Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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ONLINE POLL THE GAMECOCK • Wednesday, Aug. 3,2005 2 Can the United States win the war in tt y—■ ■ ^ ~w~ ~w~ y ■—■v >—\ —m—m y ■» ■ m s—xi ==- VIEWPOINTS www.dailygamecock.com. yf | 1 A ™ W I | j J THifeAMEGOGK CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Editor: gamecockeditor@gwm.sc.edu News: gamecocknews@gwm.sc.edu Viewpoints: gan\ecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu The Mix: gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu Sports: gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu Public Affairs: gamecockPR@yahoo.com Online: www.dailygamecock.coni Newsroom: 777-7726 Editor's Office: 777-3914 STAFF EDITOR Steven Van Haren NEWS EDITOR -Taylor Smith ‘viewpoints editor Patrick Augustine THE MIX EDITOR Shana Till SPORTS EDITOR Alex Riley COPY EDITORS Laura-Joyce Gough Brindy McNair PAGE DESIGNERS Jessica Ann Nielsen Megan Sinclair Mary Pinckney Waters ONLINE EDITOR Ryan Simmons 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 .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 Office 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 Office of Student Media. GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS If you see an error in todays paper, we want to know about it. E-mail us at gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu. TO PLACE AN AD The Gamecock Advertising: 777-3888 1400 Greene St. Classified: 777-1184 Columbia, S.C. 29208 Fax: 777-6482 EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR SPORTS EDITOR Steven Van Haren Alex Riley NEWS EDITOR THE MIX EDITOR Taylor Smith Shana Till VIEWPOINTS EDITOR Patrick Augustine IN OUR OPINION Conservative planning resolves housing issues Housing is a perennial concern for universities of every size, and while USC is no exception to this rule, the university’s administration is carefitlly making plans to ensure the transition is as painless as possi ble. Now that the Towers have been tentatively slated for demolition next summer, it is clear that USC’s housing priorities have shifted back to underclassmen Honors College students. This transition is under standable, given that the plan was to push upperclassmen toward liv ing in the newly built quads and Greek Village, both better-suited to established collegians. 1 he lowers replacement, targeted towards hrst- and second-year Honors CoUege students, would likely not be ready until faU 2008, leaving a two-year gap for USC to find housing for an ever-larger freshman class. Providing modem facilities for the Honors CoUege makes sense for USC, as it is these students that boost the university’s average GPA and SAT scores — important markers of achievement for a school reaching for the higher echelon of public institutions. Undoubtedly there wiU be friction as the university btulds new factii ties, but smart planning in the vein of what has been revealed wiU keep USC ahead of the growth curve for years to come. _ __ I FaIrT&ASK \ ' I WGLOOK Ilf I WANT Y forward to a TiMeiY odKjmP LEARNIN6 f 1 CoNFiR SPECiFiC MORe ABOUT MAT/ON. ^ CASeS. ’ H,M* (' \ / SHORT ENOUGH TO \ WE ALREADY KNOw\ /tOFWDAN ] ( OCTOBERHLONG I HOW HE’LL RULE l OBJECTION THAT J ENOUGH TO DROWN ON SPECIFIC CASES./ V STICKS / I^OUTMyS / ‘ ' v \ ROVE FIASCO. / COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS Acting now will avert looming energy crisis ■ As I was waiting for an interview in a downtown office Monday, I overheard one of the solidly middle class employees telling another that he had just bought a Honda to drive around because filling up his Tahoe on a weekly basis was just too PATRICK expensive. If AUGUSTINE the average Fourth-year American office worker is willing to incur the expense and hassle to buy a fuel-efficient import to drive instead of his big comfy domestic SUV, I think it’s safe to say that the United States’ energy crisis is far worse than any of us might have imagined. The worst part about America’s energy problem, apart from the fact that it’s going to get far worse before it gets better, is that the only three groups in our nation with the power to influence the situation are acting in what is best for their short-term financial wellbeing. Multinational petroleum companies have failed to put any sizeable amount of money into researcning cleaner and more efficient fuel technologies. While OPEC certainly has a lot more to do with the price of gas at the pump than any other factor along the supply chain, the oil conglomerates ultimately must be held accountable for their failure to use the resources at their disposal to ensure that the energy so badly needed by technology-based economies like the U.S. and growing industrial ones like China is inexpensive and protects the world we all share. Detroit s Big Three automakers have also been lax about providing vehicles that will reduce America’s dependence on oil. Creating a demand for these behemoths certainly doesn’t help our soldiers fight terrorism funded by the undemocratic regimes in the Middle East that have grown fat on oil revenue. President Bush has in many ways been following precedent in failing to grasp the severity of the situation that looms in America’s future. Any move toward energy independence must be backed by political willpower to be legitimate, and must include short- and long term clean energy alternatives, coupled with a new focus on public transportation. When gas costs more, it ultimately increases the price of everything else on the market, and sadly it affects those least able to pay the most. In a sense, the price of energy impacts our quality of life and the standard of living we have grown to expect as Americans, and it drives the impoverished even deeper into poverty. Reversing the apathy with which we have viewed energy now means there is still time to avoid losing the opportunity for growth and economic success that we expect from our nation.