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'; 11** 1 g THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, December 5, 2003 SOUND OFF T L^WTDA V T r I 1 Cl ONLINEPOLL www.dailygamecock.com or I 111 a/a/ I I I I l Should Lou Holtz retire? send letters to the editor to I I A W W I \ W a I k I YES 37% gamecockopinions@hotmail.com —®^ S ^ ' —■— f—' NO 63% IN OUR OPINION Don’t hide t big decisions Relative to region and tradition, USC’s administration has made a bold move by deciding to add sexual orientation to the university’s nondiscrimination policy, joining more than 500 other universities, including the College of ^Charleston and Furman University, nationwide. But USC President Andrew Sorensen made the decision about & month ago; With any other he just didn’t tell anyone, policy change, the Whether you agree with the administration decision, one thing remains would have sent clear: The administration out press releases have hidden and announced it publicly information from students. Though being hailed as strictly ceremonial in nature, this policy change will serve a legally important role for gay students and faculty members. The policy change, along with benefiting many students and faculty members, is a wise decision. Should someone try to sue the university for sexual orientation discrimination, USC would have no defense without the nondiscrimination policy. With any other policy change, however, the • administration would have sent out news releases and announced it publicly. As South Carolina’s flagship university, USC carries the responsibility of leading by example and should not hide its actions. Gamecock Quotables With the newpresident and a new outlook on the university, it’s definitely good news to receive.” MICHAEL MAZZELL THIRD-YEAR PUBLIC RELATIONS STUDENT AND FORMER BGLA VICE PRESIDENT. ON THE DECISION TO INCLUDE SEXUAL ORIENTATION IN USC’S NONDISCRIMINATION POLICY “You don’t have to be gay to contract AIDS. I contracted AIDS from my husband.” STACEY GLADDEN , STUDENT AT SOUTHERN WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY AND SPEAKER AT USC'S WORLD AIDS DAY hi very tacuity member nas an active research program with Ph.D. students that needs to produce results. Lost enzymes could take years to replace.” SCOTT GOODE use CHEMISTRY PROFESSOR, ON THE POWER OUTAGE THAT THREATENED HIS RESEARCH “Her young, virgin mind was corrupted by this devastating and truly illegal virus.” ANDREW CHRISTOPHER FOURTH-YEAR ACCOUNTING STUDENT WHOSE SISTER ACCIDENTALLY DOWNLOADED A COMPUTER VIRUS THROUGH AOL INSTANT ■ MESSENGER THAT POSTED PORNOGRAPHIC IMAGES ON THE COMPUTER SCREEN GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS In the picture for Wednesday’s World AIDS Day story, fourth year Spanish student Monika L. Scott was misidentified as Holly Tyler. A story in Wednesday’s paper should have said Stafford McQuillin’s bike was worth $1000. The Gamecock regrets the errors. If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us atgamecockopinions@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 Woife Photo Editor Morgan Ford Head Page Designer Shawh Rourk Page Designers Justin Bajan. Staci Jordan. Philip Whitehead Slot Copy Editors Amy Genoble. Tricia Ridgway. Mary Pinckney Waters Copy Editors Steven Van Haren, Jessica Foster Online Editor James Tolbert Public Affairs Kimberly Dressier V CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@hotmail.com News: garriecockudesk@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 Director Scott Lindenberg Faculty Adviser Erik Collins Creative Director Susan King Business Manager Carolyn Griffin Advertising Manager Sarah Scaroorough Classified Manager Sherry F. Holmes Production Manager Amber Justice Creative Services Whitney Bridges, Robbie Burkett, "Sean O'Meara Advertising Staff John Blackshire. Adam Bourgoin. Ben Sinclair, Jesica Johnson. Ryan Gorman, Laytoya Clines 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 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 $1 each from the Department of .Student Media. TO PLACE AN AD ine uamecocK 1400 Grs«?ne St. Columbia. S.C. 29208 Advertising: 777-3888 Classified: 777-1184 Fax: 777-6482 ' PROC6S5IH& TZrt ^S ^7?2-iI.W ope^i) [ 0 ///VsHoM<£ CorAMepj/ CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS Support your campus paper CHARLES TOMLINSON GAMECOCKEDITOR@HOTMAIL.COM The Gamecock is an invaluable part of USC. Another semester is over, and The Gamecock again has met its share of supporters and detrac tors. But that’s how it’s always been. It’s what I call the home town-paper syndrome. People love to criticize their lo cal papers. Among the names I’ve heard have been “The Lancaster Liar” and the “Florence Morning Mistake.” USC’s paper probably has been called “The Lamecock” more than I realize. In the past few years, some of The Gamecock’s detractors have vainly tried deprive the paper of student funding. Some members . of Student Government two years ago suggested taking away fund ing because of its SG candidate en dorsements, which many think are unfair because The Gamecock is the campus’ only