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ONLINE POLL Should Syvelle Newton be kicked off the football team? Let us know at www.dailygamecock.com. Results posted Friday. AMECOCK EDITORIAL BOARD I EDITOR Michael LaForgia NEWS EDITOR ■ Jon Turner VIEWPOINTS EDITOR Wes Wolfe THE MIX EDITOR Jennifer Freeman ASST. VIEWPOINTS EDITOR Patrick Augustine SPORTS EDITOR Jonathan Hillyard DESIGN DIRECTOR Chas McCarthy COPY DESK CHIEF Steven Van Haren tIN OUR OPINION TSC Housing eeds repairs The rash of problems last semester proves that USC’s facilities aintenance program is facing a crisis simply in keeping up with nergencies that arise from being underfunded and overworked. Thile yearly budget cuts and tuition increases make it clear that ctra cash is a rare commodity on campus, simply fixing things as >ey break will be far more expensive in the long run. urthermore, paying outside contractorsto come in after-hours to lean up when disaster strikes, not to mention having to compen ite students for damaged property, is poor policy toward a his _:_I__i. . i_ The university must face its responsibility to students who live on campus. iv/iiv cam^uo uiai uvvuo u iv/iig term plan for building conserva tion and renovation. Aged buildings on the Horseshoe are not the only prob lem when ir comes ro broken vater mains, disrupted Internet service and unreliable heating and lir conditioning. While DeSaussure and Maxcy have had a dispro >ortionate share of problems, the rush to move students into the tew West Quad residence hall compromised overall construction quality. Housing has become an institutional issue as the universi ty tries to take in larger freshmen classes to maintain tuition rev enues while replacing buildings, like the Towers, that have out lived their lifespan. Putting overflow students into converted hotels is not a solution, nor is it consistent with a university seek ing to vault itself into the upper echelon of public institutions. The university must face its responsibility to students who live on campus by compensating them for losses incurred when resi dence hall rooms flood, since apologies and box fans to dry out the carpets do little to replace fried computers. The Residence Hall Association fails to meet its stated responsibility in being an intermediary between University Housing and the students who use Housing’s services if it is not an advocate for residents. Students must be assured that when they sign up for on-campus housing, they can expect a safe and functional place to live, and that University Housing will not simply trample the rights of a _i _ _^ i_c_1_1_:_ uiai uoj tvu uuivi aiiviuuu » w. 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 a photograph in Monday’s The Mix, David Hislop was misidentified. 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. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK EDITOR Michael LaForgia DESIGN DIRECTOR Chas McCarthy COPY DESK CHIEF Steven Van Haren NEWS EDITOR Jon Turner ASST. NEWS EDITOR Thomas Chandler I VIEWPOINTS EDITOR Wes Wolfe THE MIX EDITOR Jennifer Freeman ASST. THE MIX EDITOR Carrie Givens SPORTS EDITOR Jonathan Hillyard ASST. SPORTS EDITOR Stephen Fastenau SENIOR WRITER Kevin Fellner PHOTO EDITOR Jason Steelman SPORTS PHOTO EDITOR Katie Kirkland PAGE DESIGNERS Jillian Garis, Staci Jordan, Jessica Ann Nielsen COPY EDITORS Jessica Foster, Brindy McNair, Daniel Regenscheit, Jason Reynolds, Katie Thompson, Shana Till ONLINE EDITOR Ryan Simmons PUBLIC AFFAIRS Jane Fielden, Katie Miles 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: gamecockeditor@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 ADVERTISING STAFF Robert Carli, Breanna Evans, Ryan Gorman. Caroline Love, Katie Stephens, McKenzie Welsh 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 $1 each from the Department of StaKjent Me$lia. TO PLACE AN AD The Gamecock Advertising: 777-3888 1400 Greene St. Classified: 777-1184 Columbia. S.C. 29208 Fax: 777-6482 Ve^oa’tKTS AVOlPgp 9USH INAUGURATION 0Y ”1 TAKIIOO A CgUl5£ OR WATCHING A Moute j_| U/H^M C*P ^0uMp out Au_ ^ j yoo vecwt^ojze^M o^ui5£5 w£££ RTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS Relativists are absolutely wrong ■ Certainties have a legitimate place in all academic arguments Throughout the course of my dialogues in the university setting, I have noticed a startling trend among purported academics. This phenomenon occurs almost any time one attempts to assert an absolute truth. Although doing so often provides much entertainment in the form of watching the relativists do the “You’re wrong because everyone is equally right” tap dance, I must admit that the mind numbing banality they present is actually quite pitiful. Have no fear, however, for I have compiled a short guide to defending relativism. Step 1: Name-Calling When your argumentation sucks, there’s always ad hominem. In defending your assertion that no one is wrong, you probably shouldn’t be trying to prove those rotten absolutists wrong. Instead, you need to defend the fact that you (and only'you) are the one who is right. Terms such as “wrong” are very negative, and we want to avoid that. Everyone knows that the best defense is a good