Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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g THE GAMECOCK ♦ Monday, September 15, 2003 0 SOUND OFF TTT^ ITTAATATrn n ONLINE POLL Create message boards at . I ® ^ / I_J ■ I I I Should USC discontinue the www.dailygamecock.com or I | j S / %/ I flj I II I l “Cocks” merchandise? send letters to the editor to IHiufW I xxllw I Pv/ www.dailygamecock.com. gamecockopinions@hotmail.com —■ • ™ * » —■— —■— » i —M— r'—' ' Results published on Fridays. i - IN OUR OPINION Law school needs rival For as long as anyone can remember, USC has dominated the law school market in South Carolina. But starting in 2004, that monopoly ends as a new school will open its doors for the first time in the state’s most historic city. The Charleston law school couldn’t have come at a better time for Carolina. For too long, the USC School of Law has enjoyed the pick of the litter of in-state law students. A school in the Lowcountry will provide Some competition and, by default, some accountablity to a school that for the past two years hasn t tound a dean. Charleston law school dean Richard Gershon said the school will not compete with USC, but the competition has already begun. On Tuesday of last week, John Benfield, the assistant dean of admissions for USC’s law school, resigned to accept a position at the Charleston school. Gershon has also said he has received many applications from USC law school faculty members. Frank Mood,interim dean of USC’s law school, said he isn’t worried about possible defections because he said there is no shortage of replacement faculty members in South Carolina. But for a state with an abundance of law school professors, USC’s school is sure having a hard time finding a dean. We hope that the resignation of Benfield will serve as a wake up call to USC. South Carolina students deserve the best, and if they can get that somewhere else, they will. The Charleston law school couldn’t have come at a better time for Carolina. College Quote Board CRIMSON WHITE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA “In a historical context, a rea sonable argument can be made that the Ten Commandments played a role in the structuring of America’s laws. Certainly, the large proportion of the pop ulation that identifies itself with the Christian and Jewish faiths should feel the government does respect its beliefs. And placing the commandments alongside a number of other historical doc uments is a good method of do tog so without trampling the be liefs of our state’s Hindu, ag nostic or Raelian citizens. MINNESOTA DAILY UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA “Even if the ads influence their audience to vote a particular way, it is unfair to ban them during the campaign season. Unless the ads are false, it should be legal to broadcast them, even within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general election.” '. GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS On Friday’s comics page, the title “Quigmans” and the artist’s name, Buddy Hickerson, were not listed with the cartoon. The Gamecock regrets the error. 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 Gabrielle Sinclair 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, Trieia Ridgway Copy Editors Mary Waters, Steven Va Haren Online Editor James Tolbert . Public Affairs Kimberly Dressier 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@hotmgil.com Online: www.dailygamecock.com Newsroom: 777-77261 Editor s Office: 777-3914 STUDENT MEDIA Director Scott Lindenberg Faculty Adviser Erik Collins Creative Director Susan King Business Manager Carolyn Griffin Advertising Manager Sarah Scarborough Classified Manager Sherry F. Holmes Production Manager Amber Justice Creative Services Whitney Bridges, Robbie Burnett, Sean O’Meara Advertising Staff John Blackshire, Adam Bourgoin. Ben i Sinclair, Jesica Johnson, Ryan Gorman, Laytoya Hines The Gamecock is the editorially independent student newspaper of the University of South . i 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.$l each from the Department of Student Media. TO Pf ACE AN AD The Gamecock 1400 Greene St. Columbia, S.C. 29208 Advertising:1777-3888 Classified: 777-1184 Fax: 777-6482 f 7^*5 ^ CARTOON BY HANNAH ANGSTADT/THE GAMECOCK ‘That guy’touched my life COREY HUTCHINS GAMECOCKOPINIONS@HOTMAIl..COM Up close and personal «with a college legend. I was at a party recently wait ing in line for the keg and swirling my red Solo cup around to keep from passing out or throwing up or both. I’ve always thought the de gree of a minute could be de fined by what side of the bath room door you’re on, and I guess the same goes in line for the Busch Light. So after the guy in front of me asks for “six quick pumps,” it was my turn and after three years of college, I guess the whole 45-degree angle thing becomes second nature or something. That’s when it happened though. I finished up and the guy behind me, he taps me on the shoulder and in the most sincere way looks me in the eyes and tells me “Nice pour.” “Nice pour. That was a really nice pour.” And as I’m walking away I can hear him behind me “that was a really great pour.” I’m sure it had a lot to do with what had been in those cups all night, but as I stepped off the porch I realized that I had just ran into, just came face to face with “that guy.” For about eight really odd sec onds I had seen, actually been spoken to, by what everyone in my last four years of college had talked about at parties, joked about in bars, and secretly prayed every night would never end up acting like (no matter how strong the drinks were that night). I wanted to turn around and shake his hand. I had already for gotten what he looked like and wanted one more look at this guy. This character. The guy who wrote all those twisted things on the bathroom walls. The guy whose gum is al ways under the desk in lecture. The guy who comes up with the horrible jokes that we all know by heart. The guy who always yells for “Freebird.” The guy who leaves the snot on the elevator door. Who knows all the lyrics to every crappy old rock song in every af ter-hours club. The guy who will wear sun glasses inside or at night and the guy who would tap you on the shoulder while you’re get ting a beer and tell you “nice pour.” I was stepping all over myself trying to get back on the deck, searching over a sea of red and blue cups. I needed one more look at this character. One better glance into the face of the previous owner of all my old textbooks with the im portant pages ripped out. The