The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 22, 2004, Page 9, Image 9
«
^ THE GAMECOCK ♦ Monday, March 22, 2004 9
« .. n .. “Itlfpary to think that just one
Unlme.r iflinolShcident could put us out
Should Spain have withdrawn of business forever.”
its troops from Iraq following STEPHEN WAfcDON
the Madrid bombings? first-year electronic journalism student
www dailvsamecock com and wusc disc jockey on the impmUIuew i
www.aauygamecocK.com. fcc regulations could have on
Results published on Fridays. independent stations
_::;
In.our.opinion
Race still an
issue at USC
The reaction of Zeta Tau Alpha to the actions of
Tim Tice at the March 2 Big Man on Campus fund
raiser shows a desire by the sorority to make things
right, but also underlines the work that yet remains
to be done on race relations at USC.
ZTA was in many ways blindsided by Tice’s
performance, and it was impressive that it issued an
apology within hours of the event. The sorority is
correct to suspend the fund-raiser until it decides
how to modify the event in a way that ensures it has
control over the content.
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XX UlliV/UXiJ J X XVsVs O UV/IIU1IO
are similar to the Jackson
debacle in that the
organizations left picking
up the pieces never saw the
catastrophe coming, but
nonetheless should have had measures m place to
guard against “free speech.” .
The university has also acted in a timely manner
in appointing Michael Goodwin to the Office of Greek
Life, but the move cannot be viewed as anything
other than a stopgap measure that was belated at
best. If the administration is serious about
improving relations between black and white
Greeks, they will make it a goal to name a permanent
minority staff member by fall rush.
The legislation pending in the Residence Hall
Association senate that encourages fraternities and
sororities to cross the racial barrier is good from a
^purely symbolic view, but if we want real systemic
change there must be far more specifics on
cooperation between whites and blacks.
This is something Student Government must
tackle, keeping in mind that legislation won’t change
the hearts of people on campus, but making a
statement that ignorance will not be tolerated is the
necessary first step.
Carolina must acknowledge the most malevolent
cancer is the self-segregation many of us implicitly
endorse by our limited associations.
I---~ ----*-1
it we want real
systemic change
there must be far
^ more specifics on
cooperation between
whites and blacks.
SOUND OFF
Create message boards at
www.dallygamecock.com
or send letters to the editor to
gamecockoplnlons@gwm.sc.edu
Gamecock.Corrections
A story in Wednesday’s news section should have said that the
RHA senate meets in Calcott.
The Gamecock regrets the error.
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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«
BUNCH T
(w >
CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS
Teachers live in own world
There’s something about
teaching a class that just makes a
professor go insane. I don’t mean
insane in the certifiable, Jack
Nicholson in “The Shining," be
long down on
rtuii street
kind of insane.
That would
actually be
pretty fun (mi
nus the eleva
tors full of
blood, but USC
elevators get
stuck so often,
I’m sure that
we’d never ac
tually see the
Diooaj.
I’m talking about a different
kind of crazy. I don’t know quite
how it works, but when they
stand up there in front of the
class, chalk in hand (and on then
back, front and sleeves), profes
sors enter some sort of alternate
universe which we mere students
cannot understand. Not that we
want to understand, mind you,
but professors seem to think so.
For starters, as soon as a fac
ulty member stands up in front
of a group of students, he imme
diately thinks that they care
about what he has to say. All of a
sudden, the years he spent doing
crossword puzzles, reading
Cosmo, and passing notes that
said “Do you like my tweed jack
et with elbow patches? Check yes
or no.” during class disappear,
replaced with fuzzy memories of
being an attentive student who
stayed after class to help the
teacher get the chalk off her
dress. This never actually hap
pened, but professors firmly be
lieve that it did, and thus expect
us to pay more attention than
they ever did.
But it’s not just that they think
we care. It’s that they think we’re
obligated to care. Professors get
mad when we don’t come to class,
don’t turn in papers and don’t
participate in class discussion.
