Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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TTlTTynA" VTmr'N online poll J ' a /a / I I I \ % i|' ’ Are y°u worried that Social Security ri a / a / I—* II % I might not be there when you retire? 1 J V V I If \ iLl Let us know at I 1 A ¥ ¥ | \ J . ¥ | K y www.dailygamecock.com. — w T ^ 1 Results posted Friday. ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ' ■ ■ ■ - -- ------ AMECOCK EDITORIAL BOARD 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 IN OUR OPINION School of Journalism deserves more credit Other than our internationally recognized business school, one of USC’s major academic draws is its School of Journalism and Mass Communications, located in the Carolina Coliseum. Consistently ranked among the best programs in the nation, it would make sense that the university I liere IS little devote resources and effort to ensur . t3lk 0f ing that our superior faculty have the improving the , f ... , ,r ..... ° , funding and facilities to push stu ^ dents to even higher levels of one of the „ „ , crown jewels of achlevement- Sadly>this is not the our university case _^g J-schOOl The journalism school’s placement under the stands of our old basket ball arena seems almost an afterthought. Students who take classes there complain of enduring a hot, windowless dungeon that Dante would have found inspiring. While USC devotes resources to cultivating a research cam pus and melding the arts and sciences, there is little talk of improving the facilities for one of the crown jewels of our uni versity. Business needn’t worry about this problem due to the generosity of donors like Darla Moore, but for colleges with fewer resources like the journalism school, it is essential that the university devote resources to their continued success. Journalism’s landscape is an ever-changing one, and as the communication technology continually improves, it is essential that students learn to use the newest tools to improve the over all craft. While students who are interested in print journalism have many opportunities to develop their skills on campus through student media, very few of them take advantage of it, in part because of the lack of support from the journalism school’s fac ulty. Instead of using The Gamecock as an example of bad copy, it would make more sense for the journalism school to give academic credit for participation in student media and encourage its students to become involved. Getting a job after college is difficult without prior experience, and coordination between USC and the paper would benefit both students and the paper’s ability to be relevant to students. 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. i - --- ABOUT THE GAMECOCK EDITOR Michael LaForgia DESIGN DIRECTOR Chas McCarthy CORY DESK CHIEF Steven Van Haren NEWS EDITOR Jon Turner ASST. NEWS EDITOR Kelly Cavanaugh 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, Megan Sinclair COPY EDITORS Jessica Foster, Brindy McNair, Daniel Regenscheit, Jason Reynolds, Katie Thompson, Shana Till ONLINE EDITOR Ryan Simmons PUBLIC AFFAIRS Jane Fielden, Katie Miles i TO PLACE AN AD The Gamecock Advertising: 777-3888 1400 Greene St. Classified: 777-1184 Columbia, S.C. 29208 Fax: 777-6482 J ) CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Editor in Chief: 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 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 -:-1 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 A the publisher of The M 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. CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS Sometimes we need boring classes ■ Students should be taught about the topics they registered to learn Note: This column attempts to raise an actual academic issue in a serious manner. Please do not read it. Remember that you can search for any of my previous, funny columns on dailygamecock.com. Also, all of David Stagg’s columns can be found there as well. Please read them instead. I’m an English student (it says so under the picture of me in my Batman shirt), and I’m taking a pretty cool class called Modernism this semester. The professor is great, the class is fun and the readings are all pretty good. Problem is, this isn’t the class I signed up for. I’m not 100 percent clear on exactly what modernism is (despite being in the class), but I’m fairly certain that it includes writers like James Joyce, T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, William Faulkner and lots of other Sirs Not Appearing In This Class. Many of those sirs did appear on the course description, but during the offseason, my professor decided to teach a course based on modernism as a response to war, and pretty much anyone who didn’t write about World War I got the ax. Like I said, the class is great. The format is a lot more fun and interesting than “Here’s what modernism is, read these books, take the test.” But I’m hoping someday to go to grad school and get a Ph.D. in English literature, and I have a feeling - somewhere GRAHAM alonf ** line CULBERTSON theyre 6°lng to •expect me to FOURTH-YEAR have read Messrs. Joyce, STUDENT „ V Eliot, Pound