The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 07, 2003, Page 4, Image 4
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IN OUR OPINION
HOPE cuts
not total loss
The state Legislature, following its latest round of
budget cuts, is considering discontinuing the HOPE
scholarship. One specific group is not pleased with
this decision — the NAACP.
The scholarship covers students who were not
deemed eligible for the LIFE scholarship, and the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People might see its elimination as hurting the ability
of minority students to attend a university of their
Cutting money for
education is
never good. But
more students
will benefit if we
preserve other
kinds of aid
instead of HOPE.
choice. But the loss of the HOPE
scholarship can still be a benefit
to students across the state.
Lawmakers have made it
clear that our state budget is in
a crisis. While cutting money
for education is never a good
thing, the lawmakers have to
maKe me uuis sumewaw e.
By cutting HOPE instead of programs such as the
Lottery Tuition Assistance Program, which benefits
the state’s several thousand technical-college
students, legislators are trying to bring some good to
a bad situation. Students will still be able to benefit
from technical-college scholarships, and there is still
LIFE for those who go to a four-year school.
With budget cuts, there is never a cure-all solution.
Hard times call for hard decisions, and cutting the
HOPE scholarship is certainly one of them.
Gamecock Quotables
“The government’s priorities
are not on bettering the
quality of its people, but
rather on expanding its own
power; I cannot, in good
conscience, salute the flag.”
TONI SMITH
MANHATTANVILLE COLLEGE FORWARD ON
HER PROTEST AGAINST THE WAR WITH IRAQ
“Poise. You have to have
control, and you have to know
who you are.”
MOLESEY BRUNSON
MISS COLUMBIA ON WHAT IT TAKES TO WIN A
BEAUTY PAGEANT
“If there is the hardest nut to
crack, it’s the young
audience.... Newspaper,
broadcast, everybody would
like to find out how to get
young people a little bit more
interested in this.”
MARKTHALHIMER
PROJECT DIRECTOR FOR THE RADIO AND
TELEVISION NEWS DIRECTORS FOUNDATION
ON THE MEDIA’S BIGGEST CHALLENGE TODAY
“It’s cold, the world is going to
hell, but how can you stay
home?”
• MICHAEL PATRICK
MARDI GRAS CELEBRATOR ON ENJOYING FAT
TUESDAY
GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS
In a story about the HOPE scholarship in Wednesday’s paper,
Mitra Arthur’s name was misspelled. Also,the story incorrectly
reported that USC’s Board of Trustees has a say in the elimination
of the HOPE scholarship and that the South Carolina Education
Lottery is losing revenue; in fact, the state Legislature has only
required the lottery to allocate its revenue to other areas.
In Wednesday’s paper, the caption for a photograph of a
Gamecock Dance Sport club event misidentified the woman
dancing as Carrie Bacon.
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
Head Page Designers
Sarah McLaulin, Katie
Smith, David Stagg
Page Designers
Justin Bajan, Samantha
Hall, Staci Jordan, Julia
Knetzer, Shawn Rourk
Slot Copy Editors
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Ridgway, Emma Ritch
Copy Editors
Jessica Foster. Alyson
Goff. Mary Waters
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Bessam Khadraoui
Community Affairs
Kiran Shah
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Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@hotmail.com
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Wednesday and Friday
during the fall and
spring semesters and
nine times during the
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exception of university
holidays and exam
periods. Opinions
expressed in The
Gamecock are those of
the editors or author
and not those of the
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organization. The
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One free copy per
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1400 Greene St.
Columbia, S.C. 29208
ttuveiudiiig. i i f-oooo
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1
CARTOON BY HANNAH ANGSTADT/THE GAMECOCK
Welcome to the reality-TVera
ROB SEAL
GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM
How will students study
about us in 100 years?
We all take some of the same
things out of public education.
For some reason, everyone
learns that Eli Whitney created
the cotton gin. We all learn that
George Washington had wood
en teeth, even though it might
not be true. Most high school
graduates are aware of the fact
that the Union won the Civil
War.
And we read books.
At some point, most every stu
dent must read “To Kill a
• Mockingbird.” We all have to
struggle through at least the
obligatory minimum of
Shakespeare.
Somewhere around middle
school, I think everyone is forced
to read “The Diary of Anne
Frank.” High school English
class means Kate Chopin and, if
you’re lucky, a little Kurt
Vonnegut.
