Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Law school's ' Entra AN OPEN LETTER TO THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES: Dear Sirs: I am writing to vent my frustration with your recent 7 per cent resolution and the em barrassment it will bring to those of us who will have to compete for jobs with graduates from law schools with the more traditional acceptance-by-qualification standard of admissions. The Board of Trustees of the University of South Carolina has vested in the University President the power to appoint 7 per cent of the incoming first year classes at the Law Center--with blithe disregard for the standards by The Gam Opinion column's quality takes plunge TO THE EDITOR: I have been a very avid reader of your opinion column, but lately the quality has been going down and the ideas extremely borrowed. Evpry now and then you have a good column, like the one on Mr. Ford's foreign policy, but mostly it's on the decline. Last Thursday's column on CBS and the interview with Haldeman takes the cake. The Gamecock comes up with something on which every newspaper in the country has spent the space equivalent of the Sunday New York Times. Can we expect a little more originality? NAME WITHHELD BY REQUEST USC officials think students don't matter TO THE EDITOR: Does the University ad ministration care about students? After becoming another victim of administration indifference I E JIM Managing Editor STEVE PARKER News Editor Photograg BILL PRAT T MARl M E-ntertainment E ditor ProduCtit CHUCK CROMER TERR The Gamecock welcomes letters Irom subiet iand a maximum of 300 words Thi Pseudonyms or other albases will not be (rcumstances warrant To assist us in v. your mnailmnq address and a telephone num~ Iiqht ItoC edit all tllters, not for c ontent, per cent resoi 0 nce poll which the remaining student body is selected. Forgive my naivety--I am often warned not to try to understand the mysterious ways of South Carolina and its state universities--but I am unable to discern the method to this mad ness. If the Board was innovating a policy whereby applicants with low test scores are given a final opp ortunity to prove themselves in the law school atmosphere, the plan would be commendable and I would be among the many who would cheer this worthy effort. It is the Law Center itself, though, which deserves the credit in recognition of its progressive Pcock's mt would have to answer "no" .to that question. I am referring to an incident that occurred March 24. The Marine Science 102 class, which normally meets in the BA building, was forced to move out of its classroom because something more important was scheduled for that room. Someone recommended that we hold the class in the Navy ROTC gym located in Hamilton College. First of all, any ROTC person can testify that the gym is com parable to an oven. More im portant, the administration could not provide facilities to show slides that were supposed to accompany our lecture, or even a blackboard for the instructor to use. Realizing that it would be a waste of everyone's time to try to teach successfully under those con ditions, the professor cancelled class. I am requesting that the University refund the money we paid for tuition for that day ol class. Being an out-of-statE student, that comes to $3.60. In state students paid $1.65 for thai class. That may not seem likE a large amount of money, bul considering that the class is madE up of around 100 students, we are now talking about getting "ripped off" for about $250 because o1 University red tape, lack of [E COCK ditor HERSH Advertising Manager ART FRANK hy E ditor Sports E ditor ASENG PETE FEHELEY tn Manager Copy Desk Chiel Y COON F RANK DELOACHE eaders Letters should be limited to a single y must be signed with the writer's true name sed, but the writer's name will be withheld it eritying the identity of wr iters, p!ease include ber where you c an be reached We reserve the jut to meet our space lmitations Address lution Ly disill Summer Program, the result, I assume, of an overdue re evaluation of law admissions policy. It is the Summer Program which is attractive to the applicant forced with the unreasonable and arbitrary cut-off system employed by the great majority of law schools. And, ironically, it is the existence of the Summer Program which makes suspect the motives behind your 7 per cent plan. Before your resolution, a student lacking the numerical quotient for immediate acceptance, but showing a number of non measurable attributes, could avail himself fo the summer session. The University President may now sidestep this session and place 7 organization and indifference toward students. Equally important, in addition to the loss of monney, is the loss of knowledge. How can the ad ministration expect us to learn when we cannot have class? The students make up this University and "How will the students be hurt?" should be the first question the administration asks before they do something. PAUL 1. NICHOLS JR. Soccer games worth students' participation TO THE EDITOR: As the lone fan at the soccet match March 1 between Carolina and Georgia Southern, I would likf to say that I was very pleased ti see that The Gamecock did publisi a story to inform USC students o the outcome. It's a shame, though, that