Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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oinion. GAMECOCK BILL PRATT, Editor - BILL OUTLAW, BILL GRANT. Editorial.Page Editor Managing Editor~ October 20, 1975 Gamecock protests 'racist' charge The Gamecock recently received a letter (published in the Oct. 16 issue) from Louette L.D. Telfare ac cusing this paper of displaying a racist attitude con cerning coverage given to Homecoming Queens. The letter pointed out that the size of the picture of this year's Homecoming Queen was much larger than the size of pictures run for Homecoming Queens of the past two years (both were blacks). Ms. Telfare wrote, "This undue discrimination shown to the past two black queens was unnecessary and unfair." We would like to set the record straight by pointing out some facts that we feel both the writer of this letter and members of the student body may not be aware of. The implication that The Gamecock staff has displayed prejudist does not take into account the fact that the staff of The Gamecock changes considerably with each semester. A different editor and different staff are chosen each semester and people making the decisions about the picture display on page one vary from year to year. With this constant change in per sonnel, it is impossible for any one particular policy to prevail from year to year, on any issue, whether it is Homecoming or Green Street etc. Nevertheless, we would like to examine the past two years issues mentioned by Ms. Telfasre. The Oct. 14 issue of last year did have a page one picture of the Homecoming Queen despite having other news items of importance to the Carolina community. (There was no story deserving front page coverage to go along with the crowning of the queen this year.). Last year, stories about a law schoo that was filea against the University and the resignation of Dean Charles Witten were run on page one as well as a picture of the ceen. The previous year, Ms. Ransom was given front page coverage as well as an article by Bob Craft attacking the people in the stadium that booed the crowning of a black Homecoming Queen. Does this sound like racism on the part of The Gamecock? To further elaborate on our point, the Homecoming Queens for 1971 and 1972 were white, yet neither received front page coverage. In fact, they were displayed on pages five and four respectively. The policy of this paper has never been one of discrimination and we certainly do not intend to start now. We felt obligated to defend ourselves because we do not like being called racist, especially when all the facts about the coverage are not brought out in the criticism we received. ILetters policy 1The GAMECOCK Invites al perens within the campus community to make their opinions and thoughts known 90er readers. If is your voice -we are t9he vehicle We attempt to print weekly in our "Letters to the Editor'' section all letters received Minimal editing is PVe-i -d though lonere tters witI be pred, leners of aco w.rds and under or, qiveri preference due to spece requitemnents And. it is the decision of the editors that ywe not f un anonynisous letters, though we wilt Withhold names for valid reasons Preferiney, letters should be typed with name and address of the author included Please d elilters pr soet ernofice in Seem ne6 Russell House or write campus Opin,on. Letters to Protests should be peaceful TO THE EDITOR: The peaceful protest held last Monday was, in spite of the hopes of its planners, a failure. It was a failure in the respect that it failed to show that the student body cares enough about the Green Street issue to stage a responsible, peaceful, and well organized protest. It did show, however, that while a small group of students does care about the issue, the majority of the students care so little about their own welfare that they either regard the protest as something that they should attend to be a part of the group or they regard it as an occasion for irresponsible anarchy. If a protest is to be staged, it should be a peaceful and well organized protest in the style that was supported by Thoreau, Gandhi, and King, emphasizing non-cooperation with an unjust or unfair system. So if the students must protest, let them protest in such a manner that they will not or cannot be ignored, as a strong, responsible, united group. Joe Duncan Writer gives violent comments TO THE EDITOR: I have been much affrighted lately with reference to the blockage of city streets by groups of dissidents and ne'er do wells. This practice as manifested among certain tropic dwellers as well as our own natives most certainly will lead to physical harm of the given group (as a result of vehicular collision, or the ministration performed upon such worthies by our fine law enforcement agen cies), unless a scientific method can be developed, by which in volvement of the human element is minimized. After studious deliberation" upon this subject, I believe that this ideal situation may be achieved at little or no cost to the disgruntled students, and in such a fashion as may promote the New registi needs stude Standing in lines two miles long only to find out your course has been "closed out" may become a thing of the past with the con version to computerized registration system by the University. The plan for a computer assisted pre- registration program was approved last week by the Academic Advisory Committee, the last academic committee in the University bureaucracy to review the plan before it is Implemented. This plan will prove Itself to be beneficial