The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 30, 2003, Page 13, Image 13
THE GAMECOCK ♦ Wednesday, April 30,2003 . 13
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IN OUR OPINION
Sorensen gets
the job done
A year ago tomorrow, the Board of Trustees
announced that Andrew Sorensen would be the
university’s 27th president. Although it’s too early to
give a thorough evaluation of his tenure, Sorensen’s
dynamic proposals to handle USC’s problems have
clearly shown his commitment to higher education.
Since Sorensen has become president, USC has seen
its research money increase by $30 million. Ironically,
the colleges that Sorensen has not been pushing for
i __n _ l. ! i _
lid VC OCC11 LI 1C UIggeaL UlClCdOC.
For the most part, whl],, Sorcnsr.n ls stressing
Sorensen has ... .... . ,
been a great asset ^hch^ttgran^
for the university. CoUege of Liberal Arts has
received the most money.
Also, Sorensen’s plan for a 5-million-square-foot
tt esearch campus is a step in the right direction for the
university. The campus would combine educational
and business interests for research. The idea is
attractive, but tangible results have yet to be seen.
Even with all the news conferences held and drawings
of buildings shown off, Sorensen still has not gotten
legislative approval.
And Sorensen is not making any friends in the
student body as far as tuition is concerned. He came out
and opposed a legislative plan for a tuition cap, saying
the cap would hurt USC during its budget crisis. If
Sorensen is such a strong fund-raiser, he shouldn’t
have to bank on raising tuition to increase funds.
For the most part, Sorensen has been a great asset
for the university. What he does in the next five years,
however, will tell the full story of his effectiveness.
Winners and Sinners
SENIORS It’s about time you took that over
priced piece of paper and made something of
yourself. Good work, and congratulations.
USC ATHLETES Congratulations to draftees
Jocelyn Penn, Petra Ujhelyi, Langston Moore,
Corey Jenkins and Andrew Pinnock.
r PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE USC will finish this
year with a bang when Dem Weekend 2003
comes to town.
RUMORS According to local news sources,
President Bush is supposed to be a graduation
H speaker. It’s not funny to get our hopes up.
^ JACK OSBOURNE Following in the footsteps of
his infamous father, the son of the “f— ing
prince of darkness,” has entered rehab.
FINALS No time at the beach, no days at the
lake, no tanning in your back yard because you
have to study and write papers.
GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS
A story in Sports on Monday’s should have stated that Jocelyn
Penn was picked ninth overall in the WNBA draft, not 10th.
The Gamecock regrets the error.
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
M 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
Kirpn Shah
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Offices on third floor of the Russell House.
Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@hotmail.com
tyews: gamecockudesk@hotmail.com
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The Mix: gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com
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Public Affairs: gckpublicaffairs@hotmail.com
Online: www.dailygamecock.com
Newsroom: 777-7726
Editor's Office: 777-3914
STUDENT MEDIA The Gamecock is the
editorially independent
Faculty Adviser student newspaper of
Erik Collins the university of South
Carolina. It is
Director of Student published Monday,
Media Wednesday and Friday
Ellen Parsons during the fall and
spring semesters and
Creative Director nine times during the
Susan King summer, with the
exception of university
Business Manager holidays and exam
Carolyn Griffin periods. Opinions
expressed in The
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Sarah Scarborough the editors or author
and not those of the
Classified Manager University of South
Sherry F. Holmes Carolina. The Board of
Student Publications
Production Manager and Communications
Patrick Bergen jS the publisher of The
Gamecock. The
Creative Services Department of Student
Derek Goode, Media is the
Earl Jones, newspaper’s parent
Sean O'Meara. organization. The
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supported in part by
Advertising Staff student-activity fees.
John Blackshire, Qne free copy per
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Jacqueline Rice, from Department
Stacey Todd 0f student Media.
TO PLACE AN AD
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IRese ** ff4& 0,0
CARTOON BY HANNAH ANGSTADT/THE GAMECOCK
End sappy senior moments
ERIN O’NEAL
GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM
You don’t have to drown
in tears on graduation.
Seniors tend to have a lot of
sappy moments; it comes with the
title. But after four years of hard
work—or five or six, in some cas
es — you’ve earned the tears.
