University of South Carolina Libraries
IN OUR OPINION Cocky’s should offer arcade During the whirlwind of planned renovations in the Russell House, Cocky’s Corner Pocket will migrate downstairs. When the game room moves to the basement, the university will install new ping-pong and air hockey tables in addition to the pool tables it already owns. While plans also call for the venue to include video games, it currently provides them with a single gaming console hooked up to a TV. The director of the Russell House indicated that the university could talk with a stand-up arcade provider instead of buying equipment that only a single group can use. A small video arcade would attract even more students than the Corner Pocket already could. A hang-out in the basement of the student union would bring students together in the same room, fostering unity in the student body. Students might host tournaments, game days, or lock-ins with the facilities. Additionally, quarter-fed arcade games would provide revenue which can in turn be spent on student activities. The money could be reinvested in the culture it is designed to support. In time, the machines could pay for themselves and more. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK STAFF Editor in Chief Corey Garriott Managing Editor Julia Knetzer News Editor Gabrielle Sinclair Viewpoints Editor Joshua Hanley The Mix Editor Brian Ray Sports Editor Brad Senkiw Photo Editor Patricia Shadwell Page Designers Rachel Edwards, Patricia Shadwell Copy Editors Amy Genoble, Eleanor Sibal STUDENT MEDIA Faculty Advisor Erik Collins Advertising Manager Sarah Scarborough Creative Director Susan King Business Manager Carolyn Griffin Classified Manager Sherry F. Holmes Advertising Staff John Blackshire TO PUCE AN AD The Gamecock 1400 Greene St. Columbia. S.C. 29208 Advertising: 777-3888 Classified: 777-1184 Fax: 777-6482 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 Online: www.dailygamecock.com Newsroom: 777-7726 The Gamecock is the student newspaper of the University of South Carolina and 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 activities fees. One free copy per reader. Additional copies may be purchased for one dollar each from the Department of Student Media. Pfcoof THAT No^KeYS PAW6-IN6- AWAY AT A TYPewRlTeR V^iuc N^ve(2. \jj<2VT£ AN>YTHlN<b (tJT^U-iefeWT we hereby throw cnft the conviction of an armed banh robber because he didn't mean to Show h\5 loaded gun to the teller. CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS Budget sinks, Sanford sails WES WOLFE GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Sanford should know better; Leadership requires presence Republican Gov. Mark Sanford’s campaign against Democratic incumbent Jim Hodges last year was marked by the claim that he would bring leadership to the governor's man sion. Sanford and other Republicans insisted that Hodges could not provide crucial leader ship and therefore shouldn't be re-elected. Yet, not one full legislative ses sion into his term, Sanford aban doned his post. In the midst of the worst budget crisis the state has faced in years, he decided that attending a yacht race from Charleston to Bermuda was more important than staying in town to oversee the final hours of the budget debate. Indeed, on the day he left, May 21, the budget crisis continued as the state Senate rejected the bud get and sent it back to conference committee in the House to be re vised on a rules basis. Where is Sanford, our gover nor, our leader, in all of this? Is he pressing legislators to ade quately fund education and make V\Ofl+A nOAPlMA +V>A Vxil/IrTA+O \Ta Is he working hard to improve ed ucation, as he said he would in his victory speech? No. Sanford float ed off to Bermuda and hasn't been heard from on the budget mess since he returned to Columbia. Republicans in the General Assembly have taken it upon themselves to propose lower funding in higher education for the African-American Loan Program, National Guard Tuition Assistance, the South Carolina Student Legislature, tu ition grants, and the African American Professors Program. The state GOP took the axe to K-12 funding, reducing funding for school quality, gifted pro grams, vocational equipment, homework centers, teacher re training, summer schools, ac countability standards, and the Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities. The General Assembly also cut First Steps nearly in half, though the early childhoodeducation program has had amazing success in North Carolina as Smart Start. Former Gov. Hodges' budget iui uiia naucu y ecu dppiupi iciLeu more money for each of these cat egories, but it seems Sanford and his partisans in the General Assembly have better things to spend the taxpayers’ money on. I believe that education is a state's first budget priority, and Sanford and the General Assembly Republicans have failed totally in this regard. Wes Wolfe is a fourth-year Public Relations student.