The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 17, 2004, Image 1
urww.dailygmnecock.com _WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17,2004'M£5£
IN THIS ISSUE
♦ NEWS
} Rice replaces
Powell
Bush selects
Condoleezza Rice to
replace Colin Powell as
Secretary of State.
Page 7
♦ VIEWPOINTS
Mind your
manners in
the restroom
Curtis Chow explains
that the rules of the
toilet may be more
complicated than you
once thought.
Page 11
p,* THE MIX
' Saving every
penny
In a season that
celebrates spending,
students struggle to
budget for holiday
expenses. w
Page 12 m
♦ SPORTS
3 days and
counting
The Gamecock Sports
staff counts down to
Saturday’s showdown
with USC’s hated rival,
the Clemson Tigers.
Page 15
WEATHER
♦ TODAY I ♦THURSDAY
□ [ , 1
High 68 High 71
Low 46 Low 54
TOR EXTENDED FORECAST, SEE PAGE 2.
INDEX
Comics and Crossword.14
Classifieds.19
Horoscopes.14
Letters to the Editor.11
Online Poll.11
Polj#e Report.^
Racist, sexist graffiti
found in Moore hall
By TAYLOR SMITH
STAFF WRITER
Students of Moore residence hall
awoke Sunday morning to find the
fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh floors of
the freshman dorm vandalized with
racist and sexist remarks written on
doors and walls.
Immediately after the incident was
discovered, university police reported to
the scene and the markings/depictions
were cleaned by cleaning crews that.
“I was appalled at some of the stuff I
read,” said Rob Kilareski, a first-year
business student and RHA senator for
the dorm.
“I would like to know who did it and
they need to be punished legally and
through the school.”
The markings that were written across
the walls were characterized by witnesses
as racial and sexist slurs and included
some graphic depictions of reproductive
organs.
“I don’t think they were targeting any
group of people,” Kilareski said. “They
were just defacing school property and
attacking groups in general.
Housing Director Gene Luna could
not be reached for comment. Several
other USC officials did not return phone
calls.
Comments on this story? E-mail
gamecockneirMgwm.se. edu
CHARLIE DAVENPORT/THE GAMECOCK
Second-year education student Ashley Brite donates blood Tuesday. While the drive had its largest first
day participation ever, many students can’t give blood because they fail to meet requirments.
Some students turned away
from record-setting drive
By TAYLOR SMITH
STAFF WRITER
After recording the largest first day of
blood donations in the history of the .
Carolina-Clemson Blood Drive, some
USC students are having trouble with
the health requirement for donations.
“It is very important that the criteria
is followed to monitor the blood supply
before it goes to testing and then goes to
hospitals,” said Cheryl Austin, donor
recruiter for the S.C. Blood Region
Office. “We provide the information
beforehand to try and screen people.”
The requirements for blood donation
to the American Red Cross include
numerous items such as being older than
17 and not being pregnant or nursing.
Certain criteria though, are keeping
more students away from the blood
drive. Question 14 on the Rlood
Donation form states: “Are you a male,
who has had sex, even once, with
'another male since 1977?”
“Gay men are perceived to be a high
risk demographic and that is
misunderstood,” said Student
Government President Zachery Scott,
who is gay. “Because they don’t want a
case where infected blood is donated and
might miss the screen, but that means
that it should just be strengthened.”
Scott argues that such a criterion
reinforces the stereotype that AIDS is a
gay disease.
The question is actually part of an
♦ Please see BLOOD, page 7
Web site defends sociology
■ Professor slams
school of thoughtfor
unwarranted bias
By RYAN JAMES
THE GAMECOCK
Mathieu Deflem, an assistant
professor of sociology at USC, has
created a Web site speaking out against
what he calls “an attack on sociology as
an academic discipline.”
Public sociology is a field of study
that the American Sociological
Association saysj'“defines, promotes and
informs public debate on class and racial
inequalities, new gendef regimes,
environmental degradation,
multiculturalism, technological
revolutions, market fundamentalism,
and state and non-state violence.” It’s
also a term Deflem claims limits
sociology to a few narrow areas of study
and does not account for the complex
applications it has in the real world.
