Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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VIEWPOINTS AMECOCK , EDITORIAL BOARD Editor Sports Editor MICHAEL LaFORGIA JONATHAN HILLYARO News Editor Viewpoints Editor STEPHEN FASTENAU BRINDY McNAIR Asst. News Editor Copy Desk Chief JUSTIN CHAPURA STEVEN VAN HAREN The Mix Editor Design Director ALEXIS ARNONE CHAS MCCARTHY IN OUR OPINION Rehnquist’s successor must have experience While John Roberts would bring youth and a fresh perspective to the U.S. Supreme Court, he lacks the experience necessary to become the high court’s next chief justice. Roberts’ proponents have said his views are in line with those of late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who died Saturday after bat tling thyroid cancer. But Rehnquist himself — appointed by {tichard Nixon in 1971 — spent 15 years as an associate justice before climbing to the top spot. While a chief justice’s vote counts the same as an associate jus tices, the head of the Supreme Court is charged with a litany of administrative responsibilities, including — when among the majority — assigning which justice writes the court’s opinion. While the other justices will likely respect him for his impres sive credentials and obvious RObfiltS yOUth smarts if he were appointed, he comes at the cost would bt „ 5„ lhe youngest chief . ^ OtlVe ;ustice sinCe John Marshall in inexperience. ' loOl. Roberts’ conservative boosters are touting the judge’s youth as a dynamic breath of fresh air for the aging court. However, it’s important to remember that Robert’s youth comes at the cost of relative inexperience. He has only served two years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Eighty-five-year-old acting chief John Paul Stevens, the court’s senior member, was already a justice by the time Roberts was enrolled at Harvard University. It can be appreciated why President Bush would wish to appoint a young chief justice to assure his lasting influence over the court. One day, perhaps, Roberts will have the experience to make a strong and influential chief justice, like Rehnquist was. But until then, President Bush should nominate a candidate — either from inside the court or outside — with more significant experience. IT’S YOUR RIGHT Exercise your right to voice your opinion Create message boards at www.dailygamecock.com 3m or send letters to the editor to gamecockopinions@gwm.sc. edu CORRECTIONS . If you see an error in todays paper, we want to know. E-mail us at gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK MICHAEL LaFORGIA C0NTACT INF("'MATI0N . Offices on third floor of the Russell House. cfflB MCCARTHY ^ltors °ffice ^ours are Monday and Wednesday Copy Desk Chief Editor: gamecockeditor@gwm.sc.edu STEVEN VAN HAREN News: gamecock news @gwm. sc. edu News Editor Viewpoints: gamecockopinions@gwm, sc.edu STEPHEN FASTENAU Sports: gamecocksports@gwm.sc. edu Assf. News Editor Public Affairs: gamecockPR@yahoo.com JUSTIN CHAPURA Online: www.dailygamecock.com Viewpoint! Editor New,room: 777-7726: Sporn: 777-7182 BRINDY McNAIR Editor, Offer: 777-3914 _ The Mix Editor ALEXIS ARNONE STUDENT MEDIA Sports Editor Director JONATHAN HILLYARO SCOTT LINDENBERG tfCf" Faculty Adviser ALtA KILcY ERIK COLLINS Photo Editor NICKESARES Creative Director „ , , SUSAN KING Sports Photo Editor KATIE KIRKLAND Business Manager Pan Designers CAROLYN GRIFFIN SINCLAIR SCARBOROUGH Graphic Designer Classified Manager LAURA-JOYCE GOUGH SHERRY F. HOLMES SftfttHMAWAY, ^MNSl’eT KATIE THOMPSON GAREN CANSLER Onlini Editor RbYIhhY tV&S DVAU ciuunuc DKLMllIlH lVHIyj, KYAN SIMMUNa RYAN GORMAN, KATIE CUPPIA, Creative Services APRYL ALEXANDER, LAURA-JOYCE GOUGH, MARY RACHEL JOSEPH DANNELLY, FREEMAN mCKEN2IE MEGHAN WHITMAN, DRE MARGARET LAW iyickkiuh TO PLACE AN AD The Gamecock Advertising: 777-3888 1400 Greene St. Classified: 777-1184 Columbian S.C. 29208 Fax:777-6482 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 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 purchased for $1 each from the Department of Student Media. i Cartoon courtesy of KRT Campus Guys cant compete with girls beauty, brains But if we put down our beers, we might be able to catch up with them I only vaguely know the girl sitting next to me in class, but I have to admit she’s gorgeous. She wore a fantastic two-piece today — lovely skirt and one heck of a top. Don’t let the girlfriend read this though, or she’ll be forced to ban certain privileges, such as food, tea and backrubs. Back to the hot girl though, wow. Given half a chance I’d definitely consider taking her out for dinner and a movie. Oh! The glories of male thought! Undoubtedly this process goes through the mind of the majority of most males at some point during college, let alone the times when we guys decide to mosey on out drinking and partying. You know, start eyeing up the extremely sexy females. We all know the cheesiest pick up lines — my favorite being one so filthy and disgusting that the paper you are reading would explode in your hands if read — and we all love to drink with our buddies. But the point is that society has changed. A lot. Browsing through statistics presented to me by USC’s Web site at the beginning of the semester showed that 58 percent of the incoming freshman class is female. That’s an astonishing number to my mind. That means, if current trends continue, that every [three out of five undergrads will be female in five years. A far cry from the days of yore, when only HflROn men were allowed ■KM into academic Third-year institutions, in a philosophy time when we student . . . imagined a woman’s brain would quite literally melt if she tried to drive a car. Society has changed, women have certainly changed, but what are men doing? On the Web site of comparative statistics by the University of Texas at Austin, it shows that women outperform men on average in every field. EVERY field. In social work, architecture and business management, women