and Faulkner. And although I can read them on my own, it would be a whole lot easier iff could just read the modernist writers in my class on modernism. This problem (if it is a problem) is not confined to this one class. I had a professor teach a British-lit class that included Kate Chopin and Walker Percy (American), Gustave Flaubert (French) and Henrik Ibsen (Norwegian). A class on Shakespeare’s tragedies included “Hamlet” but left out “King Lear,” which I had to read on my own because it’s one of the most important works ever written in any language. My existentialism class last semester featured an extensive section on the decidedly not existential philosopher Michel Foucault. Realism turned out to be mostly a study of literature about coal mining. Film History I included a documentary about “Citizen Kane” but not the (supposedly) greatest film ever made itself. Etc, etc, etc. My complaint (for anyone still reading) is that these classes are all a little light on the canon that I’m supposed to know after taking them. When professors teach classes this way, focusing on their own interests and personal knowledge, the classes are always way more interesting. I prefer them that way. Boring classes suck. But when I show up at (insert best grad school a degree from USC can get me into here, a.k.a. Clemson), I think I’d rather have read the T.S. Eliot. I have a feeling that this is an issue that very, very few undergraduates (or anyone else) care about (The Gamecock is a perfect venue for discussing an issue which everyone considers irrelevant). The ones that might actually think about it probably just don’t want to be bored, and I of course can totally sympathize with that. But there’s part of me that thinks that when I sign up for Shakespeare’s tragedies, I damn well better get “King Lear” as part of that package. Otherwise I have to try and teach myself an incredibly long and difficult Renaissance play — not fun. I’m thrilled at the number of professors here at USC who go the extra mile to make sure their classes are innovative and different, but I’m scared that all that fun innovation might just shortchange me a little bit when I have to go to the next level without the basic canon. IN YOUR OPINION Work for gay rights will take many years I have to partially agree with Wade Speer (“Gay rights pale to civil rights struggle,” Friday), that the struggle for homosexual equality is not the same as the righteous movements in the '50s, ’60s and ’70s. He was marginally correct in his statement, “It’s just not the same.” It’s not — not exactly. By that time, the various minorities that were vociferously working for true equality (blacks, Native Americans, women, etc.) had become so fed up with what was grossly unjust that they struck back at the society that had placed them in that situation. So, no, this period in the struggle for equality for homosexuals is not easily compared to what is referred to as the Civil Rights movement. I think (comparing the homosexual struggle to the black struggle) this period could be Better compared to the immediate years after the end of “official” slavery: The beginning of a long battle that will lie ahead if our nation cannot get its act together and realize that a person is a person, regardless of gender or affiliation, and should be treated accordingly. As for “studies” concerning child raising, why don’t you ask a person raised by one or more homosexuals if his or her parents were terrible, if they wished they could have lived in a “traditional” family. Do you think children raised by homosexuals are innately conflicted? Good, because who isn’t, and where would our society be if we didn’t recognize conflicts and resolve them? Are all “traditional” families perfect? Hardly. Do your “studies” claiming that a child needs a male and female role model show that single parents are inadequate as well? If your “studies” were accepted on a wide basis, would my mother have been banned from raising my sisters and me? I’m sure if you could manage to find a relevant history book, you’d also discover possibly hundreds of “studies” scattered throughout our nation’s history (not to mention the average white opinion) showing that blacks are “lazy” and are worse workers than whites, among other “facts” that are horribly inaccurate. As for the argument, “Oh, but we know better now, and we’re always right now,” are we so advanced? Obviously. That’s why we have a 100-percent literacy rate, no unemployment and children that are never hungry at night in our own city, not to mention the rest of the nation. So, no, it isn’t the same. It could be the beginning of yet another strenuous moral trial for America if an equitable end cannot soon be met. NICK SLAUGHTER First year physics studen t Tax credit could aid S.C. schoolchildren The recent column on the “Put Parents in Charge” bill (“‘Put Parents In Charge’ bill a bad idea,” Thursday) seemed to stray a little from the actual facts of the bill. Like the column read, the bill is a tax credit — that the government would not receive that money. The government, in essence, wants to lower taxes. Is that such a problem? Who’s to say that the tax credit money