University of South Carolina Libraries
Green 1 Could N The headline might- read, dent Run Down By Car," and read, "Coed Dies From Green And the story would go on coed was crossing Green Sti Russell House at 5 p.m., i hit her as she was dodging t she died before she reached t a paragraph about the thing she was in school. You say, and this is cri you've never tried to cross Gi ing a busy traffic time of t she was dodging cars, she des But if you've tried to cross tl one of a number of busy pE He1igiow Do As of Tuesday, Religious I looked like a success, as there dents attending the convocat were in the canteen at convoc Dr. Eric C. Rust, speaking Religion, drew a crowd of ove to the morning convocations Armory. Morning convocati House, led by Father Declan B Norman M. Goldberg, were als This speaks well for Car where students are often notic Letters to the Edi HoIidd Paper Pi Paper Demonstrates Free Press Dear Editor: Last week's Gamecock demon strated that we have a free press on the campus. I hope that the students' opinion will continue to be re spected in future issues. Sincerely, Nancy Wells Editorial Page Of Paper Commended Dear Editor: I commend you for your edi torial page in the December 2 Gamecock. I hope you and your staff will continue to stimulate student thinking arnd opinion. Sincerely, Martha Stokes Christmas Holiday Scheduinig WVrong D)ear 'Editor : I sincerely dislike to write a letter in the tone of a complaint. However, to my mind I believe that I have a legitimate cause. The University administration appears to have acted with some dlegree of short-sightedness in scheduling the Christmas holidays for this year. Dec. 22 is too late to begin these holidays. This, of course, is only a personal opinion, but I shall eite several reasons which tend to suppert this view: I. Many students wish to work CROWING FC UNIVERSITY OF Member of Assiociz Founded January 30, 1908, with editor, "The Camecock" is publi University of South Carolinua we year except on holidays and durhi Thle opinions expressed by colum marily those of "The (;amecock. endorsement. The right to edit I EDITOR MANAGING ED)ITOR BUSINESS MANAGER ASSISTANT MANAGING F NEWS EDITOR CAMPUS EDITOR SPORTS EDITOR SOCIETY EDITOR FEATURE EDITOR 'CIRCULIATION MANAGER ASSISTAN'T BUSINESS M. PHOTOGRAPHERS ASSISTANT SPORTS ED)I'I CA RTOONIST STAFF IF Roy Williams, Tom Walker, Lt Marsha Wiseheart, Carol We Fisher, Doun Scott, Bill Atkim field. COLU Billy Mellette, Pat Treacd BUSINE; Jimmy Turner, Windy Mi Bullnulr. Bil Ka Street 51 lesult In "Carolina Stu- many others I the deck might actly what you Street Mishap." we cross that to say how this sometimes ste -eet in front of cording to th .nd how a car flirting with raffic, and how thing as the a le hospital, and to us. It cot s she did while days... . UNLESS at el, but maybe an occurrence. -een Street dur- We're glad he day, that if making an att, erved to be hit. We hope it is ie street at any successful beft :riods, you and comes a realit: as Emphus emed Suce mphasis Week sence at such were more stu- terest this ye; ons than there due to the fin ation time. Religious En on Science and brought to the r 700 each day We congratt in the Naval and the YW-Y: ns in Russell presented this ailey and Rabbi reflective thou; well attended. self re-evaluat >lina, a school activities will ed for their ab- topic comes alo for iy Change raised And I (luring the week before Christ mas. Normally such employment would commence on the Monday preceding Christmas Day. Every day lost thereafter diminishes the chances of finding a job and the value of one if it is secured. I have personally talked to one stu dent who had accepted a job be ginning Monday, December 19, in t he belief that the vacation would start that day as has been Uni versity policy in recent years. There is no reason to believe that there are not other students fac ing the same or similar situa tions. It is an undue hardship to force students to cut three days of classes in order to accept needed employment. 2. Students living long dis tances front South Carolina will be exposed to a last-minute holi (lay train rush and may be de layed or severely inconvenienced in reaching their homes. At best they will arrive at home at the last minute with seriously limited time to make any necessary prep arations for Christmas, such as shopping, etc. 3. The already much--inter rup)ted Tuesday, Thiv.sday, Satur dlay classes wvill again lose more class meetings. The other two holidays of the fall semester necessarily must begin on Thurs (lay, but no such circumstances affect the Christmas holidays. Beginning the Christmas recess on a Thursday seems grossly un fair to these classes. 4. The nature of the celebra tion of Christmas requires a cer R A CREATERI SOUTH CAROLINA ted Collegiate Press Robert Elliott Gonzales as the first shed by and for the students of the rkly, on Fridays, during the college mg examinations. Isis and letter writers are not neces Publishing does not constitute an s reserved. CAROLYN McCLUNG PATSY PENNEY KAT ANTHONY DITOR Dew James Herbert Bryant Pat Treacy Walter Johnson Linda Cauthen Kay Oxner Billy Bruce ~NAG;ER Carol Shockey Bb Kelsey, Bob Finley OR Sid Badger Richard Alpert EP'ORTERS wis C romer, Barbara Hawthorne, tson, Marian Upchurch, Marcia on, Ji-m Elvingtoni, Kenny Rose liNISTS !, Dew James, Herb Bryant 38 STAFF Ilinax, Marion Ringle, 1Edith ituation Mishap ike you know that this is ex i do. And I do. And every time street, dodging the traffic that 'Ps and sometimes doesn't ac a whim of the driver, we are death. We think that such a bove story could never happen Ild, and it will one of these tion is taken to prevent such to see that Student Council is empt to alleviate the situation. successful, and we hope it is )re the headline mentioned be r.