Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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- ?Alo Editorials Green In a few weeks the result of a consulting firim's traffic study on Green Street will be public knowledge. And, shortlly thereafter Columbia City Council should be ready to decide whether or not to close the street. The logical choice is to close the street. USC students, who have grown accustomed to dodging cars when trying to cross the street, have been urging the city to close the street to traffic for almost 20 years. Their argument is that eventually some unlucky -student will be hurt when hit by a car. As far as can be determined, no student has ever been hit trying to cross the street. But that fact should not be used as proof that a dangerous situation does not exist. With many times as many cars on campus than 20 years ago, when students first began to ask that the street be closed, the situation is much worse than in the past, and it is getting worse all the time. The consulting firm's study is based on surveys conducted during two different 45-day periods. The first survey was done in the early part of the fall when Green Street was open to traffic. The survey was then repeated later in the fall when traffic was sealed off from the street. The purpose of the study is to determine how important Green Street is in the overall traffic flow for the USC campus area of Columbia. No serious traffic jams occurred when the street was blocked off, nor did city of ficials voice complaints of excessive traffic on streets used by motorists in the place of Green Street. On the sur face, at least, Green Street does not appear to be vital to the Columbia traffic flow. The Street consulting firm's study should confirm this. USC's Student Government Association (SGA) has made a formal request that Green Street be closed from Sumter to Bull streets--the area from Longstreet Theater. to the Melton Observatory. This is an acceptable proposal. Students will have the freedom to cross the street in the Russell House area, where a large number of students congregate, without the fear of being hit by a car. And, - since the city's traffic pattern is not upset by closing the street there is no real reason why the city should keep it open. There is no doubt that the majority of USC students want the street to be closed to traffic. Likewise, there is little doubt that most Columbia residents could care less whether or not the street is closed. And judging by the 45 day trial closing period, when one half of the traffic survey was done, it is evident that Columbia will not be thrown into one gigantic traffic snarl if Green Street is closed. While keeping the street open to traffic does almost nothing for the city, closing it can help the USC community greatly. In the past few years there has been talk of con structing a mall on Green Street where students can relax, study and generally gather for any type of activity. Since it is in the middle of the campus, the Green Street area would be an excellent place for students to gather, much like the Horseshoe was in the early days of the school. But with traffic on the street, about the only time Green Street has been the gathering point for students was in the fall of 1972 when SGA officials led a traffic blockade by students one af ternoon to express their views about closing Green Street to city officials. The only other time Green Street has been a gathering point for students was last semester, when the street was closed to traffic for the 45-day trial period. With just a short time to organize them, several concerts and other activities were conducted, and almost every student enjoyed the idea of being able to meet friends In the middle of the campus. For students, closing Green Street is a totally positive move. For city residents, closing It would not cause them toalter their traffic routines by more than one or two blocks. With the positive features far outweighing the negative ones, city council should vote to close the street to traffic. Guerrilla in the dc The University is a Paradise, Rivers of Knowledge are there, Arts and Sciences flow from thence; bottomless depths of Unsearchable Counsels there. --John Donne One need not live long in the men's residence halls at USC to painfully realize the presence of an increasing number of people that cannot accurately be described as Lmiversity students or as dor mitory residents. Students at a mniversity occasionally have studies to do, papers to write. Residents of a dormitory sometimes betray an awareness of )ther people's presence or show a :oncern for their neighbors' sleep. rhe breed I am talking about acts is if it were loose in the jungle with iothing to do but roar and trumpet ts defiance and contempt of the going scheme. If your studies are disturbed by heir stereo playing, if your iostrils are offended by their dope omoking, then, obviously, you are n the wrong place. For in the code )f these university guerrillas it is he survival of the unconcerned. ie who can make the loudest noise, ,how the most disdain for other )eople, is undisputed king of the iall. One would expect other students Yould not put up with this behavior or long. One would imagine the vhole hall would be up in arms, isking the delinquent to shape up ir ship out. The striking thing tbout this phenemenon is that tudents who are the most af ected, the people who stand to The Game, TO THE EDITOR: I am writing in response to the article, "USC