A lea3ing opponent of political
activism in sociology, Deflem argues
that sociology is a science that should
strive toward a goal of universal
knowledge instead of participation in
partisan politics.
“Political issues cannot be a
foundation for sociology,” Deflem said.
He’s concerned that public sociology has
infused an inherently academic field
with divisive and subjective viewpoints
and was popularized by figures such as
Karl Marx.
Deflem criticizes the ASA for taking
stances on political issues such as. gay
marriage and the war in Iraq. He said the
Association’s stated opposition to the
war in Iraq is “not useful” and has a
“negative impact on sociology.” He says
that taking such stances “narrows the
scope of sociological discussion” because
it alienates sociologists with opposing
political views. Politics and sociology
have a close relationship, he says, but the
purpose of sociology is merely to
♦ Please see WEB SITE, p^e 4
CLUB RA
' DAVID STAGG/THE GAMECOCK
The former Crocodile Rocks, soon to be Club Ra, is scheduled to
open next month.
Vista piano bar
to reopen as Ra
■ Crocodile Rocks
owners reinvent bar
as Vegas-style club
By KRISTI LAUBE
THE GAMECOCK
Crocodile Rocks, which has closed
after four years as a dueling-pianos
nightclub, will return in December as
the Egyptian-themed Club Ra.
1 he club will combine Las Vegas
style with Myrtle Beach’s relaxing
atmosphere, club owners said. The
new club will include three levels of
stages, VIP booths on a balcony and a
large golden statue of a pharaoh.
A little more than four years after
opening the club, owners decided to
close Crocodile Rocks in favor of a
new concept. The owners teamed up
with Robert Hills, a Myrtle Beach club
owner, to create a new dance club in
Columbia.
Hills said he wants to open Club Ra
in a little more than a month, a quick
time span considering the amount of
renovations that need to be done.
“They are hoping to open Club Ra
a few weeks before New Year’s,” said
Amanda Klicka, assistant manager for
Crocodile Rocks. “The idea is to get
customers used to the new club in time
for New Year’s Eve, which is a big
night for a club.”
New ownership meant a lot of
changes for the Crocodile Rocks staff.
Crocodile Rocks employees learned
the club would be closing Oct. 13, just
four days before it was to close.
“We were all in shock,” Klicka said.
“I am sad because that’s where I met all
my friends and worked wjth them
every weekend.”
A four-day notice is not a lot of
time to save up money and figure out
what to do next, employees said.
Hours before Crocodile Rocks’ closing
was announced to the public, an
employee meeting was held to let
everyone know what was going on.
“We knew something was going on,
but we didn’t expect to be closing in
four days,” said Jon Howell, a Crocodile
Rocks employee. “It definitely caught all
of us off guard, considering our
managers didn’t even know.”
Crocodile Rocks opened May 17,
♦ Please see CLUB RAH, page 4
SG senator wants
parking fines on VIP
By THOMAS CHANDLER
THE GAMECOCK
Student Government passed nearly
unanimously legislation for a new,
electronic ticket notification plan
Wednesday.
The proposed system would use VIP
technology to alert students of the
parking tickets they have received.
Student Sen. Tommy Preston said
students’ nightmares of returning to a
car-shaped mound of little yellow tickets
might not be entirely unfounded.
l i
' Besides issuing a paper ticket,
legislation author Tommy Preston
explained, Parking Services does not
notify students of fines, making it easy for
enormous fines to accumulate as
forgotten or lost tickets go unpaid.
When told about the system, second
year student Payton Foust, who keeps a
car on campus, said, “Fve always thought
about if someone took the ticket off of
your car you’d be out of luck, you need a
way of knowing if you’re being fined.”
♦ Please see PARKING, page 4
JASON STEELMAN/THE GAMECOCK
A car on Pendeleton Street s«en with a ticket for an expired meter. ^
Student Government wants Students to be notified of fines online.