The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, July 25, 1984, Page Page 4, Image 4
F'age 4 ? July 25, 1984 Opinion THE GAMECOCK
Holderman plays;
now wno paysv
Last week USC hosted a three-day conference
for 15 visiting Caribbean leaders.
The expense of this conference was unimportant
? as well as elusive ? because the
university got something money couldn't
buy - a place "on the map," Stan Applegate,
USC vice president of research and sponsored
nro^rams. said Mondav.
USC President James Holderman echoed
this opinion by saying the cost wasn't important
because, whatever the price was,
the conference was a landmark, historical
event.
For a dinner held Wednesday night for the
Caribbean leaders and state and local
dignitaries. the basketball ronrt in thp
Carolina Coliseum was transformed from a
functional athletic facility to a virtual
setting from a Rudolph Valentino "sheik"
movie. A tan and white awning was hung
from the center of the ceiling and pulled
back to create the illusion of an airy tent.
Garnet shag carpeting covered the 315,000
square-foot floor. Tables with tasteful
centerpieces were arranged so everyone in
attendance would have an unobscured view
of our Caribbean guests. Wine and champagne
was abundant, and waiters and
waitresses were at beck and call to make
sure the glasses were full and the food was
adequate.
Because no one was available to provide
any lype ot accurate ana substantiated
information as to the identity of the conference's
contributors or its costs, one can
only guess as to where all the money for this
extravaganza came from.
In an attempt to estimate some of the
expenditures, The Gamecock contacted
several area businesses. One pstimatpH thp
cost of such a canvas to drape over the
basketball court was $8.71 per square yard,
or about $11,600. The carpeting for Wednesday's
dinner was a type of special
seamless material, reportedly custommade
at a company in Georgia. Even if you
could find caroet at $1.00 a satiare foot, a
deal we doubt even Jim Holderman could
find, carpeting the 315.000-square-foot
coliseum floor would run well over a quarter
of a million dollars. (Not including snipping
charges.) Needless to say, one cannot even
begin to estimate manpower hours spent
roorlvin0 tho nniirorcitir fnr cnoVn on /**???!
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The list could go on and on.
Since spokesmen like Applegate and
Holderman believe the cost of the conference
"doesn't make any difference/' we,
the students of this institution, can only hope
the funding did indeed come, as they say,
from the university's budget and private
funding (non-appropriated state dollars).
V* 1 4.1 i.- i-1 *
r-ernaps me answer 10 inese questions,
and others, will be apparent in the near
future. Let's just hope we don't find them in
a tuition hike.
~~~ Gamecock
Crl.tn, io rk?(
lumui ill UIIICI
[ Leslie J. Ounson
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Garage, baki
Anyone who reads the papers
these days knows that America is
in debt. Yes, Uncle ?am owes a
lot of money. Jrufact, by the time
Sou finish reading this column
le national debt will have increased
by at least a nickel. Of
course, most of you won't finish
this column. Alas, that debt will
still keep climbing, scaling the
peaks of financial irresponsibility
just like Sir Edmund
Hillary.
Faced with this mounting debt,
Presient Reagan wrings his
hands and blames Congress.
Congressmen'shake their hands,
all 535 of them, 'and blame
Reagan.
What the country needs is not
blame, but solutions, neither
Reagan nor Congress has
searched very hard for alternatives
to this problem. I have a
few suggestions which I will
patriotically put forth at this
moment:
Garage sales. These are
always a good way to make
money, and who has a bigger
garage than the President of the
United States? I'm sure hat Ike
must have left some of his comic
books at the Wliite House when he
moved out. And no doubt LBJ left
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many ui ins toy soioiers in me
White House rather than shell out
all that money to have hem
shipped home to Texas. Regan
himself probably has many old
movie stills lying around which
he would be only too happy to
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The Soviet's desire to talk
about banning space weapons,
but not about nuclear arms
reductions, and Regan's apparent
willingness to talk about
anything when it comes to U.S.Sftvipt
rplntinns micrht IoqH tho
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overly optimistic to believe that
the Cold War is on the brink of a
major thaw. However, it should
be kept in mind that Moscow is
not known for dramatic shifts in
foreign policy, especially when
At tr n * " ?
tne u.s. is involved.
