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THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, April 25, 2003 3 SOUND OFF . ONLINE POLL Create message boards at Should a memorial to unborn children www.dailygamecock.com or be built on State House grounds? send letters to the editor to YES 17"% gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com NO 83 % UNDECIDED 0 % IN OUR OPINION New degree makes sense If its plans are approved next month, USC’s College of Education will finally join other South Carolina colleges by offering bachelor’s degree programs. When these programs come into effect, undergraduates will be able to major in education instead of having to settle for it as a minor. This makes much more sense for students looking to become teachers, especially those interested in Introducing bachelor’s degree programs in education is more practical than forcing future elementary school teachers to take advanced chemistry courses. elementary or cnnanooa education. Before, it wasn’t uncommon for students who intended to teach kindergarten to have to take advanced-level mathematics or science courses, which would be a waste of time, not to mention money. The change should also attract more students to USC. Colleges such as Charleston Southern University, Winthrop University and the College of Charleston already offer similar programs. It was easier for students to get the degree they wanted by attending one of these schools instead of USC, and they wouldn’t have to only minor in education. Maybe, with the introduction of the new bachelor’s degree programs, some of those students who would have gone to Charleston Southern, Winthrop or the College of Charleston can now look at USC as a viable option for their education degrees. Gamecock Quotables “Anything you do while you’r,e in college headed toward the job market... you ought to be thinking how does this fit with acknowledge ment to your goals.” LARRY SALTERS CAREER CENTER DIRECTOR GIVES INTERNSHIP ADVICE TO STUDENTS “We definitely learned our lesson. We’ll make sure it’s never kept on campus again.” JEFF BLATT HEAD OF THE RAIDER RED COMMITTEE ON THE THEFT OF TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY’S RAIDER RED MASCOT COSTUME “We rolled in, go to the pad, never played there — and there’s a locksmith there changing the lock. And the owner comes — says he’s evicting these people.” MIKE WATT MUSICIAN ON THE TUESDAY-NIGHT CLOSING OF SENATE PARK “The faculty has been looking forward for a long time getting out of the basement of the Coliseum.” CHARLES BIERBAUER DEAN OF THE COLLEGE OF MASS COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION STUDIES ON THE POSSIBLE RELOCATION OF USC'S JOURNALISM SCHOOL 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 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 Jaynes 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 ineuiamecocK pf 1400 Greene St. Columbia, S.C. 29208 Advertising: 777-3888 Classified: 777-1184 Fax: 777-6482 lfe«f You get what you paidfor ROB SEAL GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Show off that college learning to the world. Elroy McLoy had an awful name. Knowing this, he went by Roy. Roy was in college when he was nearly fatally wounded by his backpack. Roy, in the Spring of his 4th . year of college, was not doing fine in school. He was studying jour nalism, and had realized he was a lousy journalism learner. Roy, who was a fan of crass puns, thought his college career shared characteristics with a turd that was one spiral away from com pleting a flush. In order for the turd of his academic career to make it safely into the drainage pipe of graduation, Roy would have to get his crap together. Roy sighed. It was like a metaphor. Roy had 3 days left in his 8th, and next-to-last, semester of College. For 7.9 semesters of col lege and three and one half years of high-school, Roy had worn his backpack with only 1 shoulder strap. It had been the fashionable way to wear the backpack for a lit tle while, and he never quit. This had damaged his back. Because he wore the backpack with one strap, and because his backpack weighed forty-seven lbs., Roy was nearly fatally wounded on the way to his most important class. Roy carried all the leavings of his education on his back. He still had a failed biology quiz from the eleventh grade, safely crammed in his backpack with about twen ty three notebooks. Roy had considered that his backpack might actually be a book-bag, but decided there were too many nonbook objects in it. Every quiz, test, note, and notice of impending academic suspen sion Roy had ever received was in his backpack. There were a lot of failed grammer exercises, and botched labs reflecting Roy’s suckatude at a.p. style. He con sidered filing suit against the a.p., inferring that his unability to master they’re skills was due to some short-coming on they’re part. Roy wrote in passive voice almost sixty % of the time. He was always mispelling things. You could say Roy had a flare for failure. He got Fs with a capi tol f. But somehow Elroy McLoy had persevered through seven point nine semesters of college. There was a lot of summer school and borderline remedial classes involved in his perseverance. It had been quite expensive, and Roy really wanted his diploma shaped receipt. Finally, 3 days before his final exams started at the end of his 8th semester, Roy was late to class. It was a class in which he was not doing well. In fact, if he botched the lab he was heading to, he would fail the course for the 2nd time. The door to his classroom was at the top of a flight of thirty three stairs. At the thirty second stair, the forty sev en lbs. of Roy’s backpack caused something to snap in Roy’s spine and he collapsed on his face, limbs akimbo, directly in front of the door. He was to weak too move. He had been studying without sleep for hours. The weight of his backpack bore < down on him, and his academic career hung in the balance. He could lift his back-pack, re pair his spine, and keep truckin — or he can just skip class. Heskipedclasss. THEND Seal is a fourth-year print journalism student. IN YOUR OPINION Name-calling does nothing for cause I am writing in response to Bryan Cox’s letter (“War protesters have been proven wrong,” April 14). Speaking as a small member of the hippies, I am still attend ing USC. I have not run away, and still think war is a brutish affair that we must avoid. I have plenty of chalk, but now, I prefer to use ink. I recall a peaceful rally out side the Preston commune, which I do not live in, and the tension that it raised. Must I re mind you who was angered and sought to disrupt the open dis cussion with rhetoric? It was