Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

6 . the GAMECOCK ♦ Wednesday, April 2 2003 SOUND OFF ONLINE POLL Create message boards at Do SG elections make www.dailygamecock.com or a difference? send letters to the editor to www.dailygamecock.com. gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com Results published on Fridays. IN OUR OPINION Cooperation benefits all USC, Clemson and the Medical University of South Carolina revealed legislation yesterday that would allow cooperation among the universities as they develop their research programs. The schools’ leaders hope to change laws, making it possible for USC President Andrew Sorensen to realize his vision for USC’s research campus. For example, one part of the legislation would allow private business to lease and develop buildings on USC’s research campus — This proposed something Sorensen has already iju 6 ^ proposed. Building stronger COU ene I ^g^gh universities in South S.C. research schools Carolina would bring more monev into the state: a Similar effort has produced success and national acclaim for the schools in North Carolina’s Research Triangle. The proposed legislation would create a nine member South Carolina Research Oversight Council, which would specifically focus on the interests of the state’s three research universities. The current Commission on Higher Education must consider the interests of each state university, a process that hampers the development of research campuses for the sake of many small, liberal-arts schools. Six of the research oversight board’s members must be from South Carolina’s research universities, and their interests will definitely be served. Cooperation among the state’s research universities would benefit South Carolina financially, improve the status of the schools involved and make their graduates’ degrees more valuable. Winners and Sinners ■ JESSICA LYNCH Missing 19-year-old private first class found. She was one of eight soldiers taken prisoner in Iraq last month. MOOLAH FOR MUSIC WUSC dropped its anti Top 40 policy for a weekend filled with well known artists* all while making some cash. GERALDO RIVERA Fox News can’t afford flashy graphics for its embedded “reporters,” so it draws maps in the Middle Eastern sand instead. COREY CLARK “American Idol” expels third contestant for his checkered past. Fox has a new show for them — “American Convict.” GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS The voter’s guide in Monday’s newspaper incorrectly labeled business senator candidates Anjalee Dave, Ben Havird, Daniel Kim, Tyler Macolly, Ishita Shah, Gwendolyn Taylor and Brian Wayne as candidates for liberal arts. 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 Crystal Boyles, Tricia Ridgway, Emma Ritch Copy Editors Jessica Foster, Alyson Goff, Mary Waters Online Editor Bessam Khadraoui Community Affairs Kir an Shah CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Editor in Chief: gamecookeditor@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 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 The Gamecock 1400 Greene St. Columbia, S.C. 29208 Advertising: 777-3888 4 Classified: 777-1184 Fax: 777-6482 The Fli*e frp«*>,'e<w' Quard CARTOON BY HANNAH ANGSTADT/THE GAMECOCK ’Twas the night before elections BROOK BRISTOW GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM ‘Vote for me’ was the SG candidates’ plea. ’Twas the night before Student Government Elections, and all through the school, Not a student was voting be cause it still wasn’t cool. The candidates would do about anything for a vote, Things like putting signs on cars and having petting zoos with dogs and a goat. With visions of power dancing through their heads. That still isn’t reason enough to get us out of our beds. We can’t avoid it, and for two full days, We’re going to have to deal with this “suddenly interested in what students want” craze. And out on Greene Street, there arose such a clatter, Students tried to avoid it since they knew what was the matter. Away to humanities the can didates flew like a flash, But even there, students threw their brochures in the trash. “Vote for me, vote for me,” they would plead, With all the aggressiveness of a Zipsheet guy on speed. “Leave us alone,” the students would shout, But that wouldn’t be what Student Government elections are about. And as the candidates were trying to string the other ones up, Most other students were still recovering from the Carolina Cup. But still, incensed as ever, the candidates came, And students couldn’t help but know them by name: Now Norton! Now Scott! Now Grooms and Edwards! On Odom! On Wright! On Dreiling and Simmons! To the top of Carolina! All the way down to Bates! Get away! Get away! Get away all! The AG and Elections Commish listened to them whine, Oh when, oh when, will VIP be back online? Just leave them alone and they’ll get it fixed, Oh why, oh why did they sign up for this? And Wright had revision, that was her new plan, But all that needed revision was her campaign slogan. Odom had the Ga- ret Six, just like the football team, But there weren’t many of those last year, since losing was its theme. And with signs, cars, balloons and sound, Katie-palooza was next door, And she even did it with the exact same platform she did be fore. And there Simmons was right next door, He knew that this was going to be a war. And Murph and Roberts were being counted out, But at least they would have something to tell their kids about. Bristow is a fifth-year advertising student. IN YOUR OPINION USC doesn’t need the Palmetto Party Although I realize that the en tire SG isn’t responsible for the new and oh-so-cleverly named Palmetto Party, many of its lead ers are. The idea of a political party on campus is a joke inside of a joke. The thought makes me want to gouge my eyes out al most as much as reading a col umn ML of Brook Bristow’s pop culture metaphors and similies. The addition of political par ties to campus holds no merit. The party leaders say they formed the group to better serve students’ interests. Should that not be the goal of the entire SG? I don’t think there is enough dis agreement between students on the buzzword issues of parking, safety and tuition costs to war rant the need for parties. The real reason behind the party might be financial. By pooling funds and resources of party members, they hope to push their candidates into po sitions of (little) power and slap it on their resumes. Since the issue of campaign finance re form and reporting expenses has faded away, the voters still won’t know how much the presidency costs. The party just serves as an other knight to, as one of The