We’re already paying thou
sands of dollars every year to
earn a second-rate. South
Carolina low-level higher educa
tion, and our professors think
they’ve been insulted when we
don’t show up to class?
Shouldn’t I get to choose how
much I get out of the federal gov
emment’s/my parents/some guy
named Pell’s money? If I were a
professor, I would take less class
discussion as a sign that more
students are improving their vo
cabulary through the New York
Times crossword puzzle or The
State’s bridge column, and leave
it at that.
But participation, attendance,
punctuality and actually doing
work aside, the teacher/student
disconnect is nowhere more vast
than in the area of time manage
ment. And I don’t mean because
they expect us to do homework in
advance (news flash: we don’t), but
because they think every last sin
gle second of class time is vital.
Seriously, how many times
have you had a professor start
teaching new material with five
minutes left in class? And then
they always get confused when,
for some reason, they don’t man
age to fit 40 minutes of lecture
into the 9:50-9:55 block of time.
At this point, even the people
doing the crossword puzzle are
bored enough to have packed up,
but the professor is always des
perate to get that last chalk
smudge on his face before going
back to his office and falling
asleep.
Not that I’m saying that the
only thing professor’s do in their
offices is fall asleep. I-’m sure they
get the New York Times for free,
too. And that crossword puzzle is
hard enough that it takes a Ph.D.
to finish it.
GRAHAM
CULBERTSON
Third-year
English
student
In.your.opinion
St. Pat’s festival
doesn’t give back
I wanted to write to you to
clear up a mistake in your ar
ticle, “St. Patrick’s festival
comes to Five Points,” in
Wednesday’s paper.
The charity group that cre
ated, organized and ran the
event for free for 20 years is
not holding an event on April
12 — that was last year. This
would be the second, not 22nd
year that the Five Points
Association has organized a .
St. Patrick's festival (using
just over a half-million in tax
dollars from the city.)
I am confused how they say
it is their 22nd annual event
lnni .. A il. A.T Uinl
they had no rainy day money,
as they just begun. They used
that excuse to get $3,000 in ac
commodations money, an ad
ditional $50,000 for bail out
money and over $450,000 from
the restaurant tax this year.
Of course, they also fleeced
over $200,000 away from the
charities from the 2001 and
2002 festivals. Of course they
say they will give money to
charity (fictions it might be,
since they can’t offer even one
specific charity), if there is
any money left over after ex
penses and after they establish
a rainy day fund (I thought
they got $50,000 from the city
for that?).
With all of this money
slushing, I mean sloshing,
around, couldn’t they at least
guarantee a portion of the pro
ceeds go to charity?
Maybe they can scrape the
bottom of the fountain and
give that money away.
JOHN CLAYTON
FOURTH-YEAR HISTORY STUDENT
Fraternity should
protest all raoism
While I was at a movie the
ater Friday night, a preview
for a movie titled “White
Chicks” came on. It depicted
the humorous antics of two
black men, played by the
Wayans brothers, as they
dress ud like unoer-middle
class white women.
As everyone in the theater
laughed and enjoyed the com
edy on screen, I finally began
to gain some perspective on
the stance that Kappa Alpha
Psi and its president Rodney
Hollis has been taking.
If Kappa Alpha Psi is not al
ready up in arms against this
movie “White Chicks,” I’m
sure they will be as soon as
they’re done with their list of
demands. They’re taking a no
ble stand in trying to crush
this use of race bending for the
sake of humor.
Personally, I expect them to
do nothing less than lead a
campus-wide boycott of this
movie and Columbia Studio
until the callousness of the
movie’s subject matter is real
ized and apologized for.
I’m so thankful that Kappa
Alpha Psi has made me realize
that race-bending is unaccept
able under all circumstances,
and I hope to see strides taken
by this organization to open the
eyes of the rest of the USC stu
dent body on the damage done
from presentations such as
“White Chicks.”
