University of South Carolina Libraries
Editorials Friday, March 18, 1966 Apathy, One Student apathy at USC has prevailed again. And in the face of a problem sup posedly abhorred by everyone on campus. Probably no subject receives more grip ing from the students than the process of registration. True, the groans are loudest only at the times of registration, but they are heard all year long. Last fall the Office of Admissions and Registration decided to do something about the situation. Two interns working in the office wvere hired to study the problem. In order to better inform themselves of the "plight" of the students and to get some ideas for improving the system, the interns composed and mailed out a simple question nai re. Questionnaires were mailed to 314 stu dents living on campus according to the fol lowing breakdown: (1) 100 students regis tered by computer for the first time; (2) 50 honor roll students who were registered by computer in the fall, 1964, but not in the fall, 1965; (3) 50 probation students registered Slater Sanitation? The Student Senate in a strong move Wed iesday came out against the boney pie and wormy spaghetti claimed to have been served in the University's cafeterias. We think Senate's request for a full scale State Health Department investigation of Slater's food system is a good idea. While the Slater kitchen isn't the worst we've seen - things could and should be better. An after-hours kitchen tour this week evi denced clean plates stacked on open shelves within a foot off the Oirty floor; sliced fresh vegetables left out of refrigeration: gnats thick inl the air: and dead roaches lyin-lg on the floor. It is our belief that a stricter effort at housekeeping in the future could eliminate most of the sanittition problems that prompted the Senate motion. We hope the State Health Department lays the liaw down this week and that Slater sys tern shapes uip. Carolina's new Green St. crosswalk blinker at night. From The Gra Dy JIM GRAV' C'ONDUCT UNBECOMING grup was ntI In last week's issue of The of the new deci Gamellcock a front-page story told uilt y. It, seems of one of Carolina's social fra- C< urtesy to this te'rnity's being placed on social served nearly a p)robation due to "'cond(uct unhe- have been too) n coming a fraternity of the Uni- VOIXl~NTARY versity." Granted, this was not In recent weel good. However, as isolated as been heavy (on I the case may seem, this same untary attendan thing could most assuredly have classmen at Car happened to almost any other so- de mic probation. (Jal group or any group which a period of diset has social functions. Faculty Relatioi It would seem that it is only topic is being si a question of who gets caught. the Faculty Ads Hut this must not be the case. This is one pri We must, as individuals, evaluate as students, cai our own ideals and moral views service. By lobi and make them known within ing this topic wi whatever groups we may be in- (an perhaps eve iolved. long sought-aft< WHOSE HONOR? THiE Li] Last week's editorial pointing Being discus to the new honor system as fac- Senate and in ulty-composed and implemented Relations Comm was, in many ways, a point well- posal that one taken. In addition, after talking for student u: to one of the officers of this night. When c year's Honor Court, I was ap- Student-Faculty palled to learn that this body, question seemed after working for many weeks library be ust on a new constitution for their night? There. we UNI "Crowini i More Time by computer in the fall, 1964, but not in the fall, 1965; (4) 57 students on junior-senior Dean's list: and (5) 57 students on junior senior probation list. The questions asked were simple and af forded the students a chance to express their objections to the present system of registra tion. However, in the statement issued by the interns upon completion of the program, they said "the response was not large enough to make any valid comparisons. Of the 314 questionnaires mailed, only 42 were returned. Significant is the response from Freshmen, who were registered by com puter last fall. Only seven of 100 forms were returned. The interns can hardly be criticized for <oncluding "The responses revealed nothing that appeared to be a source of major con fusion to the students. Obviously students (o not consider the process of registration to be important or serious enough to spend their time answering a questionnaire on the sub .iect." Evidently the interns tried. But who can fight the well-known inability of USC stu dents to (1o more than criticize? -Elliott Gross Injustice Ever heard of being evicted from a dorm in the middle of a semester? Twenty-three Carolina men were last week. According to the students, former