V „ (
10
Dnlinp Pnii “FalUngice. youknow, it’s not
UMIIIIC.f going to kill you. That limb, that’s
Should USC retire former gonna kiU you.”
basketball player B.J. KEVIN CURTIS
McKie’s number? arborist on the danger posed to students
www.danygamecock.com. from tree branches that fall fro# , ■,
Results published on Fridays. freezing conditions §m
—. .
In.Our.Gpinion
16-hour limit
unacceptable
If the university is serious about its academic
reputation, it will set the full-time student
threshold at 18 credit hours.
Under budget constraints and decreasing support
from the state, the decision to set a limit is
understandable, and much better than a per-credit
hour fee system.
Students cannot hold the university responsible,
if they sign up for extra classes and don’t drop them
by the add/drop day, incurring the extra fee.
But the new fee system USC enacted this
..... ... semester which charges extra
USC’s new credit . ■ .
hour system forpach credlt hour over 16’18
discriminates a poor response t0 the
against students Problem of overloading.
Who must take while designed to prevent
more than 16 Students from holding classes
hours a semester for others and to ensure that
to graduate, the university is properly
compensated tor tne classes students take, tne
bracket system hurts students in many majors.
Students whose majors require them to take more
than 16 hours per semester to graduate in four years
unduly bear the burden of this change. The most
intensive academic programs on campus should not
be penalized because their course of study requires
more time in class.
The current policy also runs counter to the stated
aim of a university in fostering an academic
environment where students are encouraged to
explore their options in various fields of study.
Students who decide to change their majors later in
their career would face a stiff monetary penalty via
the 16-hour threshold.
Out-of-state students are severely impacted, as
the fee for course loads above 16 hours is
significantly higher when compared with the
additional fee in-state students face.
USC cannot put short-term financial interests
above the academic success of its students. The
full-time-student threshold must be changed to 18
credit hours if the university wishes to both draw
quality students and keep its current ones.
Gamecock.Corrections
If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us
at gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu.
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'THE CONSEaU£A/C£S
OFS^If^ei L-A^LY
-*v—V y-vv
OF
lOtfi/a TO CLASS
l :_
CARTOON BY MARK PINCKNEY WATERS/THE GAMECOCK
Don’t just eat cute animals
So I realized the other day that
for the past several months, no
one has written a rant on why
you shouldn’t eat meat. It’s al
ways been a recursive theme in
the Viewpoints section; usually
written by someone with a
strong moral conviction to rid
the world of an
imal suffering
and improve
the health of
the general stu
dent populace.
Being
slightly dis
SS2.5 <r'SCH0,'
this leitmotif ™,Sf'r
of article writ- science student
ing, I’ve decid
ed to take the
burden upon myself to write it.
Well, I’ve never been the ani
mal 1 ights expert, so I decided
to do some research. As I pe
rused the Web for resources, I
found one common theme:
Slaughterhouses are concentra
tion camps for animals. As I
read on and viewed the pictures,
I became more and more dis
gusted.
I knew the Nazis were bad
news, but I never knew they
would mass package and eat
their victims. Upon conducting
further research, I found that
they didn’t and the concentration
camp analogy was just another
means to shamelessly exploit a
historical instance of the suffer
ing of mankind to invoke irra
tional pathos for an unrelated
cause.
Well, at this point 1 got tired of
researching and decided to just
write the article and fill in what I
don’t know with stuff I made up.
I ran into a dilemma insofar
as producing a convincing ex
pository article on why you
shouldn’t eat animals — ani
mals’ taste :-) (for lack of a bet
ter term). It’s a scientifically
proven fact that I like eating an
imals much more than vegeta
bles or meat substitutes.
Scouring my brain, I could
only come up with one com
pelling reason for you not to eat
meat. If everyone stops eating
meat then the demand for it will
drop, thereby decreasing prices.
This means I can eat more ani
mals for less money. I trust you
will all do the right thing and
stop eating meat immediately.
If you are going to eat meat
anyway, I implore you to at least
be an equal opportunity animal
eater. It’s common knowledge
that cute animals (i.e. mutton,
duck, and veal) taste better than
ugly ones.
However in this day and age,
we need to be more conscien
tious about who and what we eat.
Ugly animals have just as much
right to be eaten as cute ones.
Being overtly biased toward cute
and cuddly creatures for con
sumption could lead to self-es
teem issues for ugly animals.
I’m not going to try to con
vince you not to eat animals.
Members of the “Anti-meat
Gestapo” always cite outrageous
statistics on grain consumption
to produced meat ratios. So
what? Animal feed is not typi
cally human consumption grade
grain. In any case, it still doesn’t
negate the fact that animals are
delicious.
I personally didn’t spend the
past 7 million years evolving my
way to the top of the food chain
to just eat vegetables. Evolving
is hard work, and when steak
and lamb chops get off their lazy
butts and get around to develop
ing opposable thumbs and TV,
maybe we’ll talk then.
But until they do, watch out
cows, deer, chicken, sheep and
orangutans—you’re all still on
the menu.
In.Your.Opinion
Culbertson’s views
devoid of research
This letter is to Graham
Culbertson and many others
sharing his opinion.