offense, and since you supposedly don’t actually have any absolute point of reference as a basis for your argument, that leaves only ad hominem. Repeating the term “dose minded” usually brings any insightful dialogue to a screeching halt. In addition, throw around the terms “arrogant,” “antiquated philosophy” and “intolerant.” Never define or qualify any of these terms — just shame your opponents into adopting your perspective. Step 2: I Changing The Subject — This can usually be accomplished through the application of Step 1. Otherwise, start tossing out some PrpnrK -a nrl German last names. When you do this to absolutists, they might simply assume the names belong to obscure philosophers and that you are better read than they are. They might even opt to change the subject themselves to avoid an embarrassing blow to their intellectual capacity. Step 3: Repeat Steps 1 and 2. Step 4: If you’ve reached this point you have only one option left -- make up your own reality where nothing applies or exists. In your conceptualization of reality, be sure to ignore its self-defeating nature (i.e. establishment of a valid alternate system of truths based on the absence of any ontological truth), otherwise it all falls apart. Mainstream culture has indoctrinated even students in our academic community into the idea that to assert an absolute truth is almost considered morally equivalent to burning puppies or stealing Christmas. CURTIS CHOW FOURTH-YEAR ECONOMICS STUDENT Why is it so Wrong to advocate absolute truths? Many relativists would argue that in doing so, absolutists are exclusive in their line of inquiry. Rather than asserting the absolute nature of a particular truth and rejecting contradictory contention points, absolutists should accept other points as equally valid perspectives to a larger, over-arching truth. I have often heard the argument that truth is like an elephant, and we are as blind men seeking to describe it. Each of us takes hold of a different part, and subsequently describes the holistic characteristics of the elephant by the individual component we are feeling. I grab its leg and say, “The elephant is like a tree.” You grab its ear and say, “It is like a sheet.” Yet we are all correct in our different views because we are all describing components of the same thing. However pleasant and tolerant this view might appear, it is inherently flawed in that by asserting that the proper way to view contradictions is to view them as different facets of the same truth, it rejects the absolutist view on the grounds that it is contradictory to this view. In other words, all of a sudden we want to apply the law of non contradiction in argumentation against its own validity. Furthermore, if we are all blind men, then no one knows that truth is like an elephant. To say that it is requires you to be an outside observer watching the blind men. I submit that you are no less bound by the human condition than the rest of us. IN YOUR OPINION Five Points puts out racist welcome mat What is the deal with some of the bars and clubs in Five Points not wanting to serve African-Americans? Instead of hanging signs In the window that say “Whites Only” or “No Blacks Allowed,” they find more subtle ways to discriminate against us by enforcing rules that only seem to apply to African Americans: “No dreadlocks” (Knock Knock Club), “No hip-hop/R&B music” (Club Drink), “No urban wear” (numerous clubs), etc. And why is it that “urban wear” only applies to clothing worn by African American males, whether it be jeans and a T-shirt or khaki pants and a collared shirt? Segregation supposedly ended more than 30 years ago, but one could not tell by visiting Five Points. I urge all African-Americans in the Columbia area to spend their money elsewhere, because it is quite obvious that these establishments don’t want our business. DANIELLE WASHINGTON Fourth-year advertising student Everyone deserves shot at redemption “We can only hope ... that in the meantime, USC’s other sports continue to set a good example of sportsmanlike behavior both on and off the field, thanks to their coaching” (“Newton, others have no place on our team,” Monday). Would this comment at the end of Monday’s editorial be in reference to the volleyball players who stole pillows from a hotel or the one who spit on the Florida fan? Or maybe you’re referring to the peeping Tom on the swim team. Syvelle Newton and Freddy Saint-Preux stole pictures of themselves — pictures that would have been given to them eventually anyway. They did not steal laptops or video projectors. While they certainly deserve to be punished, kicking them off the team seems a bit severe. Two of the four volleyball players who stole the pillows are still on the team. No one has called for their heads. The Gamecock has singled out Newton because he is arguably the most high-profile student at this university, but to do so is not fair. He is just as human as the rest of us. Are we supposed to set up a “one strike and you’re out” precedent? Does that send the tight message to recruits or even potential student non-athletes? Doling out a punishment out-of-line with the crime would certainly make a “forceful