resi (ents of Tentanient 24, they were notified last Friday to shift to other campus accom molations before the end of the week. Their dorm vill now be used by the Uni versity counseling service. We feel it is a gross injustice to move stu dents in the middle of a semester. It is hard to believe that the counseling bureau has ex perienced such an urgent and sudden need for more Space to Justify the move. II the future, the administration should stud.Y office space allocations more thor (aughly at an earlier date. Action The crusade for compulsory school attend ance in the Palmetto State evidently interests some Carol inva studelnts. Two (lays this w(eek a USC dlelegationl p)icketed for the edlucat ion bill being debated in the Legislatur(e. We are glad to see movements in sup)port of this particular legislation to boost the state's educational system. Also, we are thrilled beyond words to see that some Carolina students care enough to act foi the'ir beliefs. even in formed ~ h s(nrn h eea ek ijons of the fac- tfoefnl(Xlsahseser s thtough a little oonn. falbayfrte(1 grouip w ho had tr ekn ol epatcl year woubill noit Itotaeitretlinhsmt ur h to ask. te,makn.yu idakow iS, discussion has hlfl he topic of "vol- L'IAO~lE~ K e'e for all upper- I Ki:tIK dlia not on aca- Svrlw(sao lh light now, after Odr rln' liirr o ssion in Student- '~in 1 )n(tiIteana o ud ied further by ti a edrhpgr .h tfl isory (Comminittlee. sinoe h eku it a blemi where we, oaIM -tlinlssadi o possibly be of oeetigis(ajtsow.I ying, by' discuss- Ma,(J).aoame'lad th professors, we hpfaent,wlsosr ntually gain this AwadI). stnh,Kpa r goal. SgaKap.orlclhnr IRAIl IES ~tVe rtriy edtepe 0ed in Student ln ayjogn o a uet St udent- Faculty h rjetanacitesf ittee is the pro- teefirgop nteCrln library be open causatttoherigf Ce on Saturday catIlcintearia('m iscussed by the nunl.Iisgothtuc Committee, the ruseit to be, would the W,a tdns hudtk d on Saturday eeyopruiyt upr a ire weekend wouldLheipractical. /ERSITY OF SOUTH CAR for a Greater Carolina Since Goveri (A lot of editorial attention has been given to efforts that wvuld compel fraternities and so rorities to integrate. In this arti cle the editor emeritus of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat takes the position that the government has no business interfering with fraternity life.) By LOUIS LA COSS ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The fra ternity system as it has operated successfully for more than a cen tury on college campuses across the land is under attack which could be lethal. There is the serious threat that the Greek letter societies of both men and women students may be dissolved unless the system de fends itself against the growing segment of do-gooders who seek to reform the world. The latest development is an insidious one -employment by the Federal government of its power to crush anything it op poses by the denial of funds under the guise of stamping out racial discrimination. FEDERAL HAMMER This is a technique in complete iccord with the policy that dic tates that whatever the govern ment assists with money grants, it controls. particularly in the field of education. The billions alloted for federal aid to educa tion can be, and are, the hammer used to make this control in evitable. Do you want our schools to be dictated to by the bureaucrats in Washington? If that becomes an eventuality, as well it may be, our students will be told what they can study, what textbooks they can read, what they, can be taught in the classrooms -and what their way of life on the campus may be. This is unthinkable. But it may soon be a fact unless an apathetic public awakens to the imminent danger of Federal con trol of education. FIRS'T FRAT The attack on the fraternity system is a case in point. The system is comparatively simple. The first college fraternity was Phi Beta Kappa, founded in 1776 for social and literary purposes. It soon became an honorary so ciety and is still held in high esteem. Admission to it is based on scholarship, a restriction that has never been challenged. It was some 50 years later that the first Greek letter social fra ternity was founded - Kappa Alpha at Union College in 1825. In 1827, Sigma Phi and Delta Phi were founded at Union Col lege and the three became known as the "union triad" upon which the social fraternity system is based. Later years saw a pro liferation of the Greek societies, ( ach secret, each having its own standlards by which membership is chosen. GUIDING HJOI)Y Social fraternities are banuded togethe r in the National Inter Fraternity Conference(- the so rorities in the National Pan-liel len ic Conference. TIhese organi zations serve the general fune tion oif (directing andl guiding fra ternity life in all its aspects. It is hrirgely advisory andl does not diicta te speci fic policies for mem-m her groups. It is not a Mupra-fraternity legislat urre with dictatorial pow ers but it can, if it will, exert great influence over matters th'at can be solved by the individual fraternit ies. It has not spoken explicitly on he disc r imninato ry aspn -ts of col. lege. life a nd for t hat reason the ifoireis have attacked it and he e nt ire system. K EPP El Thle latest effort bry the gov - u-nrnment was an anrunceenrt ast .1 une by the Conmmissioner of Eduicat ion. F'rancis Keppel, hat all F"ederialI grants would( be cut off from universitie.s and coil leges that pe irmittedl Greek letter Srou ps thaiit practiced racial dlis - er imni nat ion on any camrnPUS. In short, the colleges themi selves would be penalized for tolerating groups that exercised the right that is theirs in a free society to choose their own mem bers. An amendment to t he Federal aidu to education hill wasi passe'd in the, coeing dnao ath last.. DUNA 1908" unent v. Congress which professes to nul lify the penalty as originally in tended, but with a powerful ad ministration hell-bent on doing everything the civil rightists pro pose, it is doubtlessly only a mat ter of time until Federal funds will be denied all schools that harbor the iniquitous Greeks. SNOBS? This policy is in line with the efforts over the years to destroy fraternities wherever they may he found. The reasoning and motives behind the attack hith erto have been confined largely to the unsupported charge that the members of Greek groups are snobs and undemocratic. Some have argued that local autonomy is the answer, each Mike Jo As you may or may not know, last week's column was concerned with the perpetual illiteracy which is being fostered and per petuated by a state legislature committed to 18th century doc trines. In our column last week we mentioned the compulsory school attendance law which was re pealed in 1957 for the purpose of Letter Of The Week Tlitl G;AMir-ocK u-elcoesfl' let ters <m any, subject pecrtinent to a1 n d int'olving l'nirersity stu dentIs. The JEditor. - in - 'hi ef re serves the righit to edit letters to con form- to Stytle', good t ai s te space lim itat ions andl( libel laws. Le'tters should1( be' typewritten and should not e.eerd 200 wordls. No unsigned 1 e t I e r s will be printed, but names may, be withi held( upon0 request. 0 0 0 l)ear M'hr. Iluitt In last week 's Gamnecock, Mr. I)avidson of AlRA Slater is qtuotedi as saying that AlRA's success (11'; increase of revenue for last year) was a reflection of the effort of AlRA to pr'ovide the finest serevice' to its custom er . May be this is true naition wide, hut herte at Carolina it is far from being the case. In fact, the opposite is t rue. I,ast year the cost for the seven-day hoard p)lan was $175.10 pier semester, this year it costs S192.6i0 (a 9.9% increase) and next year the cost will he $210 (a 9% increase). It would seem that these increases in prices are iuoire respotnsibile for a 11 % in crease in revenue than superior serviace. AlIso fori the first ti me tun tfortunatelIy not the last), AllA las been giveni the power to~ e->mplel Fr esh men to use the board plan I woinder how moch ex tra revenue1 t hiis dom inee rmig policy brings. ,atly1, I wondier how mucht I A lt A is saving by closing Sooth iand thle Towers for at total of eight meals. I do not beliei e that such at - I tempts tto prov ide better servace to the men and women of Caro lina as offering a spiecial of 15e tossed salad and a 45g~ pliece of meitat loaf at the bargain price of 59f is the reason for AlRA's 11%3 mncrease. buit rathe.r: (I) inctreas ing prices 9' a year; (2) comn gelling [resh men to use the bmard plant; andi (3) closing Sern. ices which we re pronmised to the student body. Co l. Frater chapter of each fraternity to de fine its own standards for mem bership. This may sound logical but if accepted it will destroy unity among the Greeks with the result that the fraternities would become hodgepodge groups, be holden to no one and without identification at the national level. There are fraternities that re strict membership as to race and will not admit Negroes. But on many campuses there are all Negro Greeks, groups that admit Masons only; others are for Catholics only. Some fraternities exclude Jews. Catholics, Puerto Ricans, Orientals and others in minority categories. Certainly this ip discrimina f oinbating integration. Obvi ouslyv, with S o u t h Carolina sc hools integrated on all levels, it is no longer useful for this purpose. This might lead one to expect speedy enactment of a new law to take its place, but such