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1 - / 4 THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, September 5, 2003 SOUND OFF ONLINE POLL Do you like the GMP sushi? Create message boards at YES 33% www.dailygamecock.com or | DON’T CARE FOR RAW FISH 40% send letters to the editor to I’M XENOPHOBIC 7% gamecockopinions@hotmail.com HAVENT TRIED IT YET 20% IN OUR OPINION I Sarge Frye remembered Sarge Frye, USC’s beloved athletic groundskeeper for most of the last half-century, died at Providence Hospital two days ago. Frye arrived at USC athletics in 1953 and “retired” in 1977, but he never really left the fields — he had to officially retire again in 1997. Before his tenure at USC, Frye fought for the Army in World War II and the Korean conflict, was wounded and decorated for his service. Frye was known for his constancy. “If everyone did their job the way Sarge did his, we would never have any trouble at the school,” said former “Voice of the Gamecocks” Bob Fulton, * who went to the visitation. “I never heard him say anything derogatory about anyone. His life should be a role model.” He cared for the baseball field like a surgeon, meticulous about the length and health of the grass. He might not have played on the baseball team, which recently went to the College World Series, but he contributed to its success all the same. Frye was a friend to all of those involved in USC sports, including USC baseball coach Ray Tanner and former athletics director Jim Carlen. Carlen suggested in 1980 that U§C, as a recognition, name its baseball stadium after Frye in 1980. We’ll miss you, Sarge. Frye might not have played on the baseball team, which recently went to the College World Series, but he contributed to its success all the same. THEY SAID IT “President Bush’s original tax cut was not stimulative. Most of the cuts were not going to take effect until 2006, 2008 and 2010. Therefore, if stimulus is to occur, they had to happen now, not later.” MAH FESTA LOYOLA COLLEGE GREYHOUND “Although it may seem like a cop-out because of laziness and a disregard for intellectual property, downloading more closely resembles an econometric-style decision thai) a legal one. Basic economic theory states that when presented with multiple choices, we choose the one that benefits us the most at the least cost.” JOHN BROUGHER BROWN UNIVERSITY DAILY HERALD “Bin Laden said Hussein was a bad Muslim. That’s about the equivalent of saying “I hate Baptists!” here in Oklahoma.” JARED VAUGHN OKLAHOMA STATE DAILY O'COLLEGIAN GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us at gamecockopinions@hotmail.com. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK Editor in Chief Charles Tomlinson Managing Editor Adam Beam News Editor Michael LaForgia Asst. News Editor Alexis Stratton Viewpoints Editor Corey Garriott The Mix Editor Meg Moore Sports Editor Brad Senkiw ¥ Asst. Sports Editor Wes Wolfe Photo Editor Morgan Ford Asst. Photo Editor Trisha Shadwell Head Page Designers Shawn Rourk. David Stagg Page Designers Justin Bajan, Samantha Hall. Staci Jordan Slot Copy Editors Amy Genoble, Alyson Goff. Tricia Ridgway Copy Editors Gabrielle Sinclair, Mary Waters, Steven Van Haren Online Editor James Tolbert CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@hotmail.com News: gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Viewpoints: gamecockopinions@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 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, Ben Sinclair, Jesica Johnson, Ryan Gorman, Laytoya Hines 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 i6the 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 . we . SbHN ASHcROFT ULTiMaTe M9KSoV6Rs CARTOON COURTESY OF KRTCAMPUS Liberal arts kicked in teeth JOEY OPPERMANN GAMECOCKOPINIONS@HOTMAIL.COM Merger opens the door to critical questions. This Wednesday, I made the harsh trek to Gambrell for the Q and A session on the possible merger between the colleges of math and science and Liberal Arts. My classes all fall within liberal arts, so I had a vested in terest in getting answers about what effects it could have on my college. I didn’t find what I was looking for, but to my surprise, I glimpsed the tip of a far more menacing iceberg. On stage, the faculty commit tee formed to evaluate the merg er answered questions and lis tened to a mostly worried-look ing group of professors and staff from both colleges. The panel seemed eager for both student and faculty input. I got the impression that the decision for a merger, though fa vored by some administrators, was not yet set in stone. This is a good thing, considering it is a de cision that should be made only after much examination. I