Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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SOUND OFF j|| ONLINE POLL Create message boards at Should John Palms still be www.dailygamecock.com or - on USC s payroll? send letters to the editor to www.daUygamecock.com. gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com Results published on Fridays. IN OUR OPINION Buildings take away parking These are exciting times for the University of South Carolina — unless you drive. USC President Andrew Sorensen announced a portion of the 1994 Master Plan that calls for the construction of a research university. The proposed, and we emphasize proposed, campus would add 5 million square feet of research facilities to the university, all without USC USC can t afford spending a dime on to expan I construction costs. campus without _ ,, expanding Its The university would woo parking prospective businesses to build on USC property, then the university would lease the buildings to the businesses. Once the lease is up, USC can charge the business whatever it wants for rent, bringing in more money while enhancing research. But what is missing from this equation is this: Where will all the cars be parked? The public-health buildings, slated for construction in November, will replace a parking lot. Planned future buildings will also eat up existing parking space. An addition to the university of this magnitude will almost certainly increase the daily traffic flow through USC. Craig Davis, whose company did a feasibility study for the research campus, said USC’s location and transportation situation is ideal for the new campus. While Columbia has plenty of roads, it’s short on parking lots. The research campus — including residence halls, laboratories and business space — is wonderful for the university, but USC can’t afford to expand its campus without expanding its parking. USC should follow its own example and bring in private developers to build parking garages on university property. College Quote Board HARVARD CRIMSON JEREMY B. REFF, HARVARD UNIVERISTY “The danger of rebuilding on the ground at Ground Zero is to forget that it is not ground. As Leon Wieseltier describes it, ‘There was no soil in this place. What they were moving was the substance that was formed out of the dissolution of every thing and everybody that had been crushed and incinerated: a deathloam.’ ” DAILY MISSISSIPPIAN STAFF EDITORIAL. UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI “We are all growing up with our childhood now slipping into memory. Take a minute today to remember the good old days when entertainment was innocent and easy, and, should you have one, wear a cardigan for Mister Fred Rogers.” GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS 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 CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Managing Editor Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@hotmail.com Charles Tomlinson News; gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Viewpoints: gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com News Editor The Mix: gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com Adam Beam Sports: gamecocksports@hotmail.com Public Affairs: gckpublicaffairs@hotmail.com Asst News Editor Online: www.dailygamecock.com Wendy Jeffcoat Newsroom: 777-7726 * Editor's Office: 777-3914 ErmTNnea*Edlt0r STUDENT MEDIA The Gamecock is the t u e editorially independent Faculty Adviser student newspaper of The Mix Editor Erlk Collins the University of South Corey Garriott Carolina. „ is . __ Director of Student published Monday, Asst. The Mix Editor Media Wednesday and Friday Meg Moore Ellen Parsons during the fall and j spring semesters and Sports Editor Creative Director njne times during the Matt Rothenberg Susan King summer, with the A exception or university Asst. Sports Editor Business Manager holidays and exam Brad Senkiw Carolyn Griffin periods. Opinions _. _ expressed in The u Photo Editor Advertising Manager Gamecock are those of Johnny Haynes Sarah Scarborough the editors or author and not those of the Asst. Photo Editor Classified Manager University of South Morgan Ford Sherry F. Holmes Carolina. The Board of „ . _ _ , Student Publications ”ead P®g® Designers Production Manager and Communications Sarah McLaulin, Katie Patrick Bergen |S the publisher of The Smith, David Stagg Gamecock. The Creative Services Department of Student Page Designers Derek Goode. Media is the Justin Bajan, Samantha Earl Jones newspaper's parent Hall, Staci Jordan, Julia Sean O'Meara. organization. The ■- Knetzer, Shawn Rourk Anastasia Oppert Gamecock is „ „ supported in part by Slot Copy Editors Advertising Staff student-activity fees. Crystal Boyles, Trioia John Blackshire, One free copy per Ridgway, Emma Ritch Adam Bourgoin. reader. Additional Bianca Knowles, copies may be Copy Editors Denise Levereaux, t purchased for $1 each Jessica Foster, Alyson Jacqueline Rice, from the Department Goff, Mary Waters Stacey Todd of student Media. Bessarntthadraoui TO PUCE AN AD The Gamecock Advertising: 777-3888 community Affairs 1400 Greene St. Classified: 777-1184 Kiran Shah Columbia, S.C. 29208 Fax: 777-6482 - Congressmen are stepping up BEN EDWARDS GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Big-name S.C. senators leave big shoes to fill. With the retirement of Sen. Strom Thurmond, many feared that South Carolina’s political