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Tt AMECOCK
EDITORIAL BOARD
EDITOR
Adam Beam
DESIGN DIRECTOR
David Stagg
NEWS EDITOR
Michael LaForgia
THE MIX EDITOR
Meg Moore
COPY DESK CHIEF
Gabrielle Sinclair
VIEWPOINTS EDITOR
Wes Wolfe
SENIOR WRITER
Kevin Fellner
ASST. NEWS EDITOR
Jon Turner
IN OUR OPINION
At-risk students
should get vaccine
When Chiron Corp. withheld its normal shipment of flu vac
cines, it meant America would have half as many vaccines this
flu season but twice as many news articles. While journalists
were scrambling to find new angles on the “flu crisis,” USC
faced a more serious prospect: not having any flu vaccines for
students and faculty members until midway through flu season.
Because USC is a smaller community than, say, Columbia, it
got its flu vaccine from one company.
But what looked like a potentially bad flu season hasn’t
materialized. Thomson Student
If you usually Health Center officials
SUff6r from flu-lik6 announced they had received
symptoms this time 500 flu shots lvlM>le only „
„ , , “high risk” students. They
your flu shot. .... ,
didn t even allow faculty mem
bers to receive the shots until students had had a chance to
claim them.
But out of 500 vaccines, only 40 students showed up.
Apparently students — even those who are labeled “high risk”
i i • t 1*111 1 1 1 1 C 1
-uoii i care ciiuugii auuui men iicaiui ui me ue<um ui muse
around them to receive a flu shot. And since the health center
has opened the shots to faculty members, more professors have
come in than students.
This is remarkable and disappointing. In the middle of a
nationwide flu shortage, USC health officials come up with 500
vaccines — and they let students have first choice — but stu
dents, apathetic, have ignored the offer and are going about
their business.
If you usually suffer from flu-like symptoms this time of year,
then go to the health center and get your flu shot.
Don’t walk around campus like a ticking time bomb until
you get sick. Take advantage of what health officials have done
for you and pay the $5 (or $10 if you haven’t paid your student
health fee) to protect yourself and others.
IT’S YOUR RIGHT
Exercise your right to voice your opinic
Create message boards at
www.daiiygamecock.com
or send letters to the editor to A
gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu s
GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS
In Wednesday’s Viewpoints staff box, Garen Cansler should have been listed
as the production manager and Breanna Evans should have been listed as part
of the advertising staff.
The Gamecock regrets the errors.
If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us at
gamecoqkopinions@gwm.sc.edu.
ABOUT THE GAMECOCK
Adam Beam
DESIGN DIRECTOR
David Stagg
COPY DESK CHIEF
Gabrielle Sinclair
NEWS EDITOR
Michael LaForgia
ASST. NEWS EDITOR
Jon Turner
VIEWPOINTS EDITOR
Wes Wolfe
THE MIX EDITOR
Meg Moore
SPORTS EDITOR
Jonathan Hillyard
ASST. SPORTS EDITOR
Daniel Kerr
SENIOR WRITER
Kevin Fellner
PHOTO EDITOR
Jason Steelman
SPORTS PHOTO EDITOR
Katie Kirkland
PAGE DESIGNERS
Erin Cline, Jennifer
Logan, Chas McCarthy,
Jessica Ann Nielsen,
Staci Jordan
COPY EDITORS
Jennifer Freeman,
Anna Huntley, Daniel
Regenscheit, Jason
Reynolds, Jennifer
Sitkowski, Shana Till,
Steven Van Haren, Joey
Wallace
ONLINE EDITOR
E.B. Davis
PUBLIC AFFAIRS
Jane Fielden, Katie Miles
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CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS
Great art comes from great suffering
■ Hopefully creative
dissent will make return
after Bush’s re-election
As a black artist, I’m doubly excited
about Bush’s victory. I don’t lament it;
I celebrate it. Artists will create art of
resistance — works critiquing war and
the weapons of mass destruction all
over America: uneducated youth, the
homeless, homophobic senators, the
uninsured and a religious right that
straightjackets Jesus. Black people and
other marginalized groups will
mobilize and create grassroots
organizations to help the uninsured,
the homeless and educate the
uneducated about how to proselytize
to the religious right and its
homophobic and sexist senators.
In the next four years, we can prove
that we are true Americans hell-bent
on democracy — the kind that
encourages and protects our right to
resist loudly and boldly. The next four
years is a stretch of possibility
unfolding before us and it started last
week when most of our fellow citizens
went red out of fear — fear that
America is becoming too immoral, too
decadent and too vulnerable to
imminent threats, foreign and
domestic.
