Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

i g -m- V/^/ V/k/V/VA V-/V. 3 but autho] ; Student Government is a joke. We've been saying this for months, but now the president of Student Government is i saying it too. 4 T* i ii A ?i * xv is sau uiai mis comment snouiQ come *\ from any source, but the government has t again and again demonstrated its inef* fectiveness this school year. Building upon this premise, President Seamus O'Boyle has proposed a new con siiiution ior tne body, as reported on today's front page. The proposal met with severe criticism from the senators when O'Boyle presented it to them Wednesday night, and we've only found a few people r who like the idea. O'Boyle doesn't plan to put the proposal through the senate, though, he will try to get me required 2,500student signatures on a petition to place the proposal before the student body for approval in the spring election. This is the smartest part of the entire plan by O'Boyle. By circumventing the senate he bypasses his opposition and it is not difficult to get a proposal passed by referendum. The current low opinion of Student Government held by the students will be a great help to the President in his quest for government reform. It is also refreshing to see that someone inside SG finally recognizes the severe inefficiency problem that exists. Reform, no doubt, is necessarv anH nnnvniHahlo. however, it is doubtful that O'Boyle's proposition is the answer. There are several problem areas in the proposed constitution. . To the Student go""? O'Boyl condemns ^Ti j "circuj cnnoTA ?* uv^lld ^ summc behavior S rollcall CJamecock IT" Founded 1908 f Mark J. Lundgren Editor In Chief j Don Fobes Copy Desk Chief Tom Travis News Editor David Baker Entertainment Editor Brett Fried lander Sports Editor I U [ i Dave Roback Graphics Editor I I II Barbara Mathews Wire Editor Jim Phillips Editorial Page Editor J Leigh Grogan Assistant News Editor Lehman Stiles. Assistant Entertainment Ed. Kf Mlka rhlhh?> ? ?- * ........ V .... nmaiani oporTS taiTOT I Janice Wood Graduate Assl*tant I Jill Griffin Advertising Manager gESBz^ Fran George Production Manager HPC//A Jon Clemmensen General Manager SamMcKee Business Manager Mark Ethrldge Jr Adviser wic i cyi utiuv.ntMi rigms grantee to the ^ xjr Associated Press. All other material contalned herein may not be reprinted without tlvffff the permission of the editor. SBlHIu Opinions expressed In the Gamecock are those. If signed, of the writer and. If unsigned, of the senior editorial staff. mstitution a rs made a wr Two of these problem areas concern appointments to committees. Appointments to standard university committees would be made by the SG president and approved by the members of these committees. The problem with this process is that favoritism could very easily creep into the process. It is conceivable that any of these committees, which include such important bodies as the Student Allocations Commission and the Student Organization Licensing Commission, could be controlled indefinitely by ^ ' a opcvuic gi uup oi cronies. O'Boyle claims that the members of these committees would know best who would work well with them. This is a valid point. However, the potential for abuse is too ereat Even more alarming is that the constitution would allow the SG president to appoint, without anyone's approval, persons to the university committees. These include the important Committee on Curricula and New Courses and other such minor committees as the Horseshoe Advisory Committee. O'Boyle claims that this process will speed up the appointments process, which has been backlogged the entire school year, but again the potential for abuse is too great. nepresenlation is another problem area in the document. Each college would have one delegate to the Executive Council, but representation would be grossly unequal in terms of numbers of senators to students. Large colleges such as business administration would have one delegate, but Editor: because of mu tended the Student Senate the chamber o ig Feb. 7 where Student the session, s nment, SG, President approximately e spoke on the new proposed . the meeting. stitution and feel I could not Later in the s had a better seat at the asked, "Why is 5." the university' of all. tho spnntn h?H tn *i-:~ , ^ uiib particular >ned three times by the name I do not k of senate president Garry looked around 1 to come to order and the the "joke" opir ing had to be stopped the students wa: (swm. IMC OKAY WU CLOWI TO GET DON step in the ri Ar>nf^nv?v% a 1 ^ V/llg UIA-LI1 OuLKj so would small colleges such as librarian ship. The president claims this will force th students in the separate colleges to focu attention on their sole delegate, but tha delegate may also get lost in the large schools. For the first time, special interest group such as the Association of Afro-Americai Students, the fraternities and sororities, th< University Union and the Student Medii would have a delegate and thus a vote on th< student legislative body. The voices of these organizations must h# heard, but their having a representative or the proposed Executive Council also creates problems. The senate is already fac tionalized and this system could easil> factionalize the body to a greater extent Also, groups such as the Student Media anc the University Union are not meant tc govern students. That is the job of Student Government ? no matter how badly the> J.-J. pci iui in uic uuiy. During and after the senate meeting Wednesday, senators were wondering aloud how many seats they could hold in the new Executive Council if it ever comes into being. One senator told the Gamecock that he belonged to so many different organizations he could conceivably hold six seats on the council. Again, the potential for abuse is too great. O'Boyle says he believes Student Government should be a lobbying group for ii.. i ?a - - uie interests ot tne students. We cannot agree more wholeheartedly. He seems to mbling throughout presence ? approxi: f senators. During monkeys swinging on t senators came in SG in the circus thev ha^ 30 minutes late for Later during quest O'Boyle) about the nev ession, one senator constitution, one sena SG a joke here at that she has worked or >" Apparently, if mittees, one of which ha senator (whose legally improve the at now; would've just macnimng of SG. My ( ler, the reason for her is, "Have you really lion toward SG by on two committees 01 5 right there in her name just been on the 1 */N 10 SERIOUS 6 ^ k ^ * I ?i m ? ght direction, iTV% -4? 1/%. ? ? mg me way i- feel that his new form of government would be more effective in fulfilling this purpose, e This is possible, but it is hard to be cons vinced that improvements would really t come about. r The President's biggest flaw in this whole exercise is that he assumes honesty and s impartiality on the part of students. He also i seems to assume that under the new plan e student government members will give up i the practice, natural and necessary to e democracy, of people politics. This is an impractical assumption, and the proposed ? constitution would serve to heighten the fhoarv itarioWi "f ~ : -? " - ' i v>iv?|/ Taiicijr ui jAiiiucii uihi permeates . Student Government at present. And the senate is crying. f Hordes of senators visited the Gamecock newsroom after the senate meeting WedI nesday. They all expounded one theme: that > the senate does have problems but should '< be reformed internally. How timely of r them! Isn't it odd that senators wait until their very existence is threatened to admit there are problems with the system and talk about internal reform? This is the main point behind the idea of reforming Student Government. Reform is drastically needed, especially in the senate. Though O'Boyle's system may not be perfect, as he admits, it is a step in the right direction. The direction is reform, and mavbe now thp spnatp win cton ~tt TT III Otvp Uil U1C1I pedestals and get down to business. The business is reform and self-preservation. If not, next school year will be very interesting. mately 40 roster? he vines of 1 can reca^ when Curt Loftis ve created neglected to meet with his comioning (of nrittee because he was involved in v proposed a political campaign and nothing tor stated within that committee could be 1 two com- accomplished. (Ed. note: Loftis is s sought to former chairman of the Senate titude and Powers and Responsibilities question to Committee). That's fine,Curt ? I WORKED politics myself, but which of has your the jobs were you committed to committee (irst: the campaign of Floyd See SENA TE, Page 11 a/ER. IT'S TIME D5INE5S/