Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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opir "It Is a newspapi the news,anc --Wilbur F. Chicago I Geniuses BY BOB CRAFT Associate Editor My people are, without doubt, the most stereotyped and misunderstood group in America today. Whereas other groups have made significant strides in the' areas of recognition, the masses have not been made fully aware of the problems of my group and. conciousness must be raised to combat the stereotyping that goes on everyday. We are opressed and. yet the University. has not recognized the plight of our people. While other groups have whole weeks in which to display their culture, my people are forgotten, swept under the rug by unfeeling administrators and the powers that be. What is my group, you ask? I shall tell you, for many of the sins of your people are sins of omission rather than sins of commission. The group that is forgotten is my group, the geniuses, When you hear the word "genius" what do you think of? No doubt a shy absent-minded, ill dressed, mumbling loner carrying two armloads of thick and musty books springs to mind. Either that or a mentally unstable sort of person who is prone to tantrums and getting into trouble with the police. There are dangerous stereotypes. Stereotypes that must be corrected immediately. In literature films and television these stereotypes abound. We are either looked upon as dangerous elements to be regarded with fear and suspicion or we are to be looked upon as rather sexless creatures only good for doing your homework! Think back. Have you ever read a book or seen a film or a television show in which the genius gets the girl? Never! What usually happens is the genius gets the thickheaded football player out of trouble with his exam so that he can play in the big game. He does this, the football player wins the game and is regarded as the hero. The genius gets a pat on the head and the stacked cheerleader goes off with the big dummy. The genius shakes his head, says that's all right and goes back to the library. You make fun of us. The terms that are used behind our backs are Memb Of My POElI Ri chari autographed co Also Available Re( *Palmel 0u aIna ion Pr's duty to print I raise hell." Storey, rribune i Unite!!! many and varied. You think that we do not hear them, but we do. "Egghead, "Bookworm", "Professor" are names that haunt me from my own childhood and there are others, each more cutting than the last. You say, haven't we tried? Don't' we invite you to our homes? Of course, every chic party tries to have at least one token genius there, so that after everyone gets drunk, thay can say,"Come on now, jush onsh. Come on Egbert, jush onsh, reshite the Pythagorean Theorum for ush." We amuse you. That's as far as it generally goes. We are specimans for the curious, you think that we have made no contributions to society, but look at this list of accomplishments. Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven writers of some of the world's great music were geniuses. William Shakespeare, the creator of some of the most beloved i undying characters, and plays in all of literature was a genius. Thomas Alva Edison, inventor of the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph record and the motion picture, among other things, was a genius. Albert Einstein, formulator of the theory of relativity was a genius. The list goes on and on. As you can see, geniuses have contributed enormously to the society in which we live. It is time for geniuses to stop being afraid of what they are, we must be recognized. By recognition, we do not mean that piddling little club you have for us, Phi Beta Kappa. We now demand the following: Open libraries 24 hours a day, better library service, free computer time and every third year, the homecoming queen must be a genius. These demands are non negotiable. We do not like to use violence and we do not mean to threaten, but while all the rest of you were at your dates and parties and your football games, we were studing trajectories, laser components and the chemistry of chlorine gas. So we are not to be trifled with. Be strong, be beautiful, be brilliant! ership Days ISby Harris pies available at ord Albums: Jonathan Livinqston Seagull (just released) to~Mac Ar tur Park St. Cainumbsia s.c. 0 TO THE EDITOR: With regard to the article con cerning the South Carolina Sate Student Legislature (SCSSL), there are several points that need clarifying SCSSL is a student lobby organization designed to give the students of this state an op portunity to express their opinions and preferences concerning legislation coming before the General Assembly. SCSSL meets once a year and passes bills and resolutions which are printed in a booklet which is then distributed to all members of the General Assembly who supposedly take it into consideration. For such an organization to be effective, it is obvious that it must indeed represent the students of the state- with effective and responsible leadership, and it is in this respect that Carolina's illustrious delegation is pathetically inept. Where was all the publicity for SCSSL last week? How many Carolina students even knew SCSSL met this past weekend or more importantly, who their delegates were? Why? Becasue that same SGA clique that misrepresents and mismanages student government at Carolina had control of the delegation and in keeping with their well-established