-C.M. ois Week ess gatherings. The apparent in wr could very well be largely e team of speakers which the iphasis W e e k Committee campus for the event. late the Executive Committee MCA on the fine program they year. And we hope that the ght, dormitory discussions and ion brought on by the week's not cease as soon as a new ng.-C.M. \sked; Rebuked tain amount of preparation as is discussed in No. 2 above. Three days, the amount of time before Christmas Day allowed by the present schedule, c o m e pre cariously close to being insuf ficient time for such preparation even for those students who can he at home throughout the whole period by virtue of living reason ably near Columbia. 5. While I realize that "Every hody else is doing it" is a rather weak reason for anything, I would desire to point out that most other educational institu tions are dismissing for Christ mas beginning Monday, Dec. 19. It is not conducive to the morale of the student body to continue at work while friends who are stu dents elsewhere celebrate. 6. A three-day period of classes p)receding holidays will not ac complishi enough to justify its in convenience. This is not my oiion alone. I have heard at leafst one member of the faculty make the statement that such a period at the beginning of a week always seemed "futile." 7. Many social and religious activities in the students' home towns, in which they would nor mally p)articipate, will take place before our holidays begin. Caro lina students will thus be de prived of participation in them. The question naturally arises, "What can be done now? The schedule is set." In answer I would say that the schedule was mnade by the University adminis tration; it is not unchangeable as the Medes and the Persians; it could be changed by the adminis tration. According to the present sched ule the holidays begin on Thurs dlay, Dec. 22, and classes resume on Wednesday, Jan. 4. This period embraces 11 school days. liy altering the holiday schedule so as to begin on Tuesday, Dec. 20, andl having classes resume on Monday, Jan. 2, the administra tion would in no way affect the schedule for the remainder of the semester. By having the holidays begin on Monday, Dec. 19, with classes resuming Jan. 2, the ad innistration would change the schiedulo for the remainder of the semester hy only one day, which couldl easily be made up; this wouIld extend the holidays to in clude only twelve school days, the number that have been included every year recently. Such changes in schedule are not at all un precedented. Recently the date of (ommencement day was changed in order to secure a certain speaker. To me these would seem to lbe reasons at least as concrete. It is my belief that the adminis tration has the interests and wishes of the student body at heart. I therefore urge that all who are in agreement with the principle of this letter make their feelings known to the administra t.ion. This cmuld perhaps be a HERBERT BRYANT Student Rivals Heavy student and automobile traffic still remains on Green Street. Approximately 5,000 au tomobiles and other vehicles are accommodated per day by Green Street. Approximately 4 , 0 0 0 Carolina students cross Green Street between Sumter and Pick ens Streets each day. Some stu dents cross the street more than twice. All this goes together to create a problem. The problem concerns human life. And by those who stop and ponder the problem the question, "What can be done to alleviate the problem and, if something isn't done to alleviate -or, at least, improve-the prob lem, how safe are the lives of the mass of students who cross the street in the course of a school day?" might arise. Of course there might be those who laugh and say this problem is really not so serious. And they can say there hasn't been a fatality yet. Yes, YET. A group of students who have been doing some very valuable work toward alleviating the Green Street problem is a Stu dent Council committee appointed by Student Body President Don Clark. The committee is com posed of Chairman Marshall Cain, Caroline Robinson, Bob Mc Nair and Al Perry. This commit tee has contacted responsible of ficials in Columbia who have been very responsive and who respect the problem. To date there is no way of tell ing whether something can or will be done concerning the traf fie. But the mere fact that some thing constructive is being done complished by means of a resolu tion by the Student Council or by means of brief, courteous, per sonal letters to the proper of ficial. (I do not know just who is in charge of the schedule. I would suggest either the dean of Ad ministration or President Russell, or both, as persons to whom to write these requests in the event that one degires to do so.) In the writing of this letter I intend no criticism of the Univer sity administration. It Is my be lief that the holidays were sched uled with utgntentional, perhaps unavoidable, lack of insight into student feeling about the matter. Sincerely, Edward H. Bodie, Jr. Board Acted With People's Wishes D)ear Editor: Thanks to you, and others who think as you do, Dr. Travelstead is now a martyr. Congratula tions! Everyone else seems to have ex p)ressed their opinion on the dis missal of The Great Educator, so please allow me to express mine. It is peculiar that I never heard D)r. Travelstead called a great ediucator before he was fired. I think that the University of South Carolina did exactly what the people of South Carolina would have wanted and expected had they known about this anti segregation