The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 29, 2004, Page 8, Image 8
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THIPKAMECOCK
EDITORIAL BOARD
EDITOR COPY DESK CHIEF
Adam Beam Gabrielle Sinclair
DESIGN DIRECTOR VIEWPOINTS EDITOR
David Stagg Wes Wolfe
NEWS EDITOR SENIOR WRITER
Michael LaForgia Kevin Fellner
THE MIX EDITOR ASST. NEWS EDITOR
Meg Moore Jon Turner
IN OUR OPINION
RHA methods
raise questions
Some questions need to be raised about the RHA Senate cut
ting funding from Carolina Television last week.
The Residence Hall Association, of which every on-campus
student is automatically a member of and pays fees to support,
has a Senate, much like the SG Senate, which passes legislation
and decides how to spend money. Last week, senators voted to
deny CTV, a student organization that produces short news
shows aired on WRHA, channel 8 on campus, a $7,500
request.
Instead, the Senate allocated
$1,100 to WRHA to replace
CTV.
Brian Wayne, representing
WRHA, cited the “lack of pro
duction from CTV in the past”
as the reason for dropping the
group’s funding. RHA Treasurer Deirdre McCabe said,
“Students don’t watch, and most of them don’t even know
what CTV is. If WRHA could produce what CTV does for less
money, it cannot help but benefit our constituents.”
We have no qualms with RHA dropping funding for CTV
on those grounds. But we do have questions concerning the
way RHA decided to cancel CTVs funding. The week before
the budget passed, the Senate voted to do away with affiliates’
and executive officers’ voting rights and discussion privileges.
Because of this, CTV was helpless to defend itself from seeing
its funding removed. The vote was close, 34-16, barely meeting
the required two-thirds majority to approve the budget. If affil
iates and executive officers had voted, the outcome might have
been different.
RHA has a right to decide how to spend its money, but it
also has an obligation to fair play. By removing affiliates’ voic
es, that fair play is in jeopardy.
RHA has a right
to decide how to
spend its money,
but it also has an
obligation to
fair play.
IT’S YOUR RIGHT \
Exercise your right to voice your opinion.
Create message boards at
www.dailygamecock.com
or send letters to the editor to
gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu
GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS
In Monday’s News, Mandy Torres’ name was misspelled.
In Monday’s The Mix, the feature on blogs should have read that “A J
School Year” is for all students in the journalism school.
The Gamecock regrets the errors.
If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us at
gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu.
ABOUT THE GAMECOCK
EDITOR
Adam Beam CONTACT INFORMATION
design director Offices on third floor of the Russell House.
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Wednesday from 3-5 p.m.
copy desk chief Editor-, gamecockeditor@gwm.sc.edu
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news editor Viewpoints: gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu
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Sports: gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu
asst, news editor Public Affairs: gamecockPR@yahoo.com
Jon Turner Online: www.dailygamecock.com
viewpoints EDITOR Newsroom: 777-7726; Sports: 777-7182
Wes Wolfe Editor's Office: 777-3914
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^ELEK^ (CKTCaWW
Voters have duty to elect good leaders
■ Bush’s foreign policy
debacles demand that
citizens pay attention
The Kerry-Edwards versus Bush
Cheney election campaign is
increasingly wearing me down. Perhaps
I sometimes take politics too much to
heart. I realize that unrealistic or even
false vote-seeking promises are
common practice in most elections.
The promises are glaringly obvious on
both sides here — from Kerry’s so
called flip-flopping to Bush’s middle
class tax break proposal that his own
administration admits cannot possibly
be paid for. Yet I am deeply worried
with 2004’s unusually aggressively
negative campaigns.
There have been less-than
honorable accusations and character
assassinations — chiefly and shamefully
from the Republican side. In addition,
the media’s relentless coverage and too
frequent questionable interferences,
such as advertisements, devaluing John
Kerry’s leadership in Vietnam and
CBS’s flawed report on George W.
Bush’s service in the National Guard
have contributed to submerging real
politics in a frenzy of spin and scandal.
These features damage the
credibility of politics and encourage
voter disillusionment.
This is incredibly frustrating for me
because I believe that the outcome of
the presidential election is vital this
year, given the extraordinarily serious
international situation. For example,
the fact that
North Korea is
awaiting the
outcome of the
election before
it negotiates
with
international
authorities over
KIM nuclear
PATRICK "eapo,ns
illustrates how
SECOND-YEAR important a
HISTORY , _ • i t c
EXCHANGE change in U.b.