In times like these, we draw
strength, encouragement and
guidance from movements, literature
and art of the past. Remember the
Boston tea party. Remember Harriet
Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s
I Cabin.”
Remember the
sit-ins and
protests of the
Civil Rights
era. Remember
Pete Seeger’s
seminal “We
- Shall Over
KEVIN come'” ,Re
SIMMONDS T vJo"'
athan Kozol s
GRADUATE novel “Amazing
STUDENTIN r r , „
THE SCHOOL Grace
OF MUSIC chronicling the
effects of racism
and poverty on
our children. Remember Lauryn Hill’s
“Rebel,” written in response to the
1999 NYPD murder of Amadou
Diallo.
Corruption and hubris will always
be in large supply in American politics.
The next four years promises to be
polarizing (unless, of course, another
tragedy like 9/11 is visited upon us and
we’re forced to cling to each other in
fear).
What we’ve got to realize is that the
community we live in is a microcosm
of the nation and that whatever we
allow in our communities will spread.
What do we, as students, allow to
happen on campus? Do we think twice
about the homeless people we see on
the outskirts of campus (USC police
does a stellar job of keeping them out
of our way)? Can we do more than
build a Habitat for Humanity house
on Greene Street? If you’re a black or
Hispanic student frustrated that none
of your professors look like you, what
are you doing about it? If you’re a
South Carolina resident, what do you
think about such an expensive public
education?
Truth be told, if we really took a
good look at USC and considered it a
microcosm of America, we would be
scared — or should be scared. Really
sc^fed. There’s enough student and
faculty apathy to write a million blank
checks to the administration of this
university. I hear lots of bellyaching
about parking increases, mandatory
health insurance (I got another e-mail
about this the other day), a lack of
racial diversity in the faculty, and the
desperate need of diversity and
sensitivity training for USC cops,
faculty and other staff. That’s just for
starters.
Where does one begin? Begin
wherever you can and wherever you
are.
There are quiet beginnings and
quiet movements on this campus. Let
me share one with you. A visionary
senior at the School of Music decided
to send a letter to faculty of color
throughout the nation. You see, the
School of Music is looking for a new
dean and this student realizes that
USC needs more diversity. He’s doing
his part to make sure that the pool of
applicants is diverse. And there are
other students who want to make sure
that those applicants are given full
consideration. That’s resistance. That’s
art.
IN YOUR OPINION
Majority dominates
country’s morality
I am a liberal, and I am still angry
about the election, but it has nothing
to do with the party I support. I am
upset that the American people are
so miseducated that they
misunderstand the ideals of the
American system of democracy.
When our founding fathers first
created the Constitution that defined
our democratic system, they had
hoped to control the power of
faction, to prevent an overwhelming
majority from oppressing the
minority. The right-wing Christian
conservative majority of the
mobilized electorate has seen fit to
vote for a president upon the premise
of their own Christian moral values.
It is their “god given” right to vote,
but not to force narrow interests on
the minority by voting public
interest out of the administration’s
agenda.
The minority has a right to be
angry that we have a right-wing
president, right-wing House and
Senate majorities and an incredibly
right-wing “conservative” agenda
that ignores the needs of the
minority and caters to Christian
morals. The minority has a right to
be upset that while they cannot
afford good health insurance, cannot
breathe clean air or play in clean
water, the administration of this
country now believes that banning
abortion, stem cell research and gay
marriage are the issues this country
should focus on to promote the
greater good. They have a right to be
angry that while the conservative
right condemns the government
having control of health insurance so
that we can provide coverage to the
less fortunate, they are happy to let
the government write legislation
controlling our conscious moral
decision about our bodies and our
life partner’s sexual preference.
Were those people who voted for
morals thinking of the common
good of the American people? Or
were they thinking they would save
our country from the eternal
damnation it would face if they
didn’t use their narrow interests to
control the conscious moral decisions
the American people make about
their own lives, minds and bodies?
BRANDY ARMSTRONG
Graduate student in the
College of Science and
Mathematics
Bemoaning election
results a voter’s right
I’m so freaking tired of right
wing conservatives telling me that
I’m supposed to shut up about the
election that occurred just eight
days ago.
First of all, 1 voted, damn it, and
it’s my right to complain as an
American, especially when the
person I feel is better qualified, the
person I voted for, doesn’t win. I
could be wrong, but I think it’s my
right under the Constitution to do
this, so I will, thanks. Besides, most
of us “crazy hippie liberals” have
been focused on this election for the
last two years — so excuse me if we
are a litde upset and a little tired of
the conservative crap you guys keep
putting out there. Especially, when
all the Republicans keep saying is the
election is a win for morality.
