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MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2020
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR:
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All too often, I find myself defending the same 45 words. “Cong ress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise t hereof; or abr idg i ng t he f reedom of speech, or of t he press; or t he r ight of t he p e o p le p e a c e ab l y t o assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” A nd all too of ten, I a m a dd r e s s i n g t he s a me questions. “Isn’t The Daily Gamecock fake news?” The climate surrounding the press has changed over the last four years. Readership has decreased as distrust has increased. Freedom of t he press is important because the press prov ide s t he c om mu n it y with information, increases aw a rene s s a nd hold s t he u n iversit y a nd st udent organizations accountable. Fake news is the deliberate spread of misinformation, not news that you do not agree with. Many people who use
the phrase “fake news” often and designs are all produced, e d it e d a nd publ i s he d b y do not understand what it is. “W ho is the adult that st udent s. The pu r pose of student media organizations approves this story?” is to give us the opportunity That “adult” is me. I do not have t he years to gain the closest “real world of professional journalism experiences” we can get. The reality is we will make experience to justif y why I will make the decisions I do. m ist a kes. We are st udent My ex per ience w i l l come journalists and don’t take from the three years I have ourselves too seriously. With each mistake, we will spent working on The Daily reflect and strive to not make Gamecock. the same mistake again. I still have a lot to learn. There are ma ny t i m e s w h e n I lo o k back on our coverage My hope is that our coverage will and situations in the encourage a dialogue on issues that newsroom and I feel a sen se of pr ide i n are often infused with stigmas and t he conversat ion we swept under the rug. started. I have also felt regret and questioned the choices that were “W hy doesn’t T he made. But it is easy to look Daily Gamecock support back, knowing the result, and t he u n i v er s it y a n d t he wish things were different. Gamecocks?” Those times are behind us, The Daily Gamecock is each with its own lesson. the editorially independent As the student newspaper, st udent newspaper at t he with over 100 reporters, we University of South Carolina. produce daily online content, E d itor ia l i ndependence newsletters and a weekly print means the editors have the edition. The stories, photos
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freedom to make decisions about content without the i nter ference of out side institutions. We are not t he public relat ions depa r t ment for t he u n iversit y or Gamecock Athletics. It is our job to inform readers about what is happening on our campus and in our communit y without a lens that is clouded by an agenda. W hether you have faced an issue that is positive or negative, we will report on it. Have you or a f r iend st r uggled w it h ment a l health? Share it with us.
Are there issues you face i n you r re s idenc e h a l l s? Share it with us. How sustainable do you t h i n k t he u n i v e r s it y i s? Share it with us. I s s u e s s u c h a s m e nt a l healt h, sex ual assau lt a nd pa r t y c u lt u re w i l l be at t he foref ront of ou r conver sat ion s i n t he newsroom. But we ca n not do it without you. Our readers are at the center of every story we produce. L e t ’s c o n t i n u e t h i s conversation together.
USC class reflects on history of slavery LEXI TORRENCE Contributor
The original chemistry textbooks used by University of South Carolina st udent s i n t he ea rly 180 0 s a re remarkably similar to t he book s m o d e r n C H E M 101 s t u d e n t s purchase today. The books are worn from their
two centuries of existence and bound w it h clot h or leat her i nstead of laminate, but they hold much of the same information today’s students learn. The periodic table wouldn’t be assembled for another few decades, but these students, all white men, went to classes in the same Horseshoe buildings students do today. Only their chemistry books were dusted by slaves.
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Almost every book in the original collection of the South Caroliniana Library was once cared for by enslaved labor. Enslaved persons built, maintained and staffed the university from its founding in 1801 until t he Emancipat ion Procla mat ion f reed Confederate slaves in 1863. “[ T he Hor se shoe is] essentially the best preserved landscape of CAROLINE WILLIAMSON // THE GAMECOCK slavery on any American The last remaining slave quarters on campus stands on the Horseshoe c ol leg e or u n i ver s it y behind the president’s house. At least 12 of the buildings on campus are campus,” Bob Weyeneth, named after known slave owners. a h istor y professor at or might not have existed in the first USC, said. In 2010 Weyeneth led a senior place. The names this group discovered seminar that dove into the history of slavery at South Carolina College, are only a fraction of the enslaved the school’s original name. During people who were ow ned by t he the 2019 fall semester, the university’s university or by other parties and newly appointed president formed a forced to serve the campus. University archivist Elizabeth West said that commission to do even more. “I’ve wondered over t he years 20 people was just enough to run why nobody was really looking at Stewarts Hall, the university’s first the connections between slavery and dining facility. The exact number of the university, which was founded, enslaved people who worked at the obviously, 60 years before the Civil university might never be known, West said. War even started,” Weyeneth said. Those identified were memorialized During the project, Weyeneth and his students discovered the names of on a marker in front of the president’s 21 people enslaved at the university. house on the Horseshoe in 2017. Unlike at the University of Virginia Behind the president’s house stands and many other Southern colleges, the only remaining slave quarters on here there were only a handful of campus. records t hat ment ioned enslaved people, and even fewer documents SEE SLAVERY named them. The documents could PAGE 15 have been lost, damaged, destroyed
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it chapter two • 8 pm • RH theatre
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