STUDENT leadership could
be.
Even if you
do not believe or have no interest in
Democratic or Republican ideals or
their platforms, it is vital that you
express your approval or disapproval of
what Bush’s Republican administration
has done in the past four years.
Regardless of how much you follow
political discourse through television,
movies, radio, books, newspapers,
magazines or even within classes at
USC, you have a valid opinion on
whether America is a better place today:
opinions on being richer or poorer,
more or less equal, safer or more
threatened from domestic crime or
terrorism, admired or despised by the
outside world — by whatever criteria
matters personally to you. If you believe
that a state politician or the president
has made serious errors of judgment —
whether personally or by following the
advice of others — he or she must be
replaced. Democracy allows and
demands it.
I would be more than happy to offer
a monologue on how far I believe the
president has structurally damaged the
American economy and run it into dire
straits, or how he has embarked on an
ill-conceived “war against terrorism”
that is now manifesting itself as a “clash
of civilizations” previously unknown to
our post-Cold War generation. These
arguments are all well publicized.
Apparent good intentions and
strong, consistent leadership should
not be immediately favored when, so
far, these have created such evident
disasters in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Nearly 1,200 American troops and
civilians have died in these two
countries to date, as have around
three times as many Afghani and 10
times as many Iraqi civilians. Both
countries are now experiencing bitter
civil wars that will yield more
terrorism before democracy.
American-led action there, added to
the deadlock between Israel and
Palestine, has further destabilized the
Middle East.
I believe that the carnage evident
after only four years under Bush speaks
for itself, that the stakes are much too
high for second chances. Re
evaluation, flexibility and patience
could provide an alternative answer to
these most difficult of challenges and
responsibilities faced by America at
home and abroad.
You have a duty to your, fellow
Americans and to civilians around the
world to vote for what you believe in.
IN YOUR OPINION
• - . • • • i
Student section not
loud or intimidating
What is going on with our
student section? You know the
section where the students, the
“hardcore” Gamecock fans, are
supposed to be sitting. For the past
two home games, I have been seeing
a lot of things that are such. an
embarrassment to the true
Gamecocks fans. Instead of seeing a
sea of garnet and black, I see dots of
green, yellow, blue and (of all
colors) pink. The “Southern
debutantes” that are so hyped up
about what ESPN GameDay said
about their being so formal and
trendy are letting us down by
wearing dresses that have colors and
patterns that hurt my true USC
eyes. I see “fans” who obviously care
more about drinking, fighting and
socializing then cheering on their
team. Worst of all, there are
students who sit throughout the
entire game and don’t even cheer. Is
it because it’s not a big game? Is it
because we’re not on TV? I don’t
understand. I think a lot of USC
students need to think about why
we have a student section. You see
Tennessee, Georgia and Clemson
student sections in a plethora of the
schools’ colors. It’s intimidating and
it shows school spirit. I came to this
school because I thought that the
fans of the Gamecocks were some of
the best in the nation, and I’m
starting to have second thoughts.
For once, I want to come to a game
and get chills because I see a student
section that truly cares for the
football program and for the school.
I want to see that garnet in the day
and black at night every game. I
want everyone to be proud that they
are Gamecocks.
LAUREN SMITH
Second-year electronic
journalism student
No shame in being
young, liberal
As Election Day nears, I find
myself appalled at the number of
young people — not just at USC,
but across the country — who take
pride in calling themselves
conservatives or big Republicans.
They proudly display their W ‘04
stickers or DeMint buttons to
express their political affiliation.
In class, at lunch, in the halls 1
constantly hear students discussing
how they dislike all of the so-called
liberal media. In fact, in my English
class last semester, most of the
students utterly detested CNN
because they felt it was “liberal.”
Some girls on my floor had the
audacity to tear down my Kerry
sticker and to write obscene
messages on my board about politics
because I am “too liberal” for them.
The question that leaps to my
mind is, “What is going on?” Young
people? Afraid of being liberal?
Winston Churchill once said, “Show
me a young Conservative and I’ll show
you someone with no heart.” I believe
if he were to see the political mindset
of America’s youth at the present he
would most certainly be as aghast as I
to know there are so many people with
no hearts.
Moreover, what is wrong with
being liberal? Why do Republicans use
it as a term of condescension?
Throughout the course of history,
liberals — because they have hearts —
have always fought for the underdog
causes: abolition, women’s suffrage,
civil rights, feminism, disability rights,
aiding the poor, environmentalism.
