Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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VIEWPOINTS AMECOCK EDITORIAL BOARD MICHAEL LaFORGIA News Editor STEPHEN FASTENAU Asst. News Editor JUSTIN CHAPURA The Mix Editor ALEXIS ARNONE JONATHAN HILLYARD Viewpoints Editor BRINOY McNAIR Copy Desk Chief STEVEN VAN HAREN Design Director chas McCarthy IN OUR OPINION During logo legalities, recall who came first The University of South Carolina. The University of Southern Cal. Both USCs. Both major collegiate powerhouses in athletics and academics. Both causing a whirlwind of debate in terms of what is used to represent them. Southern Cal is in the process of litigation with South Carolina over the mark of the Gamecocks’ baseball squad. Carolina’s current symbol is a script-style interlocking “SC,” resembling the style of the Yankees symbol. The Trojan nation seems to have issue with the design, saying it resembles their baseball symbol too closely. The problem with the situation — we’ve already changed this symbol once. Carolina’s baseball program used to be associated with a block style “SC” that Southern Cal now uses for all its other major letters “SC” and who should have the right to use them. The I U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is handling the dispute and will ultimately resolve the issue, possibly as soon as next fall. But why wait? Lets see who has the advantage in head-to head competition. USC-West has won 12 national championships in baseball alone, the latest coming in 1998. This is a far cry from USC East’s two national titles in the entire athletics department. Edge: USC-West. However, South Carolina represents an entire state, while Southern Cal is a private school representing only a portion of California. Edge: USC-East. The ultimate tiebreaker — South Carolina was established as a university long before California was a even made into a state. USC-East wins. But only time, and the patent offices Trademark Trial and Appeal Board system, will tell who gets to keep the mark. sports programs. University offi cials looked into the resemblance and found the need to change, adopting the current symbol worn by our beloved Gamecocks. The debate is over use of the South Carolina was established as a university before California was even made into a state. IT’S VO UR 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 In the Nov. 16 The Mix, the photograph of The Letter Red featured in ] the calendar should have been attributed to Chris Yarborough. The Gamecock regrets this error. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK bditor 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 HILLYARO 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 LAURA-JOYCE GOUGH Copy Editors CHELSEA HADAWAY, KRISTY LAU8E, KATIE THOMPSON, JAMISON TINSLEY LIZ WHITE Online Editor RYAN SIMMONS Creative Services JOSEPH DANNELLY, LAURA-JOYCE GOUGH, MARGARET LAW, MEGHAN WHITMAN STUDENT MEDIA I i Director SCOTT UNDENBERG Faculty Adviser ERIK COLLINS Creative Director SUSAN KING Business Manager CAROLYN GRIFFIN Advertising Manager SARAH SCARBOROUGH Classified Manager SHERRY F. HOLMES Production Manager C. NEIL scon Advertising Staff BREANNA EVANS, RYAN GORMAN, KATIE CUPPIA, APRYL ALEXANDER, MARY RACHEL FREEMAN, MCKENZIE WELSH, DEIDRE 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 0/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. b CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. The Editor's office hours are Monday and Wednesday from 1-3 Pm Editor: game cock edit or@gwm. sc. edv 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 TO PLACE AN AD The Gamecock » 1400 Greene St. Columbia, S. C. 29208 Advertising: 777-3888 Classified: 777-1184 Fax: 777-6482 *WRE THANKFUL RK M BREADS, OUTSOURCING. DOWNSIZING, DOUBLE-WGfT PfiOFTT MATINS.." Cartoon courtesy of KRT Campus Why not just say what were all thinking.? Far more prevalent than parking, campus lacks sufficient sex dialogue As a copy editor for the Viewpoints section of The Gamecock, I’m sick of reading about racism online and parking. Everyone knows racism exists everywhere in the world, so why are we surprised it exists on the Internet? And as for parking, it sucks. Anyone who walks or drives down Bull Street knows that. If columns in our newspaper were to actually reflect the issues weighing on the average student’s mind, John Doe would be walking around thinking about parking, Facebook and the random political issue. But that’s not what the average college student spends class daydreaming about. What’s really on the mind of students today? Sex. Let’s talk about sex. More than half the freshman class has had sexual intercourse or some sex act, and as they get older the number of partners only multiplies. So of all the issues facing our student body, it might be the most intimate, but it affects us all. From those who never have sex to the ones who have too much sex, it is a common ground, something we can all relate to. And who doesn’t need a little sex advice? Then why can’t we talk about it? With eight pages of sports and mosdy male columnists, the female portion LIZ of our readers UJHITC deserve a little „ , attention, and no second-year . . print one ever saJo journalism guys couldn’t student learn a thing or two in the process. Let’s face it: Most guys don’t know what women want. They even made a movie about it, but men are still pretty clueless. But I think the most important reason why we should have a sex column is because 50 percent of this campus is female and 50 percent of us need girlfriends. Maybe you think it only happens to you, but honey, you are not alone. We can gripe and complain, moan and groan about relationships together. ' I find my best friends'and I spend a good portion of our dinner break talking about guys, pondering thoses infamous questions every girl has to ask herself and her girlfriends at some point during her dating career. And to be totally honest, my friends and I are getting a litde sick of bouncing the same ideas off each other every AIM chat. It’s share time, girls. Maybe I could try to be deep and say this is somewhat like an anthropological testament of college behavior, or I could just tell the truth and say it’s time we realize-women like to talk about sex. It might seem a litde shallow, but it’s on all our minds. After all, men think about sex about once every 20 minutes or so, and I don’t think — if women were totally honest — the softer sex would be far behind that probably incorrect statistic. As teenagers we learn most of what we know from the media, a little from that awkward “birds and the bees” talk with the parentals and the rest from our peers. What