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all wi atit; By Ellen Goodman The Boston Glob* BOSTON ? After the Supreme Court announced recently that alimony was not ! for women only, the media rounded up their i usual suspects to make their usual statements about this unusual case. i Front and center, of course, was Phyllis Schlafly, a person created by the media in < its relentless pursuit of what is called i "balance." Balance is the journalistic i search for truth. On any controversial story, < the reporter is instructed to get "both sides" j and portray them equally, even if one side has all the validity of the Flat Earth Theory. Schlafly is one of those who is always ! available for a quick comment on < "balance." At the drop of a dime into a telephone booth she might tell you, for I example, that the Equal Rights Amendment i would give the federal government the power to require marches into unisp* < toilets. That statement could then be printed < j as "the other side." < This time the Illinois militant con- i servative described the Supreme Court 1 | | I g | On B letters i The Gamecock welcomes letters i from its readers. Letters should be Cj a maximum of 300 words and must be signed with the writer's correct c^ime, telephone, mailing address, class standing and major. 7 Pseudonyms are unacceptable, but f ) C the writer's name may be withheld ^ ' by request if circumstances warrant. We reserve the right to edit letters for space. Address ^ . letters to: Campus-opinion, The T / l Gamecock, Drawer A, USC, l/V Columbia, S.C. 29206. i CjamecQck Founded 1908 Mark J Lundgren Editor in Chief Don Fobes Copy Desk Chief Tom Travis News Editor David Baker Entertainment Editor Brett Friedlander Sports Editor Dave Roback Graphics Editor Barbara Mathews Wire Editor Jim Phillips Editorial Page Editor Leigh Grogan Assistant News Editor Lehman Stiles Assistant Entertainment Ed JoeyMolleman . . . . Assistant Sports Editor Janice Wood Graduate Assistant Jill Griffin Advertising Manager Fran George Production Manager Jon Clemmena?n General Manager SamMcKee Business Manager Mark Ethridge Jr Adviser Newsroom 777-7181 Advertising. 777-4249 Business Office: 777-3888 Sole reproduction rights granted to the Associated Press All other material con tained herein may not be reprinted without the porrnissioitpf the editor Opinions exfrfressed in the Gamecock are those, if signed, of the writer and. if un' signed, of the Mnior editorial staff. ? r should r decision this way: "It's bad for women, it's the beginning of the end of all alimony." Well, first of all I suspect that Schlafly in her law studies has learned that less than one fourth of the states still have statutes that discriminate against men, allowing only women to receive alimony. She must also know that every state which has changed its law has done so by extending alimony rights to men rather than denying them to women. She may even know that a small minority of divorced women are awarded alimony, and a fraction receive it. Still I am always fascinated watching the Schlafly crowd fume when men win another equal rights case.They argue that they are "protecting" women's special privileges, j : *1 uui uicjr aic in laci uciiying urcill iu men. It's amusing when I remember that iuring the nine years or so I've covered the equal rights movement, the antis have continually described feminists as "antimale," if not downright "rabid mantiaters." But it is the anti-feminists who )1 i I To the Editor: Idtant In light of the concerning the ] T USC golf tean fV Q sponsored at KJ VVAJtD Country Club ? pull-out from Country Club, ] i jTTCy^ to bring tc ,T f //^t / discrimination U W ^W USC. Only a examples are li: I am barred 7 I Mr. USC Conte rought USC Contest color. / 7 JL y * cannot p 1 11 (1 ll T Minority Stude / v I v v or receive an> oecause ot my r I am ban housing? bee; athlete, a mai because I am n \ 1 f' v.? tot be bas( start hyperventilating with rage when men make advances in the arenas of Social Security, parenthood and alimony rights. They are the ones who want to keep men in their place, a place somewhat lower than their own preferred dais, the pedestal. Anyone who is not enthralled with the rhetoric of the Flat Earth Theorists should be aware that the significant gains in men's rights over the past several years are not the "accidental" by-product of the women's movement. They are part of its intentional goal of finding a better basis for the law than gender. But at a deeper level this movement has pushed all of us to look at some of the fundamental sexual "givens" of society. There is, for example, no issue hotter than that of women and the military. In all the debates against the ERA, the antis ask audiences whether they would want their daughters to be drafted in wartime. What never ceases to amaze me is the assumption that some of us want our sons to be drafted in wartime. They somehow think it is less ghastly to have young men killed than young I am barred the sen benefits of the Veteran Office ? I am not a veten recent controversy I cannot receive th< participation by the attentions of the Har i in a tournament Programs ? because of r the Orangeburg disabilities. ind the subsequent I cannot participate the Spring Valley Foreign Student Affairs [ feel it imperative ? because of my national > light blatant I am sure my religioi in other areas at will prevent me from be few of the many member of any number sted below: allowed organizations, from entering the To top off the above st ? because of my have not been invited to Holderman's house (or I iter the Miss Black other places by various p ? because of my organizations) as yet, a oniy assume 11 is oecaus articipate in the prejudice he holds again nt Affairs Program one of the above reas< ' of its benefits ? perhaps just because *ace. student (or worse, on ed from certain here). Maybe it is becaus ause I am not an hold a prestigious positic -ried student ? or a member of the legis ot male. president of some larg Whoa \" 3d on sex women. This is again an essentially antimale attitude, and a "given" worth being given away. There is, all in all, a kind of stinginess about the anti-rights movement, a real deep-seated reluctance to "let men off the hook." This sensibility underlies their attitude toward the new alimony ruling. I think it is just plain wrong for a wealthy woman to desert a disabled or dependent husband of many years with no support. As wrong as it is for a man to leave his wife in the same circumstances. The current decision supports a humane and sensible notion of alimony. It should be granted not on the basis of sex but of need and income, the specifics of the marriage "contract," work experience, health, and even age. Like so many of the other items on the equal rights agenda, this decision is ultimately both pro-male and pro-female. Because it's pro-fairness. 1979, The Boston Qlobe Newspaper Company/Washington Post Writers Group /ices and thropic corporation which aids Students USC, or even faculty member who in. has done some great research on ; special the "burning" issue of blinking idicapped patterns among the great horned n\r 1 or\f rwulc Tho lit?! orvulrl r?/> nn KnJ T r>r?? IIJ luvn U1 XSVVAO. A 11V ilOL V.V/U1U gu Ull UUl 1 dill tired from working so hard for this in the University ? "committed to a programs policy of affirmative action which origin. assures equal opportunity in us beliefs education and employment..." tcoming a It doesn't take much ex* of USC- trapolation to see the ridiculousness in the entire insults, I situation. It is only a few steps President further to a day when we cannot :o several listen to broadcasts of USC games >eople and on radio or see them on TV without ind I can checking to be sure we have the e of some required quota of the "right" types ist me for of people with us! GEE-E-E! What )ns ? or a waste of time it all is! I am a Name withheld by request the staff 4 ;e I do not 1 would have a tough time Jn such becoming a member of the Black lature or Legislative Caucus ? because of e philan- my color. We all know that's discrimination. . B