The literary periods get divid
ed up nicely with cool names like
“the Enlightenment” and our
own “post-modern” era.
These required readings are
meant to give us all some insight
into how the literary works of a
time period reflect the reality of
that period, right?
So I’m wondering, what exact
ly will kids in school read in 100
years to get some understanding
of the period from the end of the
20th century through the first
part of the 21st?
I’m betting that students of the
future will have to read Tim
Dorsey’s “Orange Crush” for in
sights into the late-20th-century
political system.
For sociological research, fu
ture literary scholars will turn
to the works of Chuck
Palahniuk.
Let’s hope that sometime after
he dies, someone with authority
announces that Vonnegut was a
genius, and we start making peo
ple read “Hocus Pocus” in high
school.
Let’s also hope that sometime
in the near future, every copy of
every book written by Danielle
Steel and Nora Roberts mysteri
ously disappears. I’d hate to
think that some pointy-headed
scholar of the future might as
cribe some sort of literary signif
icance to anything either of them
ever wrote.
Scratch all that.
In the future, nobody will
think that people from our time
period even read books.
Instead, I bet they will study
what television we watched.
People will probably classify our!
time period as the “reality-TV pe
riod.”
They’ll watch reruns of “Joe
Millionaire” and “American
Idol” and probably make an aca
demic conclusion that the end of
“Seinfeld” brought a sharp de
cline in the entertainment ex
pectations of the American peo
ple.
Imagine scholars of the future
poring over endless hours of E!,
“Jerry Springer” and “The
Osbournes.”
What kind bizarre conclusions
are they going to make about
turn-of-the-millennium society
then?
I’d almost rather they de
clared Danielle Steel the great
est literary mind of the 20th cen
tury.
Almost.
Seal is a fourth-year print
journalism student.
IN YOUR OPINION
United States is
scapegoating Iraq
In response to Allyson Bird’s
column (“Ignoring Iraq is not
an option,” Feb. 28): I was
shocked to read such an inco
herent argument.
The U.S. government has
used the tragic events of Sept.
11 as a reason for everything
that is wrong in America, from
the struggling economy to ini
tiating a war with Iraq. For the
author to succumb to this
rhetoric and come to the con
clusion that the sentiments of
the anti-war movement equates
with forgetting Sept. 11 is
ridiculous.
Anti-war movements exist
because, as I think, everyone is
opposed to war — barring the
defense industry, represented
by companies such as Boeing,
which has annual sales of $50
billion. If not, then why are
there no pro-war rallies?
War, at times, can be just
and necessary; the current pro
posed action against Iraq meets
neither of these conditions.
“How can we protest ridding
ourselves of the threat of
Saddam?” asks Bird. But how
is he a threat to the United
States? Since the cessation of
the Gulf War, Saddam has been
frustrated in his attempts to de
velop weapons of mass de
struction by U.N. weapons in
spectors and regular bombing
campaigns by the United
States and Britain.
Even with the capabilities,
what motives would Saddam
have for attacking the United
States? He is a ,dictator who is
only interested in holding his
power. As a secularist, he
would never support a holy
war, and, as Bird points out, the
United States is a superpower
with unlimited capabilities to
destroy Iraq. Saddam is aware
of the consequences if he were
to attack the United States.
LIAM MORRIS
THIRD-YEAR POLITICAL-SCIENCE
STUDENT
Cartoon poked fun
at serious situation
I’m writing in response to
the political cartoon printed
Feb. 26 concerning the recent
Duke University tragedy. Now,
I’m no more of a stiff than Matt
Rothenberg is when he com
plains about the noise-level at
hockey games, and I appreciate
a good joke just like the next
person, but I'felt that this car
toon was a bit much.
I don’t know if the people
who printed this knew it or
not, but the girl died. That’s
why I thought this was a seri
ous example of dry humor. I
know that the aim of the car
toon was to pick on Duke
University Hospital and the
fact that it made an obviously
moronic mistake — especially
given its caliber — but the pa
tient died.
I know some people may
think, “Geez, it was just a car
toon and a joke; get over it,”
but, I was just thinking that if
it were my sister, cousin or
even a close friend, this car
toon would not be funny at all
— it would even be considered
offensive.
And even if no one at USC
knew this girl personally or
otherwise, it’s not funny. The
Viewpoints editors should take
this into consideration before
they print cartoons like this.
