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THE GAMECOCK ♦ Wednesday, April 16, 2003 9 SOUND OFF . ' ONLINE POLL Create message boards at Who should get www.dailygamecock.com or priority housing at USC? send letters to the editor to www.dailygamecock.com. gamecockvieulpoints@hotmail.com Results published on Fridays. IN OUR OPINION Use resources to your benefit Every time a new award competition is announced, USC’s Office of Fellowships and Scholar Programs immediately offers a workshop to help students interested in applying, and it bombards The Gamecock to make sure the word gets out to students. Those efforts have paid off; during the past four years, USC students have won 182 national awards and earned more than $4 million for advanced Brazil. Caroline Parler is using the Rhodes Scholarship she won in 2000 to study medical anthropology at the University of Oxford in England. Brooks Willet plans to study in Russia with the money from a National Security Education Program Scholarship he won last year. And the Office of Fellowships and Scholar Programs is only one of the resources at USC that provide students with valuable services at no extra cost. Even though the semester is winding down, it’s worth exploring what the university has to offer. academic study, the office’s Web site says. That includes 31 awards just during the 2001-02 academic year. 2003 Rotary Scholarship winner Nicholas Young will use his award to study Portuguese at Bride Linguatec in Rio de Janeiro, Students can get all the money they need to fund their college careers at the Office of Fellowships and Scholar Programs. Winners and Sinners USC STUDENTS Were on their best behavior this past weekend. USCPD had no crimes to report, which makes our job easier. MIKE WEIR For being the first Canadian and left-hander to win the Masters. But we won’t , hold his being Canadian against him. U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND Made a card deck featuring the pictures of the most-wanted Iraqi regime leaders, and Saddam is the ace of spades. “MARRIED BY AMERICA" Neither of the two finalist couples actually got hitched. Maybe there’s hope for this country’s morality after all. UNIVERSITY CONSTRUCTION USC finally tears e down some of the old buildings around campus. But must they do it at 7 a.m.? FOX For reaching an all-time low, beating itself in tasteless reality television by hiring Monica Lewinsky to host “Mr. Personality.” GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us atgamecockviewpoints@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 Kiran 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 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 Classified: 777-1184 Fax: 777-6482 ACTUALLY, THe PLAN CALLS For -me HEAD to crusr sort of ^ appear. n - .. ^ Students need own opinions EDRIN WILLIAMS GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM College should teach independent thought. This past weekend, members of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity completed several hours of Guide Right, our frater nity’s national community-ser vice initiative. During that time, a few of the brothers and I be came engaged in an intriguing discussion on realism versus morality as it applies to the war conflict. The debate was not whether the war was good or bad — that horse has been beaten to death. Instead, we focused on whether this war was necessary. To the superficial thinker, the two con versations are the same, but to one who is unafraid to delve into a more profound discussion, there is a distinction. One of the brothers, who de scribed himself as a realist, felt that the war absolutely had to oc cur. According to his view, Saddam Hussein posed a serious threat to the domination of the United States. In order for this country to maintain its super power status, we had to remove him. It was a shockingly conser vative theory, especially coming from a person who had professed being a liberal on several occa sions. Being a self-described moral ist, I smelled blood and went in for the kill. I took the opportuni ty to enlighten this brother and draw parallels between this war and numerous other “necessary evils” that have occurred throughout history. According to some theories, Indian removal and genocide were justified be cause someone else needed this land. Slavery can be excused simply because a labor force was needed to create what America was to become. If African slaves didn’t do it, who else would have? After I had him on the ropes with other similar argu ments, I knocked him out by ex plaining that, according to his realist beliefs, he might never find success, regardless of his ed ucation or dreams, because racism and discrimination are acceptable and necessary in or der to maintain class distinc tions in our society. At that point, I could see that this young guy had not thought this thing through. It was clear that he was just echoing the thoughts of one of his professors. As students, the most dangerous thing we could do is to accept ev . erything our professors say as law. Many of them have distorted views on life, and some of them just don’t know what they’re talk ing about. Ideally, college should train students to think independently; however, I see example after ex ample of colleges pumping out robots and echo machines. Now, that’s a greater danger to America thart any terrorist or ganization or dictator. Williams is a fourth-year African American studies student. IN YOUR OPINION Humor can’t stymie obvious ignorance Although Bryan Cox (“War protesters have been proven wrong,” Monday) has appar ently let the Iraq news cover age sink in and concluded that the majority of Iraqis are danc ing jubilantly in the streets of Baghdad, even a cursory glance at reliable media sources tells a different story. Most people in major Iraqi cities are afraid to leave their homes for fear of crossfire or the chaos of looting. Maybe Cox should try to access the wealth of information beyond the non threatening, easily digestible fragments of cable news. Cox’s ill-informed diatribe against protesters is indicative of the ignorance that has come to dominate America’s cultural mainstream. It is both embar rassing and disheartening to me that a third-year journalism stu dent could have such a skewed, narrow view of world events. His haughty disdain for those who oppose war should be of fensive to anyone who values the freedom that allows us to ar gue. Name-calling and obstinate ignorance are counterproduc tive, at best. Cox’s harsh rhetoric is no longer the hall mark of ineffectual conservative extremism. This kind of reduc tive hatred has become the rule. I have little fear of “foreign conquest,” especially since our country has demonstrated