Seriously, you have got to be
kidding me. I’m so tired of you Fox
News-watching, Bill O’Reilly-loving,
Confederate flag-flying, homophobic
DeMint advocates talking to me
about “morals." If that is how you
would like to define morals, then I
think I’ll choose to keep my crazy
liberal rhetoric on equality and
fairness all to myself.
While I’m on the topic of Bush
winning, I would also like to point
out that Bush won by the smallest
margin any incumbent president
during wartime — at least us
Democrats can take pride in that.
So listen all you Kerry-Edwards
haters, we will get over the devastating
election — and in fact we are
accepting it every day — I mean come
on, do you see us rioting in the streets?
No. Are we blowing up buildings?
Nope. Instead, we’ve decided to let
your punishment be Bush’s legacy. It
will indeed affect you just as much as
it affects everyone else.
Unfortunately, those of us who
voted for Kerry have to suffer through
the loss of jobs, slumping economy and
a growing gap between the rich and
poor, right along with you. For that, I
will be eternally grateful.
JENNIFER DE VITA
Fourth-year sociology student
The Gamecock
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for an
editorial
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g
Creation
ideas need
to evolve in
Wisconsin
m School to let students
make natural selection
on beginnings of life
A Wisconsin town just approved the
teaching of creationism in its schools, and
damn it, I couldn’t agree more with this
decision. The cheese heads might actually
□ DC Dll lO
something, but
pulling off this
tricky balancing
act will be harder
than the
Lambeau Leap.
Science classes
“should not be
totally inclusive
STEVEN of just one
VAN scientific theory,”
HAREN superintendent
Joni Burgen said
SKl in a CNN news
ENGINEERING stoty. Good.
STUDENT ~ xy
Great. Now we re
on the right
track. Moses versus the monkeys. Darwin
versus Deuteronomy. And in the middle,
a bunch of students more concerned
about the evolution of their voices, chests
and ever-advancing body hair.
It’s like a trial. The students are the
jury. In this comer, representing God,
Buddha, Allah, Jehovah, Twista and
Aaliyah: a lifetime of pastors and
preachers. In this corner, representing
Darwin: a meek biology teacher.
These days, evolution is the norm in
public schools. But go back to 1925,
when science teacher John Scopes was
fired for teaching evolution and
prosecuted in the infamous monkey
trial,” and you’ll see the situation in
reverse. God was in, and evolution was so
66 years ago. Scopes was vilified, strung
up by his suspenders and declared a
surefire candidate for hell.
Not to be outdone, this Wisconsin
school board got protest letters from
educators and deans at the state’s public
universities.
The Bible bangers got it all wrong in
1925, and the hard-nosed scientists
outside of this Wisconsin town have it all
wrong now. Let’s give the kids a chance
to make up their own minds.
This is not a ringing endorsement of
any particular religion in public schools.
How the hell would that work? Yes, upon
completion of the curriculum, a plucky
11-year-old boy decides that creationism
makes the most sense. Upon further
deliberation, he decides Allah is the
creator of the universe because God foiled
his" cellular division test in deity school.
Come on. This is not (and sure as hell
shouldn’t be) “God versus evolution.”
This is “creationism versus evolution.”
Any prodding from school officials that
“God is better than Jehovah at
stoichiometric chemical equations”
would cross the line.
Here’s where Burgen will have a tricky
time: execution of the curriculum. Let’s
_ i:, I..k—c»
Witness, a Native American, a Buddhist
and a Scientologist sitting innocently in a
Wisconsin classroom. And let’s say a
biology teacher has ro make his case. He’s
got evolution down pat because he’s got
one primary source on which to draw.
Then he looks at a stack of religious
texts a mile high. Will the school board
make him explain all of them, or will they
ordain one particular text as the
“teachable” one? We can guess which one
they’ll pick. It’s a slippery slope, with lots
of angry Native American, Buddhist and
Scientologist parents at the bottom of
that slope.
If they want to open this floodgate,
which I support if implemented properly,
they need to be prepared to answer the
tough questions with actual science, not a
verse from Genesis. When a kid shouts,
“Hey, we didn’t evolve from mud or
monkeys!,” that teacher needs to get his
fingers dirty, dish Darwin’s theories and
rid the kid of stereotyped notions.
Conversely, when a kid asks,
“Where’s Noah’s ark?” that teacher needs
__i c_i_.u. i——.
about expeditions to Turkey’s Mount
Ararat. Any person can make Darwinism
or Genesis sound like a Tolkien acid trip.
Just gimme some science.
.. .... —-!-——m-1
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