Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

ONLINE POLL Will the football team beat p lt Clemson this year? Goto rage 11 www.dailygamecock.com to Wednesday, vote. Results posted Friday. 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 Field expansion good for USC community Instructions for predicting student reactions to administrative decisions: Take decision, add effects on parking. Mix. This recipe usually gives students a sour taste, and that’s unrea sonable. It seems whenever USC announces anything having to do with money, the response from students is always the same: “Take the money and spend it on parking.” That was the complaint when West Quad and the Strom Thurmond Wellness & Fitness Center were built. Students also grumbled when officials announced plans to build the research campus because it eliminated an abandoned Hardee’s that students Covering every empty space with asphalt is not the answer and would do little to attract students to USC. couia use as a parKing lot. /mo it will undoubtedly be the response when the Board of Trustees approves $3.1 million to build three soccer-sized athletic fields and renovates the walkway from Bates House to Wheat Street. Students need to realize that the parking problem is never going away. The fact is that USC has twice as many people park ing as there are spots available. The best solution is to find a spot — wherever you can — and use the shuttle system or walk. Covering every empty space with asphalt is not the answer and would do little to attract students to Carolina. Students need these athletic fields. There are only three that students can use now, and the marching band uses one for prac tice during the week. If you walk by the fields any night, they are filled with flag football teams, pick-up soccer games and Frisbees. Building the fields by the Wellness Center makes sense, and it’s a good move for the university. However, there are some questions regarding the money. Officials report the money comes from “the budget.” But this is vague. USC cannot just pull $3.1 million from its budget. Students need to know how their money, and S.C. taxpayers’ money, is being spent. Just tell us where you got it and how you can spend it without going under. That is the kind of question students should be asking officials instead of reverting to the standard parking complaint. 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 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 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 EOITOR E.B. Davis PUBLIC AFFAIRS Jane Fielden, Katie Miles TO PLACE AN AD The Gamecock Advertising: 777-3888 1400 Greene St. Classified: 777-1184 # Columbia, S.C. 29208 ^ Fax: 777-6482 CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. The Editor's office hours are Monday and Wednesday from 3-5 p.m. Editor: gamecockedi*tor@gwm.sc.edu News: gamecocknews@gwm.sc.edu Viewpoints: gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu The Mix: gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu Sports: gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu Public Affairs: gamecockPR@yahoo.com Online: www.dailygamecock.com Newsroom: 777-7726; Sports: 777-7182 Editor’s Office: 777-3914 STUDENT MEDIA DIRECTOR Scott Lindenberg FACULTY ADVISER Erik Collins CREATIVE DIRECTOR Susan King BUSINESS MANAGER Carolyn Griffin ADVERTISING MANAGER Sarah Scarborough CLASSIFIED MANAGER Sherry F. Holmes PRODUCTION MANAGER Garen Cansler CREATIVE SERVICES Burke Lauderdale, Chelsea Felder, Laura Gough, Joseph Dannelly, Kristen Williams ADVERTISING STAFF Robert Carli, Breanna Evans, Ryan Gorman, Caroline Love, Jesica Johnson. Katie Steohens The Gamecock is the editorially independent student newspaper of the University of South Carolina. It is published Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the fall and spring semesters and nine times during the summer, with the exception of university holidays and exam periods. Opinions expressed in The Gamecock are those of the editors or author and not those of the University of South Carolina. The Board of Student Publications and Communications is the publisher of The Gamecock. The Department of Student Media is the newspaper’s parent organization. The Gamecock is supported in part by student-activity fees. One free copy per reader. Additional copies may be purchased for $1 each from the Department of Student Media. «C|C.-r- c«f«pvs CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS Mass media whitewash PLO leader ■ Recently deceased Arafat spearheaded modern terror tactics The mainstream media — one of Yasser Arafat’s biggest fans — have responded to his death by sanitizing his life and career, portraying him as the noble leader of the Palestinian people whose one dream in life was to see them living peacefully next door to the Israelis in their own state. Unfortunately, this could not be further from the truth. Yasser Arafat was a terrorist, plain and simple. He was little more than a legitimized Osama bin Laden, and any attempt to portray him as anything else is a lie. In fact, he was the father of modern1 terrorism and the man who introduced such popular terror tactics as hijacking airplanes and suicide bombing. As the leader of the PLO and the co-founder of Fatah, Arafat was responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent Israeli civilians. His victims often had no affiliation with the Israeli military but instead were murdered for the simple fact that they were Jews. As syndicated