Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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'1 VIEWPOINTS __i J AMECOCK EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR ' SPORTS EDITOR Steven Van Haren Alex Riley NEWS EDITOR DESIGN DIRECTOR Taylor Smith Jessie Ann Nielsen THE MIX EDITOR COPY DESK CHIEF Shana Till Laura Gough I VIEWPOINTS EDITOR Patrick Augustine IN OUR OPINION Summer expansions start fall on high note If you’re holding this issue of The Gamecock in your hands, chances are you’re getting ready to embark on a new year of col lege. Whether August marks your first days on campus or the last fall you’ll :spend here at USC, you know summers are a time of transition for universities as big as ours. Much has happened while the majority of students were off enjoying a respite from classes. True, Steve Spurrier became our new football coach long before the end of last term, but the team he helms has been the subject of more scrutiny by the NCAA because of the actions of his pred ecessor. These worries, coupled with the continuing indiscretions of players, such as rising junior tailback Cory Boyd, who was sus pended for reasons unreleased by the team, mean the football sea son can only improve upon the team’s fortunes up until now. USC remains a Either way, with the or ball coach place for all at helm, fall will be exciting StUdentS tO prepare for Gamecock fans. for a future spent Summer saw Omega Psi Phi, a impacting the world historically black fraternity, break ground for a house in the Greek Village, finally breaking the color barrier there. The City of Columbia announced a partnership that, pending approval of the city council, would inject up to $ 1 million into USC’s research efforts. Construction delays, never a surprise on campus, continued to haunt the university’s attempts to add more student parking and expand the wireless network — the Bull Street Parking Garage isn’t expected to open anytime this year, and wireless expansion is way behind the September 2005 target. All the news isn’t bad, though: The Towers will be torn down next summer to pave the way for new dorms, and USC is con sidering a way to allow students to legally download music. Given tuition increases, students have every right to expect more services for their dollars. Despite all the changes, though, the fact remains that USC remains a place for all students to receive a big boost in their efforts to impact the world around them in the future. IT’S VOUR 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 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 Steven Van Haren DESIGN DIRECTOR Jessica Ann Nielsen NEWS EDITOR Taylor Smith VIEWPOINTS EDITOI Patrick Augustine THE MIX EDITOR Shana Till SPORTS EDITOR Alex Riley PAGE DESIGNERS Megan Sinclair Mary Pinckney Waters COPY EDITORS Brindy McNair Laura-Joyce Gough ONLINE EDITOR Ryan Simmons TO PLACE AN AD The Gamecock 1400 Greene St. Columbia. S.C. 29208 1 h Advertising: 777-3888 Classified: 777-1184 Fax: 777-6482 CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. The Editor's office hours are Monday and Wednesday from 1-3 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: 777-7162 Editor's Office: 777-3914 STUDENT MEDIA DIRECTOR Scott Lindenberg FACULTY ADVISOR Erik Collins CREATIVE DIRECTO Susan King BUSINESS MANAGER Carolyn Griffin ADVERTISING MANAGER Sarah Scarborough CLASSIFIED MANAGER Sherry E 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 ^ sPr*ng 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 I South Carolina. The Boa\ of Student Publications and Communications is the publisher o/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 purchasedfor Si each from the Department of Student Media. Help Student Government represent you SG had a busy summer lobbying government on behalf of USC students First, I want to take this opportunity to welcome everyone back to Carolina. The Student Body officers have spent the summer planning initiatives to benefit the students of this university. One major issue that each of us came into office wanting to address is improving relationships with government officials. In the world of politics, college students have been considered irrelevant and disinterested. However, we are using the government as an avenue to achieve many of the goals we set forth in the campaigns for our respective offices. Weeks after taking office, I led a delegation of students representing the South Carolina State Student Association on Capitol Hill to lobby members of Congress on issues ranging from financial aid to research funding. The delegation met with Assistant Secretary of Education Sally Stroup to discuss President Bush’s plans to improve higher education. I even had the pleasure of meeting with White House officials, including the president’s chief of staff Andrew Card, to discuss a variety of issues. The highlight of the delegation’s trip to Washington was our ability to persuade Tommy Rep- DHcc"ry PREST0I1 Brown’ R'sc’ to sign on as a co Student sponsor to the Government Student Aid Trmr Reward Act. The bipartisan legislation would provide billions of dollars in additional college scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students at no additional cost to taxpayers. Since the meeting, Brown signed on to co-sponsor the bill, and publicly announced that he did so because students from his state asked him to. Student Government is working with the state legislature to address concerns about drastic increases in textbook prices. We have called on Senate Education Committee leaders to sponsor legislation similar to a piece in California, requiring textbook publishers to follow specific guidelines when selling books in the state. SG has also convinced the State Commission on Higher Education to convene a research team to make recommendations to the state government on reducing the textbook costs burden on students. SG Vice President Ryan Holt has also made a name for himself at the State House by writing S-752, a piece of legislation preventing colleges and universities from using Social Security numbers as students’ individual identification numbers. This legislation stemmed from Holt’s pledge to find ways to prevent identity theft on campus. The legislation is on the state senate’s docket. SG President Justin Williams recently appointed Damion Robbs, a fourth-year criminal justice student, as SG’s first director of government and community relations. Robbs will oversee a committee of student leaders who will organize lobbying efforts at the State House and serve as a liaison between the government, community and student body. SG will also be