both its awesome military superior ity and an unwillingness to tol erate dissent in the internation al community. Cox and I agree that something stinks, but what I smell exists beyond the con fines of our insulated campus. Lingering above Iraq is a noxious mixture of burning oil, money and rotting flesh; soon enough, it will pierce the fog of the ignorant, arrogant compla cency that surrounds America. CLIN? BERGESON FOUHTH-YE.AIt ENGLISH STUDENT War hawk’s opinion proves to be naive It has been said that “the person who lifts up his fists has stopped searching for so lutions.” I am not opposed to “using fists,” but as this quote suggests, I think they should be raised in only the most des perate and drastic of situa tions. Our current administration told us a pre-emptive strike with Iraq was absolutely nec essary because a threat to our security interests was immi nent. Now that the Iraqi regime has fallen, I ask the leaders of our nation: Where was this im minent threat? Where are the weapons of mass destruction that were about to herald our nation’s untimely demise? If you knew from the begin ning that these weapons did not exist and entered Iraq for ne farious reasons, then God have mercy on your souls for send ing our brave sons and daugh ters to fight and die for a fallacy. If your original intention was a regime change, then I pray for all of our souls because, if our leaders’ words are true, we have entered a new era in which we must conquer all op pressive regimes. Where is America in freeing the oppressed people of the Congo? Or Saudi Arabia? Or Libya? If we did not go into Iraq for weapons of mass destruc tion, then the sole conclusion must be that we went in to rid the Iraqi people of an oppres sive regime. We must now pre pare to answer the cry for free dom of all oppressed peoples be cause of our new role as cham pion and protector of the world’s downtrodden. Anything less proves that that war was entered into for other reasons, which have not been adequately disclosed to the American people. J. ALAN HERSCHACT THIRD-YEAR LAW STUDENT Veterans deserve honor and respect The World War I memorial at the corner of Sumter and Pendleton streets, just within the walls of USC, was completed in 1935 to consecrate and honor the deeds of America’s brave, who gave their conviction, courage and lives to defend this nation and its ideals. This memorial is now the home of University Publications, which has placed cubicles and work spaces within the second floor chamber inscribed with dedications intended to pay homage and respect to the valor and values of America and its veterans. Nearly 5 million Americans served in the armed forces during World War I, and approximately 116,000 perished during the conflict. Of these ser vicemen, 531 USC alumni an swered the nation’s call, and 28 gave their lives. Waging commerce within the inner sanctum of the monument, which was designed to honor the efforts of great war servicemen, is an affront to their endeavor and sacrifice. The university should clear all cubicles and work spaces from the second floor of the World War Memorial with all deliberate haste and re turn that sanctuary to its intend ed and rightful purpose. Doing so would respectfully honor the memory of those courageous Americans who served and strove so that we might enjoy the benefits of liberty. JACOB MCCORMICK GRADUATE 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 garnecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. Letters will be edited. Anonymous letters will not be published. Submissions are limited to one per person per semester. Call the newsroom at 777-7726 foittnore information. * * Putting together the best outfit BROOK BRISTOW GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Use this simple recipe to dress for success. Serving size: 30,000 Preparation time: Four years Ingredients: USC girls will need the follow ing: 1 pair Gucci sunglasses. 1 Kate Spade purse. 1 Nokia cellular telephone 1 Vera Bradley bag As many outfits as you can mix together from Express and The Limited 19 pieces of jewelry from Hand Picked As many fraternity and sorori ty T-shirts as you can find 57 pairs of shoes, all varieties: heels, athletic, boots, sandals USC guys will need the follow ing: 1 pair sunglasses with Croakies. 1 pair Rainbow sandals 1 pair New Balance 587s 3 pairs beat-up Wrangler jeans' 10 Dockers or Duck Head khaki pants As many sorority T-shirts as you can find 1 faded, ripped and beaten-up hat from a college that isn’t USC 1 pair khaki shorts that are higher than the knees A few polo shirts from Ralph Lauren and Lacoste A few oxford shirts from any where (as long as they can go with a palmetto tree or garnet tie) Serve: Not before 8 a.m., unless it’s a game day, apd not after 7 a.m., unless it’s a game day. Directions: For USC girls: Mix and match outfits from Express and The Limited. Make sure shoes, regard less of type, match outfit and purse. If purse and shoes do not match, use bag from Vera Bradley tp com - pensate for the difference. On lazy days, wear fraternity T-shirt or sorority T-shirt with tight, expen sive Abercrombie jeans. Garnish presentation with earrings, neck laces and bracelets from Hand Picked. Also, garnish with tele phone and Gucci sunglasses, which will never be taken off while outside but will be flipped up to set hair in place when inside. For USC guys: Oxford shirts and polo shirts will mix and match with khaki pants or khaki shorts. Just rely on the temperature out side to dictate which combination to wear. Shirt can be tucked or un tucked, but regardless, make sure a rather sloppy finish is achieved. On pledging days, wear navy blue jacket with white oxford and gar net tie. Palmetto tie usage is au thorized only for game days. Old ratty hat from a school that isn’t USC may be worn on any day, in cluding formals, when applicable. For “fratastic” finish, make sure hat from other school is camou flage. Continue recipe with Wrangler jeans and sorority T shirts on lazy days. Garnish en semble with New Balance tennis shoes or Rainbow sandals. Sandals with USC or palmettos on them are reserved for USC girls and their 57 varieties of shoes. Rainbow san dais must be old and broken in. New Balances can be worn with socks, but preferably not. Although not the only way to prepare, these'directions are pop ular throughout the Southeastern United States, especially the Carolinas. Regional flavors, such as palmetto and garnet apparel, are exclusive to South Carolina. They are more exclusive to the Midlands, as the Upstate is inhab ited by Clemson people, who wear orange for trash collection, chain gang work and hunting trips, and therefore cannot read recipes. Bristow is a fifth-year advertising student.