paper. But en dorsements are only a recommen dation based on the staffs general opinion, and past editorials have made that crystal-clear. Moreover, The Gamecock has a constitution al right to make endorsements. But recently, based on an infa mous error regarding ex-Vermont governor Howard Dean — and yes, despite what certain vitriolic letters said, the staff did know who Dean was before writing the edi torial — some students have rec ommended we lose our funding because of so-called poor quality. But how much is The Game cock costing USC or its students? I’m sure we siphon a negligible amount from the $20 student ac tivity fees. The staff, underfund ed and understaffed, works more than 40 hours a week for minimal compensation to keep students up-to-date on campus happen ings. And I think it succeeds at that. All of this so students can pick it up for free the next morn ing and read it, throw it on the ground, or write us and call us geniuses or idiots if they want. Newspapers make mistakes. A student newspaper is a learn ing experience. Nothing excuses mediocrity, but this group of bud- . ding journalists is learning from mistakes and improving. The Gamecock staff comes from all different majors. About 35 of our staffers and regular writers are in the journalism school. According to the School of Journalism and Mass Communications’ Web site, www.jour.sc.edu, the school has 1,519 students. That means about 2.3 perceht of journalism stu dents work for The Gamecock. Where are all of the journalism students? Experience is more im portant than academics in this field, and The Gamecock is a good step toward an internship or job. The Gamecock strives to be as professional a paper as possible, but it needs your help and not just your complaints. Get involved — journalism students and anyone who might want to work in jour nalism. It’s one of the best things you can do for your career. Thanks to those who have en couraged us with positive feed back. We might get letters calling us “garbage” not worth reading, but we’ve gotten more letters from those same people to show that they apparently haven’t decided they’re above reading our trash. People read The Gamecock, “egregious” errors and all, and it’s an indispensable part of USC life. It’s the best way for students to amplify their voices around campus, and all students should involve themselves with it in some way, whether by writing stories or letters to the editor. Tomlinson is a fourth-year print journalism student. IN YOUR OPINION Christians must do more than judge Why do Christians write to this newspaper calling homo sexuality a sin or anything a sin, for that matter? In addi tion, why do Christians try to make non-Christians believe everything they believe? Brothers, that is not our call. We were told to love one an other, as Jesus loves us. We were told to obey his command ments, but how can we expect people who do not follow Christ to do so? We are always pounc ing on people if they think ho mosexuality is OK, but are we quick to pounce on the unfair ness of homelessness? Are we quick to fight for the underdog and the forgotten, or are we still jostling for a political position? Jesus fought tor the poor, the unloved and the lost. Yet Christians today resemble the Pat Robertsons and Jerry Falwells of the world who call everyone' sinners and them- | selves chosen. That doesn’t re flect Christ. To quote Switchfoot: “Have we lost ourselves?” We want everyone to follow Christ, and that’s good. However, do not expect this to happen if all we do is judge. We should love and forgive, as God loves each and everyone on this earth and forgives any who ac cepts such a wonderful gift. JOEL DODSEN THIRD-YEAR FINANCE STUDENT Letter shows lack of compassion Tyler Lee’s letter Wednesday, responding to a let ter by Jeff Mobley, left me rather disheartened. l.ee'showed a lack of com passion — ironic when he ap pears to take the role of defend er on the rights of homosexuals. He accuses any who use their religious background in the Bible of “intellectual cheating.” Let’s get one thing straight; marriage is an institution es tablished primarily for religious purposes. To accuse Mobley of intellectual cheating is just plain inflammatory. Mobley speaks from a Christian standpoint on the religious institution of mar riage and the moral question of homosexuality. What better source for a Christian to quote but the Bible when dealing with such an issue? I understand that taking a Christian stance on a contro versial issue cannot be accept ed by the world. Jesus even said that to believe in him and his teachings would be to go against the ways of the world. I believe Lee should take a class on Biblical history and literature. Because he seems interested in the advancement of his own in tellect, I suggest he read some of C.S. Lewis’ material. Lewis is another man who focused on knowledge only to find that the pursuit of it will just lead a man until he is face to face with the one who created him. CHAD DRAYTON THIRD-YEAR HISTORY STUDENT Gay marriage has long-range effects So far, no one writing about same-sex marriage seems to