managing the first ever Student Congressional Advisory Board, a student committee that will communicate to the U.S. Congress the views and interests of students on issues important to them. The board will occasionally meet with members of South Carolina’s Congressional Delegation and make recommendations on legislation being considered in Congress. “The Student Congressional _ I’d like to keep my sneakers clean, thanks Projectile vomiting threatens my safety, raises threat level This goes out to USC’s largest ever freshman class: please don’t puke on me. It never fails — during the first few weeks of school, I see freshmen puking in toilets, puking in lockers, puking on each other, puking at church and puking in their dreams. I see sanitary text pukes (“lol it tastes better coming up”). I see ensemble puking, metered puking and graduate puking. I see squirrels puking out cheeks full of nuts. Not to pigeonhole, but collegiate fresh-meat goes a little crazy when a new level of independence comes along. It’s a community of partiers and rushers and the lingering stench of vomit deposited into a flowerbed. Just calm down, my litde chillens. Be cool, my babies. I was there once — I lived in Dirty Douglas my freshman year, the gulag away from home. I’ll never forget the screams, the cries of terror, taking a crap in the community bathroom while the gentleman in the next stall sieuen his guts unn HORen out-Suffice « to _ . say, that was an rourth-year . . mechanical awkward crap. engineering But you’ve gotta student calm down. I know nothing I say can keep some of you from being incredibly stupid, but there’s only so much I, the soberest man on campus, can take. I find it impossible to strut through campus at night in August without being accosted by winos. Don’t touch me. I’ll push your drunk ass down and feed you to the squirrels. Dear lord, I just want to look past all that and see your potential. You freshmen are the next four years for this school, and you’ve gotta be all you can be. Cue up “We’ve Only Just Begun.” But none of my b.s. can really end stupidity. Seriously, I remember late last semester when my girlfriend and I saw a young girl get run over — no, no, tossed like a damn rag doll — by a car in the Vista. She was drunk, my young geniuses, and we • thought she was as good as dead. As she lay on the road choking up blood, I used my over-shirt to cover her naked lower half. She had been strutting across an intersection in only her shirt. I don’t know what happened to her. She lived, I think. But I don’t feel like giving up more of my shirts for those who go above and beyond the call of stupidity. 1 liked that shirt, dammit. What would’ve stopped her from being an idiot? I don’t know. Maybe being involved with something more than Jack and Jim and Cap’n. Maybe having better stories than how her bestest girl friend held her hair back while she heaved into a mailbox. 1 loathe those frickin’ stories. So get better ones. Get involved, for Pete’s sake. Join CP, SG, WUSC, AAAS, RHA, YD, WINNERS AND SINNERS STEVE SPURRIER Ol* ball coach charms reporters at SEC media event, puts football team on a fried-chicken-ffee diet. BOB COBLE Columbia mayor puts baseball feud behind him, writes USC a big check. www. dailygamecock. com LOU HOLTZ Former USC coach leaves his third consecutive team in shambles and under investigation, refuses to answer questions. BULL ST. PARKING No parking garage, no spaces near the Russell House student union. There’s no excuse for sitting in your room Involvement in campus organizations central to college experience ' Welcome to the University of South Carolina! For most of you, that is “welcome back,” but for the 3,700 freshmen I A^^^^ | had the privilege j 1* of meeting this summer, these *:%, are among the first words you’ll r£ad as a student RVRfl HOLT at this fine Student university. Government The most Vde exciting semester Pmldent for me comes in the fall, because it means new people and a rresh start. Our campus is as diverse as the thousands of people that comprise it, and each person represents a different background and a unique take on life. Most people assume the sole purpose of a college is for faculty members to impart their knowledge to the student body. While this is undoubtedly an important reason for your enrollment at Carolina, I would argue that an equally substantial investment in your life will come from your peers. Look around — ; your sorority sister, fraternity brother, student organization officer, teammate, roommate and classmate have something to offer in the way of knowledge. The best way to seize the opportunities on our campus is to get involved. During my years here, I have seen the stark contrast between people who are involved and people who do nothing. The do-nothings don’t seem to be connected with the university family, but their counterparts — the involved students — are the ones who are excited about campus life and who usually have a tangible investment in the university. • It doesn’t matter what you do at Carolina — just be sure you do I something. You can be a writer for 1 The Gamecock or the Garnet & Black Magazine. You can join an intramural sports team or join a ping-pong tournament in the Golden Spur. You can rush a fraternity or sorority or become involved in a national honor society. You can visit a campus ministry or run for office in Student Government or a student organization. Opportunities are for the taking. Campus organizations invest a® lot of time and money in making® themselves known. However, someB students still express concern that 1 they are unaware of the I opportunities at USC. This year, SG | has obtained e-mail access to the , student body through Blackboard and will use this new venue to inform the university community of available opportunities. 1 he Urrice of student Gpvernment and Student Organizations will also play host to the Student Organization Fair on Wednesday, Aug. 24. A myriad of groups will be present, so be sure to take advantage of their presence in one location. Whether you’re a freshman or a returning student, organizations are still ready for your membership. Being involved is one of the greatest characteristics a student can have. It not only shows how much a student is willing to participate in certain areas of campus life, but it shows the student is willing to invest his or her time in a greater goal at the university. Involved students grow into the alumni that continue to invest in their university and count it an important part of their lives for years to come. Become involved today, because no matter what you do, you’ll remember it forever. .t i: