The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 06, 2004, Page 4, Image 4
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4
Dnlinp Pnll “The money received from peo
Wl Mil 1C. run ‘ pie paying their parking tickets
Did you vote in this week’s could be used to solve the prob
Democratic presidential pri- '.1 lem with a new parking lot.”
mary?, ‘ ' PAUL WILKES
www.dailygamecock.com. second year sports and entertainment
Results published on Fridays. management student on ways toUBe ^Ssl
PARKING FRUSTRATIONS AROUND THEJpROM Jf
_ '
In.Our.Opinion .
Day of class
doesn’t hurt
wnne many students wno live out oi town mignt De
inconvenienced by a rush back to campus after
Easter, there is no logical reason for students to get
the following Monday off.
America has deep roots in the Christian tradition,
and school and governmental calendars have
historically recognized certain religious holidays;
but the movement in recent years has been to avoid
religious expression in public life by lumping several
religious holidays into a “Winter Break.”
These changes mirror the shift in American
Ending the Publ*c life- Secularism is
recognition of becomingthe new sacred
certain religion’s ideol°gy>t0 tbe detriment of
holidays is the best positives religion can bring
Course Of action on to society?Yet ending the
the part Of public recognition of certain
officials, religion’s holidays is the
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In a tolerant, discursive society, holidays of all
faiths would be given equal consideration. But the
cold reality of the situation is that this approach
would leave a calendar with very few working
days.
Simple economics shouldn’t be advocated above
the expression of belief, but since all holidays can’t
be celebrated, those of a particular religion
Shouldn’t receive special recognition.
USC should never make students who follow
certain beliefs feel unwelcome simply by
recognizing holidays that are celebrated by a
majority of citizens.
The argument that students should get the Monday
after Easter, or the Friday before, off holds no logical
merit in a public university, despite any popularity
among some students regarding inconvenience. If
this policy were pursued by USC’s administration,
there would be no reason not to extend any other
holiday, like spring break, by a few days to allow
students to return to campus at their leisure.
Instead of implicitly recognizing religious
holidays, USC must ensure that holidays serve a
greater public purpose. Because of this, we support
USC’s decision to have class the day after Easter.
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CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS
Bush a soldier of misfortunes
Don t start something you
can’t finish.” While you and I
might have heard this expression
in learning about life when we
were young, it is becoming in
creasingly apparent that maybe
President
Bush had a dif
ferent teacher.
I generally
take talk of the
president’s sil
ver spoon
childhood and
legacy career
with a grain of JUSTIN
salt, but in one SIMMONS
aspect it is be- Third-year
coming in- political
° science student
escapable. The
president nev
er saw combat.
This wouldn’t normally pose
such an insurmountable obstacle.
Of the presidents since 1968, only
George H.W. Bush ever saw com
bat in a war. The last few decades
have seen an increase in the im
portance of domestic affairs espe
cially since the end of the Cold
War. This shift in emphasis has
brought several able administra
tors, if not soldiers, to the nation’s
highest office.
Men such as Ronald Reagan
and Bill Clinton, to be bipartisan
in example, have specialized in
communicating their agendas
rather than inspiring awe for
their heroism. Maybe this was
appropriate for the era immedi
ately following Vietnam, when
the country was recovering, and
high-profile military heroes were
in short supply. While these men
were short on military experi
ence, they were able to mitigate
this weakness by not claiming to
be the next Dwight Eisenhower.
Bush, however, is another sto
ry. With unparalleled audacity,
Bush landed on an aircraft carri
er to officially proclaim an end to
the war in Iraq. While I must ad
mit this looked pretty cool, it
calls attention to the glaring
weakness I mentioned earlier.
This might not have been a
problem if Howard Dean was the
opponent for Bush in the upcom
ing election, but instead it’s look
ing like it will be John Kerry.
Kerry has already made a living
during his campaign bringing
the president’s lack of military
experience to light. The compar
ison is not flattering for Bush, a
former member of the Air
National Guard, versus Kerry, a
decorated Vietnam veteran.
Fending off the Vietcong in the
outskirts of Dallas is looking less
and less impressive.
However, there is a bright
side, it is only one issue, and as I
mentioned before, Bush has been
able to define the debate in al
most every policy area since tak
ing office. Since the passage of
Bush’s Medicare bill, his appar
ent goal in life has been to anger
and or alienate as much of his
base as possible. Not a sound
strategy for someone as unpopu
lar with both the opposing party
and many moderates.
From immigration to high
spending and huge deficits, Bush
is turning into a fiscal liberal, mi
nus the warm-fuzzy feeling. At
least liberals raise taxes to fund
their excess spending, and
they’re generally open about
wanting to take the upper class’s
money. It’s always easier to deal
with an opponent whose agenda
you know than a friend’s whose
agenda remains a mystery.
After all this, you might think
I plan to vote Democrat. Well, not
exactly. As frustrating as it can
be sometimes, there is something
to be said for party loyalty. Will
Bush win in November? Had you
asked me that question six
months ago, I would have
laughed. Now, it’s hard to say.
Win or lose, there is one thing
you can say for ole Dubya. He’s
done an excellent job of turning
a romping into a horse race.
In Your Opinion
No reason to make
primary a holiday
USC is correct in not giving
a day off for the Democratic
primary.
Why should classes be
missed for an election of the
minority party in the state of
South Carolina? It would be
kind of like canceling classes
for Thai New Years (Songkran)
just because a few students at
USC are Thai.
The Democratic primary is
also very exclusionary because
it is only open to Democrats.
Voters must sign a pledge that
they are Democrats before they
will be allowed to vote.
So for those few hardcore
Democrats, they can simply ob
tain an absentee ballot if they
wish to vote.
JUSTIN TYE
FOURTH-YEAR CIVIL ENOIXEERIXO
STUDENT. \
Editorial ignores
non-S.C. residents
I have recently read your
staff editorial, “Give students
day off to vote.” I am appalled
by it to say the least.
The article claims, “USC
should always give students
the opportunity to vote, even if
it means canceling classes.”
Maybe if the editorial board did
a little more research he
would’ve found that many stu
dents are also not concerned
with a voting day off.
Only one opinion is ex
pressed. Shouldn't The
Gamecock express the views of
more than one group of people,
i.e. S.C. residents?
I, for one, could not care less
whether or not I have S.C. pri
mary voting day off. It's not like
I get North Carolina’s primary
voting day off.
Until the university feels
like recognizing all voting hol
idays for every state represent
ed by USC students, one partic
ular group should not be fa
vored over another.
By allowing a day off school
for S.C. voting, USC is more or
less saying that S.C. voting is
more important than educat
ing one's mind about broader
subjects. I beg to differ.
S.C.’s voting day means ab
solutely nothing to me, and I re
sent the suggestion that I spend
all this money on tuition only .
to be denied my right to learn
on account of a voting day I can
not participate in.
So before you guys decide to
print the so-called view of USC
students, why don’t you try and
collect some more facts?
WILLIAM BERRY
FIRST-YEAR HISTORY ST1RKNT
Parking should be
guaranteed in fees
I drove in heavy Columbia
traffic yesterday evening to at
tend my 5:30 p.m. accounting
class at the Coliseum. After driv
ing around, trying to find a place
to park at the meters on
Assembly Street, I went down to
the student parking area behind
the Coliseum.
To my chagrin, there were
parking attendants turning stu
dents away if they did not have
$5 to park in the parking lot that
had been reserved for an event.
Being an out-of-state, paying
student, I was outraged that the
university would make me pay
additionally to go to class! Wasn't
this already covered in tuition
and fees?
I don't know if I am the only
one who feels that this is a dis
service to the students at USC,
but I feel that this needs atten
tion. It is not OK to charge the
students for something they
should be entitled to.
MEGAN WALDREP
H’OURTII-YKAH HKTAII, MAXAIIKMKNT
STlfbKNT.
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Value of
diploma
must be
increased .
There's an idea I've been float- ™
ing to friends around campus. It
is essentially a theory, as well as
a hope I feel has potential at USC.
Despite the fun students can
have during the four or five years
of college, we're all anticipating
that diploma at the end of our
tenure. For this reason, it would
seem that all of us would want our
university to carry the greatest
amount of academic clout it can.
How does our school gain this
□ tiuui: oumc
programs with
in the universi
ty already hold
this pull —our
international
business and
engineering ~
RYAN HOLT Programs, for
, instance. But
fr the other
science student departments of
our university,
it seems that an admissions
reevaluation is necessary.
The average combined SAT
score for Gamecocks is approxi
mately 1124. The average score
for Clemson is a comfortable
1204. What does this do to the
academic rankings? U.S. News &
World Report places us at close
to 55 when it comes to the top
public schools in the country.
Clemson rests at 35.
The reasons for contrast are
clear. Despite the fact that both
USC and Clemson are state uni
versities and despite the spread
of offered degree programs, an mt
academic crevasse separates the ™
institutions and the correlation
can be found in admissions stan
dards.
I don't see why we can't raise
our admission standards to those
of Clemson..Some might just tell
me to buzz off and put in my
transfer application instead of
griping. But I just don’t think
someone should have to gradu
ate from the Honors College to
show they achieved the rigors of
academia.
From discussions I've had
with other students I know
throughout the country, the ba
sics of many mainline universi
ties are the same. The professors
are, by and large, just as quali
fied, the classes are just as hard
and the grading seems to be the
same. Therefore, the national rat
ings appear to be based primarily
on admissions.
Mv sr.hnnlmatPQ whn riiri nnt
receive more than a 1200 on their
SAT might complain that had
these standards been instituted
when they applied, they would
not be at USC today.
Personally, I was rejected by
my dream schools, likely because
of my less-than-appreciated SAT
score. But I didn't have the option
of branch schools.
The branch school system at
USC allows for students who
don't meet admission require
ments to have a chance at gain
ing the convenience of a USC
bachelor's degree. Two- and four
year branch schools throughout
the state offer classes similar to
those at the main campus and
provide the resources to transfer
to Columbia after one or two
years.
This way, USC-Columbia
keeps its high ranking, and stu
dents who didn't perform well in
high school still have the option
of receiving a degree from a now
prestigious university.
President Sorensen has im
plemented a similar plan as he
tries to bring our school into the
top 50 of public universities. I
stand fully behind him as he
makes this valiant effort and
hope for its speedy implementa
tion. A
Online.Poll Should USC students get the Monday after Easter off?
Yes 77%
“Yes, we should have
it off because it was
printed like that in
the Mortar Board.”
RONDA BADWAN
FIRST-YEAR PHARMACY STUDENT
No 12%
“No, but people who
observe that holiday
should get
permission to be off.”
TYLER EL' S
THIRD YEAR EXERCISE SCIENCE
STUDENT
Why didn’t we get the second ice day off?
11%
They started
school back and a
lot of students still
didn’t have power.”
EARNEL1 MCGHANEY
FOURTH-YEAR PSYCHOLOGY STUDENT
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