speech. The Great Educator calls himself a white Southerner, and I do not dispute this statement. But, if he is a wvhite Sou therne.e should cer tainly know thi writing anti segregation letters to the Gover nor of South Carolina and making anti-segregation speeches at the University of South Carolina will not result in a raise In pay. How long do you think that a Southern educator who expressed his pro segregation opinions In a North ern university would hold his job? They are just about as tolerant as we are. Why don't the people who like to go to school with, or teach, the Negro people go where segregation Is not enforced? This may be an old argument, but it is still one of the best. In closing I would like to say that maybe Dr. Travelstead can help the Mexicans and Indians in New Mexion out of thae present Traffic Autos is commendable. It is possible for City Council to close off the Green Street area concerned. But another problem will arise unless a feasible plan counteracting this is presented to City Council. It concerns: What to do with the heavy traffic going down Green Street. This traffic on Green Street is generally either headed toward or away from the Five Points district. If a good plan is presented to City Council to take care of this traf fic it is believed that they will cooperate with the University. The city bus company runs regularly scheduled busses' on Green Street. Mr. Cain said that as far as the bus company was concerned Green Street could be closed off and the busses could be routed another way. City Manager Maxwell said he felt something could be done. If it is found that the street can't be closed off some safety meas ures will probably be taken. Either a "walk light" or closing off the street except during those hours when there is rush traffic is possible. The question of what to do with the cars that are now parked on Green Street if the street is closed has arisen. Student Presi dent Clark said even if the street is closed off that cars could still park on the street just as they do on the Horseshoe. The Green Street problem is not a trivial one. It is a serious one when the life of a student is taken into consideration. It is good to see something being done to try to alleviate the problem. difficulties. I, for one, hope so. Regretfully yours, James K. Sanders Remember That Dean Represented State Dear Editor: Let me first say that I have a high regard for Dean Travelstead both personally and profession ally. In the present controversy there are certain matters that need to be made clear. It appears that Dean Travel stead was dismissed not for his opinions, nor for expressing them either publicly or privately (as in a letter to the Governor), but for. teaching them under the ausp)ices of the School of Educa tion. This is quite. another matter. It should be remembered that as Dean of the School of Educa tioni (the capacity in which he was lecturing) Dr. Travelstead holds an official and gesponsible position under the government of this state, and is expected to con duct himself accordingly. The statements concerning the lack of public statements on inte gration by the education profes sion, the views of the trustees on academic freedom and controver sial issues, and the opinions of other members of the faculty are pure conjecture, and should be so labeled. No valid attempt to as certain these facts exactly has been shown. Recently a prominent denomi national college fired a professor of Bible for heresy. There was no public question or protest of these trustees' right and authority to do so. The analogy is obvious. Let me make one statement concerning freedom of expression. The only violation here I can re call was In the spring of 1954, when a petition by more than 100 students for redress of grievances in housing assignments was Ig nored by the administration and the G;amecock. This, of course, is ancient history. Sincerely, John T. Harilee Praises Presentation Of Vital Problem Dear Editor: May I take this opportunity to DEW JAMES 'I Dare Green Str Student council's move to do something about the Green Street traffic problem is certainly a step in the right direction. With the transferring of the center of student life from Maxey College on the "Old Campus" to Russell House at the beginning of this semester, Green Street became a hazard. One does not have to be ter ribly observant to notice how much of an "I dare %you" tame it is sometimes between the motorist and the mail-hungry pedestrian, who uses his ten min utes between classes to check his mailbox. As far as we know, we have escaped without an injury until now, but how long can our luck hold out? It seems inevitable that luck will run out sooner or later. We feel that we cannot afford to wait to be shocked 'nto find ing a solution at the exfense of a human life or permanent physical disability. We do not propose to have made sufficient investigation to present the best solution to the problem. However, we can recom mend a possible solution... . Our solution called for the clos ing entirely of Green Street to through traffic. The traffic nor mally handled by Green Street would then be transferred to Pendleton and Blossom Streets which necessarily would have to be broadened to handle the in creased load. The Pendleton Street traffic would have to be routed back onto BILLY MELLETTE Travelsteai In South Like the best of us, we all have eaten hominy, collards, and corn bread; and watermelons, fresh peaches, and cantaloupes; like the best of us we have smelled these things while they cook; like the best of us we remember how it is to go barefooted the first time in the spring, with the dirt flat and