are now consistently scoring higher on their GPA than their male fellows. It seems obvious that in the ‘80s, the education systems were altered to suit a feminine mindset more, but that is no excuse for the comparative failure of men in college. We need to buckle down. Fast. Men have too many preoccupations, of which women is the main one. That really needs to be moderated. So I continue to sit in my class admiring this beautiful girl while she’s taking serious notes. Who knows what she’s doing while my friends are trying to place a well-aimed plasma grenade on a video game? Maybe she’s out drinking, but maybe she’s budgeting her time to read, study, write, analyze and learn. After a mammoth session of video games, men are out drinking with buddies and trying to seduce those extremely beautiful girls — the same girls who have successfully finished all that they need to do that night and are now letting their hair down. The very same girls who, if given an equal playing field in the job market, would probably run rampant over men. The very same girls who are both our preoccupation and now our intellectual superiors. Oh dear. Men need to start looking at women as equals. It sounds cliched and like something from a ‘60s sitcom, but men still seem trapped in a variety of images, the most predominant being something like the “typical” male culture. We all like drinking, we like girls, but making them focal points of existence is shallow and demeaning. Demeaning to us, as men; girls, as people; and beer, as beer. It’s because the male student culture is so inherently sexist that we are losing ground. Girls aren’t simply creatures with pretty hair and nice smells who exist to please men; they are job rivals and intellectual competition. The sooner this sinks in, the sooner men can Catch up. IN YOUR OPINION Freshmen shouldn’t be denied parking Just writing to say that Steven Van Haren’s article on parking (“You freshmen need parking like campus needs orange,” Wednesday) is a load of crap. Yes, parking is a big issue on campus, but saying freshmen are any less needing or deserving of parking is just blatant ignorance and discrimination. It’s easy for a senior to make such brainless statements, I guess, since his days of freshman woe are long gone. Not once is a valid argument given as to why freshmen should be singled out. Freshmen have a lot more to adjust to without being forbidden to bring a car to campus. Those of us from hometowns near enough to Columbia to easily drive home for a weekend and back should be allowed to do so, at the very least. But then what of the freshmen who want to go to the mall or other area destinations that are too far to be reached by bike? Local commerce depends in large part on student purchasing, I am sure, so denying a large part of the student body access to these vendors would be detrimental to the economy. Also, why should students feel safe riding a bike on campus, as Mr. Van Haren OO-' r student cyclist was just killed after being hit from behind by a car? The fact is, you don’t get brownie points in every aspect for being at USC longer than others. The argument for more student parking to be created has weight, but trying to say that freshmen ought not have a right to it is asinine. We pay just like everyone else. Next time, Mr. Van Haren would do better to think his arguments through more thoroughly before spewing such negative and spiteful drivel as this article. TRAVIS HAYS First-year political science student Players win ball games, not Spurriers legend status Football fans need to focus less on coach, more on players, team “We’ve Got Spurrier!” merchandise has been littering store ads for months now. -— Fans are wearing shirts that say “Got Spurrier?” or “USC is Spurrier jnjjEne Sllli:> usual “Go Third-year Cocks!” painted print across the chests journalism of dedicated 5tudent fans, the paint read “Got Spurrier?” So I have to ask: What happened to the Gamecocks? It seems that all the hype this football season has been about new coach Steve Spurrier instead of the football team. But coaches don’t win football games. I’m sure Steve Spurrier is a great coach, but I have yet to see him work any miracles. If there are going to be any football miracles this year, it’s going to be because of our team. The team members are the ones working their tails off for a win while Steve Spurrier stands on the sideline. Yet all the while, Gamecock fans become Spurrier fans before he has even done anything good for us. He has yet to make an impact, but everyone still quickly went from loving Lou Holtz to worshipping Steve Spurrier. Our first football ticket this year has a picture of the “of ball coach” with the caption “Head Coach Steve Spurrier.” But the ticket, to me, seems to read “Head Coach Steve Spurrier vs. Central Florida. From where I was sitting at the game, it looked like the Gamecocks beat Central Florida, not Steve Spurrier. Spurrier has only been with the Gamecocks for one game, yet he is getting more attention than senior players who have been devoted to Gamecock football for four years. A lot of people need to realize that Sept. 1 was not a win for Spurrier but a win for the Gamecocks. We are only as good as our team plays. I’m not trying to make it sound like I am against Spurrier. I’m not at all. It just seems to me like he is taking all the credit away from our football team. For example, should we 1 beat Clemson this year, and should we go to a bowl game, the fans are going to worship Spurrier even more. Forget the Gamecocks — they only played the game. So fans, let’s realize what football is really about. Instead of chanting “We’ve got Spurrier,” chant “USC!” or “defense!” And before we get so far as screaming “Steve — Spurrier!” after touchdowns, let’s remember that USC is GAMECOCK country. Ul Should commuter students and seniors be j given on-campus parking before freshmen? S Let us know online @ www.dailygamecock.com. www. dailygamecock. com