to professors and their teaching assistants as well as being beneficial to students. Professors and .T.A.'s will no longer have to man their tables during registration periods prior to each semester. Overcrowded classes and classes having only a the Editoi welfare of the student body. It must be noted that the sight of a police car engenders a great fear in the mind of your average student fear resulting from. recollection of past misdeeds or the potentiality of future errant behavior. What, then, could be a more sovereign method of closing Green Street, and at the same time alleviating this powerful fear, but that a group of students seize control of the entire fleet of these vehicles (only murdering the occupants where it is entirely necessary), drive them to the aforementioned street, tip them over, and set them afire. This would effect a substantial saving on toilet paper and scrap construction wood (both rare and valuble commodities in today's depressed economy), traffic will cease to trouble the area, the spectre of punishment will be eliminated, and 'rollicking good time will be had by all. An ad ditional aesthetic benefit will accrue to this action: it is common knowledge that the pictures and accounts emanting from war torn areas, mentioning burnt out vehicles, decomposing bodies, limbs raining down from the clouds, and the like seldom fail to amuse the populace. If my suggestion seems too harsh in relation to the intentions of the recent protests, consider the great mass of students obviously has no interest in following channels of diplomacy, or face to face, voice to voice confrontation with the shapers of our destiny. Let no one speak to me of "peaceful demonstration;" that is a path that has patently been rejected by the lawful democratic majority, by tacit consent. Before I am attacked for the seeming violence of this notion, let me assure the worthy reader that I make this proposal solely for the psychological good of the com munity, to propagate a more stable campus atmosphere and, finally, to provide a diversion to the bored. I do not forsee any personal benefits from such activity. I am small and weak, and the top pling over of even one police car is far beyond me. Rusty Wharton 'ation proc< ent coo pera handful of people are other benefits that may be derived from the computer system. The cost conscious ad ministration (choke, choke) also has indicated it believes computer assisted registration will be cheaper and more efficient in the long run. Under the new system, students will be advised and then will pre register. If they don't flunk any courses or change their course selection after they have pre registered, they will have con pleted their registration except for the payment of fees and validating their I.D. cards. Students will also be allowed to pre- register for classes offered outside of their major field of study. This is a most important element in having a viable com.. Ticket story has errors TO THE EDITOR: As I was both mis-identified and misquoted I feel I must respond to Duncan Mansfield's article on the ticket distribution for senators and the cabinet. First, I am not a senator! I am not, have not, nor do I have any desire to become involved with the senate. I am in the cabinet and as such can also receive tickets. I put between 30 and 50 hours into SGA work, but as an administrative assistant to the SGA President, my job is to investigate student allegations or complaints about the University. Secondly, the use of quotes in dicates that what was written was exactly what I said. I at no time said that Corley was "bitching about a good thing." I did say he was "blowing smoke rings out his ass." The distinction is important. Whether ticket distribution is a good thing or not is for the senate to decide, not the cabinet, but I have got to wonder why a senator in the midst of the Green Street fight and the various arguments about Academic Departments presents a bill concerning ticket distribution. I have one final concern. SGA is a student function--run by students for students. Any student may run for office or become involved. For this involvement, unless they are the president, vice president, treasurer, or secretary, they receive no money. For the most part they receive little satisfaction because the administration, at times, will not listen to the SGA and the students don't give a damn enough to become involved. If Corley feels so bad about the ticket pickup, then he is free to leave his tickets at the coliseum and pick them up at any time he wishes. I believe that if Corley would spend more time fighting for the things that matter and less time bitching about ticket distribution, he may feel he earned the right to senate ticket pick-up. John C. Hopkins EDITOR'S NOTE: The writer of the article says Hopkins identified himself as a senator and said what was quoted in the article. ?SS tion puterized registration system. The most important working element for the computerized registration system is the cooperation of the student. The new system will not work unless student participation in pre registration is increased. The director of the computer center, Jack Cooper, has said that 80 to 90 per cent of the student body is needed to participate in pre- registration in order to make it work effectively. This is compared to the 65 per cent that now use the pre registration system. Studet s should cooperate with the administration and help them to implement this new system. For once, in the long history of the institution, something is being done on students' bhalf.t