I must readily agree that in
the “contemporary” or “mod
ern” Christian movement, a
certain amount of healthy cyn
icism may be well founded.
I cannot in any way con
done the blind acceptance of
some arbitrary religious dog
ma for the sole purpose of sta
tus elevation.
This grotesque imitation of
Christianity is highly preva
lent, especially within the
The Gamecock
is now online
five days a
week.
USC news,
sports and
opinions are all
just a click away.
Monday
through Friday
www.dailygame
cock.com
“Bible Belt” where an affilia
tion to some form of
Protestantism defines the sta
tus quo.
Any religious participant
who seeks glamour from a
mild association with a partic
ular denomination has traded
the contents of his soul for
fleeting popularity, thereby
rendering himself a shell of a
person.
To be sure, anyone so pre
sumptuous as to seek the ben
efits without pledging to the
commitment is indeed a hol
low person, completely void of
all merit.
I’m afraid that Mr.
Culbertson falls into this
broadly defined, aforemen
tioned category.
He seeks to dazzle you with
qualitative information on
campus ministries when in
fact he fails to ascertain the
truth in the matter.
These two-sentence descrip
tions of each campus ministry
prove Culbertson’s libelous na
ture, as he readily admits to not
having gone to any of these or
ganizations.
To quote Montaigne, “I wish
everyone would write about
what he knows.”
If nothing else, this response
is a plea to end irresponsible
journalism as well as hippie ig
norance.
BEN COCHRAN
THIRD-YEAR REAL ESTATE
STUDENT
Remember to fill
out the
Best of USC
Survey.
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located around
campus, or
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gamecockpr@
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Entries due by
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March 5.
Results will be
published
Wednesday,
March 24.
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will be edited for space, possible libel
and style. Anonymous letters will not be
published. Call the newsroom at 777
7726 for more information.
Edwards
can beat
George
W.Bush r
V
Now, after his early strong
showings, Edwards is more than
ever the best choice for Democrats
this year, especially for S.C.
Democrats who vote in South
Carolina’s first-in-the-South
Democratic primary on Feb. 3.
Even before you consider the is
sues, you have to ask whether the
candidate’s electable. Edwards is
the only candidate that can not
only match President Bush on
Iraq, terrorism, the economy, ed
ucation and
health care, but
can also beat
Bush in the
South. Every
Democrat that
has been elected
president ha
wrc wni ff won at leasp
WES WOLFE ^ southern
Fubiic'year states’ and
relations Edwards can do
student exactly that. He
beat an incum
bent Republican for his U.S.
Senate seat in 1998. Former Gen.
Wesley Clark, the only other
Southerner in the race, hasn’t es
pecially shown an ability to keep
his campaign on track after falling
badly in New Hampshire. Sen.
John Kerry of Massachusetts and
former Gov. Howard Dean of
Vermont could easily be painted
with the “Northeastern liberal”
brush by the Republicans and be
come a redux of other failed
Democratic presidential cam
paigns, forfeiting the South and r
the election.
Also, Edwards is a man who
knows of the possibilities of
America and what can happen
when you work hard. As the son
of a textile mill worker, he grew
up in a working-class family and
knows how important a good edu
cation is to advancing in America.
Edwards is campaigning on a
plan that states that there are two
Americas, one for the rich and one
for everyone else. This dichotomy,
especially in education, cannot be
more obvious here in South
Carolina. In the Palmetto State, we
have majority white and wealthy
suburban school districts with
new textbooks, nice facilities and
ample technological resources. f
On the other end are low-iiv
come majority black rural areas'
with fewer advanced placement
classes and older textbooks, dete
riorating facilities and obsolete
computers. This disparity was
chronicled in The State several
years ago and is still a problem
now. Edwards has a plan to deal
with the chasm between the haves
and have-nots.
Initially, he intends to fix and
fully-fund the No Child Left
Behind program, offer scholar
ships for teachers who will agree
to teach in troubled school^ and
give low-income but otherwise
qualified students a chance with
the College for Everyone program.
College for Everyone works b ^
offering one year of free tuition tN
any public college or university in
return for being academically
qualified and working 10 hours a
week in a business or community
service organization.
Edwards proposes the College
for Everyone program and sug
gests higher Pell grants because
he knows what a college degree
means. He went from a working
class family in Robbins, N.C., to
helping provide a comfortable liv
ing for his family because he got
the opportunity to be the first in
his family to go to college, and he
wants to give that opportunity to
every American.
John Edwards is a man who
can deliver on education, win in
the South, beat Bush in November
and deliver on the issues that mat-^
ter the most to South Carolinian t
and the rest of the nation.
Winners.and.Sinners
MOTHER NATURE Gives us a day and a half
off while looking like ‘When Trees Attack II.’ j
DICK CHENEY Comes out of hidden bunker to
make up with continental Europe.
P-DIDDY Makes up for rap career by running
in NYC marathon, appearing in play ‘A Rasin
use ADMINISTRATION Only USC students,
state workers had to brave the elements on
Tuesday.
IRAQ WAR CIA now says it never had evidence
of weapons programs.
FEDERAL DEFICIT Last we checked, the
president and majority party were both
Republican, right?