the ’80s dur ing the Kurd revolt. He used ev ery agent in his arsenal on those people. If he is not afraid to use these weapons on his own people, would he hesitate to use them on us? Does a man who murders his own people care anything about us, other than to see our downfall? I know what this man is ca pable of. I took an oath to protect this country from all enemies, and that is what I intend to do. I don’t want to see another Sept. 11, and that is why Saddam and his regime need to be thrown from power as soon as possible. TOMMY HINES FIRST-YEAR CRIMINAL-JUSTICE STUDENT Whittingham’s letter ignored main points James Whittingham’s letter (“ ‘Kindness’ won’t kill tyrants in Iraq,” Jan. 31) blasting Joey Opperman’s stance on peace omitted several important points. Saddam Hussein does head an oppressive, tyrannical regime. But the United States supports dic tatorships around the world. We support Pakistan, which possesses nuclear warheads. China has a dictatorship, warheads, a terrible human-rights record and most-fa vored-trade status. The forms of torture used by Saddam are prac ticed in other countries. So why Iraq? It has oil. Whittingham fails to realize that America gave Iraq the same chem . ical weapons Saddam used on the Kurds and Iranians. The United States took Iraq off a terrorist list to give it those weapons. Israel has violated U.N. mandate nearly as often as Saddam. But Bush isn’t invading Israel. Jimmy Carter released a state ment this week outlining a strate gy for broader, ongoing weapons inspection in Iraq. These inspec tions will continue until the United Nations deems them unnecessary. War is not inevitable, and peace is an option. Unfortunately, those in power do not think so, and it’s up to us to remind them. ELIZABETH CATANESE FOURTH-YEAR 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 news oom at 777-7726 for more information. TV role models aren’t realistic ANNA LAKE GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Working women aren’t like Carrie Bradshaw. Another boring Sunday night lurks on the horizon, and I have no idea what to do. Understand, I have five million things I actually need to do, but there’s something about a Sunday that makes me not want to do anything. My roommate and I, yet again, drag out the “Complete Second Season of ‘Sex and the City’ ” and hopelessly drool over lifestyles that are far from our own. Somewhere in the back of my mind, a little voice reminds me that I should not be wasting my valuable time on something as silly and girly as this televi sion show with fictitious wom en, but somehow, the illogical voice in my head always wins out. Instead of studying for crimi nology, I turn on the television and study shoes. I don’t even like shoes. What is it about this show that draws me in like Sarah Jessica Parker to white slingback Manolo Blahnik sandals? After an extended internal de bate about why it wdijfld be OK to watch just one episode before dragging out the media-politics books, I finally came up with an excuse. My latest justification for watching such silliness is simple: The lead character, Carrie Bradshaw, played by Parker, is a columnist. Shouldn’t I be watch ing her for inspiration? So I roll over in bed, take a bite of my low-fat peanut butter cup ice cream and hit “play” on my roommate’s little white remote. The one allotted episode turns into five, and my night is wasted. But at least I’m inspired. Well, not really. These wom en have nothing to do with my life. They get to have lunch hours at expensive New York City cafes. It’s a good day if I have pa tience and time enough to get a smoothie from the new smoothie place after standing in a line longer than the line for Space Mountain at Disney World. These women get to have fan cy dinners and buy new dresses for each date. I’m lucky if I can convince my mother to let me bor row her credit card to hit the > Dillard’s going-out-of-business sale so that I won’t have to wear the same outfit to semiformal that I wore to the last three functions. The women on this show al ways talk about having jobs, but rareiy <uc uix=y evei seen actual ly working. Wouldn’t it be nice to be living in an upscale New York City apartment wearing a Prada black velvet headband, while maintaining an active social cal endar and never actually work ing? I’m just not thinking this is possible. Not that I even know what a Prada black headband re ally is. I do stay up into the wee hours of the morning like they do. No, I am not out partying and meeting various men while managing not to smear my perfect makeup. Instead, I am up studying again, and the black circles that will be under my eyes the next day are the last things on my mind. Maybe one day, I’ll be a colum nist for a fancy New York City newspaper, making tons of money and drinking cute cocktails with my fabulous girlfriends. I sure hope not. Real life better be a lot more fun than that. Lake is a second-year broadcast journalism student.