Liberals never stopped fighting for
people and never will stop.
I take pride in being a liberal and a
feminist. Thanks to liberals of the
past, I am able to come to college,
write this letter, express my opinion,
vote in this election, make friends of
different ethnicities at this school —
all while striving for the future. And
the bad side to this is ...?
LAURA KOTTI
Second-year English student
Submission Policy
Letters to the editor should be less
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and major, if a student. E-mail letters to
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be published. Call the newsroom at 777
7726 for more information.
Freshman
sense of style
indicative
of ignorance
■ Guilty party identified
by Hollister uniforms
and exposed mid-riffs
It seems USC students are
constantly being barraged by
adversities, whether it’s the lecherous,
miscreant peeping Toms or the
demonic, damnably unacceptable
avarice, incompetence and stupidity of
□ our own beloved
Parking Services.
However, it
seems as though
this semester,
there is a new
foe, and it is
with a heavy
heart that I must
CUKI lb once ag^n cdl
CHOW all students to
arms.
FOURTH-YEAR No ;t>s not
ECONOMICS ’
STUDENT feminazis, frat
boys or the
elderly that has
me so worked
up — the new enemy is much darker
and more sinister. Born from the
ancient and unspeakable evils of boy
bands and Britney Spears, our campus
is being invaded by the teeny-boppers.
The uniform of the invading force
is easily distinguishable. The boys
invariably bear the mark of their evil
masters emblazoned across their chest
— the Vile Lord “Hollister” and the
malevolent “Abercrombie and Fitch.”
They wear their marks as badges of
honor proudly for the world to see,
often with colorful belts and pants.
They are never seen in violation of the
dress code for fear of the unspeakable
ramifications (i.e. a haircut, increased
IQ, a coherent conversation). They are
often sighted at the gym, where they
arrive in vast quantities with meager
frames to occupy the equipment in
ways that are counterproductive to
physical health, for the sole purpose of
depriving the real gym-goer the
opportunity to use the equipment.
They then mercilessly roam the
campus with inflated egos (but not
muscles), calling complete strangers
names such as “dawg” or “playa” as if
we did something to merit such a
verbal assault.
The female counterpart is likewise
easily identifiable. She is always adorned
as one who is vehemently ready to give
herself up to the sweet, sensitive guy she
just met at a sleazy club. She always
travels in a. pack (or herd — I forget
which) and talks incessantly of fashion,
MTV and other things that have the
propensity to make me want to set them
on fire (not in a violent way but in the
festive cartoony sorta way). Perhaps the
most distinguishing characteristic is the
visibility of either a mid-riff or lower
bun cheek at any given moment and
angle or perspective.
It seems as though the incoming
freshman class has decided to bring
high school with it. As delightful as
their antics can be, with them come,
unfortunately, the externalities of bad
music, pretentious and shallow terms
of endearment — and an inversely
proportional effect on my class
attendance. They stroll about campus
and interact as if everyone in the world
just walked off the set of MTV’s “Real
World” — as if it were remotely
socially acceptable to talk/dress/act like
a complete idiot. Congratulations,
you’re all tools.
I know, perhaps I’m socially inept
and don’t have a sense of what’s “cool”
and “hip” nowadays, but on the other
hand, I’d much rather be out of touch
with the mainstream than sell out to
the materialistic, idiotic brain-failure
that is idiosyncratic to the teeny-bop
culture.
Don’t get me wrong — college is
supposed to be a fun time; however, it
is more so supposed to be a time of
academic achievement and increased
maturity. Ladies, dressing like a
prostitute isn’t going to catch you a
good man. Gentlemen, acting like
you’re brain dead is bloody annoying.
Cut that crap out.
I / WINNERS AND SINNERS
PARKING SERVICES Hooray for the new parking
lot on Whaley Street.
HEALTH SERVICES Reacts quickly to meningitis
s scare with free screenings and plenty of antibiotics.
, FLORIDA STATE The Seminoles put one more nail
in Tommy Bowden's coffin and send Clemson to a 1-3
record.
%
SODEXHO Almost four weeks after the GMP gets a C
health rating, the Bates Carolina Diner gets slapped with a
C rating.
DEMINT STAFFER u.s . Senate candidate’s director of
operations reprimanded for making derogatory comments
about lesbians in an e-mail.
NORTH KOREA Stalinist nation announces it has
capabilities to make nuclear weapons. - >