statement” as the editorial suggested. It would make a forceful statement that we demand perfection at USC or you’re not welcome here. 1 think there’s this book you might have heard of called the Bible that says something about perfect people casting stones. I doubt that Steve Spurrier will take into account The Gamecock editorial board’s opinion when deciding what to do about Newton and Saint-Preux, but he would be making a mistake in taking its advice. KEVIN MCCARRELL Fourth-year economics and finance student 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 gamecockopi nions@gwm.sc.edu. Letters will be edited. Anonymous letters will not be published. Call the newsroom at 777 7726 for more information. SG should spend our greenbacks frugally ■ USC student leaders must find alternatives to increasing activity fees Writing this column is like eating your vegetables — it’s good for you, but it doesn’t taste so good on the way down. I’m trying to digest the popular Collegiate I- -1 Readership Program, the darling of Student Government that gives students free newspapers they’ve already paid for. For USC, the hill program comes with a $30,000 per-semester price tag that includes thousands of newspapers. The watered-down version, 800 papers a day, is ADAM BEAM FOURTH-YEAR PRINT JOURNALISM STUDENT aDOUt $1Z,UVV pci mUBKIi But those costs didn’t deter SG officials from using students’ money to purchase the program, put on by USA TODAY. In fall 2003, SG officials discovered SG had about $190,000 worth of student activity fees in a forgotten bank account. SG can allocate money to student organizations that meet certain requirements. If the organization doesn’t use all of its money in one school year, it has to give it back. Thus, the secret armiinf. So Katie Dreiling, Zachery Scott and Ben Edwards, the trio of student leadership at the time, decided the secret money had to be spent immediately. Student Life Director Jerry Brewer encouraged the leaders to spend it on programs that wouldn’t have recurring costs. In other words, don’t buy something that you have to keep paying for. But the Student Senate didn’t listen. SG decided to use enough of the surplus to fund the newspaper program for two years. The rest went, among other things, to incorporate GPS for the shuttles and install 10-foot signs with maps of the campus. There was no plan on how to fond the newspaper program after the first two yean. SG leaders’ typical response was only, “We’ll find a way.” Apparendy, that “way” is using students’ money. SG President Zachery Scott said last week the Student Senate plans to ask the Board of Trustees to raise the student activity fee $2 so the program can continue. It’s not that an extra $2 every semester will break the bank for students, but it only adds to a disturbing precedent. SG officials don’t wield much administrative power with the university, but when they ask for a fee increase, they get it. The last time came in October 2002 when then-SG President Ankit Patel asked the board for a $20 increase to give more money to Carolina Productions, Russell House maintenance, late-night programs and, of course, Student Government. HUKVC1 LHC dUlllUiuuauuii WcUlLS student input, it talks to Student Government representatives because they are elected by us, for us. But running off and asking the board to raise the student activity fee every rime SG runs into funding problems is not responsible management. This is so much mote than newspapers. If we let SG officials get by with this fee increase, we are sending the message that a student activity fee increase is a good economic quick fix and should be added to SG’s bag of tricks. We can’t let that happen. This SG administration has done a lot for the campus, including organizing a statewide student lobbying group. But if all our leaders can do for money is raise student activity fees, then I’m disappointed. Surely a group of driven, focused students can organize some type of massive fund-raiser to meets its needs. Students, faculty members, this newspaper and yours truly initially praised SG for implementing the newspaper program. The deans loved it so much that they donated about $50,000 last year to keep it going. But none of it would ever be enough to make the program truly free for students. So let’s learn from our mtstake before we make another one. Financial responsibility shouldn’t have to be so hard to swallow. Iw/nners and sinners VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO New Ukranian president sworn in after a contentious battle for the post. i SOUTH ASIA A new tsunami warning system gets approval and funding at a UN conference. H SCIENCE A U.S. district judge orders Georgia public j schools to removes stickers from their science textbooks that read, “Evolution is a theory, not a fact.” ' V ' • ‘ " ' V ■ nF COLUMBIA The Mean of Columbia Motel, ng house featured on the cover of Hootie & The s “Cracked Rear View,” is set to be demolished. ' SEAMAN Michigan teacher sentenced to life for killing her husband with a hatchet. \N LEGISLATORS Nationalist representatives 1 investigation to oudaw all Jewish organizations ose«ute people that support th|em. - ~ ! 1 v m i WmSSSm