Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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i iiij u^viriuuun. ▼ vveufiezuuy, <jurie 10, juug 3 y IEWPOINTS IN OUR OPINION Students should be able to choose In the past, University Housing has allowed smoking in some dorms. But effective at the beginning of the Fall 2003 semester, the student housing office will no longer allow smoking inside or within 25 feet of any dormitory. Formerly, students in some dorms could smoke inside their dorm rooms or on their balconies with the written consent ot their roommates. Now they will no longer have that option, regardless of how their roommates feel about it. The housing office cites recent studies about the dangers of second-hand smoke as its reason for the policy change. The dangers of first- and second-hand smoke have been known for years. But in the past, students who agreed to let their roommates smoke in their room knew about those dangers and chose to disregard them. They should continue to have that option. So long as their consent is informed, no one’s rights or privileges ■» CUCdUl lUgdU. There is no reason for the university to forbid smoking in or around the dorms. Knowledge in hand, students are competent enough to make their own choices about where to live, study, and breathe. 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, Parul Joshi 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 PLACE 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: gamecockview points@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. CHlh>es£ SAi^AZS CAM& PPjoM CHICKS; 5ot*Z e&iro* 5C<^T(5T5 5AV IT^r FfZoM ovreRSPACe ] -e-^ fitY^'V f \r A 9<^Y CAUt U fcot TW5 f^oytes) A K/erftf#2 w /^ \/5 CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS Single parents have it hard JOSHUA HANLEY GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Father’s Day deserves greater significance Imagine that half of our base ball team’s coaching staff decid ed that the team was too heavy a commitment, and left midseason — just like that. Where would our boys be then? Would the team have done so well this season? Maybe. But such a suddenly gaping hole in such a vital part of the team would almost certainly have, at best, a crippling effect on the team as a whole. It is not a situation that we would ever wish upon our Gamecocks. However, it is exactly the po sition that millions of children and teenagers find themselves in today. Half of all marriages in the United States end in divorce, and many leave children to be raised by only one parent. Not to say that a single-parent can't raise a successful child with only half of the usual coaching staff. Many have, and I applaud them. However, the fact remains that instances of everything from truancy to teen pregnancy, from drug use to divorce are higher in children of divorced parents. Not to say that all divorces are bad. There are certainly situa uons, sucn as cases oi cnna- or spousal-abuse, where divorce is called for. Still, I think that many di vorces happen because one or both parents feel that working through whatever problems they have at home is too difficult. It is easier to just call their differ ences "irreconcilable" and end it there. In the midst of all this, I can not help but wonder if Father’s Day has not become an obsolete holiday. Why do we set aside a day to honor our fathers when so many have ducked the responsi bility of the position? I believe that if you choose to have a child, you have a respon sibility to raise that child as well as is humanly possible; that is, from within a family united un der a committed marriage. I don't think it is possible for one parent to give that child all the care he needs. It is just as wrong to choose to bear a child and not r.arp for him as it is tn nhnnsp tn eat at a restaurant and walk out on the bill. In a time when responsibility is so disposable, maybe we only hang onto Father's Day out of habit. It deserves more signifi cance than that, as do our chil dren. I may not have been any good at baseball when I played it as a kid, but I had my dad to coach me, and that made all the differ ence. Joshua Hanley is a fourth-year philosophy student.