Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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GAMECOCK 'it Is a newspaper's duty to print the news and raise hell.' WILBUR F. STOREY The Chicago Tives BILL GRANT, Editor BILL oUTLAW. ART FRANK, Editorial Page EdItmr Advertising Maaager December 12, 1974 Funding priorities out of focus at USC It is time for state and University officials to wake up and realize this institution should be run in the interests of the student instead the administrators' personal priorities. A classic example of this administrative neglect was brought up in the recent investigation of living conditions at' University Terrace, married student's housing apartments. Serious doubts were raised as to the very safety of these residences. The lack of action by University housing officials about this situation is typical of the slow-moving bureaucracy that typlifies this campus. Without funds, Robert Stewart, director of housing, says such a problem as lead based paint on UT's walls can not be corrected. Making the major question, then, why are there not enough funds allocated to make basic rennovations to insure the safety of residents and their young children? Stewart indicates that there is no tax subsidy to allow the housing department to carry out these basic and necessary renovations. But why has the state of South Carolina neglected to allocate the essential funds required to rennovate its own buildings, especially those in which people live. The funding priorities of this University appear to be completley out of focus. This is the same University that allows slum-like living conditions for married students and then appropriates over $260,000 for a football scoreboard and offers a new football coach $60,000 a year. It is time this University, which has its budget approved by the South Carolina State'Legislature, quit spending money on buildings, football astroturfs and scoreboards and concentrate on what should be the most important commodity this University can or will ever have; the education of the student. BBB Student Affairs panel shows unusual candor In this age of increasing secrecy in government, it is interesting to note that at least one University com mittee is going about its business under the watchful eye of the campus press. The student affairs search committee, made up, in cidentally, with a majority of students, have actively sought out The Gamecock to attend its meetings. In obvious contrast to football coach search committee and the provost search committee, this committee seems willing to have its actions scrutinized by students, through The Gamecock. The committee is to be com mended for its openess. It will be interesting to note whether the committee will continue this policy once It gets into the latter stages of its deliberations-the interviewing, nomination and selection of a dean for student affairs. WCG Where As the end of another semester is .n sight it is. time to look back at where we have been and attempt some predictions of where this institution will go in the future. It has, indeed, been a period of rapid change for the University, and on the whole, most of the changes have not been for the better. To begin with, the University is still recovering from the sudden, if not all together unexpected, change in leadership. The ramifications of the change are still being felt throughout the campus. Numerous campus leaders have pointed to the vacuum of leadership which now exists at USC. As the educational system becomes more and more politicized, traditional campus leaders are left wondering, quite literally, who controls thestringsat this institution? Do they take their orders from the traditional source of power, the administration, or from an outside source, motivated by their own undisclosed, self serving interests? Administrative reshuffling continues, a trend that can only be described as alarming, at best. Hardly a week goes by without the announcement that administrator By Bill 0 Parting Due to the . ever-increasing amount of complaints received regarding the operations of The Gamecock, the outgoing staff has decided to make the following recommendations to next semester's staff. (1) Believe anything and everything University officials tell you because they will not try to hide any information. It would also be showing disrespect to your elders by asking them questions that might cause them to wince. All The Gamecock should print is the press releases given to them by the administration. This will keep the students well informed about what is going on while at the same time it will keep peace within the University. (2) Cover all student govern ment projects the way they want them covered. Instead of assigning a reporter to the senate, let them run write their own summary of what is happening and print it just as it is given to you. Whatever you do, don't dare criticize anyone within student government because they might get upset and go around talking about how they were misquoted or how what they said was taken out of context or how It was off the record and should not have been printed. The Gamecock has ab solutely no business meddling in student affairs. (3) Don't criticize any of the student organizations for misusing their funds because that Is a racial issue. All of the organizations know what Is best for them and do not need reporters around asking stupid questions like "What happened to this $1,400" (4) Run a "Dear Abby" type of column. This would be more en tertaining for the students to read and would provide an outlet for their social frustrations, which takes priority over student issues. (5) Eliminate the editorial page. After all, one man's oninion is as is USC hE Y is being reassigned to depart ment X or that faculty member Z is leaving at the end of the year. The fact is that USC is losing, or is about to lose, some of its best personnel as the University changes direction under Dr. Patterson. And still more alar ming is the fact that no one will say, at least for the record, why gifted administrators and educators are leaving USC by the droves. The leadership vacuum also exists at the student end of the spectrum, otherwise known as the Student Government Association. While both the executive and legislative branches are locked in their own power struggle SGA has lost sight of its purpose and func tion--to serve the needs of the student body. While the student utlaw shots... 'Leave one page blank for students to do with as they see fit.' good as the other and you know what they say about opinion s... everybody's got one. It also follows that the letters to the editor should be done away with. Let the students complain to someone else. (6) Do away with a reporting staff altogether. What could be done instead is to have students take turns writing for The Gamecock. After all, the students are paying for the paper so they should be entitled to write for it. (7) Make the paper 99 per cent advertising because that is all the students read anyway. (8) Expand the sports coverage. Why write about the activities of the Student Allocations Com mission (SAC) when all the students want to hear about is what happened at the basketball of football games. SAC only manages $400,000 a year in student funds so why waste time and space on them. (9) Start a gossip column. List all the favorite foods of the freaks and compare their diets with that of the jocks and the frats. Be sure to include a listing of who is going out with .whom and who is just messing around. (10) Leave one page completely blank for students to do with as they see fit. (11) Don't sign your name to anything you do, you might get obscene phone calls oaded? ill Grant Columnist senate and the SGA president stage their weekly power grab at senate meetings, needed legislation sits on the proverbial back burner. The student body must aiso share in the blame, if you will. With each passing year, the USC student body seems to be a bit more passive, apathetic or just plain disinterested in the events that are taking place around here. A Gamecock staffer was once asked what were the "big" issues on this campus. After much thought, the only thing he could come up with was parking and ticket distribution, an answer that seems reasonably accurate and which can be pointed to as one of the main reasons why more im portant issues, if you will, continue to exist. What's the solution to student apathy? No one seems to know, although if this school is to grow from the diploma mill it is today into a viable educational *institution, increased student in volvement will have to play a large role. At The Gamecock, we began the semester with a pledge to give the USC student a better, more in formative newspaper. We have attempted to critically examine just what is happening on this campus and why. In the process we have not made any friends, but that is not our function. We have attempted to expose, inform and entertain our. readers, the people who make this University what it is-students. We stepped on a few toes along the way. Such is the case when officials, both student and administrative, used to having their every move pass unnoticed, suddenly find themselves and their motives questioned. One of our goals this semester was, quite simply, to upset people. We hoped that when people opened their newspaper, they'd see something in it that they didn't agree with and get disturbed. And, more in .antly, once they get angry about a certain situation they'll stay angry until they see that it is corrected. We have then served our function. We have taken much criticism this semester, much of it un founded We have been accused of running a racist newspaper for our coverage of the Afro investigation. We have been called a house organ for student government for what some refer to our "over en thusiastic" SGA coverage. The list could go on Indefinitely. Everyone, or so it seems at times, has a beef with The Gamecock. Without doubt, we have had our problems. We have missed meetings of important University committees, key events of the University Union have slipped by and we still have occasional production problems. But through a lot of hard work by a group of truly dedicated people, we have given the student ex panded coverage of the events that will shape our lives during our stay at USC. And when we are criticized we lick our wounds and take solace in one fact: we are being read. And that's what makes it all worthwhile