Diming the past three months,
everyone I’ve spoken with has of
fered advice on how to keep com
posed when the big day comes.
Not being an overly emotional
person, none of it has been very
useful, but I thought I’d pass it
along anyway.
♦ Concentrate on not tripping;
it’s the key to any successful
graduation. If you focus all your
energy on being swanlike, you
won’t have time to cry. It’s the
same as it was when you gradu
ated from high school. Just re
member: left foot, pause, right
foot, pause, repeat and rinse.
♦ Play the who-is-sitting-next
to-me game. It’s amazing that af
ter four years of classes and af
ter-hours parties, there are still
people on campus you haven’t
met. Or perhaps you have, but
can’t remember. And if you’re
too shy to ask your seat neigh
bors who they are, generaliza
tions, such as smelly pit stains,
Mr. Barely Made It and nail-bit
ing ninny, will do.
♦ Bring a miniature TV with
you to watch “Matlock” reruns.
Unless you, too, are upset by the
hopeless decline of Andy
Griffith’s career, in which case,
replace “Matlock” with
“Jackass.” Just try not to laugh
too hard when Bush is giving his
speech. It would be inappropri
ate, and you’d be forever branded
an unpatriotic Nazi.
♦ Get as drunk as utterly pos
sible before the ceremony. Go
bar-hopping in your cap and
gown — it’ll get you free drinks
— and start the party before you
walk. No, it’s not traditional, but
there’s nothing keeping you from
continuing the festivities after
all the pomp and circumstance.
Meanwhile, your friends Jim,
Jack and Juan will keep you hap
py enough to get through that fi
nal test of adulthood without
shedding a tear.
♦ Don’t go. It’s really not that
big of a deal, nothing but a day of
overrated peacockery filled with
boring speakers that takes away
from valuable bar time. Besides,
as trite as it is, it’s the beginning
of the rest of your life. Unless
you’re one of the poor suckers
who haven’t found a job and are
forced to live with their parents
for yet another year while they
get their sorry act together — in
which case, may God save your
soul.
♦ Better yet, send a stand-in.
Sorensen wouldn’t know the dif
ference, and that way, you could
spend all day partying it up.
♦ If all else fails, have your
tears ducts removed. It’s a
painful surgery and will leave
your significant other eternally
frustrated, but it’s a sure way to
save yourself the grief of a grad
uation breakdown.
But perhaps the best advice
came from my brother, who,
with any luck, will graduate in
three years. He said: “Try not to
think about how much money
that flimsy piece of paper cost
you or the fact that it’ll take you
10 years to recoup your losses.
Instead, think of all the great
people you’ll meet in the unem
ployment line.”
And so I will.
t
O’Neal is a fourth-year print
journalism student.
IN YOUR OPINION
i
i I
Lots of information
is available on VIP
This past week’s editorial
(“Graduates Need a Hand,”
Monday) reinforced the Office
of the University Registrar’s
conviction that VIP is the very
best forum for official univer
sity communications.
VIP is an established elec
tronic venue at USC that has
succeeded where traditional
communication methods, such
as snail mail, have apparently
failed.
For May 2003 degree candi
dates, commencement ceremo
ny dates, times, holds and seat
number assignments are now
available on VIP, and im
proved, comprehensive gradu
ation and commencement in
formation is also available
when they link from VIP to
http://registrar.sc.edu/.
The Gamecock’s editorial
pointed out other concerns of
degree candidates that might
be addressed using the proven
strength of the VIP transaction
portal. The university is a com
plex organization; the bits of in
formation to which The
Gamecock referred come from
a variety of academic and ser
vice units, each responsible for
helping students achieve their
goals. The budget crunch has
prevented USC from acquiring
new information systems, so
we must leverage existing tech
nology, such as VIP.
I urge all members of the
university community to sup
port development and further
enhancement of the VIP Web
site so that all of us know where
to go for our university infor
mation.
BARBARA ROGERS
BLANEY
UNIVERSITY REGISTRAR
Thanks to students
for food drive help
I wanted to bring attention
to the recent success of our
Annual Servathon Canned
Food Drive Event.
Held April 15 on the patio in
front of Pandinis, the event fea
tured a buffet and live enter
tainment. Price of admission
to the event was three canned
food items. All food collected
was donated to Harvest Hope
Food Bank. In three hours, we
collected 1,100 pounds of food!
