www.dailygamecock.com WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2003 Since 1908
Hark defends Web site to RHA
ft
BY JUSTIN CHAPPELL
Til K (JAMBCOOK
Residence Hall Association
President Adam Hark maintained
that his Web site is unrelated to
his presidential duties at an RHA
meeting Tuesday night in re
sponse to complaints by a South
Quad RA.
Those at the meeting briskly
covered the Web site topic, and
most attendees that voiced opin
ions said they think the Web site
is not an RHA issue.
“If we didn’t impeach President
Clinton for adultery, then we
shouldn’t impeach Adam for a
laugh between friends,” said
Jordan Meredith, RHA President
from Snowden and a first-year
physics student.
Stating a similar opinion both
during the meeting and in an in
terview, RHA Senator from Moore
residence hall and first-year
premed student Ashley Gallentine
said Hark’s performance as presi
dent should outweigh the current
Web site controversy.
“If anyone saw how he ran
these meetings, they would know
how well-spoken and how well
mannered he is toward senators,”
Gallentine said.
“He has a lot of good programs
going on right now,” she added.
Initial complaints against Hark
and his personal Web site, which
contained a naked picture of him
self and other friends, were made
by South RA and fourth-year crim
inal justice stu
dent Hazel
Matthews.
Matthews attend
ed the meeting but
was unable to be
reached for com- _
ment afterward.
Hark said he ^ar**
wasn’t concerned
with the motives behind
Matthews’ previously stated in
tentions to move forward with im
peachment proceedings.
“Speculation as to the true mo
tives of Hazel Matthews and/or
the residents on whose behalf she
speaks is irrelevant,” Hark said.
Hark further maintained that
the accusations are not a basis for
questioning his presidency.
“She has charged that I am un
fit to execute the duties of my po
sition on the basis of my person
alrand legal, activities not con
nected to my job,” Hark said.
In order for impeachment pro
ceedings to actually occur, an
RHA Senate member must submit
written charges to the RHA presi
dent and RHA adviser. The
charges must then be approved by
a two-thirds vote of the senate in
order for actions to be taken to
ward impeachment.
Currently, Matthews is unable
to spearhead the impeachment'
process. She would need the
backing of at least one senate
member before impeachment
♦ HARK, SEE PAGE 4
Sunday Night Alive draws record
crowds with sketch comedy, music
BY KEVIN FELLNER
THE HAMECOCK
Diana Carey spends a typical
Sunday night pedaling a unicycle
through a crowd of cheering stu
dents in the Russell House
Ballroom. But Carey, a fourth
year advertising student, is just
as surprised as anyone at the
growing response her perfor
mances are receiving.
Now in its eighth season,
Sunday Night Alive, a sketch-com
edy stage show combined with a
concluding Christian message, is
■ drawing its biggest crowds ever—
'400 on a good night — and has cre
ated a weekly stir that has stu
dents arriving early to make sure
they’ll get a seat.
“I remember peeking out into
the Russell House Theater before a
show and seeing 20 people,” said
Carey, who is the show’s most-se
nior cast member.
The cast decided to move from
the theater to the ballroom last
year after regularly entertaining
v.- j
overflow crowds that forced some
audience members to sit on the
floor in the aisles. The show was
first performed in the Belk
Auditorium but later moved to the
Gambrell Auditorium and the j
Booker T. Washington
Auditorium to accommodate
growing crowds.
Third-year public relations stu
dent and cast director Jamie
Wright said the show has seen its
largest attendance boom within
the past year but that the cast
hasn’t changed its tone.
“It’s such a nonthreatening en
vironment,” Wright said. “People
♦ SNA, SEE PAGE 2
S.C. NAACP president-elect
says race issues still linger
BY ADAM BEAM
THE GAMECOCK
For Lonnie Randolph Jr., pres
ident-elect of the South Carolina
NAACP, the 50th anniversary of
the landmark Supreme Court de
segregation decision this May
will be a time of commemoration,
not celebration.
“We really don’t have any
thing to celebrate,” Randolph
said at his Columbia optometry
office Wednesday. “Our school
systems are almost as segregated
as they were 50 years ago. And in
some school districts in South
Carolina, the conditions are as
bad today as they were when the
Brown decision was rendered.”
Randolph was elected to lead
South Carolina’s chapter of the
National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People
on Oct. 11 at the state convention
in Charlotte, N.C.
The decision, Brown v. Board
of Education of Topeka, Kan., was
handed down by the U.S.
Supreme Court on May 17,1954.
The court ruled that the previous
doctrine of “separate but equal”
could never create true equality
and that the segregation policies
of some school districts, mostly
in the South, were unconstitu
tional. The suit was a combina
tion of five similar suits, includ
ing Briggs v. Elliott, which origi
nated in Clarendon County.