would go to education in the first place? We can’t assume that public-education funding will drop just because the government decides not to take some of our money. Another aspect of the bill is home schooling parents would receive a tax break, which can help those families who choose to do so. The government is trying to send a message that public school is not the only means to educate children. i, Just remember that students at USC are entitled to a tax credit up to $3,000 for tuition paid. KEVIN RH0T0N Second-year business 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 gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu. Letters will be edited. Anonymous letters will not be published. Call the newsroom at 777 7726 for more information. All people ought to have right to marry ■ Human rights dinner makes me hopeful for progress in gay equality I was in Charlotte this weekend for the 10th Annual Human Rights Campaign of the Carolinas Dinner, as part of their youth scholarship program. It was an extravagant affair with lots of entertainment, a silent auction, celebrity speakers and so on. It was like a business prom of sorts but more ANNA FHY fun'cxc,tinSand rKJA substantive THIRD-YEAR Attending the POLITICAL dinner gave me a SCIENCE .... , STUDENT political sugar rush, as an activist among 1,300 other activists. I could not help but get excited at the prospect of change. Here is the result of my weekend: It seems that in the rush to get political we forget that in America, we are all created equal — man, woman, gay, lesbian, straight, Native American, black, Hindu, Jew. The make and model does not matter — we are all equal. To me this is not a hard concept to grasp, and yet we so easily are ready to overlook its meaning so that we can create an America where sexual orientation automatically makes you a separate and different kind of citizen. One of the speakers at the dinner was Judy Shepard, the mother of Matthew Shepard (for those who don’t remember, he was the victim of malicious anti-gay violence in 1998). Sl>e spoke from her heart without any written speech about how earnestly people are working for a free and equal America. In her remarks she said, “If people can go to Vegas and get married by Elvis, then anyone should be allowed to get married,” then she paused and said, “And by the way, it’s not really Elvis.” It seems to me she hit the nail on the head. Marriage these days has become an excuse to have a wedding, or some kind of party celebration, and a tool for political advance — marriage is Vegas and a fake Elvis. Then I ask, “What is the big deal about allowing everyone equal rights and access to marriage?” It seems to me that we already fought this battle for equal protection under the law, and that separate by definition is not equal, when we transitioned from segregation. Marriage has been made into the battle issue surrounding homosexual people in this country. The majority of the fight has been around religious writings that homosexuality is a sin and cannot be allowed for fear that the Earth will implode, etc. To this I always answer that we have a separation between church and state in this country. Whereas this line is becoming dangerously blurred, especially under the current administration, it does exist. Until that line is taken out of the Constitution, religious opposition to homosexual marriage does not, should not and cannot play a role in the legality of equal access or marriage. It was quite refreshing to learn that there is a coalition of religious leaders that have joined the fight to ensure marriage equality. A conservative, by definition, is someone or something that is resistant to change. By resisting change we are only hurting ourselves, we are shutting out opportunities for growth, diversification and a better education and economy because of it. If we did not learn the lesson from the Civil War, we may learn it from the push to keep America’s promise for equality. f COLLEGE QUOTE BOARD COLUMBIA DAILY SPECTATOR COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY At some point, although it's hard to say exactly when, the people charged with preserving the ideals, that inspired the modern university started to see them as a joke. Somewhere in the miasma of postmodern theory, countless professors decided that they couldn’t or shouldn’t profess. Now, almost every humanities student has a gruesome story of, for instance, the Shakespeare class with a professor more i interested in the anus in Coriolanus than the Hamlet in Hamlet. >1, ■ r; _ THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-DAV1S From his classic “Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail 72” that followed the 1972 Nixon campaign, to his more recent columns for ESPN.com, Hunter S. Thompson threw mountains of biting wit and abject cynicism at the established power structure, representing the younger generations who have lost faith in the American Dream. We regret the loss of journalism’s greatest maverick, who rattled the world of news writing as much as he did literature in the 20th century. Critics of the status quo have lost one of their greatest warriors. 7 f./ I ,* * U-WIRE |