morn students did not, or could not participate in the fun. Two month ago I would not have watched ai entire soccer match because thought they were too confusini and boring. I'm sorry now tha I've missed out in the past. Abou 20 or so Georgia Southern fan showed up and we all had a blast I suppose the entire purpose C this letter is to let USC student know that soccer is a rough an tumble sport (no padding is wor by the players) and very excitin to watch. Considering the team' 4-1 victory, plus the fact that the had only had about five or si practices together, I'd say this wi be a very good season. I urge The Gamecock to kee students informed of future socce match dates and I urge US students to come out and give thes guys the support they deserve. It just possible you'll be as hooked o soccer as I am. AlIISON BOWER lsions S per cent of the first year class directly into the fall semester. Even without considering the adverse psychological effects which might be felt by a student thrust into law school in this manner, I think it is clear that the Board will do much to negate the positive objective served by the Summer Program. The Board, it is apparent, is less concerned with the law school than with the distribution of the plums of law school acceptance. The 7 per cent plan will only retard the Law Center's developing reputation for its fine physical facility and highly capable faculty. More important, the 7 per cent who have been permitted to avoid even an unusually liberal admissions process will block acceptance of similar percentage of obviously qualified applicants. This is particularly unfortunate in view of the fact that eight of the Board's ten "wild-card" selections for this year failed to continue after the first semester. Of course) even the better known law schools must occassionally defer to their Board of Trusttes, and its determination of who should be included in the first-year SGA head 0 campaigr 1W BILL PRATT News Editor Despite campaign promises of three weeks ago, Steve Hill, new elected Student Government Association (SGA) president, has begun to show that his campaign was nothing more than rhetoric, and that any real changes will be left up to someone else. The first indication of this lack of leadership was in the March 27 issue of The Gamecock. Hill is quoted as saying he would like to see SGA's budget cut from its present $45,000 to $40,000. This figure is in direct contrast with the figure given during the "hotly-contested compaign," during which, he said, "The budget can be cut to $35,000 without hurting SGA." But now, Hill insists that $40,000 is necessary for SGA's ef fectiveness and efficiency. Hill rationalizes his position, saying, "I hate to say in The Gamecock before I'm elected that I'm going to do something and not do it. I try to keep my promises as much as possible." But, why make the promise before elections, and not keep it? It can only lead to a loss of credibility from which SGA suffers already. This is proved by the some 3,000 voters who turned out on election day against ahnout 15,000 eligible opinioll tudent class. The power of "who-you know" has always been, and will continue to be, an academic and political fact of life. Few, if any, of these schools, however, are benefitted by an admissions screening device, such as the Summer Program, which the Law Center provides. A more subtle distinction-and perhaps a measure of their strong reputation -is the fact that most law schools would not admit, and certainly no law school would advertise a standardized formula for ac ceptance of unqualified, politically-appointed law students. For any but the most provincial law shcool the formal adoption of a resolution such as yours would be a stigma as well as an em barrassment. If ever a law school should avoid compromising the qualifications of those seeking to enter the legal profession, it is now. Yet this is precisely what the Board has done. If loss of accredidation does not follow, the Law Center of the University of South Carolina will surely establish itself as a charter member of the bush league of American law schools. GEOFFREY H. WAGGONER First-year law student i deserts tpromises voters who saw no need to vote. By beginning to break promises before his inauguration one eventually begins to see the unrealistic approach Hill took during the elections--as witnessed by his 26-point platform-and then resort to the tradition of doing nothing. Hill has also done two things to his constituency., First, the person who didn't vote will have his reasoning for not voting reinforced. He may say that SGA is really no more than an organization which does nothing for the students, and is strictly concerned with the welfare of the officials who control the purse strings. And second, the person who did vote will feel that his vote was wasted and that he has been cheated. The end result can only mean that SGA has suffered another blow to its credibility. And, as a by-product could lead to the erasure of student government from the scene. By his action Hill has begun to dig the same hole which past SGA presidents have found themselves in and unable to get out. Thus, Hill needs to be aware of his precarious position and should keep his promises or the destruction of SGA may be on the horizn.