policy of no concern for the students, they decided to keep it quiet. On Sunday, the day of the final session of SCSSL, the day when the majority of the bills are passed and officers for the upcoming year are elected, the USC delegation walked out and announced that they "could not and would not par ticipate any longer." The reasons given are absurd at best and exemplify Carolina's lack of leadership. USC claimed that SCSSL was not fulfilling its role as a lobbying body, yet last year the organization hired a lobbyist, and on days when SCSSL bills were before the General Assembly, SCSSL members were in the State House lobbying for them. Is this what Carolina calls fulfilling its role? SCSSL concerns itself with state issues (hence its name) and God knows there is enough wrong in this state to easily justify "shoving aside" issues such as the im peachment of the President. In the past, Carolina has been one of the strongest members of LOOI Ravioli $1.60 Hungarian Beef Goulash $ Deep Fried Filet of Flounc Butter $1.65 t-r Mal SCSSL- because there were few .schoojs involved in the organi zation and Carolina's sheer size carried power with it. But now there are over 25 universities, colleges and tech schools throughout the state represented and Carolina's delegation con stitutes less than 10 per cent of the body. This is only fair, and Carolina should abandon its paranoic fear of having small schools "played off politically" against it and try to work with the body as a whole. . Carolina's mass exodus from SCSSL Sunday for the above reasons is like an adolescent crying, "If you don't let me play I'm going to take my ball and go home." The USC student body is losing its voice in this obviously viable and important organization because of the quality (rather, the lack of quality) of its delegates. As a concerned member of the USC student body, let me make one comment to -the USC SCSSL organization as it is presently structured: take your ball, go home and good riddance. John M. Barton To the Editor: Concerning ABC agents at all Carolina games it seems that Dick Tracy and Popeye Doyle are still alive and well. It is utterly disgraceful to see South Carolina law officers beating and dragging drunks off. Most Carolina fans, drunk or not, would leave quietly if the officer identified himself and asked the fan to go along. At recent games I have seen fans forced aside so an agent could pounce on "a real menace to society." How many agents are in the upper and lower decks of the West stand? If it is illegal to drink in Williams-Brice Stadium, why can rich alumni park beside the stadium and drink unti: they are content. Also alumni drink quite a bit before games at either the University House or a chosen place for "Gamecocktails" and then have transportation provided for them, at state expense, to the games with a police escort! It is stupid little things like this that keep South Carolina in its proud position as the.worst state in America. Someone needs to tell ABC that politeness works and the people of South Carolina that they are being "had!" -Phil Crocker ( STUDi What "SHE *COLUN A Nightlb~ 1.70 ler with French Fries, Cole ! Waiter ndr Waitress W-at To the Editor: In the flurry of opinion on the mandatory student activity fee I wish to say that it is possible for the students to affect a positive change in the system. The Student Activity Fee of $26 each semester is attached to every full-time undergraduate's fees in order to fund numerous ex tracurricular activities and special interest groups. Such activities although very useful . in their proper place should not be paid for by money forceably extracted from all students who wish to get an education- from the state univer sity. These activities are not within the proper scope of the University which is charged with the duty of educating not indoctrinating and certainly not attempting to tell us in which activities we should participate. - During a four-year stay at Carolina, you will involuntarily donate $208 to these groups and I dare say that as an average student you will get little or nothing in return. Had you been able to put this money into your particular area(s) of interest you might have done considerable good and gotten your full money's worth. (1) Each student payp $25 a year for tickets to athletic events. On top of prepaying a non refundable sum, those students who wish to attend the games must then stand in long lines for hours on particular days in hopes of getting a ticket he already paid for. (2) Let the football and basketball fans pay their $12.50 fee at the beginning of each semester and in return receive a season ticket to the games. This, I con tend, would make everybody happier. The avid sports fan would have his ticket without having to wait in line, the non-enthusiast would not be forced to pay for something he has no desire to see, and the athletic department would know how long in ~ advance how many students to expect. The solution is simple and sensible. It applies equally well to all other activities funded by student ac ctivity fees, from Afro-American students to the Sailing Club. Just allow the student to choose the things he wishes to support; after all, you get exactly whatyou pay for and what you are now paying for is a'~ nonsensical hodgepodge of disorganizations and corruption. SUPPORT VOLUNTARY FEES Franchelle Millender NTS... V new (at BATON IBIA INN /1/he Special slaw, Bread and