The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 24, 1974, Image 10
GAMECOCK
"N mswaper's ety be Se tews, ad rabse k"
WILBUR F. STOKEY
=MAGRANT. eHw
pop Z%O W ARTFRANK
Advertbeg Mang.,
4 October 24, 1974
Investigation needed
of Afro's fund use
USC's Afro American Students Association is in
danger of losing its charter as a campus organization
and is also being investigated by the Student Allocations
Commission (SAC) for accountability of some funds that
were used by the organization last year.
Statements made by the president of Afro Association
John Middleton, have implied that the organization will
only accept students of "African descent" and the notice
on the student activities bulletin board posted outside
the student government office (which describes all
chartered student organizations) says, "Membership:
All persons of African abstraction."
The. Executive Council of the Afro Club has issued a
statement to the effect that it has not been restrictive in
its membership and furthermore, "No person connected
with this University has or will be deniedInembership.
We have not and do not intend to violate this mem
bership clause." The reason this statement was
released is obvious, the Afro Club does not want to lose
the $11,700 it received from SAC last year.
The statement released by the Executive Council of
the Afro Club almost contradicts the policy statement
told to a Gamecock reporter by Middleton. Middleton
then turned around and said his views did not
necessarily reflect the views of the rest of the members
of the club. How then, did he get himself elected
president of a club if his views contradict the very
"policy" of that club?
A suit has been filed against the Afro Club by Russell
Putnam, vice-chairman of the Student Senate Finance
Committee. Putnam's suit directly challenges the
membership policy of the Afro Club and would forbid
them from spending further SAC funds until the Student
Organization Chartering Commission determines
whether or not the club is following the membership
guidelines as specified by the law.
Any campus organization can openly state that it is
open to all members of the student body and at the same
time make it known that it does not desire students who
are not one of their own kind. The very name "Afro
American Students Association" implies this and it is
hard to conc,eive how the chartering commission can
rule any other way other than to revoke the charter of
the Afro Club. There is no getting around the fact that
the Afro Club does not have any non-black members in
it, regardless of what its policy might state. There
ProIgably are several other "chartered campus
organizations" that fall in the same category and it is
hoped the chartering commission will conduct in
vestigations of them also.
Student funds cannot and should not be going to
- organizations which are designed to represent specific
groups which have said they are open to all students, but
in actuality are not adhering or enforcing these policies.
The chartering commission would do well to "in
vestigate" other campus organizations that may be in
the same category as the Afro Club, and the Afro Club
would do well to figure out a way to continue its
existence without the false premise that it desires
membership from all campus students, and their fun
ding could come from the members of that group
themselves.
WNO
LETTERS...
Band deserves
more credit
TO THE EDtTOR:
I'm writing in reference to Chuck
Cromer's article on the Green
Street party. I agree that the party
was a success, but I. believe more
credit hould have been given to
the band ''Steamboat Springs."
Cromer made several comments
such as, "It didn't even matter
who the band was or how polished
the music was so long as it was
bluegrass" and "Steamboat
Springs just happened to fit the
mold." Judging from these
comments, he evidently failed to
appreciate the individual style and
superior talent of this group.
Granted, it was difficult to hear
the true quality of the music, the
sound system being what it was,
but the excellent performance of
the fiddle and pedal. steel players
as well as the fine narmony of the
voices could not go unnoticed to a
good music ear.
Cromer made a good point by
insinuating that the, student body
was indeed ready for a good excuse
to party, but theycould and cer
tainly should have done it without
downgrading the fine band.
MELONIE MASON
Senate committee
works hard
TO THE EDITOR:
I shall address myself to the
article on your editorial page of
Oct. 21, 1974 entitled, "Senate
should change attitude."
I am a member of the Student
Senate Finance Committee and I
resent the accusations made in this
article. The anonymous person
states, "The pity of the situation is
these measures have been totally
uncalled for and are the result of
several senators attempting to
shift the real power in the SGA
from that of the president to heads
of certain committees within the
senate, such as the Student Senate
Finance Committee."
I would like to explain what is
really happening instead of this
perverted view. I never saw- a
committee, such as the finance
committee, work so well together.
Everything we worked on and
voted on was a unanimous
decision. We were all extremely
proud of our budget for we all put
many, many hours of work into
it. It was not done alone by the
chairman of our committee. In
fact, most of the ideas for the
budget wee not his.
None of us have any animosity
toward Leigh Leventis. But we
saw a situation that existed and
tried to think of the best way to
correct it. This situation was the
impractical way in the disper
sement and follow-up on use of
SGA monies. This situation was
particularly bad in past Qd
ministrations. We thought
corrective measures imperative.
We (the finance committee) also
received a great deal of helpful
input from the SGA Treasurer,
Terry Murphy. He saw these same
situations.
When I campaigned last spring,
this was an issue mentioned to me
many times; where is the SGA
money going? We have tried to put
checks and balances on the ex
penditure of money. I wish I had
more time to go into further ex
planation.
Lastly. this sentiment was ex
FRANKLY SPEAKING.. .by phil frank
'THE SURPRiKE 16 -TMAT fT S
TUNA F*GH -NOT C14ICKE.
Z COLLEGE MEDIA SERVICES- BOX 9411- BERKELEY. CA. 94709
Campuse
Opinion
pressed by the entire student be closed by the prospect of a
senate when it overrode the better GPR.
president's veto. However, I do share a concern
similar to his in the area of ex
DAVID M. FRIERSON tracurricular activity. At the
election of the Honors Council one
EDITOR'S NOTE: The afternoon last month, the phrase
"anonymous" author of the "It looks good on your record" was
editorial Senator Frierson Is repeated frbquently to encourage
referring to in this letter is also a n Admttely,tha
member oif the student senate andd
has placed his initials at the bottom eenignitlfbutha
of each editorial he has written,. n fsriefrtepbi od
Honors coleg Itsee.o ogwieta
fears unfounded ofabakor ni oen
TO THE EDITOR: u,ietf hmevs n tt
Tim Beall 's little phillipic in the thimaostiswsdn.SI
Oct. 7 Gamecock was cheap. His tom,wohdaajrsilro
ranting arnd stamping of feet over mn,o h okdlk d
the proposed establishment of an miitavesr.Ihdnoa
honors college in the Horseshoe tl dao htkn fpbi
was based on the feeling that self- sriete a eneggdi
motivation would be replaced by bfr rwa hytogtsol
external motivation (awards, high beacmlsdbyteoui.A
grades, prestige, that sort of thing) prsetv)ouclmme
in learning,.rbbywudntrqiemc
I think his fears are unfounded. I eprec, bt Im sr
believe, contrary to Beall's knweg ofhs xprnc
separation of students Into "grade cud' aehr h lcin
fetishists" and truly motivated ISsettepolm o
scholars," that every one of us is mtvto sa h oto h
influenced in differing degrees by rcn ako tednea
both an inner desire to learn and an suetsnt etns ni h
external reward. And I think the polmi ovd oeneto
combination is healthy-; while we ti apswl esl-evn
may not be internally motivated to anfrcal
learn a subject just for the sake of
knowledge, the gap between
motivaion adeachevemet canTIM IIHors(ouncllon