University of South Carolina Libraries
About campus BY CHUCK CROMER Entertainment Editor What would USC be without a mandatory student activities fee? This can only be answered by pondering the only alternatives, either having a voluntary fee or none at all. First, let's assume that no fees of any kind exist at USC. What are the consequences? To the average student, it means freedom to choose the events he wishes to attend without paying in advance for those programs he'll never see. In a sense, he feels a psychological contentment in having beat the establishment. - The irony of the situation lies in the fact that when the student does decide to attend a program, it will still cost him, probably much more than before. With no funds to support free gr discount activities, all student organizations would operate on a break-even basis. An admission price would be required to cover the minimum costs of the event. Thus student organizations would function on a purely professional business basis. Since most students haven't developed the skills or have the "know how" to "make ends meet," a professional staff would be hired specifically to run the organizations as money-making businesses. Obviously, because students have reputations of never sticking to budgets, their input would become increasingly unimportant until their opinions counted as nil. With only a meager budget to operate from, fewer diversified en tertaining programs would be provided. Even more important, ac tivities that were free before, would now cost to see. An almost nonexistent budget would also drastically decrease the percentage of specialized clubs and organizations on our campus. Thus, the wide range of interests that our students are hormally ac customed to would be lessened. Numerous informative and educational activities would be reduced or dropped completely since their forte does not lie in profit. Such things as lectures, cultured events and art displays would be cut completely from the entertainment schedule because they're not the best financial risks. Service organizations shmild also decrease in number. WUSC, Student Government, Afros, and the Crucible for example, would have to go since their programs produce no revenue. The Gamecock, Garnet & Black and the University Players might survive without funding but with different formats. The Gamecock might have more ads and cost 5 cents apiece for students that wish to purchase them. The Garnet & Black, normally charging from $3 to $5 for their annuals in the past, would now double or triple in price. The University Players would probably sponsor fewer productions and charge higher admissions at the door. The University Union, the largest programming organization or campus, could also survive, but with many changes. Logically, a streamlining of programming is needed to ensure that only the most profitably events are presented. The two major at tendance drawers, concerts and films for example, would change drastically. The film schedule, in the past being one of the greatest in the nation having four to five nights a week of free movies and a dollar charge for major films twice a week, would indeed suffer. Either the number of films per week would be cut or every picture would be shown on a break-even basis. This means that all formerly free films would now have an admission charge. Since intellectual films by such directors as Ingmar Bergman and Frederico Fellini and old classics featuring Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable would have only limited appeal when an admission fee ol one dollar is asked, they would have to be dropped so that more revenue-making, popular films like EARTHQUAKE could be shown. Otherwise, all film programming except the regularly scheduled pay films two nights a week could be shown. The music field would be severely affected. No free bands could play in the Golden Spur anymore as a mandatory cover charge would be required. Also, no free concerts like Todd Rundgren, (which drew over 7,500 students), the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band or Tim Weisberg would be presented for the students' scrutiny. Many students favor the voluntary activities fee, where only those who wanted to participate in 'extracurricular activities would pay their fees at registration. However, this is a complex and highly unreliable solution. The first major difficulty arises in enforcement. Strict enforcement to keep out those gate-crashers who didn't pay their fees must be implemented so as to make the system worthwhile. No continuity in funds from semester to semester leads to in consistent programming. With most organizations trying to scheule their events months in advance, an unsure programming budget would have catastrophic results. What we would end up with is an uninformed, culturally defunct, reclusive Carolina Community. A student body, then, that in later life would have been uneducated to campus life's experiences outside the classroom; a novice to the term "well-rounded person." Before ending, though, let me present some .figures to joggle the student's mind: First, over 25,000 people a week read some part of The Gamecock. Second, every single Garnet & Black annual ordered last year, over 4,500, was sold. This year over twice that number are expected to be sold. Third, WUSC, even though it can only be picked up on campus, has a potential of 42,000 student listeners a week. Fourth, the University Union sponsored 518 events in '72-'73 with $192,000 and had 98,339 students attending. In '73-'74, there were 695 programs using $157,fl00 with 150,165 attending. Up to the end of last semester, the Union put on 265 programs for the '74-'75 year having 59,672 attending, and over a full semester of programming is still to go with a budget of $178,972. The student is getting his money's worth In entertainment, education and information. Your $13.50 is going a long way, being Would they have come to the Ri STARTS WEDNESDAY JOE DON BAKEI GABRIEL DELL JOHN WARRE KEMERNG Frmwnv PRoci b4M"4 wmd.e|kgd iece ytI Johnny Drmmings issell House theater if it wasn't free? Why do movies like "Death Wish," Walking Tall"yand Framed"stir up so much emotion in audiences? We think it is because people are all too familiar with the Injustice and c,orruption depicted in these fihns... that these people are often the ones caught up and crushed by the system. And if they can't fight back, they like to watch someone who does. Some :>e like Ron Lewis- a man who was framed by the law-and fought back. rhe producer, writer, diretor, and ;tar of " Tal199"create a new egend on the screen. Framed"is the next movie you ibsolutely have to see. .,.o.ution dc,ed aWinm tese f ww... tw