JONATHAN WOOTEN
SECOND-YEAR CHEMISTRY STUDENT
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number, professional title or year and
major, if a student. E-mail letters to
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and style. Anonymous letters will not be
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WWW.
dailygamecock
.com
Because news still
happens on
Tuesdays &
Thursdays.
Now updated five
days a week.
Time is
now to
examine
racism
A recent Zeta Tau Alpha fund
raiser has sparked heated feelings
at USC. There appear to be two
camps — one who thinks people
are blowing the situation out of
proportion and feel that the fund
raiser’s cause
3UUU1U UC UCJU
above all else,
and the other
camp, which
does not debate
the goal of the
fund-raising
AA11CA Kill IK A
DUSTIN LEE culture here at
™ . . USC that ac
Third-year . . ,
history cepts racial
student degradation.
I have spo
ken with people on both sides of
the issue who were directly in
volved with the incident in some
facet. The minority community is
upset primarily about the follow
ing: If no minority students had
been present at the show, would
anyone have even been offended?
Unfortunately, the black commu
nity is probably correct in their
assumption that the answer
would be “no.”
Blackface is a degrading thing
in black history in the United
States — see D.W. Griffith’s “The
Birth of a Nation.” This film will
explain what minstrel shows
were and how blackface has tra
ditionally been used to degrade
blacks and promote racial stereo
types.
The imminent white response
has been, if black people would
have painted their faces white,
would it have been a big deal?
Probably not, simply because
there is not more than a century
of degradation and racism asso
ciated with blacks painting their
faces white.
The black community has had
to deal with a dominant culture
at USC that is so tied in with
racism and stereotypes that it
does not even recognize when
something is offensive. The ma
jority accepts that they are cor
rect, and feels it absurd that any
one could be offended by such
things as blackface, or other sym
bols traditionally used in a
derogatory fashion. Racism exists
in every facet of American soci
ety. Tim Tice has a constitution
al right to do his act, but the scary
thing is the general cultural ac
ceptance of his actions.
Some argue that ZTA’s cause
_i_..i j 1_1_i j _ l__l_
ouvuiu uc uv.xu uuu v x, uxx ciox.
Ignoring a problem does not make
a problem go away; it actually
breeds more contempt on one
side, and acceptance on the oth
er. Though this analogy will re
ceive criticism from many, I feel it
is necessary: The Ku Klux Klan
had a cause that they believed
righteous, and in their minds
burnings, beatings and the like
were unfortunate side effects of
achieving this cause.
In the 1960s, the KKK burned
my grandparents’ store in a small
South Carolina town because my
grandparents felt the need to help
black people. The Klan took this
as a simple side effect of achiev
ing their mission and goal, while
my family felt the obvious impli
cations and damages.
Though ZTA’s cause is not a
controversial issue such as the
goal of the Klan, saying an inci
dent should be ignored because it
helps achieve a larger goal is
naive. America is a great country,
but the fact is, inequality still ex
ists, and injustices must be cor
rected. USC is not alone in deal
ing with these issues of inequali
ty. This goes deeper, into the very
socialization of Americans and
the values they are taught. It is
hard to imagine what a minority
student feels like until one has to
live in his or her shoes for a day.
f College.Quote.Board
THE GOOD FIVE CENT CIGAR
I'NIVEBSltV OF RHODE IKUND
"In pi United States, we debate the decision to go to war on a
1^^ dailjfbasis and it is one year later. When we discuss what has
come out of the way, the reason that we were given by our gov
emmlft is lost in the sensationalism of capturing a fallen leader
and hidden under a veil of aggressive patriotism akin to the same
impulses that drove the Sedition Act.”
NORTHERN STAR
NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
“Drivers and passengers of DVD-equipped cars no longer are just
playing movies to keep children occupied. They’re playing pom for
all the surrounding cars to see. It’s distracting to the driver and also for
people passing by who can see it through the windows. If car manu
facturers are going to continue adding televisions and DVD players to
their vehicles, new regulations need to be made so the driver and any
one outside the vehicle cannot see the televisions.”
’’* * * courtesy of u wir^