be aware of what I suspect are the long-range issues. They don’t have to do with justice for gays or social acceptance of gay re lationships — both of which our society is moving rapidly toward anyway — but rather with thp niimprmis nriviWps marriage brings with it. Whole research papers could be written on these privileges; here I will briefly deal with just two. The income-tax break called “married, filing joint return” ap plies to couples in which one per son does not have an outside job or has a low-paying job compared with the spouse. The best a widowed par ent can get is “single, head of house hold,” which doesn't give such a big break. The same applies to singles living with siblings or aging par ents who can no longer work. Where is the justice in these people’s status compared with those in same-sex marriages, were they to be legally recognized? What we are seeing behind court decisions such as the one in Massachusetts is the exercise of political power by people who are largely silent on issues such as this, while playing on the sympa thies of the public. Foreigners marrying U.S. citizens can rela tively easily obtain the coveted sta tus of Permanent Resident Alien, while even close blood relatives of citizens have a much harder time. Perhaps same-sex marriage will result in a huge increase in the number of “marriages of con venience,” with people becoming legally married just to be able to immigrate to the United States. After all, in most parts of the world even today, it is far easier for an American to become close friends with a person of the same sex than it is to befriend someone of the opposite sex. PETER NYIKOS MATHEMATICS PROFESSOR Submission Policy Letters to the editor should b'e less than 300 words and include name, phone number, professional title or year and major, if a itudent. E-mail letters to gamecockopinions@hotmail.com. 'Letters vill be edited. Anonymous letters will not be published. Call the nevfcroom ; ■ . .— My life lessons of thefall semester SARAH ROGERS GAMECOCKOPINIONS@HOTMAIL.COM The real education didn’t come from class. As I come upon the halfway point of my third year at USC 1 realize I have learned some life’s most important lessons while away at college. I’d like to offer a few you should remember. Be pre-emptive. Call your par ents before they call you. While you’re at it, call your grandparents. You’ll make their day and you might get a nice check out of it. Collect quarters. Along with learning about our fellow states, who knows when you will need to use a parking meter or make a trip to the local Laundromat? The classic “dog-ate-my-home work” excuse does not work with college professors. i-Yn-ingiiiei a cu. t? guuu iui ui ag ging rights only. Cramming — other than making you exhaust ed, cranky and ill tempered — is about as productive as the Sou'" Carolina Education Lottery. The one and only lesson learned from cramming is that eight hours of uninterrupted sleep is its own reward. The only thing I ever received from cram ming was making a fool of myself when I was violently shaken awake by my journalism profes sor for snor ing. Beer and/or liquor are not good thirst-quenchers. Eating grilled-cheese sand wiches, French fries and choco late pudding for two consecutive • weeks equals a balanced meal if your goal is to inflate to the size of a medium-sized whale. Watching MTV 24/7 will not expand your intelligence, r" though it might help you on pc.-, culture quizzes. It’s always wiser to write a paper that’s due the next morning than to watch “Rich Girls” or “Sorority Life.” Playing PlayStation 2, Xbox and Nintendo GameCube for ex tensive periods of time will leave deep creases in your fingers that will make you look as though you stayed in the bathtub too long. Reading the Harry Potter se ries should not take the place of the books you are required to read in your “Themes in British Literature” class, even if J.K. Rowland is from Scotland and her books are a lot more interesting than James Joyce’s. While a shopping spree . Express can be fulfilling, it’s defi nitely a better idea to save your money for rent and utility costs. Celebrate your 21st birthday, but not so that you black out from excessive alcohol consumption and can’t remember anything you did the night before. Procrastination is not the an swer. If you want to go to the next football game, it helps to get out of bed and wait in line to get a ticket. Otherwise, be content to spend your next Saturday inside your dorm room playing Spider Solitaire. Swimming in the fountain out side Thomas Cooper Library might be fun, but it will probably give you some weird fungus you have never heard of before. Bett.a fish make great cor panions. Self-sufficient, they p. vide hours of high-quality enter tainment if you put a mirror in front of them. It makes them so mad they puff out their cheeks to inordinate sizes, which reminds me of some of the Clemson football fans I’ve encountered. Finally, the biggest lesson I have learned in college is to expe rience it. Mistakes and all, you’re young only once. Rogers is a third-year advertising _etnriont- ---~~*