Senate responsive, Senators say" by Lee Powell in Monday's edition of The Gamecock. I could understand how Powell could somewhat get confused during our interview and maybe miss a few of the ideas I was trying to convey, but it is beyond me how he could have completely turned things around and distorted the truth. In reference to the statement that I felt that the situation in the Senate this year was very bad in view of accomplishments made, I did not at any time say this. Also, my reference to the Senate last semester being nothing more than a rubber stamp for the executive branch was a reference I made to last year's Senate during the Rita McKinney administration. Anyone connected with the Senate or Student Government this year know the Senate has rarely agreed with the President. Also, 25 to 30 hours was spent by the Finance Committee on the budget and then the budget was debated for three weeks on the Senate floor. The statement i which I said that the budget was warfare rmitories By Moby Salahuddin gain the most from some overt show of concern, are the ones least likely to confront the offenders. It is my experience that most students are unhappy over the noise and disorder in the residence halls. Some of them eventually complain to their respective hall counselors. But even when they do complain, these protests are mild and discreet. For some reason, there is great reluctance among students to walk up to somebody loudly entertaining illegal guests at 2 a.m. and ask them to take it easy, for courtesy's sake. Ap parently, it is now considered the mark of a sociable nature to accept everything that others do, however rude or inconvenient. There is a similar reluctance among students to discourage their colleagues from destroying university property. Very early one morning I was awakened by loud and incessant banging coming from one of the upper floors. It turned out to be a student, ham mering and chipping his way to the quarters in the washing machine. Even for the times, it was unusual to encounter a student in such pressing need of money. More baffling was the presence of several other students, silently watching the destruction of the only washing machine in the building. The student was soon calmed, but, a couple of months later, the washing machine still remains to be fixed. According to a Housing Service survey, between April 1973 and April 1974 students destroyed USC cock's mail passed without question referred to last year's budget (1973-1974 school year). I further said that one accomplishment of the Senate this year was correcting the wrongs that have been done In budgeting in past years. I did not state that we had to correct the wrongs in budgeting this semester. The statement to the "erratic misuse of funds" was medd in reference to last summer when the Senate is not in session. My main theme throughout the interview was comparison to SGA to the remendous strides the senate has made this year. I feel the Senate had made tremendous THE GAM Editor Managing Editor JIM HE STEVE PARKER The Gamecock welcomes letters from rei sublect and a maximum of 300 words. Th name. Pseudonyms or other aliases will n withheld if circumstanCes warrant. To asi please includ, your mailing address ana reached. We reser ve the right to edit all left limitations. Addm.ress C mpu pn. r property worth $14,000. This is damage done only in the common areas of residence halls; this does not include any damage to the individual rooms. I am not certain why students persist in the destruction of property, the defacing of pictures, the uprooting of telephones, the wrecking of vending machines, the jamming of elevators, the mind less playing with fire ex tinguishers. I suspect the major reason some students do not feel any loyalty to the university is because school is not their first interest. More and more, it seems to me, the emphasis is on the social rather than the intellectual aspects of the university. Certainly, no one visiting the men's residence halls can say the atmosphere there makes serious studies possible, much less encourage them. If our residence halls are to become more livable, a place where one can bring one's parents without feeling apologetic, then it is imperative that concerned students get together to curb the license of these university guerrillas--this group of refusers and resenters dedicated to noisy parties, vandalism and robbing. A few of us need to learn that, sometimes, there is a certain reciprocity in life. If the guerrillas continue their sabotage, university officials can help by taking strict and swift action against the of fenders. Those who persist in stepping on the teeth of a rake ought to discover the handle can smite them. accomplishments this year. We have corrected the wrongs in budgeting and spending student monies. Also, the ticket distribution controversy and the Communications Committee survey at the spring resistration are other examples of the senate's responsiveness and will to serve the student body. I hope that that mistakes like this are not made again by Powell and The Gamecock, as they are damaging to individuals and the Senate as a whole. SEN. JIM STUART SENATE DISTRICT 23 [ECOCK RSH Advertising Manager ART FRANK ders. Letters should be limited to a single sy must be signed with the writer's true cDt be usled, but the writer's name will be ist us in verifying the identity of writers, a teiephone number where you can be ers, not for content, but to meet our space Iwer A, meC Columbia 220.