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_ VIEWPOINTS AMECOCK EDITORIAL BOARD Editor MICHAEL LaFORGIA News Editor STEPHEN FASTENAU Asst. News Editor JUSTIN CHAPURA The Mix Editor ALEXIS ARNONE Sports Editor JONATHAN HILLYARD Viewpoints Editor BRINDY McNAIR Copy Desk Chief STEVEN VAN HAREN Design Director chas McCarthy IN OUR OPINION Message board racism has no place at USC We applaud USC’s administration for the swift action it has taken to address racist comments on a Greek Web site popular on campus. On Monday The Gamecock reported that Carolina officials were investigating allegations of racism on message boards at ffatty.net, a Web site popular among members of Greek organi zations nationwide. In recent threads, people have posted messages attacking Omega Psi Phi, the first historically black fraternity to break ground in USC’s Greek Village. The Omegas’ crime? Having the audacity to push into a pre viously all-white neighborhood. Browsing through these posts, it becomes clear that at least a handful of USC students have authored hateful, barely coherent diatribes against black people, Those responsible attacks bristling with racial slurs for racist posts an(j crude epithets. make US ashamed The individuals responsible for to be USC students. . „ . . ,,. these posts are small-minded big ots, and they make us ashamed to be USC students. They hide behind their online anonymity as they string together obscenity after inane obscenity, breeding hatred, per petuating race problems. Making us all look bad. To these students, we say get off our campus. USC has no place for spite-filled cowards. We urge USC administrators to remain steadfast in tracking these students down and holding them accountable for their actions. School officials need to send the message that this type of behavior won’t be tolerated at Carolina, now or ever. Anything short of conspicuous and serious repercussions — like suspension or expulsion from the university — will be per ceived as a slap on the wrist and only embolden like-minded students to mount similar attacks. This is an extremely serious problem, and it demands a seri ous response from the people in charge. IT'S YOUR RIGHT Exercise your right to voice your opinion, I Create message boards at www. dailygamecock. com or send letters to the editor to gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu 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 STEPHEN FASTENAU Asst. News Editor JUSTIN CHAPURA Viewpoints Editor BRINDY McNAIR The Mix Editor ALEXIS ARNONE Sports Editor JONATHAN HILLYARD Asst. Sports Editor ALEX RILEY Photo Editor NICK ESARES Sports Photo Editor KATIE KIRKLAND Page Designers MIKE CONWAY, JESSICA ANN NIELSEN, MEGAN SINCLAIR Graphic Designer LAdRA-JOYCE GOUGH Copy Editors CHELSEA HAOAWAY, KRISTY LAUBE, KATIE THOMPSON. JAMISON TINSLEY LIZ WHITE Online Editor RYAN SIMMONS Creatine Services JOSEPH DANNELLY, LAURA-JOYCE GOUGH, MARGARET LAW, MEGHAN WHITMAN TO PLACE AN AO The Gamecock 1400 Greene St. Columbia. S.C. 29208 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 pm. 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 SCOn UNDENBERG Faculty Adviser ERIK COLLINS Creative Director SUSAN KING Business Manager CAROLYN GRIFFIN Advertising Manager SARAH SCARBOROUGH Classified Manager SHERRY F. HOLMES Production Manager NEIL SCOTT Advertising Staff BREANNA EVANS, RYAN GORMAN, KATIE CUPPIA, APRYL ALEXANDER, MARY RACHEL FREEMAN, MCKENZIE WELSH, OEIDRE MERRICK 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 purchasedfor $1 each from the Department of Student Media. fHMT WO—li—ITr TH Trill MTMWim |fXlCMW» s/-5 but flldde tx® for the CURRENT ■a. Cartoon courtesy of KRT Campus Hey ladies: All gay guys aren’t ‘just Jack’ Women, sorority girls apply media stereotype to all homosexual men There are few certainties in life; however, there is one thing I am fully convinced of. Hidden deep in each sorority house, right past the elusive test files and somewhere next to the Giant Book of Secrets that Only a Sister Knows, is an “Emergency Date” list. It is comprised of homosexual men and constantly unattached straight men, and is only pulled out of its vault for a dateless sister in the event of a mixer, formal, or semi-formal. This secret list appears to be an effort to make sure every sister has a date, including those with out-of-town boyfriends (“Who cares if its 600 miles away! I can’t be a ‘famous couple’ by myself!”) as well as the often stag quadruple legacy (“It’s fine. I’ll just stay in with my two best guy friends: Ben and Jerry.”) Now, I’m not going to lie: I like going to sorority functions. I feel that every young gay boy dreams of one day being in a sorority (if not only for the cute bag), and this is my way of acting that out. I enjoy it. I often ask my friends if they need a date, but it’s the people who I meet at functions that seem to bother me: “Omigod you must be Kat’s gay friend Joe! I always wanted a gay best friend!” Whoa, back it up sister — it’s time to rethink my role here. There is the common misconception that every girl □ wants a shopping buddy or someone to console them while they have boyfriend woes. REESE . N°f' Quite frankly, if it s Third-year . r i ■ not at fashion . , merchandising Goodwill, its student too expensive and I have my own boy problems to deal with; at least you know the boy you like enjoys the company of the opposite sex (most of the time). I meet these girls at sorority functions and I just laugh and make fake plans with them in a desperate effort to get them away from me. The harsh reality for some is that I’m not “Jack,” and most other guys I know aren’t either. This is the part where the whole “list” situation comes into play. Oftentimes I have had my friends call me and be like “So-and-so doesn’t have a date to band party, do you want to go?” while in my head I’m screaming, “Is this the same girl that asked me who was the boy and who was the girl?!? Hell no, I.won’t go with her!” Yet, I always accept. I cannot tell you why. Perhaps I feel it’s my duty for previously being let in on sorority life, but I end up attending and laying on the charm real thick to make sure the girl has a good time. What she doesn’t know is that the whole time I’m wondering if the T-shirt design for the event will be cute