For the past several months
the Soviet Union has been very
critical of President Reagan's
policies, going so far as to pullout
of the Olympics and calling the
possibility of future talks with
Reagan ''almost impossible." In
, ff,
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IntereampuS
i sales may
autograph for his friends and
admirers.
Bake sales. Obviously Regan
believes that a woman's place is
in the home. Let's see him bake
? uh, back that up. Get Nancy
out in the kitchen and tell her to
whip up some chocolate chip
cookies. Get Sandra Day
O'Connor out there baking those
famous apple pies of hers. Get
Annp Rnfnrri to phnrn nut cnmp nf
her not-so-famous pollution-proof
cream puffs.
Regan is right. The future of
this country does lie in the hands
of the GOP's women. They can
bake our way out of this boo-boo.
Car washes. Everyone believes
that dirt and Washington go hand
in had. Well, some of that dirt has
10 tind its way onto the cars of the
capital. Who wouldn't be proud to
say they had their Honaa Civic
washed by the President of the
United States, the leader of the
free world? Although, given
Reagan's record on trade, it's
quite probable that he would
refuse to wash a foreign car.
Still, the sight of Reagan and
Tip O'Neill sprucing up a
Cadillac would do wonders for
the nation's morale and bring us
together as a people.
Betting on football games. Aha,
you say ? those of you who have
made it this far ? that's against
the law. true, but most people do
it anyway. And it wouldn't be the
first time we had a president
break the law, would it?
n in a no-los
short, Russia has been doing its
best not to do anythign that might
help Regan ge re-elected.
. Yet, now the Soviets are
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weapons realizing that this could
potentially give the appearance
(in the eyes of American voters)
that Reagan hs been effective on
U.S.-Soviet relations. Judging
by the anti-Reagan rhetoric
which has been streaming out of
Moscow the last few months, it is
reasonably likely that the Soviets
did not expect Reagan to agree to
such talks (thus politically
damaging his chances in
November) based on his expressed
interest in a spaceoriented
('Star Wars') defense
system.
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cut deficit
But, just to avoid the embarrassing
spectacle of having
the White House raided by a vice
squad, Reagan could have Paul
Lqxalt, his good friend and the
senior senator from Nevada,
place bets for him in Las Vegas.
Certainly, this scheme has
risks. There's always the c'hance
the national debt ; could rise
rathpr than fall if thp crnmpa an
the other way. And you ve got to
pay off a bookie.
But these are desperate times
and they call for desperate
measures. A big bet on UCLA in
this year's Rose Bowl would have
take quite a chunk out of the debt.
In fact any bet on the Pac Ten
team in every Rose Bowl is
almost a sure thing. Walter
Mondale would be well advised to
put a plank in the Democratic
platform pledging to bet on the
Fac Ten team in every Rose Bowl
ana tnen press Keagan hard on
this issue. Reagan's biggest
Alchilles Heel is the Roese Bowl
and, more specifically, his
fondness for the Big Ten.
Lastly, I would urge the
president to be frugal. Have him
turn off the lights when he leaves
a room. Give fewer dinner
parties and. when he does en
tertain, have guests bring a
casserole.
Remember sir: the money you
save today may pay for a nuclear
warhead tomorrow.
"The Daily Nebraskan"
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
e situation
It appears the Soviets think
they can work themselves into a
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rejects their offer, thus perpetuating
his reputation for
having an unreasonable hard line
with the Soviets; or he accepts
and the Soviets get a chance to
negotiate in an area where they
are beginning to feel inferior.
Keagan's willingness to talk
iust might have caught the
Russians off guard enough to
give them the uncomfortable
feeling that their political games
aren't succeeding and four more
years of dealing with Reagan is
increasingly possible.
"The Tar Heel"
University of North Carolina