This event was a great success,
and I wanted to extend many
thanks to the USC students, fac
ulty and staff who participated
and donated food.
Once again, the USC com
munity has come through in
helping to make a difference in
the fight against hunger.
SHEILA DERRICK
CAROLINA DININC SERVICES
MARKETING MANAGER
Preston comments
were unnecessary
As a resident of Preston
Residential College, I am very
proud to share this building with
people of every political spec
trum, from ultra-liberal to arch
conservative.
I am also happy that I am not
sharing it with the likes of Bryan
Cox, whose insulting, small
minded and offensive letter set a
new standard for stupidity in The
Gamecock’s editorial pages (“War
protesters have been proven
wrong,” April 14).
Regardless of his views on the
war, his generalization of Preston
as a “commune” was totally in
accurate and childish. As a col
lege student, I hope that Cox
would be mature enough to re
frain from childishly calling war
protesters “hippies,” but unfor
tunately, he is not.
I think — and hope — that I
speak for most Preston residents
when I say that I am truly offend
ed by his juvenile screed and
hope that he would at least trou
ble himself to get acquainted with
Preston before spouting off idiot
ic comments about it.
ROGER KEANE
FIRST-YEAR MUSIC 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 more
information.
Want to work for The Gamecock this summer?
E-mail GAMECOCKEDITOR@HOTMAIL.COM
, for more information.
t y
It's time
to leave
use
behind
BROOK BRISTOW
GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM
Thanks for all the fun,
but it’s time to move on.
Dear Carolina,
I can’t believe you are doing
this to me. I can’t believe you’re
ending it like this. I’ve reached
the number of credit hours and
need to graduate? What kind of
lame excuse is that? I see how it
is. Well, fine. It’s so over.
Just think about the past five
years and how great they were.
Well, actually, only three of them
were great.
To think how I always fought
for you. When people called you
the University of Second Choice, I
defended you. When people called
you the University of Shoddy
Construction, I stuck up for you.
When people called you the
University of Safety Concerns, I
defended your honor. And when
people called you the University
of Southern Concentration, I
wouldn’t let it go without a fight.
Well, no more will I do such
things.
Don’t call, don’t write, don’t e
mail; don’t get your friends to do
it, either. I know all about your
little dealings on the side. “The
Annual Fund”? I’m not going to
be fooled, so don’t bother. If you
ever call to ask for money, I have
plenty of reasons to say no to you,
besides the obvious.
Remember that time I was late
for class and couldn’t find a park
ing space? Or what about the time
I had to do so some last-minute re
search on the Internet and the
Ethernet network just happened
to shut down? Or when it was
time for me to register and you
wouldn’t let me do it until five
minutes later, and by then I
couldn’t get the only five classes
I needed? Yeah, thanks.
But, we did have some good
times, didn’t we? You found
nearly 500 people to vote for me
for student-body president. You
allowed a non-Greek, non
Honors College, college kid to
serve in many leadership capac
ities. And you found a way for
me to write this column for a
good year of similes and
metaphors, which nobody liked
until I went through my White
Album phase of ripping Croakies
and Vera Bradley bags.
You’re too old for me. I mean,
you’ve been around since 1801.1
mean, yuck. That’s just really
weird. The fact that you grew up
with Strom Thurmond tells me
you do not meet my age require
ments.
You’re cheap. The fact that I
would go the GMP and .get a
turkey sandwich and water and
still have to use bonus bucks tells
me you’re just not thoughtful. It’s
like a woman failing to reach for
her purse, even in a feigned at
tempt to pay for dinner by the
sixth date.
You never wanted to know me.
I’m interesting. You never asked
me questions. The only thing you
ever wanted to know was my
billing address and my Social
Security number. That’s just in
sensitive.
You’re not proportionate. You
have about 30,000 students and
only a small number of parking
spaces. That’s like height out of
proportion to weight. So, you need
to add a few spaces or grow a few
feet taller.
Well, you got what you want
ed. I hope you’re happy. I got what
I wanted.
I’m taking the degree and the
friends. You can have the on
campus apartment and leaky
sink.
Bristoui is a fifth-year advertising
student. *