not the hippies. We welcome discussion if you will allow it. Your letter reeks of anger, foolishness and pride. It con tains no intelligent argument and seems nothing more than an opportunity to insult people whose views differ from your own. I respect your opinion and hold no hostilities toward you. Simply, I challenge you not to respond to me with name-call ing. This government faces the overwhelming task of restoring order to Iraq. If we fail to follow our violent introduction into Iraq with the support needed to repair the damage caused by violence, you will see me and thousands of others voicing our opinions, which is our duty as American citizens. I will be there if you would like to discuss your thoughts with me or anyone else. And if you see me, I will not run or hide my face. Do not worry; I shower and do not stink of egg. RUSftELL P. JONES II THIRD-YEAH ENIiLlSH STUDENT Comparing Israel and Iraq is absurd Matt Smith is misinformed and misdirected in his assess ment of Israel’s actions (“Israel isn’t much different from Iraq,” April 9). Smith is using Israel as a scapegoat for the problems in the Middle East. In 1948, rather than recog nizing a U.N. agreement al lowing for the existence of a Jewish state and a Palestinian state, the entire Arab League declared war on Israel. The Israeli Defense Forces are in structed not to open fire unless they are first fired upon by the enemy. The picture Smith paints of a murderous Israel is prepos terous. Israel has never target ed Palestinian civilians; all tar gets Eire militarily strategic in response to Palestinian suicide attacks. Nor does Israel want to “inflict harm and death upon Iraqis.” Its opposition to Saddam Hussein stems at the very least from scud missile at tacks during the first Gulf War. Israel was a neutral country, and did not even retaliate. All Israeli citizens enter its army at the age of 18. Its citi zens are prosecuted for refus ing service, not, as Smith im plies, for refusing to harm Palestinians. The American cit izen was killed by the Israeli bulldozer because she inten tionally placed herself in the line of fire, not because she voiced opposition to Israeli policies. Israel is not completely fault less in its actions since 1949. But to compare its free society to aggressive, totalitarian regimes is inexcusable. MATT DEANTONIOr FIRST-YEAR ECONOMICS STUDENT Seniors deserve to have housing priority Having 550 upperclassmen on the on-campus housing waiting list, which includes myself, is ridiculous. As a rising senior, the last thing I need -to worry about is whether I’m going to have a place to live next school year. Reading that “just about every senior will get on campus” does not make me feel any better. University Housing needs to do better than that. I realize nothing is perfect, but this situ ation just adds to the universi ty’s long list of problems: The in crease in tuition, campus safety and the parking problem just to name a few. I understand freshmen are a priority, but I think the large in coming class is taking up too many housing options. As a. sophomore last year, I lived in Columbia Hall and had a fresh man roommate. When I was a freshman, I could only dream of living in a suite-style dorm. I should have just as much privilege and priority as a rising senior for on-campus housing. I have given this university three years’ worth of hard work, tuition and expensive fees. I want a hous ing assignment; I didn’t pay $125 — $25 of which is non-refundable — to be put on a waiting list. NANCY J. COLLINS THIRD-YEAR ADVERTISING 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 seni^ter. Call the newsroom at 777-7726 for more information. Decide what’s bestfor your life -* ANNA LAKE GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Your future is shaped by the choices you make. Chris Tucker said it best in the comedic hit “Rush Hour”: “Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?” Lately, everything that comes out of my mouth is taken the wrong way, taken too seriously, not taken seriously enough or taken as an ultimatum. No pres sure. The semester is drawing to a close,'and summer is quickly ap proaching. With summer comes afternoons on the lake, baking in the sun, drinking iced tea on the porch and relatives constantly asking what my plans for the fu ture are. No, I do not know what I want to be when I grow up. I do know what I don’t want to be: anything that involves blood or small chil dren. I was not a normal child. I didn’t ask for Nintendo games or dress-up clothes for my birthday. I asked for microphones and those Talkboy things from the movie “Home Alone.” Anything so I could hear myself talk and prac tice “interviewing” people. I kept a journal and sometimes even made up events in my life just to have something interest ing to write about. I was in plays instead of basketball games. I was in drama competitions in stead of cheerleading competi tions. I have watched the “Today” show more faithfully than anything else on television, and my world changed the day I met Katie Couric. Understand the words that are coming out of my month: Yes, I tell people that I want to be Katie Couric when I grow up. In all honesty, I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up. I have no idea where I will be 20 years from now. But I know that the “Today” show doesn’t sound bad. While some of you are lucky and the biggest worry in your life right now is whether you will eat dinner at the GMP or Pandini’s, I spend far too much time worried that mv next decision could affect the rest of my life. Even if it’s piz za or a sub — you never know who you might meet in that sub line. So, with these fears in mind, 1' am trying to figure out exactly where I’ll be this summer. The Midlands? The Upstate? Washington, D.C.? Italy? I have to make the right choice right now, or else. All I am hearing is: “We need to know something by the end of the week.” These words that are coming out of my mouth are going to be the rest of my life. In planning for the rest of my life, I place extremely high val ue on the opinion of my parents. I don’t usually let on that they are so important. About 90 per cent of the time, I argue with whatever they say, no matter if it is about boys, cars, school or my career. I don’t have a clue how, but my parents are always right. I need to understand the words that are coming out ot their mouths. Yeah, I’m sarcastic and make jokes a lot. But I do worry about my future a lot, too. I’m just as confused as most college stu dents. So, on second thought, it’s OK if you don’t understand the words that are coming out of my mouth. They probably don’t make much sense anyway. - Lake is a second-year electronic journalism student