The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 22, 1967, Image 10
Editorial Commentary
FrIday, September 22, 1967
Lion On I
There's a lion on the loose in the Univer
sity community-a lion that stalks only by
night and attacks the alone and unwary.
A member of The Gamecock staff was
attacked and beaten Monday night in a
darkened stairway behind Russell House.
He was struck on the head with a stick
a blow hard enough to break the weapon.
When he fell to the ground, his four as
sailants began kicking him about the head.
It was the fourth such incident since the
beginning of the fall term.
Four incidents-single happenings-but
they point up much larger and potentially
more dangerous deficiencies in University
City.
We believe three major inadequacies lie
in areas of personal attitude, lighting and
police numbers.
Embryonic Spirit
Last Saturday night was spirit night at
Carolina Stadium.
It was evident in spectators, cheerleaders,
the Marching Gamecocks Band and, most of
all, the football team.
There was spirit of an intensity which we
have rarely seen at Carolina-enough to be
evident even from the 29th row of the end
zone.
The Gamecocks didn't give up last Satur
day night even in the face of penalty after
penalty, loss after loss. This is the kind of
team in which we may take the most pride
win or lose.
The entire production-from jets over
head to alma mater at the game's conclu
sion-was a feat to remember.
We hope for a winning season. But win
ning or not, each of us must take caution.
We must not let that so-evident embryonic
spirit die in the University community.
The Show Is On
The show went on at USC this week, but
very few people were there to see it.
Student Union opened its first nightclub
of the school year, featuring in two shows
nightly the Sounds Unlimited, a group of
variety singers who have just come from a
performance at one of the top coffeehouses
in the country.
Their performances were, in our opinion,
excellent. The less-than-a-dozen people who
attended were well aware of their excellence.
But the ridiculously small turnout is an
embarrassment to the entire University.
The nightclub may move next week into
a permanent headquarters on South Main
Street. It is a much larger building to ac
commodate several hundred students.
But if the students attending continue to
number among the minute, the operation
may not be continued.
The student nightclub is an excellent op
portunity for good entertainment at low
cost. We urge that each student make a
point to visit the club at least once in the
coming weeks. And we believe that once
you've been there, you'll want to go back.
We SwE
Okay. We didn't believe it either when Ti
Chief Photographer Chip Galloway brought
into the' office. We figured It was a reaill
Bhat Chip's a nety reliable guy, and If hc a
he Loose
According to police, attackers of this type
usually operate in teams of three or four,
seldom exceeding that number because they
then become too conspicuous.
University students, faculty and staff
have been urged many times not to walk
the campus alone by night. This is an open
invitation to any attacker. Caution cannot
be emphasized too strongly, but in the past
the word has gone unheeded.
Second, lighting facilities are generally
inadequate. Dark areas are the second in
vitation for a potential assailant.
Steps were taken this week to include
additional campus lighting in the Univer
sity's 1968-69 state budget request. In addi
tion, the City of Columbia has informed the
University that lights will be installed in
the College Street area between the major
campus and Capstone House within two
weeks.
These steps are commendable. In any
community, crime is an inevitability. But
with adequate lighting the type of crime
which has menaced a portion of the Univer
sity Community in recent days can be di
minished.
We suggest further that checks on present
lighting systems be stepped up.
In the stairwell where our staffer was
beaten, there were light fixtures. They were
not functioning.
All lighting systems-particularly in criti
cal areas such as stairways or, in the future,
tunnels-should have protective devices to
guard against extinguishing.
University police officers, as a matter of
routine, check the lights on their "beat"
each night and report all lights not burning.
We urge that the Maintenance Department
make an even-more-concentrated effort to
restore these lights to working order as soon
as the damage is reported.
A third area of concern is police numbers.
Two campus policemen patrol the campus
by night.
In the recent past the University has
adopted a walkie-talkie system and empha
sized the "walking patrol" method to in
crease mobility of its police forces.
But added mobility cannot compensate for
the basic deficiency.
Two night policemen are not enough to
patrol and protect a city of 11,000 inhabi
tants-especially a city where much travel
is on foot and by night.'
Hiring of one additional policeman was
authorized last week. It is a (lent in a grave
problem. But a program to drastically in
crease the size of our present police force
is an immediate necessity if the residents of
the Carolina Community are to receive any
sort of adequate protection.
Incidents such as those of the past week
are not reason for panic-but they should
induce alarm and caution.
The police cannot be expected to shoulder
the entire burden for protection of any com
munity.