face on that first fake ID I ever had taken away. Either the keg got kicked or the cops came, but when I final ly stumbled back to where I’d last had my “terrific pour,” my “fan tastic pour, man,” that guy had left. As in classic tradition, I had shown up a minute late. Like when the gum’s still wet under the desk when it touches your fingers. Like when the stall door’s still swinging when you walk in. If you’re out there though bud dy, I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to say thanks. It really was a good pour. Hutchins is a fourth-year public relations student. IN YOUR OPINION The fighting Cocks are here to stay Personally, I think this is ridiculous. First of all, if peo ple get offended by the mer chandise, they can do one of two things: 1) Don’t read it and don’t purchase it or 2) Ask the wearer what it means so that they get the full understanding of it rather than misinterpret ing the meaning and getting upset. I understand that the athlet ics department didn’t want the products sold at Williams Brice. However, what I don’t un derstand is them saying, “We MAY have to get that corrected.” Excuse me, but they cer tainly should get that corrected because, first of all, it has up set many “Cocks” fans, stu dents, faculty, and obviously the writers of The Gamecock because if not, there wouldn’t have been a story. Second of all, anybody who knows anything should know , that “Cocks” paired with any thing in garnet and black stands for the USC Gamecocks. We may be the Gamecocks, but we’re also the Cocks. KATIE BERGER F1UST-YEAH CRIMINAL JUSTICE STUDENT New nonsmoking policy unnecessary Okay, so it up and happened again. I was ' at my favorite restaurant, enjoying my smoke-free meal when the AC kicks on, and from the smoking section comes a cloud of tar-filled onco-seeds. Apparently, the designers brilliant plan to keep the air of the pinklungs and that of the ironlungs separated was foiled by smoke’s ability to travel THROUGH THE AIR! I’m a smoker, but this situation is a lot like the 25 foot distance requirements for smokers around dorms. I agree that our butts should stay out of the hallways, but “The Porch” has been the site of many a late night Camel binges for my friends and me. It amazes me that while we would smoke on the porch a mere five, nay, two or three feet from the stuccoed walls of the building, no smoke would enter. But now that we’ve been banished to 25 feet away, we must stand by the ashtrays located, conveniently, right at the foot of the stairs everyone must travel, and right in front of the door. Now, rather than having the evil tar suckers off to the sides where they can pollute themselves on either side of the door, they must sit on the stairs for all to enjoy. C’mon administration — let’s stop this silliness. Protect the nonsmokers, do, but don’t be ludicrous.! never heard any complaints (not even that heavy, faked coughing pinklungs are so proud of). JOSEPH HOLMES THIRD-YEAR THEATER STUDENT wWw.dailygamecock.com Send any letters to the editor to gamecockopinions @hotmail.com Interested in writing for The Gamecock and gaining experience? Send an e-mail to gamecockeditor® hotmail.com 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 gamecockopinions@hotmail.com. , Letters will be edited. Anonymous fetters will not be published. Call the newsroom at 777-7726 for more information. Age vs. alcohol: who’s to decide? * BRIAN RAY GAMECOCKOPINIONS@HOTMAIL.COM When drinking, results vary regardless of age. It was a hot day when I heard police would be turning up the heat on underage drinkers in Five Points. If you’ve been living un der a rock, here’s the scoop: if^ you’ve broken the law and have one of those fake IDs, then you’ve wasted your money. Police now have high-tech devices that will expose you faster than a roll of film. There’s a world of implications and reactions. So, rather than bore you with statistics, I’ve ham mered out a few scenarios. A. Mary, 16, is a sophomore at Xanadu High School in Wallagaba, S.C. Mary flips open the Sunday paper to discover that she, Mary Katherine Gaggamooboo, cannot only drink every night for the rest of her life, but she can drink start ing tonight! The government has zapped every drinking and blue law they’d ever thought up to be gin with. She does all of her home-^ wl'iiv caiiy aiiu juiiia uci icapuu sible fellow high schoolers for a celebratory whiskey sour. They designate Mary’s father as the sober driver and it’s a fairy tale ending. . B. Mary doesn’t care. She’s a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints. C. Mary is 23 now, not 16. She goes out with her friends, like she does in A, except instead of her fa ther acting as a designated driv er, Mary sneaks out and meets her friends at a bar downtown. Mary would occasionally drink on a Friday night with her friends whenever they could get Mary’s older sister, “Scary Mary” they call her, to buy them beer, some- £ thing light. She talks her friend ■ Linda into acting as the designat ed driver. But Linda meets a cute guy and decides a drink would loosen her up a little. The prob lem is one drink turns into three turns into five. D. From C, Linda drags her new crush, Scott, over to Mary and tells her she can’t drive ev eryone home. Mary — who is ac tually 31 and not 23 or 16 — and her friends get upset, but Linda pays out of pocket for a cab at the end of the night, and everything is fine. E. From D. Linda's fi'iends get upset and tell her to start drink ing coffee because, of course, cof- ^ fee kills the buzz by speeding up * your metabolism (yeah, right). She drinks coffee until 2 a.m., and then, relatively sober, drives the gang home and hits Mary’s cat. Their friendship is never quite the same. T? Prnm TT! fhoxr oil rlin in a Pflr accident and wind up on the evening news. Mary and her friends Linda, Bethany, Scott and Maria all head to heaven and they’re all in their late 20s to early 30s. Oh, Mary has braces, or she had braces. G. Pick whichever ending you like and paste it to whichever be ginning you like, and Mary can be however old you like too, be cause anything can happen when you drink, regardless of how old you are or how smart you think you are. , / Alcohol will always be a sub stance to treat with caution. It is to be revered as something good and dangerous if you’re not careful. And, regardless of what anyone tells you, the police or your par ents or God will not always be watching over your shoulder in case you screw up. Eventually, you’re going to have to think about what’s best for you. Ray is a fourth-year English student.