columnist Jeff Jacoby recently pointed out, PLO terrorists in 1974 took control of a school in the Israeli town of Ma’alot and held more than 100 children hostage while demanding the release of imprisoned terrorists. When the IDF attempted a rescue mission, the PLO members opened fire on the children, killing 21 of them. Massacres such as this were standard operating procedure for the Arafat-led PLO. And at no point were “occupied” HARPER Palestinian lands or peace with FOURTH-YEAR the Israelis either ENGLISH „ . _ STUDENT a &oal or 3X1 option. Though the Palestinians like to use the “occupation” of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as a justification for their violence, Arafat and other Arabs were calling for the elimination of the Israelis before the 1967 war, in which Israel annexed those territories. Murder inspired by anti-Semitism is all Arafat knew. In a speech to his supporters in Bethlehem in 1996, Arafat told the crowd, “We only know one word — Jihad!” Furthermore, the PLO’s own founding covenant declares that “armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine” and that the PLO’s mission was the “liquidation of Zionism.” One of Arafat’s expressions of this goal was a patch that he always wore on his uniform that depicted Palestine stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, with no room for Israel in between. And now that Arafat is dead, the media’s undying love for him will also likely make them unwilling to explore in-depth the cause of his death, given the circumstances surrounding it. The fact is that it is entirely plausible that Yasser Arafat died of AIDS. Former Romanian intelligence chief Mihai Pacepa wrote in his memoirs, “Red Horizons,” that his officers had videotaped Arafat having an orgy with his bodyguards. And reports about Arafat’s health before his death said that he had lost a considerable amount of weight, that his mind was failing him, and that he was suffering from an undisclosed “blood disease.” It isn’t conclusive evidence, but it does help explain why Arafat’s wife, Sufa, wouldn’t allow his doctors to tell the press what had actually killed him. A revelation like this would not be well received by Arafat’s notoriously homophobic followers. Given that the media wouldn’t dare do anything that might diminish him in their opinion, it isn’t likely that they’ll be asking too many questions. < So while The New York Times and Jimmy Carter are waxing rhapsodic about the life of Yasser Arafat, it’s important to keep in mind what his legacy really is. It is the wanton destruction of innocent Israeli lives using terrorist methods that he innovated and that can be seen all over the world, from the car bombs in Iraq and Israel to the hijacked planes that flew into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. For my part, I say the world is a better place without him. IN YOUR OPINION Voters made right choice with Bush This country has seen a lot in the past four years — an attack on American soil, a recession and a great deal of undermining of the family. These things were not President Bush’s fault, but he has has helped to guide our country through them. Sept. 11 was not preventable — we cannot punish someone for what he will do and we cannot design buildings to withstand stress we don’t expect them to face. President Bush handled the situation appropriately by working to prevent future incidents and to encourage Americans to stand united. The recession during Bush’s term was predictable at the end of President Clinton’s term in office, in part because of decisions he had made, such as encouraging OPEC to raise oil prices, and, aside from the affects of the attacks on Sept. 11, the country has seen an increase in jobs. President Bush has handled the recession by lowering taxes, and the economy is bouncing back. As for Bush’s purported attacks on the family, President Bush actually has taken a strong pro-family stand by supporting a ban on partial-birth abortion and a Constitutional amendment to define marriage as between one man and one woman. Sen. John Kerry, on the other hand, will say whatever he thinks people want to hear. He wanted us to wait around for France to give us permission to go to war in Iraq, and he wants us to jump the gun with North Korea. He wants to do nothing about the undermining of “man and wife” through homosexual marriages, and although he refused to vote to ban partial-birth abortion, he claims to be in favor of letting babies live. The saying “If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything” is true, and Sen. Kerry falls hard. I am proud of the decision that this country made in re-electing President Bush. ANNA PICKERELL Second-year chemical engineering student Dorm residents are adults, have rights I recently read an article in The Gamecock (“Housing threatens fines for feces left in elevator,” Wednesday) about a problem with someone leaving feces in a dorm elevator and about the associate dean of residence life’s considering a plan to try to fine everyone in die dorm for the activity. Housing’s actions shocked and appalled a wide number of students I talked to who also read the article. This is another example of a university forcing students to live in its dorms (where it already makes atrocious amounts of money off the students) and then thinking they have the tight to treat them like a group of children. While many residents are young, they are, in fact, individual adults. This behavior on the part of management would