SHARELL L. GRANT
FOURTH-YEAR ENGLISH STUDENT
Joint stadium would
ruin USC tradition
USC has a dominant baseball
program that has taken off the
past five years because of the loy
al fans who make the atmosphere
at Sarge Frye Field one of the
most intimidating in the nation.
But instead of fixing up beauti
ful Sarge Frye Field, USC is con
sidering jointly building a stadi
um with the Capital City Bombers
off campus.
Anyone who goes to “The
Sarge” can’t miss the atmosphere
of one of college baseball’s most
unique parks. With a new, state
of-the-art park, USC won’t even
be the majority owner because of
Major League rules. Fans can ex
pect to attend games in a stadium
that doesn’t even seem like it be
longs to USC.
Recruiting will be enhanced,
they say. USC has a great program,
so obviously the Sarge isn’t hurt
ing recruiting too much. We need
better parking, they say. What col
lege has adequate parking for its
athletics facilities?
It’s not impossible to remodel a
stadium. Although it pains me to
say this, all the USC Athletics
Department has to do is look at
what our rivals in the Upstate
have done with their baseball sta
dium. It’s time we do the same
and quit thinking about ruining
more tradition.
ED BLACK
FOURTH-YEAR POLITICAL-SCIENCE
STUDENT
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number, professional title or year and
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Call the newsroom at 777-7726 for more
information.
Fan says
goodbye
to Mister
Rogers
ANNA LAKE
GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM
Today’s children don’t
know what they’ve lost.
Growing up, there were two
things I could count on each day: I
would be served vegetables for
dinner and I would watch “Mister
Rogers’ Neighborhood.” A healthy
appetite of broccoli and blue cardi
gan sweaters filled my everyday
life and I was a happy child.
My mother frequently reminds
me how odd it was that my fa
vorite childhood meal was pork
chops and cabbage while most
children thrived on pizza and can
dy. My uniqueness as a child was
seen in other aspects of my life as
well; watching Mister Rogers was
far more important to me than
playing dress-up with my best
friend.
Six years down the road, my
younger sisters came along, and
they did not share the same love
for my neighbor, Mister Rogers.
Instead, the girls drooled over
Zach Morris and A.C. Slater from
“Saved by the Bell” while munch
ing on Goldfish crackers.
I guess it’s fitting that Fred
Rogers’ death meant much more
to me than it did to many of to
day's vouth.
For those of you who live in
your own “Magical World of Make
Believe” and didn’t know, our na
tion lost a saint last week. Fred
Rogers died last Thursday at 74 af
ter a battle with stomach cancer.
Following his death, numerous
people have come forward with
their own stories of this man who
made life livable for many young
children. In my readings, I found
one story that truly personifies
the life of Mister Rogers.
An episode of “Candid
Camera” had hidden cameras in
a hotel where there was a TV crit
ics’ convention. As the story goes,
a hotel employee would come into
a TV critic’s room and announce
that, unfortunately, they must re
move the television to give to an
other room. Each of the critics re
sponded in a better-than-thou
fashion that they were television
critics and that they must have a
television.
It so happens that Fred Rogers
was at this same convention and
“Candid Camera” made a visit to
his room for their gag. His re
sponse?
“Sure. That’s OK.”
“You don’t mind if we take
your TV?”
“That s fine. I m reading a good
novel. I’ll just read.”
I find it remarkable that a man
so influential to the lives of so
many children nationwide actu
ally does live up to his reputation.
No, Fred Rogers was not an ac
tor who just played Mister Rogers
on television. He really did look
like that, talk like that and think
like that.
In a world where Michael
Jackson dangles a baby off a bal
cony, the “Dell Dude” gets arrested
for marijuana and Mister Rogers
will no longer tell children that
they are special, I take little com
fort in the future of today’s youth.
Although “Mister Rogers’
Neighborhood” might be rerun
for ages, no one will ever replace
the actual man who was Mister
Rogers.
My sisters will never under
stand why I loved this show. I’m
not sure I even know why I loved
it so much. I only know that
Mister Rogers was always there
for me, ready to listen, learn and
emphasize to me that even I am
important.
If there ever were a saint who
wore a cardigan, it was most cer
tainly this man. Thank you,
Mister Rogers.
Lake is a second-year electronic
journalism student.