enough to wear to the club. Every function I go to, I am constantly surrounded by this new definition of wingman: straight men who only get dates when pawned off on “friends of friends” or gay guys like me who are there to perpetuate a media-induced stereotype. Granted, I like to dance and get all dressed up, but usually with people who I’ve met at least once. When this list is used for dates, it seems both parties are on some horribly awkward blind date they both know won’t end well. After chatting with other men in my position I have decided to take it upon myself to be the voice of the masses. We wingmen have feelings and untapped desires just like you; we are not just a piece of meat! We do have lives outside of the Greek alphabet, and it’s not quite safe to assume that we will automatically ask off work for functions at the hopes we will get that desperate call for duty. ‘ We are not an escort service, and we do not appreciate the assumption that going to a function overshadows all other weekend plans. But don’t let this stop you; we just have a few demands if our services are to be continued: Give us at least an hour to get ready, attempt to coordinate our outfits and, most importantly, please make sure to order an extra small T shirt because otherwise you are just toying with our emotions. IN YOUR OPINION % For fresh analysis, Broom boils it down Monday morning brought another outstanding, entertaining, well-written and funny column from Jake Broom. I don’t know who this guy is, but he is one of the most talented sportswriters I’ve ever read. His columns never cease to hit the right points in a funny, irreverent way. His writing is dead-on and highly entertaining. His columns are one of the best reasons to pick up The Gamecock every week. The sad thing about student columnists is that, for the most part, their work is bogged down in cliche and silliness. Sports writers in particular fall prey to this. But not Mr. Broom. He is a true talent and is consistendy enjoyable. I have clipped and sent many of his articles to friends and fellow SEC fans around the country, many of whom agree with me. It will be a loss to The Gamecock sports desk when he graduates. But if he chooses to pursue it, I am sure there is a future in sportswriting for him. CHARLIE SCHEER Graduate student in criminal justice. Fratty.net distorts Greeks’ real values The Gamecock and the university administration, in their handling of the comments posted on the Web site fratty.net, have greatly disgraced one of the necessary and most involved parts of this campus: Greek Life. It seems as if the student newspaper and our current administration are intent on destroying, if not decreasing the influence of, the Greek system here at Carolina. Never is anything published in The Gamecock that sheds a positive light on the Greek system. We hear litde about how Greeks, both male and female, have higher GPAs than non Greeks. We hear nothing about the coundess hours of community service that Greeks participate in, ranging from Relay for Life to breast cancer research to The Boys & Girls Club of America. Instead, The Gamecock and Mr. Brewer, continue to perpetuate stereotypes that Greeks are nothing more than spoiled, drunken rednecks who provide no benefit to their community. A handful of people — who aren’t even known to be members of the Greek community — have posted those comments. Why are you judging thousands of students for the mis-action of four or five? JARRET CALDER Third-year political science 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. www. dailygamecock. com After sifiing through site, I need to roll a bigfratty ‘Only a joke’ excuse doesn’t work when you carelessly use N-word You can make a joke out of anything. But a fine line exists between intelligent humor and abrasive cruelty. We’ve been hearing a lot about racist Internet groups —— ana message nnn iinn boards on Web «fln Hflflen si„ such „ Fourth-year Facebook and mechanical 'SET* Up here at The Gamecock, we’re able to see first-hand what the controversy is about. We found “Northerners Dress Like the Negroes Do,” one representative of bad Southern stereotypes. It was stupid stuff, but I thought it fell short of being racist. Fratty.net, however, is another level of stupidity. ‘*Oh, they’re just joking, man.” People try to smooth it over, and, in the case of that Facebook group, it was halfway believable. But that “fine line” I talked about is measured completely in severity. Imagine someone whose mother was paralyzed in a car accident. They could laugh at blonde jokes, Holocaust jokes, and sex jokes. Then someone comes along and drops a “vegetable” joke. Suddenly, it’s too close to home. I think we all understand this. It’s about the specific words you use and how they’re delivered. When I joke with my buddy Dave, who is black, about his blackness or my whiteness, it’s no big deal. We laugh. Take that, home skillet. But if I was to call him a nigger or jigaboo, 1 would’ve successfully cleared that “fine line” by a few hundred feet. I saw the words “nigger” and “jigaboo” on fratty.net. Trust me: that sentence about “a cotton picking party” in Monday’s news story was one of the least severe things on that site. That’s how I knew, no matter how much people tried to twist it, that it wasn’t only a harmless joke. Using those words puts it way out of the realm of harmlessness. I remember right after Sept. 11, right after the anthrax scare. I was watching some sort of benefit concert with a bunch of celebrities and comedians. Jokes about America’s situation? “This is the first concert I’ve been to where rock stars stay away from the white powder backstage,” someone joked. We use humor to stick it out when things get tough. But at a certain point, we’re all only college students. It’s not a question of character. What I laugh at is not connected to my values — it’s what I don’t laugh at. Would I laugh at stuff on fratty.net? No. It’s way over the edge. Would I laugh at stuff on that Facebook group? Maybe — just as I’d laugh at a good “three blondes walk into a Jewish brothel” joke. Just as blacks might laugh at a Holocaust joke or Jews might laugh at a Catholic joke. It’s funny until the language takes a turn for the vile, and fratty.net has no one laughing. Take that, jive turkeys.