never go without a very likely successful legal fight by tenants in an apartment building, condominium or hotel. Residents: You are adults, and while you have signed a contract for living accommodations, it has not waived your legal rights. You are not responsible for your neighbor’s actions. There is no way you can be forced to pay for this activity on the part of another, despite the perpetrator’s sharing your roof. Housing is attempting to treat you like children, and he’s hoping he can get away with it. I’m sure funding does exist at your school for maintenance and repairs related to all students. We will be watching up here in Washington,- and there are several of us ready to travel to USC if the rights of these students are not upheld. JOSH DEWINTER Fourth-year electrical engineering student Washington State University Submission Policy Letters to the editor should be less than 300 words and include name, phone number, professional title or year and major, if a student. E-mail letters to gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu. Letters will be edited. Anonymous letters will not be published. Call the newsroom at 777 7726 for more information. Bathroom etiquette must he honored m Too many don’t respect set code of ethics that rules public restrooms It has become apparent to me that some people have a tendency to generate moments of awkwardness. It seems as though thinking things through is too tasking of a chore, and instead of being conscientious, people would rather create uncomfortable environments. Gentlemen, the most apparent CURTIS example of this CHOW tendency is the _. _ rampant failure to FOURTH-YEAR ,, v ECONOMICS adhere to the STUDENT universally understood “Bathroom Code.” I know it is rarely spoken of, but I now feel it is necessary to bring it into clear light given the persistence of moments of bathroom iwUm rrl n#»cc Allow me to begin with a technical breakdown of the different zones of the men’s room. The “free speech zone” is the area between the entrance and the first stall or urinal (whichever comes first). The free speech zone is characterized by the presence of sinks, paper towels and refuse bins. Beyond this area is the “no fly zone.” This is the zone that contains the urinals. Finally, we have “checkpoint Zulu,” which consists of the stalls. The proper procedure for the no fly zone entails eyes straight ahead and no talking. Quiet whistling is permitted (and in many cases well expected); singing is absolutely unacceptable. For checkpoint Zulu, neither is permitted, nor is there to be any inter-stall communication. When it comes to the urinal selection process, it is important to remember the customary one urinal “man gap.” This protocol is to be observed at all times, population density permitting. Eye contact is to be avoided at all times. However, in the event that eye contact is made or a fellow patron is recognized, a nod or grunt (but no more) should be given in acknowledgement. Verbal communication is only permitted in the free speech zone and even then it should be brief and hurried until exit of the lavatory facilities. If you spot someone who fails to sanitize his hands following no fly or Zulu activity, you are unconditionally obligated to give “the signal.” For the uninitiated, the signal involves following the offender around while pointing. If no noise-making device (i.e. a whisde or air-horn) is readily accessible, a loud verbal alert of the perpetrator’s failure to wash should be given in five-second increments. This should persist until the general public is • made fully aware of the imminent biological threat. If the subject becomes violent, immediately disengage and retreat, but be sure to escalate the volume and frequency of verbal alerts until you no longer have a visual on the subject. Another frequent practice that generates awkwardness is when the “Euro-minded” college student attempts to engage students of various ethnicities in conversation, but does so with a presumptuously fraternizing “open-mind” solely on the basis stereotypes attributed to their physical appearances. I know I may look like a communist heathen anti-Western member of Mao’s cabinet, but just because I look “un-American” doesn’t mean I’m going to agree Wkh your poorly thought out regurgitated anti-West platitudes. The typical conversation involves someone approaching me to inform me that they’ve studied the Japanese people and how they think it’s a shame that America blah blah imperialism blah blah Iraq. For one thing, I’m not Japanese; for another, shut up. It’s awkward when the self professed experts on world cultures presume that all cultures originating outside of the modern West are the same, and then project their stereotypes on other Americans who fit a certain physical description. Stop trying to be “one of us” — we’re not “one of them." r . —_ WINNERS AND SINNERS USHER R&B superstar goes four-for-four at the American Music Awards. CONDOLEEZZA RICE Bush’s national security adviser nominated to become first black woman as secretary of state. DUKE ' "he Blue Devils gave Tigers their proper comeuppance on Saturday. v;..; . • 1 I PALMETTO CAPITAL CITY CLASSIC S.C. Su* pulls out of rivalry game with Benedict, which was held for the past three years at Williams-Brice Stadium. VIBE AWARDS A fight? A stabbing? Before the show even begins? Stereotypes are to be upheld as an, apparentely. MYRTLE BEACH City is first in the state for vehicle^, theft. Come for the beaches, stay for the police repon.