We therefore urge each inhabitant of Uni
versity city to be aware and on guard. Do
not hesitate to report "suspicious charac
ters" to the University police. If an area is
inadequately lighted, report it to the proper
authorities.
But above all, do not venture out at night
alone. Do not invite trouble which could
mean grave injury-or death.
ar It Really Happened
me Gamecock threw a liquor bottle and cui
this picture day night, we tend to b,elieve I
posed job. Carolina Stadium does not ha,
.y. sameone
Rush,
By JOHN CARBAUGH
Editorial Assistant
A controversial issue, by its
very definition, has many aspects,
only one of which is presented
on the editorial p a g e of this
paper.
The G a m e c o c k is the only
means through which s t u d e n t
opinion may be given wide cir
culation at this University.
For that reason, it is impera
tive that other aspects of an issue
be given an opportunity of ex
pression. In this manner, students
will have more than merely one
aspect of an issue at their dis
posal when forming their various
opinions.
It is with the intent of pro
viding other aspects of exist
ing issues and possibly of rais
ing new ones that this column
is written.
In last week's The Gamecock
there was an editorial and edi
torial cartoon expressing an ob
jection to the present rush system
at USC. As an alternative to the
present rush system, a deferred
rush system was proposed.
There are, however, some posi
tive aspects of the present sys
tem and some negative aspects of
the proposed deferred s y s t e m
which, we notice, were overlooked.
Under the rush system pres
ently used, each freshman or
up)perclassman m u s t not only
choose to go out for rush, but also
must have demonstrated that he
or she is academically mature
and capable of par ticipating in
fraternity or sorority life, either
by having a rank of five on the
undlergradluate entrance e x a m
(for entering freshmen) or by
achieving an average of 2.00 for
boys, 2.25 for girls (for upper
classmen).
Students who have demon
strated that they can handle
any extra "burden" thrust
upon them by fraternity or so
rority rush and pledgeship are
thus the only ones who are
permitted to participate in
rush under the present system,.
In order to enable each new
pledge to "adjust to college life,"
fraternities and sororities set up
I~E J
2
m. Ioweer, e riterte,
n *-w ha-iaHo."
Sweet Taste of Victory
In My Opinion...
Dne More
study halls in which freshmen are
required to study and are given
help by the ready-made friends
that upperclassmen fraternity or
sorority members become upon
pledgeship.
In this way, a full semester's
-ompensation is given for the
leven evenings that the prospec
:ive pledge is dislocated from his
)r her studies.
And what of the atmosphere in
vhich a pledge spends his or her
irst semester. For the fall se
nester 1966, the all-fraternity
tverage was above both the all
nen's average and the non-fra
ernity men's a v e r a g e - the
atter, incidentally, brought down
he all men's average.
Letters
To The
Editor
BOARD PLAN
c'ar Miss Carroll:
As a freshman I wish to make
suggestion to the committee
hat makes up our schedule in
-egard to the Board Plan.
For twenty-three meals we
~ave had to shell out the green
ituff to get nourishment here.
1t no time di(l we receive any
lotice that we would need money
*or these meals. For those of us
vho paidl in advance through the
nail, we merely assumed that
>ur meals were taken care of
ipon arrival at Carolina. Why
veren't we informedl?
Since I for one did not p)lan
n paying, I had to write home
or twenty-five extra dollars
vhich very easily could have
>een lost or stolen in the base
nent of the Russell House which
vas our post office for a few
lays.
Next year I hope the adminis
ration will warn unwary fresh
sen.
BETSY ANNESE
BEWARE AWARE?
)ear Miss Carroll:
Aware, a legal campus organi
ation, is notedl for it,s extreme
iberalism. This is good-to air
11 views such as inviting Julian
fondl to speak here last year.
Last year, though, in a public
iscussion at the Wayne Morse
ssembly, the Aware dlelegation
r member advocated disregard
ig the law instead of redressing
by democratic, legal means.
'his year, the Aware display in
he Russell House p)assedl out
timeographed sheets telling of the
wondlerful" effects of LSD. The
se or possession of this dIrug
a federal offense andl its after
ffects are lasting and appalling.
n addition, their poster was
trewni with illicit pictures of un
lothed women andl children.
Students with any sense should
e cognizant of the grave impli
ations of joining such a "lih
ral" organization as Aware.
JORN ROCKROEM
Time
The above rankings apply
for the academic year 1966-67
ahso. It would seem, therefore,
that an entering freshman
would find in fraternity or so
rority life an atmosphere very
conducive to the maintenance
of a good scholastic average.