The 50th anniversary will sure
ly be a time of massive media at
tention to celebrate the decision
and the impact it has had on U.S.
race relations: But for Randolph,
all of the festivities surrounding
the anniversary will symbolize
“how far we haven’t come,” espe
cially in South Carolina.
“Education is still a race issue
in South Carolina,” he said.
“While America has a race prob
lem, South Carolina has an ob
session with racial problems.”
The state NAACP still refuses
to hold major events in South
Carolina to honor an economic
boycott on the state involving the
Confederate Flag. For 38 years,
the Confederate naval jack flew
from atop the State House dome
until it was removed July 1,2000,
following a compromise worked
out by the General Assembly.
The flag was moved from the
State House to the Confederate
Soldier Monument in front of the
State House on Gervais Street.
The NAACP is demanding the
flag be removed from the State
House grounds altogether and
plans an economic boycott of the
state until it feels the matter is
resolved.
On Thursday, Randolph will
address USC’s NAACP chapter at
6:30 p.m. on the second floor of
the Russell House, where he
plans to discuss a number of is
sues including the boycott and
voter registration.
“We will not do anything to im
pede the educational progress of
our young people,” he said, but
would give students a list of busi
ness that “don’t have their best
interests at heart, that disrespect
them. We will give them the in
formation we have to let them
know these are businesses that
PHOTO BY FORREST CLONTS/THE GAMECOCK
S.C. NAACP president-elect Lonnie Randolph Jr. says school
systems are almost as segregated as they were 50 years ago.
you should not spend your money
with."
Randolph was bom and raised
in Columbia, where he graduated
from Dreher High School and
Benedict College. He chose op
tometry over pediatrics because of
an article he read in Jet magazine
outlining the racial discrepancies
in the field. Randolph served for
eight years as president of the
NAACP’s Columbia, the state’s
largest and most successful
fund-raising chapter.
But when people ask him how
much the NAACP pays him, he
has an automatic reply.
“I say they pay us no atten
tion,” he said. “Because there is
no money involved; we do this
^strictly because we have a com
mitment for the cause of justice
for all people.”
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Interfaith Council to hold dinner
Z’ANNE COVELL
TUB GAMECOCK
The Interfaith Student Council
will be playing host to an inter
faith storytelling potluck dinner
at the PALM Center on
Thursday, Nov. 13.
The informal dinner will begin
at 6:30 p.m., and all are welcome
to come and leave as they piease.
According to student body
chaplain and Interfaith Council
Chairwoman Rachel Rosansky,
this is the Interfaith Council’s
fourth potluck dinner, and the
past dinners have all been suc
cessful in bringing together many
of the various faiths and religions
on campus to enjoy both food and
stories.
“It’s an opportunity for differ
ent religions to come together
and tell stories about their faith
and to also share samples of the
food from their religion.”
The theme for the stories of the
upcoming dinner is “Views of
Deity.” Currently, representa
tives from five different campus
religions are scheduled to speak.
Each representative will relate a
10-minute story on the topic, and
then the floor will be open for
questions.
Rosansky said that the food
served at the dinner could best be
described as ethnic food. The dif
ferent dishes are cultural cuisine
from the regions where the dif
ferent religions are practiced.
The eating stipulations of certain
religions also determine the types
of food prepared by the different
faiths.
According to Rosansky, Islam,
♦ DINNER, SEE PAGE 3
Panelists debate
existence of God
BY ALEXIS BASS
THE GAMECOCK
A debate about boundaries
of faith, how people believe
and what they believe in was
held Tuesday at 8 p.m. in the
Russell House. The debate,
“Does God Exist?” did not
specify who was right or
wrong, but it explored what
many people restrain from be
cause of religious justifications
or convictions.
The two professional de
baters were Michael
Shermer, publisher of Skeptic
Magazine, and Doug Geizett,
professor at the Talbot School
of Theology of Biola
University in La Mirada,
Calif.
The only thing the two pan
elists agreed on was that they
♦ DEBATE, SEE PAGE 2
Index
Comics and Crossword 8
Classifieds 11
Horoscopes 8
Letters to the Editor_ 5
Online Poll 5
Police Report 4
Weather
TODAY
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THURSDAY
In This Issue
♦ ON THE WEB State, nation
and world briefs.
www.dallygamecock.com
♦ VIEWPOINTS David Stagg
calls out the fall season as a
hide-and-go-seeker. Page 5
♦ THE MIX Theatre South
Carolina’s “Polaroid Stories”
merges mythology with the
modem day. Page 6
♦ SPORTS Former Gamecock
quarterback Todd Ellis still
excels off the field as the
Gamecock announcer. Page 9