didn’t leave with a definite opinion on the merger, but I was struck by where the discussion went. About halfway through the session, a professor stood up to talk about the possible changes. He talked about his worries about the administration seek ing ways to save money without considering the impact on indi vidual departments. Already, VCM and the consolidation of the foreign language departments have made his job more difficult, and he and his colleagues were reeling from budget cuts that just keep coming. He decried what he saw as USC’s downward spiral from a “comprehensive” univer sity to a “research” institution and warned that excessive spe cialization in grant-attracting re search areas destroys the uni versality implicit in a good uni versity. I thought it strange he made a connection between the merger and issues of research and fund ing, but as other faculty spoke, I thought of all the professors I heard express concern about pol icy during the last few years, it occurred to me that liberal and fine arts faculty are worried about exactly what this man was getting at. Since the eighties, state funds as a percentage of our budget have sharply decreased. We now rely heavily on private sources. Consider this in light of the Draconian cuts in higher educa tion of late and the escalating talk of USC as a “research” school. If I were a liberal arts professor, I might think because the univer sity cannot get enough money from an unsupportive legisla ture, it now puts the best face it can on a sell-out survival strate gy: Raise money by investing in programs that benefit our bene factors (school of business, phar maceutical research, etc.). Then tack the sinking ship of liberal arts onto the better funded col lege of science and math, where, lacking any new funding, it will remain the ugly stepsister in a new mega-college. After years of participating in a “comprehensive” university that did a number of different disciplines well, liberal arts pro fessors, with the VCM and bud get cuts hanging like a pall over their department, feel an ill wind blowing. Merger or no merger, I don’t blame them. Joey Oppermann is a fourth-year history student. Reality award shows a reality DAVID STAGG GAMECOCKOPINIONS@HOTMAIL.COM The Davids tackle the narrowest topics on TV. In honor of the astounding originality of cable program ming, ABC has announced that this fall, it is set to air a two-hour awards show dedicated solely to -r- prepare yourself for this one — reality television. That’s right. All of you who held “Bachelor parties” this week in honor of the first episode of this season’s “The Bachelor,” your dreams are being realized. It’s about time we start making awards shows for incredibly nar row topics. Before long, it’s NBC with an awards show dedicated to “Shows About Cops”; CBS the fol lowing night with “Shows that Feature Gay Men or Men We Swear Are Gay Anyway”; and, capping off the award-show week, FOX would air its award show dedicated to “Shows That Reference Any Part of New York.” I think this reality award show thing is a brilliant idea. In fact, I can’t wait to watch it. But because I need something to curb this outpouring of joy I now ex perience, I’ve taken the opportu nity to introduce to you “The Davids,” my personal awards to narrow topics on television. GROSSEST SEX DISCUSSION ON “SEX IN THE CITY”: There are so many moments here, it could be impossible to pick just one. The four-New-York-girls meet-boys-have-sex-with-them make-fun-of-them-and-their weird-qualities-then-break-up with-them show, which continu ally performs on top of the rat ings, never fails to deliver a new sexual tidbit each episode. However, as for the grossest one, I’m going to have to go with the one where Sarah Jessica Parker’s character’s boyfriend at the time (which she goes through quicker than governors in California) wants her to take a whiz on him in the shower. I think this is where television hit a new low. MOST AWKWARD TRL MO MENT: I am wrong about that last comment. This must have been a new low in television. At one point in TRL (otherwise known as “Watch As We Attempt to Come Off Cool to Older Kids but Only Have High School Kids in Our Audience”) history, it had a con test in which the winner would meet the Backstreet Boys. Everything normal until the girl who lost literally threatened to KILL the other girl. Now that’s a whole new reality show in itself. BEST QUEER GUY FROM “QUEER EYE”: The season’s most unavoidable show and one of the power duo of gay shows from Bravo with “Boy Meets Boy” features the “Fab Five” — as they are commonly called to us in-the-know — who have helped us straight males every where because we are physical ly incapable