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SOUND OFF ONLINE POLL Create message boards at What do you think about www.dailygamecock.com or James Holderman s conviction? send letters to the editor to A BLACK EYE FOR USC 16% gamecockopinions@hotmail.com '^'S OVER. MOVE ON 50% JAMES WHO? 34% IN OUR OPINION Merger has bad timing A committee has voted to approve the merger of the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Math and Science. The Board of Trustees will vote Oct. 17. We recognize that the merger has benefits, namely providing more options for students and increasing research between the colleges. But this merger couldn’t come at a worse time for the university. The liberal arts college has no dean, the university has no provost, our president is working _ .. , to build a massive research Two months of L ,, researching is not campus’our law schGGl hasn 1 enough time to found a dean in tWG years of fully evaluate a searching and Value merger that would Centered Management is just throw two of the making its debut — not to largest colleges at mention we are facing some use into of the harshest budget cuts in academic chaos, school history. Core curricula for the entire university could drastically be changed with this possible merger, and students need to have a say. Many students choose to major in a field in liberal arts or math and science because they want to have a focus. There needs to be strong evidence that this will directly be beneficial to students. Many schools around the country have a combined College of Arts and Sciences, but that is not reason enough for a rash decision. Two months of researching is not enough time to really evaluate a merger that would throw two of the largest colleges at USC into a time of confusing transition and academic chaos. Gamecock Quotables “The liberal arts college is pretty huge, so if you collapse those two colleges, you’ll have 20 representatives just from (that school). That would be half of the senate.” CHRIS DICKSON LIBERAL ARTS STUDENT SENATOR, ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES OF COMBINING THE LIBERAL ARTS AND MATH AND SCIENCE COLLEGES “If you look up the word ‘cocks’ in the dictionary, it’s a male bird, or a rooster. People just take it wrong. Instead of ‘Go Gamecocks,’ we say ‘Go Cocks.’ There is nothing wrong with it.” DENNIS COSENTINO OWNER OF GAMECOCK COUNTRY, ABOUT WHY "COCKS” SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AN OFFENSIVE TERM ON USC MERCHANDISE “The so-called cooperative agreement is no agreement at all. This is truly a revelation.” TOBY WARD ATTORNEY FOR THE GREATER COLUMBIA HOTEL AND MOTEL ASSOCIATION, ON CLAIMS THAT THE CONTROVERSIAL USC INN WILL BE PUBLICLY FUNDED 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 CONTACT INFORMATION Charles Tomlinson Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@hotmail.com • Ad 15 Edltor News: gamecockudesk@hotmail.com am eam Viewpoints: gamecockopinions@hotmail.com The Mix: gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com News Editor Sports: gamecocksports@hotmail.com Michael LaForgia Public Affairs: gckpublicaffairs@hotmail.com Online: www.dailygamecock.com Asst. News Editor Newsroom: 777-7726 Alexis Stratton Editor's Office: 777-3914 Viewpoints Editor STUDENT MEDIA The Gamecock * the Gabrielle Sinclair m . r , editorially independent Director student newspaper of ... Scott Lindenberg the University of South The Mix Editor ~ Carolina. It is Meg Moore Faculty Adviser published Monday, Erik Collins Wednesday and Friday Sports Editor during the fall and Brad Senkiw Creative Director spring semesters and Susan King nine times during the Asst. Sports Editor summer, with the Wes Wolfe Business Manager exception of university Carolyn Griff,n holidays and exam Photo Editor periods. Opinions Morgan Ford „ expressed in The Advertising Manager Gamecock are those of Sarah Scarborough the editors or author Head Page Designers and not those 0f the Shawn Rourk, David classlfied Manager university of South slae6 Sherry F. Holmes Carolina. The Board of Student Publications Page Designers . . and Communications Justin Bajan. Samantha Production Manager is the publisher of The Hall,. Staci Jordan, Philip Amber Justice Gamecock. The Whitehead Department of Student Creative Services Media is the Slot Copy Editors Whitney Bridges, newspaper's parent Amy Genoble, Alyson Robbie Burkett. organization. The Goff. Tricia Ridgway . Sean O'Meara Gamecock is supported in part by Copy Editors Advertising Staff student-activity fees. Mary Waters, Steven Van j0hn Blackshire, One free copy per Haren, Jessica Foster, Adam Bourgoini Ben reader' Adddl0nal Alicia Osborne Sinclair, Jesica copies may be Johnson, Ryan purchased for $1 each Oniine Editor Gorman, Laytoya fr,°™ ‘he °ePa*ment James Tolbert Hines of Student Media. Pjblic Affairs ^0 PIACE AN AD Kimberly Dressier The Gamecock \ Advertising: 777-3888 1400 Greene St. Classified: 777-1184 Press 3 for shut the heck up PATRICK AUGUSTINE GAMECOCKOPINIONS@HOTMAIL.COM More doesn’t equal better with cell phones. You’re sitting in class or a meeting when the serene calm of the speaker’s