Gamecock’s writers so aptly put it, dress up and play politi cian. It’s not necessary; con gratulations on getting your name in the paper again. Now, go back to debating worthless and common-sense resolutions (such as whether budget cuts are bad) and de fending yourselves against threatening AIM away mes sages from other SG members. CRAIG SMITH FOURTH-YEAR BUSINESS STUDENT RHA is for leaders, not self promotion During the past couple of weeks, there has been continu ous talk about the Student Government elections. What many of you may not know is that the Residence Hall Association holds its election around the same time. During this election process, I witnessed the downfall of RHA. The so-called leaders of the residence halls are to blame for this. Instead of following normal procedure for electing its officials, it decided to use a quicker form of voting. The normal procedure al lowed everyone who came a chance to voice opinions about the candidates. But they chose a shorter way of voting, and many people were silenced. There was important informa non mat neeaea to De Drougni up by people who have been closely involved with RHA, and they weren’t able to say any thing because the leaders want ed to leave 20 minutes early. Officials are voted to represent everyone on campus, not just the senators. Senators should keep this in mind for next year when it is time to appoint new officials. If you are doing RHA as a re sume booster or you have some other alterior motive for being a senator, do not waste our time running for a seat in the Senate. RHA needs dedicated young men and women. Finally, I would like to ap plaud those who tried to make this election process as fair as possible. This is the type of leadership RHA needs but lacks. BRIAN WAYNE SECOND-YEAR BUSINESS STUDENT l' Scott would bring good change to SG I’m writing because I disagree with The Gamecock’s endorse ment of Patrick Norton for SG vice president. Ifirst, I don’t think the editorial board could have strad dled the fence any more than it did in its editorial endorsing Norton. There wasn’t any real criticism of Zachary Scott; in fact, there were only two paragraphs mentioning him. Scott lives in Preston, and I have seen his involvement with countless organizations; it seems he’s always meeting with some one to try to improve something here on campus. He is articulate, self-possessed and well informed about the inner-workings of SG. He actually talks to his fellow stu dents about their concerns, and _ get this—he cares about what they think. as ior rairiuK iNorton, i aon t know him personally. It seems strange to me that in the years I have been here at Carolina, I don’t hear him mentioned as of ten in The Gamecock as I hear Scott as far as working on some thing for SG or other organiza tions. I hear of Norton’s activities through other senators or those involved in organizations with him, and his dealings in SG and elsewhere seem somewhat ques tionable. Zach Scott has, and will, bring effective change to Student Government. REBECCA MORRELL SECOND-YEAR THEATER 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. Submissions are limited to two per person per semester. Call the newsroom at 777-7726 for mo^e information. V Groups require spring cleaning it:-.- m. — EDRIN WILLIAMS GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Better members make better organizations. Utter the words “Black Greek Lettered Organization,” and lis teners conjure up images of lust ful young men pursuing women — and the reverse scenario — parties, step shows, fights and sometimes irritating calls. While stepping remains one of the purest forms of performance in black culture, many of these other ideas have collaborated to tarnish the image of a very important en tity in the black community. How is it that I consider black Greeks to be so important in light of their present status? What you see today is not what the founders of the nine Panhellenic organiza tions had in mind. In fact, one of the greatest travesties surround ing the issue is the disparity be tween what many organizations focus on today versus their found ing principles. Eight of the organizations came into existence during the earliest parts of the 20th century. Even be fore 1906, groups of black men and women began to come together and lay the foundation of what we see today. At the time, they didn’t have the luxury of being able to fo cus their attention on divisive rhetoric. They could not afford to live by the 20/80 rule, in which the majority of the work is done by the smallest number of members imaginable. They were obligated by the conditions in which they lived to organize and mobilize, putting aside petty issues. inox to say max mere were nu uu ferences in ideals — after all, there are nine 6rganizations in exis tence. Yet, while each has its own distinguishing marks, they tradi tionally have been able to work to gether for the good of the race. I often think of the photograph taken in Memphis moments before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was as sassinated. In that photo, you have representatives of all four major fraternities. There is no doubt in my mind that during good times, King would tease Jesse Jackson about his affiliation, but I would wage my life that Jackson never went behind King’s back and told protesters to stray from King be cause he was an Alpha. Membership in a fraternity or sorority is meant to enhance cer tain areas of your existence. The issues arise when people begin to live and die by their affiliation. The problems that have devel oped over the years have led to a very low point in the history of these organizations. Look around ' the nation; membership is at an all-time high, but effectiveness lulls. You see and hear little of the good of Greekdom. Much more frequently, you hear of fights, sex ual assaults and deaths. This leads to people questioning the relevance of black Greek-lettered organizations. Many see them as nothing more than legal gangs. It baffles me that these organiza tions don’t seem to be more con cerned with their image. From the outside looking in, it seems that the initial step to cor recting the wrongs is related to membership. What kinds of men are being granted membership in these organizations? It seems these groups don’t take the time to find balanced men who can handle all responsibilities of fra ternity: social, academic and civic. Accomplish that, and I think things will begin to turn around. On this campus, we have experienced a downturn. The question now becomes, who will make the first step toward cor recting the wrongs? Williams is a fourth-year African American studies student.