power would dramatically de cline. The senator was able to procure constituent services and exercise tremendous influence for our state because of his tenure. Sen. Fritz Hollings has also accrued substantial seniori ty, which he uses liberally for South Carolina’s benefit. Sadly, Hollings, an 81-year-old man, will likely not stay in office for longer than one more six-year term at most. The loss of so much seniority in the Senate would im pair South Carolina’s political in fluence were it not for the signifi cant and offsetting concurrent gains in the House. Congressmen Jim Clyburn and John Spratt have both gained leadership po sitions in the Democratic Party. Their gains as Southern con gressmen stand in sharp contrast to the fact that the majority of them are Republicans. It is even more shocking to recognize that the only two Democratic con gressmen from South Carolina have two of the top five leadership positions for House Democrats. Spratt is now the assistant to Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi is a San Francisco Democrat who was able to damp en her extremely liberal image by selecting Spratt as her assistant and chief adviser. Spratt, a mod erate Democrat, deserves a great deal of praise for his intelligence and expertise in allocations. As the ranking member on the Budget Committee and a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, Spratt enjoys a posi tion that will allow him to shape Democratic policy, proposals and national strategy. His extensive influence will allow South Carolina to play a major role in national political developments. Clybum, from South Carolina’s 6th congressional district, has been elected vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus. Beforehand, he served as one of the few unanimously selected chairs of the Congressional Black Caucus and co-president of his freshman class. Clyburn’s new position as vice chair will allow him to best utilize his skills as a proven consensus builder. For ex ample, when a member of the Republican Caucus defected to the Democratic Caucus in the 106th Congress, Clybum relinquished his seat on the prestigious appro priations committee to accommo date and perhaps secure the new Democrat. His abilities will go a long way in improving South Carolina’s national influence and reputation. South Carolina’s congression al Democrats have secured top po sitions, but Republican congress men have also benefited from their stature as wefl. For instance, South Carolina Congressman Jim DeMint introduced a bill Feb. 5 with Spratt to help distribute low interest loans to small businesses hurt by last year’s drought. “Even with the wet weather of recent months, many small businesses struggle to survive against the per sistent drought conditions of the past year,” DeMint said in an ar ticle on Spratt’s Web site. Spratt’s influence is certain to help this bill and all South Carolinians. “I look forward to working in a bipartisan, bicam eral way to ensure that South Carolina’s small businesses have the resources necessary to sur vive any disasters, natural or economic,” he said in an article on his Web site. Although we might miss South Carolina’s former senato rial power, our congressmen are certainly picking up the slack. Edwards is a fourth-year philosophy student. IN YOUR OPINION New fitness center needs better staff March 1 finally arrived and I was excited about the newly opened wellness center. But when I arrived at the wellness center, I was disappointed. I am an avid rock climber. I have been climbing for about four years and I have been cer tified to instruct climbing. So I was more than disappointed when John, the apparent di rector of the climbing wall, told me and my friend that the wall would be open in a couple of weeks because they were train ing their staff. Shouldn’t they have trained the climbing staff weeks ago with the rest of the staff? How can you open a billion-dollar fit ness center and not open the climbing wall because you have to train your inexperienced? I applied for a job there but was turned down. I know other experienced and qualified climbers who were turned down as well. John must want people who do not know much about climbing to operate the facility. How safe could that possibly be? Talking with John for only a few minutes, I could tell that he had little knowledge about climbing. It doesn’t look like he has much experience in man agement, either. It doesn’t mat ter how awesome the facilities are at the wellness center; if it isn’t properly staffed, then they are of no benefit to anyone. I hope USC does something about this. Until then, I will be awaiting inexperienced staff training to conclude so the ex perienced climbers can climb. JON SERPAS SECOND-YEAR ENGLISH STUDENT It isn’t immoral to go to war with Iraq I have to say a few things be fore I go on my rant. First, I think we should ex haust every diplomatic avenue before we go to war anywhere. Second, I applaud those stu dents and staff who have taken time to exercise their First Amendment rights. And final ly, it is fine to disagree with the president, but support our troops! David Singelyn wrote in from California, otherwise known as hippie land, saying, “Saddam has not attacked us” (“Media watchdogs need to wake up,” Feb. 28) OK, here is a news flash, buddy: Saddam attempted to kill George Bush Sr. in the ’90s, and has threatened the national se curity of this country for years. I can’t