girl didn’t love a good girl gossip, when Susie said she kissed that boy at the school dance? And what guy didn’t love to share his sexual triumphs with his best friends? As young adults we’re growing out of that awkward stage. Sex might be an intimate topic, but until we’re comfortable talking about it, how will we ever be comfortable with our sexuality? It’s taken a lot for me to get here — and I won’t bore or depress anyone with any of that nonsense — but I’m starting to get comfortable making other people uncomfortable. Some of you might be looking for Mr. Right or maybe just Mr. Right-now — for the male readers substitute Mrs. — but everyone needs to understand you’re not alone. We’re all going through the j same things in our own unique, amazing fabulous way. So, let’s talk about sex, baby. Tookie: Deblock dignitary or lethal infection? Is redemption reason enough to pardon killer, award him Nobel Prize? It’s almost exam week. I’d like to discuss a related topic: the death penalty. Because exams usually fall between a firing squad and Mein Bowl’s sweet-and-sour chicken in terms of cruel punishment, life and death are flashing before our eyes. If ever we caught glimpses of Satan out of the corners of our eyes, now would be the time. We’re all teetering on the brink of the seventh circle of hell. I’m hearing all kinds of stuff about how the U.S. is approaching its 1,000 th execution since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1977. This is a pretty grim countdown, worse than VHl’s “One Hundred Greatest Colostomy Bags.” I’m for the death penalty. Forget how the Bible says “eye for an eye.” Some crimes cross the line into a deviance - befitting evil that has no right to survive. But the question still stands: Does someone deserve a second chance? It’s hard to say. I saw a movie starring Randy Quaid as a convicted murderer. He was strapped in to the electric chair, said his goodbyes and they threw the switch. Something malfunctioned, a bolt of lightning shot through his head and the STEUEfl circuits shorted UMIHflREII out- When he _ . woke up, he had Fourth-year . , mechanical amnesla engineering couldn t ever student remember killing anybody. I didn’t get to the end of the movie, but I know everyone started grappling with whether to try to refry his beans. Tough call. To tell you the truth, I haven’t made up my mind about redemption. Take Stanley “Tookie” Williams, the founder of the Crips gang scheduled to die by lethal injection Dec. 13. He was convicted of killing four people. Sentencing is a funny thing. Twenty-five years for a bag of pot? That’s ridiculous. Five years for stealing? That’s better. Death for death? That’s right. At the time he was convicted and sentenced, this was the right call. Skip ahead. Williams becomes an anti-gang crusader. He’s nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Jamie Foxx, who portrayed Williams in a TV movie, is pushing for clemency. Calif. Gov. Arnold Schwarzfenegger is considering it. I think Williams has done nothing more than a lot of other changed men in prison. They write books, they plant trees, they build things. Most men in prison have reformed: “Hey, I haven’t killed anyone since I’ve been in here! Isn’t that something?” I don’t see the difference between the Nobel and fixing up bikes for kids. Nobel’s wisened, peacemaker connotation has jacked up sympathy. Williams isn’t clinically insane. He wasn’t wrongfully accused. DNA testing — which I’m all for — hasn’t cleared his name. He hasn’t spent his time in prison inventing a machine to reanimate dead people. Time moves forward, and none of this community repair can move back the clock, no matter how “Nobel” the cause. No murderer will ever ride Of Sparky if they just act real nice and plant a tree. I’m not saying Williams is dishonest in his efforts; I’m saying if people push for his release on grounds of reformation, they’ll have to do it for everybody, or at least for the good actors. (Tough decision. But it’s time to go. This is probably my last regular column. I can only say thanks, a thousand times.) X Our campus: the very best, the Very odd, the very bad With my last column, campus’ crazy quirks come to light — at last I am tired. I have three research papers due, and until this morning, I ■ couldn’t come up with a topic for this column worth the 500 words it would take to fill the sue* ' 6RCGG "*>?? “ th' Biggest Fourth-year Challenges interdisciplinary , studies student a n Champions for Me on the Columbia Campus of the University Of South Carolina.” No. 1 — What is up with the BA Building? The water is always ice cold, and there is a terrible smell in the classrooms that seems to get worse as the floors get higher. I’ve always wondered if that smell is indicative of some type of health hazard. No. 2 — Why can I never seem to find the ladies’ restrooms in the Jones Physical Science and Sumwalt buildings? Does there seem to be twice as many men’s rooms, or am I waiting too late to go? No. 3 — Is there some unwritten rule that says pedestrians can walk in the street even after the light has changed? No. 4 — Why can’t more instructors get used to using DiacKDoarar No. 5—The most obvious of all the challenges — the parking situation? Why is it that we pay tuition while it seems university officials are more concerned with providing parking for guests? An honorable mention goes to the elevators in the humanities building. Taking four flights by stairs is not so bad; but if you prefer to take the elevator to go up, give yourself at least 10 minutes. The biggest champions for me on campus are as follows: No. 1 — VIP is the reason I don’t know where half the campus offices are located. VIP cuts most of the time and energy that could be wasted when it is time to “take care of business.” I believe that it is the single best overall tool that USC has for its students. No. 2 — The Russell House is a great entertainment spot. If you haven’t had the time to take a look a around the facility, I believe that it would be to your advantage. No. 3 — Online library resources offer many wonderful alternatives to actually going to the libraries in person. This is especially helpful to a student who does not live on campus. No. 4 — The Gamecock (newspaper, that is). That’s really all that needs to be said. No. 5 — 90.5 WUSC-FM Columbia. Under the leadership of former and current station managers Rae Hatton and Will Bovender, the station has been doing a great job of building upon the foundation of educational radio at its best. If you are tired of listening to the same things over and over (and over) again, WUSC is the experience for you. 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. &