of knowing how to cook, dress, take care of our selves, brush our teeth, mail a let ter, learn about another culture, make an A in geometry or effec tively maneuver a car in reverse into a parking spot. I’ve got to say though, if I wanted to be helped by one-fifth of the crew, I would have to go with Kyan Douglas (whose motto is “There’s no ex cuse for nose hair. Ever!”) His specialty is men’s skin care; a morning splash on the face no longer takes care of it. You need to exfoliate with a soft scrubbing brush before dabbing, not rub bing, an ounce of specialty-for mulated nonalcoholic treatment with an aftershave hint of mid night rose scent... And in honor of the for-real re ality awards show: WORST IDEA FOR A NEW REALITY TV SHOW: Well, there are two here that run neck-in neck, but it’s a toilet-bowl match any way you flush it. An idea called “Wife Swap,” where wom en exchange homes, husbands and children for two weeks, is pretty bad, but taking the cake is “Bum Fight,” where producers would get bums to fight for mon ey and booze. It’s sad, it’s pathet ic, and people would watch it. I know I’ll be there alongside every one of you other closet re ality TV show freaks who will be as excited as Britney when she kissed Madonna. What a wonder ful idea this is —If you want to watch with me, give me a call. I’ll be at my own “Bachelor” party. David Stagg is a third-year media arts student. WWW.DAILYGAMECOCK.COM % Servants working to better society mi — r~ mi RYAN HOLT GAMECOCKOPINIONS@HOTMAIL.COM Public service means more than just power. • Less than an hour’s drive from the bustling activities of the uni versity lies the small town of Chapin, S.C. — population 2,000 something. While most students returned to their homes, went to the beach or lake, or just hung around campus on Labor Day, I spent the afternoon in this sleepy town, which is turned into a stomping ground every year for a handful of political hopefuls. Labor Day marks the start of campaign season — so I ventured down to the festivities of Chapin in search of politics in action. Wading through a pool of festi valgoers, I saw campaign stickers and knew I could still find a few candidates. My eyes floated from one scene to the next: snow cones, interpretive dancers, Thomas Ravenel, amusement rides and merchandise booths. Thomas Ravenel? My first can didate. t_aa _ j ii_r t n n__ a ___] * i uiic u.u. uuicuo vuuui date talking with a staffer and a visitor. I didn’t want to disturb the candidate and continued my visual search for another politi cian. Walt McLeod, a member of the S.C. Assembly, had set up a tent-like structure. Good political move, Representative McLeod. But the governor and, supposed ly, my congressman were still in the midst, so I bypassed the booth and continued my search. After some time, my luck seemed to be running out until I saw Ravenel coming toward me. I stopped him between two cars, stuck out my hand, introduced myself and had my first conver sation with a politician that day. I still had more to find though. | Ten minutes I waited outside a door to the cafeteria until I saw some folks emerge from the build ing with “Joe Wilson” written on stickers on their shirts. And then a few moments later, I saw the congressman emerge from the cafeteria with two of his aides. Of course, I had memorized what I would say. Some get star ry-eyed at actors and athletes. I get that way around public servants. As the representative left the cafeteria, I greeted him and told him he could count on my vote. What a day. I later learned that the gover nor had left after the parade and that Sen. Lindsey Graham had stopped by as well. There was also another state representative for the area, the town’s mayor and the county sheriff. For those of you who don’t care about politics, that’s up to you. A lot of people are simply annoyed by campaign signs in the road way, unnecessarily attracting their attention and causing near misses of cars in front. Sure, commercials, bumper stickers, signs and newspaper ads can be frustrating, but I think it’s fantastic. Here we have a set of middle aged men in polo shirts and slacks on a hot summer day in pursuit of support in a year’s time. Some of these candidates are shoo-ins. But that gives us all the more reason to marvel. Not only is it democracy at work, but it’s j the representation of people who are seeking to make life better. You can call me naive for thinking power and prestige aren’t issues, butfrom the few handshakes I’ve had and the hel los I’ve shared, I truly believe the majority of our public servants are seeking the betterment of society. And we have a front seat to watch it all. Ryan Holt is a first-year political science student.