go into that because of the word limit imposed by The Gamecock. “Saddam has attacked no country; therefore, our attack is unprovoked, immoral and unprecedented.” OK, another news flash, buddy: Saddam at tacked Kuwait in 1990, and that is how this whole thing started! How is it immoral to remove a dictator who uses weapons of mass destruction on his own citizens? He started this, not us. He is in violation of the 1991 Gulf War cease-fire. If people like you were in charge, we would have never declared war on Germany and naturally apologized to Japan for making them attack us. Why don’t you join your brethren in Iraq as human shields and remove yourselves from the gene pool? You are painting Saddam to look like some good guy. Sometimes I think California is another country. JIM GERRICK FOURTH-YEAR HISTORY STUDENT Give fair warning before ticketing cars This is another angry letter about parking. Yes, I realize someone does this weekly. I won der if anyone in parking cares. The powers that be decided to close the Visitor Center parking lot Thursday. My car, along with many others, was parked there the night before the decision to close the lot was made. What bothers me is that they didn’t even have the decency to tell us about the change before they ticketed us. The university has the re sources to contact us. I know this because of the almost-daily e mails I receive, which are full of useless information; the mailbox stuffed with university mail; and the phone call I received six hours after I was ticketed for my $15 “violation.” They must have a database of our e-mail addresses, local ad dresses and phone numbers. So if they had the means to contact us, why didn’t they? The only reasons I can think of are either lack of will or greed, neither of which seem acceptable to me. CHARLES PALMER SECOND-YEAR ACCOUNTING STUDENT Submission Policy Letters to the editor should be less than 300 words and include name, phone number, professional title or year and majoi>, if a student. E-mail letters to gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. Letters will be edited. Anonymous letters will not be published. Submissions are limited to two per person per semester. Call the newsroom at 777-7726 for more information. Positive changes are on the way SHAWN ROURK GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM New proposed research center will better USC. This past Friday, USC President Andrew Sorensen pro posed expanding the university by almost five-million square feet. This ambitious plan is the revised version of 1994’s Master Plan, which was originally conceived by then-President John Palms and staff. Although I can’t give total cred it to Sorensen, I think he and his staff did a good thing with finding alternative ways to finance this project. This process, which will be taken in’many phases, will have huge, positive impacts on the uni versity, its students and faculty, and the surrounding areas — sev en impacts, in fact. 1) Good for the city: Bringing in these companies will bring more jobs to the city. This in crease in skilled workers will help the overall economy in and around the city. These companies will bring in a great deal of money to the area and continue to turn around Columbia’s financial jjJLUUicma. 2) Good use of space: The new expansion will make use of un used campus areas. The Hardee’s lot is abandoned and detracts from the overall campus image. Improving this portion of a lot we already own will make campus look better. 3) Future investment: The pos sibility of “gouging” these com panies for money down the road is a great idea to make more mon ey for USC and a long-term solu tion for the financial crisis that state colleges are going through. This plan will help the university cut the umbilical chord, so to speak, from relying on the state for large amounts of money. 4) Let’s face it, size matters: Sometimes it is nice to be able to say, “our campus is bigger than yours.” Plus, we need to make up for all the cow pastures that are part of Clemson’s campus. The only difference is that we will ac tually fill in all the empty space they use to let cows run in. 5) Brand-spanking-new build ings: A campus with plenty of state-of-the-art research facilities where students can broaden their horizons will attract more, promising students to USC. 6) The Towers will be torn down: As much as the university needs housing for the growing freshman classes that come to USC, when the Towers are gone, I don’t think anyone will weep. Freshmen who come after me will not have to face those four holes in-the-wall we call residence halls. As much as I would like them to face the same problems as the freshmen before them, I think not having the Towers is one of the best gifts anyone could give to our posterity. I) Why noth Accuiuing to the plan, students will not have to fund a single part of this expan sion. Having independent com panies come and finance these ex pansions is ingenious. I’m not re ally sure who came up with the idea, but they deserve a pat on the back. Thanks. So, now that we are most likely going to have these expansions to the campus, it would seem likely for Sorensen to look into some al ternative ways to fund parking and other residence halls that can house the influx of students this potential expansion could bring. Otherwise, students may have to walk a few miles to get to class ev ery day. Rourk is a first-year print journalism student.