drone is broken by a digitized version of “Bonanza.” The cell phone strikes again. If I were a professor in this sit uation, I would be tempted to seize the object and throw it out a conveniently open window, or lacking this, smash it with a sledgehammer. Since few people actually follow this method of rid ding the classroom of such dis tractions, at least once a week we are treated to a few verses of those tacky ring tones. I’ve even seen people who lack all sense of social conventions ac tually answer their phones and carry on a conversation, oblivi ous to the insult they are doing their fellow man. Lest you think I’m a modern day Luddite, I’m not claiming that cell phones, or any technology, is evil in itself. I also have a cell phone addiction, and I think it’s high time we all ’fessed up to it and got on the road to recovery. Step one is admitting you have a problem. Gigantic monthly bills, using the term “rollover” when not addressing a dog and, finally, calluses on your ear are classic symptoms. Repeat after me — my phone is not a status symbol, even if it’s made by Swiss Army and has a combination fire starter/can opener that would make MacGy ver envious. Very few of us can honestly say that we have the need to be constantly accessible to our fans. I see no doctors, generals or gov ernment officials in my classes — a few of the only people that honestly need to be constantly available. The responsibility of their positions mandate that they be easily reached to make deci sions or take action, something seldom true of a 20-year-old. The cell-phone obsession is a metaphor for a deeper problem in American culture. We have gotten so used to a steady diet of information that we go in with drawal if it’s not readily avail able, no matter how inane the content. Quality has increasingly been replaced by quantity, and we are poorer as a society for the way these lines have blurred. Count your cable channels and e-mail accounts, PDAs and pagers, laptops and wireless cards. None of them corrupt a so ciety; indeed, they have allowed an unprecedented level of sophis tication and interconnectedness that make us the envy of history. Just because I can talk to Tokyo through the ether, how ever, doesn’t mean that my hu man connections are any richer for the possibility. As students learning the patterns that will shape our lives, we must be ex tra vigilant to cultivate mean ingful relationships built on per sonal interaction. Fiber optics are a poor media tor for the things the human heart innately desires. What does this mean for our everyday lives? Certainly not a knee-jerk abandonment of the progress of the last century, but instead a more thoughtful use of the resources at our disposal. The world has not seen a decrease in violence in proportion to our ability to talk across oceans* and this is perhaps the greatest argu ment for better discussion in stead of simply more. Finally, don’t forget to write, and turn the phone off before class. Augustine is a fourth-year political science student. IN YOUR OPINION Students need to respect campus Walking around campus, it doesn’t take much for one to come to the conclusion that we as a collective are some of the most selfish, wasteful people on the planet. It seems as though someone gathered up all the ignorant consumers and piled them onto USC’s campus. From disgusting smokers to germ fanatics, they’re all trash ing our campus. I’m not a smok er, and I never have been, but come on—how hard is it to put your cigarette out in an ashtray instead of throwing the butt onto the ground? Is it too much to ask you to dispose properly of the waste produced by your voluntary habit that doesn’t de teriorate? I personally cannot see it causing you any physical or so cial pain. And as far as styro foam take-out containers are concerned: People, please do not get the damn boxes and then go sit your asses down in the GMP! Are you afraid that the dishes are not clean enough? Well, I’ll you the truth: They are. You have no clue where those styrofoam boxes have been. People drop them, spill stuff on them and God knows what happens to them during shipping or even how long they’ve been packed up in the back of the kitchen in mildewed boxes. What has to happen for us to realize what we are doing? These things do not decompose. Are you willing to live on top of this stuff or make you house out of styrofoam? I’m not. Couldii’t you just stop for a minute when you are going throuah vour evervdav routine of smoking a cigarette on the way to class and think, “Why do I throw this down when I know I can put it out in the ash tray in front of the building when I get there?” Couldn’t you make the deci sion to use the real dishes since you’re eating there anyway? It is going to be the little choices like these - the ones we make everyday without even think ing about because they are so ingrained in our behavior that we don’t even question them anymore. These decisions are going to save us from ourselves. ALLISON PEELER FOl.'RTII-YKAR PRINT JOURNALISM STl'DKNT Kudos to Curtin for championing music In response to Kit Curtin’s column regarding the accessi bility of classical music