For those freshmen and for
any upperclassmen who prefer to
wait, there is a strong second
semester rush system in use pres
ently.
It would seem to be more prof
itable, however, for the potential
pledge to take advantage of the
positive assets of a first sernester
pledge training program.
Enough of the advantages of
the present rush system. A look
At the proposed deferred rush
;sytem has led us to the conclu
sion that such a system cannot
possibly work here, nor has it
Korked elsewhere.
To wit, such a system would
greatly overburden second se
mester r u s h . Furthermore,
there would be semester-long
rushing, either openly or se
cretly.
For freshmen and fraternity
;orority people alike, this would
nterfere with studies and school
ictivities throughout the semes
er.
Rather than help the freshman
idjust to college life, rush undler
deferred rush system w o u 1(1
rtarnm greatly not only his or her
hanc.e to a dlj u a t andl succeed
icademically, but also would help
to lowver the present high fratern
ty-sorority acadlemic standings.
A quick glance at the facts
serves to prove that the hugaboo
>f dleferredl rush has plagued us
ror too long. The advantages that
in entering freshman derives
rrom his or her pledgeship during
rirst semester far outwveighs the
to-called inconvenience of eleven
svenings of rush.
Founded Jan. 30. 1908 with Robmert Elliot
:oek Is publiished by anrd for the stinrtentsa of
buring the college year excepit during hiolidt
The opilnions expressed herein do not nleer
ton. the facualty or the atuident bondy as a
Offiees of The Gamecock are Ina Roonm 30
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EDITOR-Il
Ginny (
ASSOCIATE
Don Cau
BUSINESS MANAGER
Mary W. McMillan
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Our
Man
Hoppe
By ARTHUR HOPPE
A new furor has arisen over
capital punishment. Advocates
argue that we must kill people
who kill people in order to teach
them that killing people is de
spicable. And each certainly
learns that lesson.
Opponents, however, contend
that capital punishment is no de
terrent whatsoever-Lo other pros
pective killers. This simply i-*.
true. One prospective victim
whose life is owed today to the
threat of capital punishment is
Mrs. Irma T. Pettibone of Elysia,
California.
Her case was brought to light
in a letter from her husband,
Homer, to the National Commit
tee for a Sane Capital Punish
ment Policy. The text follows.
"Dear Sirs: Nag, nag, nag.
Irma was driving me out of my
skull. At 11:02 p.m. on the
night of August 23, in a parox
ysm of uncontrollable rage, I
took my .38 revolver out of the
night stand drawer, took a bead
on Irma's left ear and squeezed
the trigger.
"That is, I started to squeeze
the trigger. Suddenly, I blanched.
'You fool!' I cried to myself.
'Don't you realize that if you
are caught, convicted by a jury
after three or four trials, sen
tenced to the extreme penalty,
lose your appeals in the State
Supreme Court, Federal District
Court, U. S. Circuit Court, U. S.
Supreme Court and Governor's
Clemency Hearing, you may pos
sibly die for this deed, within
two to twelve years, in the gas
chamber?'
"Unf or -
tunately, b y
the time I
had j u di -
ciously c o n -
sidered all
t h e deterrent
facets of capi
tal punish
ment and
reached m y
decision, Irma
had packed HOPPE
and gone home to her mother."
Being a good Christian and a
good citizen at heart, Mr. Petti
bone accompanied his letter with
a check for $10 to help the Na
tional Committee for a Sane
Capital Punishment Policy fur
ther its work.
In a postscript to his letter,
Mr. Pettibone agreed wholeheart
edlly with the Committee's unas
sailable logic. But then, on a
plaintive note, he added:
"To tell the truth, though, I'm
not sure that the present system
dloesn't give a man more to think
about."
(Our Man Hoppe is syndicate4'
nationally by Clhronicle Features
Syndicate, San Francisco, Calif.)
Go,nzales, as the first edlitor. The Game
the l'niversity of South Carolina weekly
iy an<d exarninatlions,
sartly reflect the views of the. adiministra
it of thet Ruassell House on the U'niversity
ef). 7ti5-4220 (Hittness anti A,iverttaIng)
by National E'tucational Adivertising Her
asso iateti Colh-Kiate Press antti the H. C.
tes are $4 per year.
J-CHIEF
arroll
EDITOR
hman
MANAGING EDITOR
Carol Mullnax
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ohn Carbaugh, Margaret Niceley
ault, 1,yn Johnson, Greta Medlin
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