cool; like the best of us we say you-all because the language needs a plural for you; because the best of us is us. We can all i emember when old Negroes used to ride by the house selling but terbeans and muttoncorn and tomatoes and okra and we have stolen rides on the back of the wagon when the old Negroes came by pronouncing the words so they were impossible to under standl and yet were understood because they got the vegetables sold, in quart cups, and some times huckleberries. We can all remember standing in the door way looking at little Negroes our own ages standing on the steps telling Mamma how much is okra. Big eyes they had, the whites showing because they were looking up. They were shy. Even then, things were chang ing: You would hear once in a while that one of the Negroes had gone up North - New York, Philadelphia, somewhere - but hardly ever did you get to see one who had actually been there. You would hear they sat at the front of the bus up there, or even beside you, and if they heard you talk they would sit there and grin -you heard; you never really knew about those -things. Youa were raised like that, and your mamma and daddy were raised like that by parents who grew up in the shadow of the war. How can you help but re member? And how can you help but remember other things, too, not so mentionable, like morals and minds and smells? And all this unbalanced be cause the line of demarcation overlaps itself and because people drive cars back and forth and evaporate the line that much faster - too fast, with the N A ACP. It is so unbalanced I supplose we must know It will right itself, but we also must know it will take time and good sense and intelligence. It will certainly take time, because the people do not want it now. South Carolinians do not want integra tion. D)o you believe that? I know some men who will sit on the schoolhouse steps with shotguns if Negroes are to come to that school. This may be radical but it is true and cannot be ignored. I know some men who will take their children out of school if You' Is eet Game' Green at a point east of the Uni versity which would call for the additional broadening of a two block section of one of the con necting streets. This Is one of the solutions un der consideration and in our ama teur opinion, probably one of the better. THE DEBATERS from Cam bridge, in the eyes of one accus tomed to the American style of debating, seems something of a cross between a television co median and a jestering politician ... and it's difficult to ascertain which is the more humorous. We couldn't help but admire the Englishmen's wit, even if we did find some of their political views quite radical. We have not yet reached the point in our thinking where we can accept a society which operates as one big business, without allowing room for the initiative of the individual to reap the fruits of his own free enterprise. We will not attempt to pick a winning team, but we will say that John Altman and Kermit King, Carolina's team, did us proud against international com petition. In the free-for-all quizzing after the debate, we liked the Englishman's answer to Kermit King's question, "Where is Eng land?" Answer: It's that American aircraft carrier anchored off the west coast of Europe. i--We Are Carolina courts will play hell tangling with them because some of them are a part of the courts. And it's a big problem with sides for everybody; nobody de nies that. It involves not only religion and -philosophy a n d smells and morals, but govern ment. The United States court, satisfying precedence and foreign newspapers and with sense not to push the thing as far as the NAACP club, has to say some thing different from what some states want. Who is right? Prob ably the United States is, but no tice they aren't so united with the Club pushing everybody from be hind. The people must be con sidered, Negroes included. I believe that when a man speaks what he truly believes, then the sound of his words must have some beauty. I also believe that b)efore a man speaks out he should think about what he Is and where he is. It seenms that a thinking man should know the score. Oh, they talk like this: They say, Well if they fired him (Mr. Travelstead) for THAT, theni no telling what they might fire ME for. (Well, now, that is certainly a shame, and 'those peop)le really have troublesi) People who work for any univer sity or college know they must be careful, or they should know it. You say the policy is not writ ten, and how then are you ex-A p)ected to know what to say? - You use your damned head, that's how you know. The school doesn't go around sneaking up on people and trying to find people to fire. South Carolina is pro-segregation. The Legislature, reflecting that and consequently pro-segregation, shows the school the way in which they should go. It is only reasonable they should go that way. Like it or not, we are South Carolinians and we live with South Carolinians, Negroes included. Giving them equal schools is for the time being a good thing, because they get new schools with protty green black boards. Let us face it: The University officials would not have knocked on Mr. Travelstead's door and told him to quit if he hadn't said something not in keeping with their policy. If he did not know to be quiet - as head of the edu cation department, of all posi tions -- then he has now learned, and the school has told the world where they stand. The Univer sity did not Invade the castle of free thought. It was challenged and forced to commit itself, no matter how reasonable and how mild Mr. Travelstead made his declaration. There are not many Negroes in New MexcG