to the ill-informed, culturally de prived and apparently-just-fine with-it proletariat (“Classical music can be accessible to masses,” Sept. 8): Bravo! I vigorously applaud any such endeavor, however futile, that strives—albeit ultimately in vain—for the cultural edifi cation of the aurally autistic populace. And while I heartily com mend Ms. Curtin for her noble sentiments on behalf of the card-carrying classical music community, I simply cannot, with good conscience, condone her optimism. I can’t because, as a living composer and con ductor, I’ve seen otherwise. The fact of the matter re mains that the symphony or chestra is a 19th-cent 'ry edi fice composed of 19th century dogtViptip rnrKtriirts “nnilpr_ 19th-century pretenses.” Thus, we should not—and, indeed, we sure as hell cannot — count on such an ensemble to be the bas tion of contemporary musical expression. Sorry, Mr. Barber. As for the solo instrumental literature (and especially the pi ano), a hallowed canon of reper toire rigidly exists that is imper vious to compositional infiltra tion from those born after the Second World War. So, thanks anyway, Eddie. Alas, I’m not entirely cynical. Perhaps some infinitesimally minute fragment of the most va pid classical music will one day be appropriately appreciated, in strictly musical terms, by the masses — probably by John Williams III or something like that — but I won’t bet on it. In the meantime, I reckon I’ll just be seein’ y’all at the next Southern Exposure New Music Concert — or, better yet, maybe y’all was fixin’ to go to the next USC Composers Concert. At any rate, come on down; I’ll save a seat for you. Until then! LOGAN YOUNG SECOND-YEAR MUSIC COMPOSITION STUDENT Thoughts? Write to us at: gamecockopinions@ 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 tetters will not be published. Call the newsroom We all need a reality check GABRIELLE SINCLAIR GAMECOCKOPINIONS@HOTMAIL.COM Practicing the ancient art of destroying a taboo. Hello, and welcome to Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which coincidentally is also National Cookie Awareness Month, Vegetarian Awareness Month and Sarcastic Month. So basically, Christmas comes in October for Gabrielle (it’s also National Speak in-Third-Person Month, which started... about a sentence ago). Sweet Jesus, I do love cookies, and it is desperately important to be fervently aware of those sketchy vegetarians, but let’s fo cus on disease for just a moment. I know Americans have never been overly skilled in dealing with sickness. We either glorify or condemn depending on which celebrities contract it and at what point they are in their career at the time. It’s hard to be serious because reali ty checks lead to the possibility of opening flood gates of personal fears and loneliness. Or maybe that’s just my family. My mother had a hysterectomy and we made fun of her for weeks. As you can perhaps imagine, she’s not exactly sad she won’t be hav ing more kids any time soon. une oi tne ways to Deat evu is to educate and speak out about it. Cancer is still something of a taboo topic of discussion in our culture, perhaps from leftover vestiges of fear that speaking the name of a disease is a means of contracting the disease itself. Thank God the good people of the media universe have taken it upon themselves to compensate for our psychological blocks by bringing minor, yet embarrass ingly chronic suffering into the mainstream in an attempt to make it fashionable, even chic. Based on commercials on the radio I’ve heard in the last half an hour or so, I should be dropping dead any minute now. Apparently, I have at least an 88 percent chance of contradicting at least one terribly messy ailment that will invariably end with the amputation of each of my limbs before the week ends unless I get off my lazy butt and consult some one with prescription power right now this instant. I’m starting to feel alienated from society for lack of premature balding, neon yellow teeth and erectile dysfunction. I have yet to come down with anything worse than a broken tail bone, but I’m sure it’s coming soon. My incredible state of health most likely stems from my regu lar diet of shrimp-, pork- and chick en-flavored Smack Ramen, histor ically known for causing scurvy, an ailment I think I might have also just seen a commercial for. Or maybe I just have a stomach of U Genetically speaking, I’m pret ty much biding my time before the inevitable. Television and ra dio, however, are trying to make me wish I had something, if not something overly devastating, at least chronic and profitable. Of course, I am talking about a culture that equates radio diver sity with replaying Evanescence’? “Bring Me To Life” every thiro song. I’ve got nothing against de stroying taboos, especially those that hinder an important fight against a terrible disease like cancer. They’re also hella arbitrary and we’ve got more than enough capriciousness and threats of so cietal smiting in our very own Constitution. I’m just wondering . what’s going to happen once we run out and have to improvise. -'—±2-;— -— Sinclair is a third-year print iri i / vnn / ii'M cti trl+ _