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Reagan should start listening "I'm not going to pay any attention to it." That was President Ronald Reagan's response to calls demanding the pullout of U.S. peacekeeping forces in Lebanon when questioned by reporters nit j-?ac?L wctPv. But, given that this is an election year, perhaps the president will open his ears to the cries of those who want to bring the Marines home. Granted, Reagan may have a sound reason to keep peacekeepers in Beirut. But good motives cannot overrule the fruitlessness of the situation. Even Reagan admitted the situation is "difficult, frustrating and dangerous." He added, however, that if the United States withdrew its troops, it would "be sending one signal to terrorists everywhere." If Reagan would open his ears and eyes, however, he could hear and see the signals coming from his own country. A resolution is being pushed by House Democrats calling for the withdrawal of U.S. Marines from Lebanon. The resolution describes the American policy as a "failure" that has led to "widespread concern among the American . people." Reagan's response was, "It's too happy an occasion to talk about anything Democrats are doing." But Democrats are not the only Americans concerned about the U.S. involvement. The "gung ho" image after the invasion of Grenada and shelling of Lebanon has since died. No one wants another incident to happen like the truck bombing that claimed the lives of more than 200 American soliders. Nor does anyone want another Vietnam ? and the longer U.S. forces stay in Lebanon, tne closer the conflict resembles another Vietnam War. Even American soldiers said they aren't sure of what they are supposed to be doing in Lebanon. The American public is even less sure, and one begins to doubt if administrative officials know exactly what is U.S. policy concerning Lebanon. The resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Shafik Wazzan seems to make the policy even more, complicated. The Democratic resolution says the adminstration has "failed to impress upon the government of Lebanon the urgent need for it to develop a viable reconciliation plan." Rut Reaean isn't listening to the Democrats; he ' " ? ?0 ? ? isn't listening to his fellow Republicans. One hopes he will listen to his conscience. In an election year, one hopes he will start to listen. As the Bob Dylan song goes, "How many deaths will it take 'til he learns that too many people have died?" Reagan should start to give the verse some thought. ?~ (iamecock?? | tditor in umer ; Johnny Boggs I Managing Editor | ; Chris Hanilal Copy Desk Chief Curt Cottle Copy Editor Pam Armstrong News Editor David Hill Copy Editor Bon Brackett Asst. News Editor John Deiner Copy Editor Leigh Jones Opinion Page Editor Ellen McCarthy Copy Editor Alan Seim Entain. Editor Leslie Dunson General Manager Ron Emler Asst. Ent. Editor Margarita Pate Ad Manager Linda S. Haines Sports Editor Jeff Rogers Business Manager... Carolyn Griffin Asst. Sports Editor.... Andrew Miller Production Mgr Mark McEwan Photo Editor Joe Jackson Graduate Asst Wanda M. Hite Asst. Photo Editor Mary Ann Hollis Adviser Mark Ethridge Jr. Newsroom 777-7181 Advertising 7774249 Business Office 777 3888 Production 777 2833 \ The Gamecock welcomes letters and guest editorials. All letters and guost editorials must be typewritten, triple spaced on a 65 space line. Letters should be no longer than 300 words and guest editorials should be limited to one newsworthy subject no longer than four typed pages. Letters and guest editorials MUST be signed with the writer's name, telephone number, mailing ad dross, class standing or faculty position and major. Pseudonyms are unacceptable, but the writer's name may be withheld upon request if the circumstances warrant. We reserve the right to edit guest editorials and letters. Address letters and columns to: Opinion Page Editor, Gamecock, Drawer A, USC, Columbia, S.C. 29208. Opinio A I FIGURED ..mM CAN PUT IT UE WHTHED y Student wants To The Editor: I am sitting here in my dorm room looking at a copy of one of my computer programs. It would be nice if I could get to a terminal to work on it, since Saturday afterno'on is a good time to work on such things. I could just concentrate on my program, and I wouldn't have to worry about finishing in time to go to a class or to attend a dorm government* meeting as I would during the week. This brings me to the point of this letlor' \i/liu qtp fhp fprminal rnnmc nnpn so few hours? When I came to the Columbia campus from USC-Lancaster, I was amazed to find that none of the terminal rooms give students 24-hour access to USC's mainframe computer. I know of no other major college that does not give students 24-hour access to its computing facilities. Indeed, even the small campus of USC-Lancastcr provides 24-hour access to our computer and the University of Georgia has terminals for the students to use in the lobbies of each of its residence halls. I realize that placing terminals in residence halls at this univeristy is unrealistic at this time but 1 strongly support the expansion of student computing facilities. Even if more terminals are put in, the actual time that each student can use the computer will not have increasStudent protesl Spur's prices To the fcditor: I am writing to protest the unreaso and outrageous price increases that taken place at the Golden Spur. In th weeks since Dec. 16, the Spur has institi drastic hike in beer prices (examples: a has gone from 50 cents to 75 cents!) As a campus institution, the Spur h obligation to serve the university comn at reasonable prices. 1 submit that the S attempting to exploit, rather than serv university community, and suggest th appropriate administrative personnel the action necessary to see that the fulfills its proper function. Considering that the national rate of *!?- ? * noroonf An an fl llOU IS IIUW UCIUV* J JJV. 1 will w.. ?... V basis, I believe that this sudden 50 perc crease is not only excessive, but unpat D.I Graduate N 'HERE WU^--' f^SpACE: nnmniifer rnnms ed appreciably. This is because students have classes, meetings, and other necessary distractions (including eating) that must be taken care of during those same few hours that the terminal rooms are open. Some might argue that students wouldn't make use of expanded hours. I challenge them to go to these terminal rooms at 11 p.m. and midnight when the facilities close down and count the students who would like to stay and finish working on their programs. Others might argue that expanding hours would cost too much money. This is not true. First of all because the computer is operating 24-hours a day already and expanding the hours at the terminal rooms would only make its iicsoc morp pfficient bv sDreadine the work load into the time in which the computer is relatively idle. Secondly, costs at the terminal rooms would not increase significantly because the equipment in the terminal rooms already remains running through the night. The only increases would be for lighting and for someone (payed near minimum wage) to monitor these terminal rooms. Funding for this would require only a small part of the $1.5 million already raised from the "Computer User Fee." Thirrllv. onlv a few terminal rooms ts fiT'S d(J&T THG o&o j STUFF: 9 FLieR FROI J FROM GL6HN, 3 FL FROM J( infla- ^ :. Finch student =^=aj* H^jJJ^^JCKica^Tnbunfc iTATION : I open longer would need to be kept open 24 hours a day seven days a week, but if demand warrants, other terminal rooms' hours could be expanded at little additional cost. To be fair, there are some students who already have access beyond the normal hours of operation of the terminal rooms, but they are students who work for CSD and have keys to the terminal rooms, or the students who have their own $2,000 personal computer, modem and printer, or those engineering students who must go down to the Sumwait Engineering Building, beat on the windows and hope that there is someone already in the computer room who will come let them in. In any event, most students don't have this access to the computer. The only reasonable justification for the restrictive hours is that the university feels it has to force me to conform to some kind of social norm (I have always done my best computer work between the hours of midnight and 4 a.m. If this is the case, I must say that the only responsibility the university has is to provide me with the means to educate myself. And, since I have already been assessed me v^oinpuiei user Fee," I say let me use it* Paul DeVries Math Junior 5L euecrioN-VeaR U 1 HoNDaLe, a fusr p ieR FRoMRGaGaN, ML ^SejJacK&oN^^jM *UP"WWJ<." Nfwf> NtA