has not been the case. Our state legislature has con tinued to drag its feet. The rea sons given by opponenLts of com pulsory education run the gamut from the irrational to the ridicu lous. In some instances it seems that a lack of education produces an adversion to it. Of course, it is not fair to characterize all our legislators in this manner. Many of our lawmakers are intelligent, dIedicatedl men who are extremely sympathetic to the cause of ed ucat ion in this stante. However, it would apipear at times that this group is definitely in the minority. Permit us to illustrate. On Tuesday of this ~week a compulsory edlucaLtion measure was heing debated in the House f lRepresentatives. A group of U S( studlents appeared at the State Hfouse* to picket in favor f the measure. Tlh is group proceeded to march airoundl the State I [ouse in an trde rly fashion carrying signs proclaiming their sup lport of the mecasurec. After they had been there a few in utes, the U SC eroutp was ordered to leave be 'ause they' didn't have a parade permit. The students then disbanded iit ly wit hout any semblance of disorder. It should be stressed here that the marchers were well ciressed, well mannered and quite rirde rl1y. Tlhe group inchaded campus leader ts ,and st udent body' officers w'ho, I ami sure, relprese*nt the really unanimous opinion of the udentts on this campus. 'The purtpose for st res.sing this will soion he evident. Tuesday afternoon Govl. Rtoh rt E. Mc Na ir held( a prs cion Fi'r(ncei primarily to discuss his reet visit to Washington, I). ('. Then, any illusions we might baie had were shattered when a r e p o r t e r quest ioned MlcNair SIG. H Ed it or-il uItsiness Manage.r .a n . - , k ' t wI'~ u , o l i o u e m p ,, t , of lhe (.n ameck,- tock are uimtiu ,,, rnmentary Columbia, South Carolina ,nities tion; but how is it evil? It op. erates in a society which is merely exercising its Constitu tional right of free association, selecting for membership those who are compatible. They are not subversives. We hear much talk about ac ademic freedom which, in my opinion, is overdone. But those who shout loudest for it are con sistently the most intolerant they must have their own way or else. The proposed clampdown on college fraternities by the Fed eral government in the name of civil rights is just another foot in-the-door gimmick to place our schools of all grades under Fed eral control. I about his reaction to the student ideas. We were shocked when McNair in a jovial mood began b) saying that he thought that demonstrations served No useful purpose. lie then went on to say that opportunities were readily available to anyone who wanted to make this view known with out a need for demonstration. I should first like to take -x vption to Gov. MeNair's remark that demonstrations serve no use ful purpose. The Boston Tea Party, a proud part of American heritage, was little more than a group of concerned citizens pro testing what they believed to lhe an injustice. When South Carolina seceded fronm the Union it was not as a declaration of war but rather as a p) r o t e s t or demonstration against a set of laws they lbe lieved to be unfair. Now surely Gov. McNair would not like to imply that these people were serving no useful putrpoeiM. On the opposite hand, these ac tions (including true demonstra tions) were motivated by a deC sire to serve a useful purpose. Secondly, G;ov. McNair im plied that the ear of governmn. nt was not hard to obtain, Hie said that there we(re forums readlily available for any citizen who wanted( toi voice his opinion and that this made denmonstratiuons uniinecessary. While Goy. McNai r did not elaborate, I anm sure he had some specific mechanisms in mind. The only one I can think of that is readily available to everyone& is thle bltIlot biox--and studlents are goinig to make their feeling- in crieasingly felt in this ar-ea. liowev-er, this opportun1ity is at ailable only during e'lect ions and not on a legislative session lo-legislative session basis. Since Goy. McNair implied that tother (Ipport unit ies to be heard are av ailable I should like to a' ail myself oif the chance. Therefor-e, as a studlent, tax paye'r, voter, and citizen of thle state, I should like to claim my right as well as that of all stul den rts to be heard on a matter that we feel is oif great imopor tan-e to us andl the fuituire growth of the state. GamecTock staff photos above by l(endlerson lITT '-Chief JANEAN MANN Managing l+:ditoir F.lhol ct iti (t' e~ P hi:u it (on,males as the first r<ht'n The ten,ts of the- U' *'erity~ ofuthuI ( .uihn x hohIetays anti exaitmlationsi na wuhole. by~ Ntional. Adut isanomi Senor. e IiitThe (:itb-uamte P'er,, tihe %mith CarbS iimi. :4