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Viewpoint Monday, February 10, 1986 0 Ail . I "* laiK to IT Proficiency While it is a known fact that the purpose of a university is to provide the best education possible, USC occasionally makes it seem that its motives are just the opposite. An example of this is USC's refusal to institute English proficiency tests for foreign teachers. The administration's P major, but weak, argument for this is the tests would be an example of discrimination; the logic behind this being that we are insulting foreign teachers by requiring them to take the test and not native English speaking teachers. What the administration is forgetting is that native English speaking ^ teachers do not normally need ? to take a test tQ prove they are able to converse with students Letters to Senators failing to do their jobs To the editor: After reading the Jan. 31 issue of The Gamecock, 1 was amazed that the SG Senate could not operate effectively because a large percentage of members did nnt Unf ? -* "1 ..wi uuinvi ivj snuw up at me opening session. This was very upsetting to me because 1 am one of those people who deeply feels that if you have a job you should do it. These senators showed that t they are not doing their job by ^ not showing up at the meeting. I sincerely hope that these senators do not plan to run for re-election because there are competent people out there who would like to do a good job. I am in no way attacking those senators who were absent due to something out of their control. My purpose is to praise the senators who attended while at the same time expressing my disappointment at the ones who | did not attend just because they did not feel like it. Troy Mullinax Political Science, freshman Abortion only women's choice To the editor: Abortion, abortion, abortion! It seems everyone has an opinion on abortion nowadays. Well, one The Gamecock needs your o press your likes and dislikes by ter to the editor. Letters must be typed, double a maximum length of 300 word: include the writer's name, addre number and where the writer ca for verification. Letters should also include writer is a student, staff or member. Guest editorials must I * i know.... its oil on tl whatr do you throw c le tests improve qi in a language they have been exposed to since birth. The real discrimination heic is against students who have teachers that might not be able to speak English clearly or |yiv?-iovijr v.uuugll HJ CUIlVCy often complicated subjects. These students, who are paying for a quality education, are receiving one that is not equal to those students who have teachers who can explain things and understand questions. And these students' grades, on the average, reflect this. The administration says it is more concerned with hiring teachers that have expertise in their field.-.Knowing a subject perfectly does not do much good if the teacher cannot tL. - ] < i,. iii6 editor can debate all day on whether abortion is moral or not while I state the simple fact that if abortion is made illegal, women will resort to choosing to abort a child illegally. They then will not only be endangering one life (that of the baby), but their own lives. The men who have written the various abortion letters are certainly entitled to their own opinions, but the choice should ultimately be left to the mother. Lesly Adams HRTA, senior i Extra stairways ! waste of money ; To the editor: J Amidst complaints about misuse of university funds, I j believe I have stumbled across what may be the most shocking waste of university money. ( My curiosity was piqued when ' construction crews began erecting ( some sort of green-tiled appen- , dage to the Byrnes Center. It 1 turned out to be a stairwell for a i? ~i L/U1IUIH5 which diwdyji seemed to have adequate means of get- j ting from floor to floor. { I began thinking about other j university buildings and 1 found s that Russell House has two j stairwells not 15 yards from one another. And then there is the "stairway to nowhere" on the east side of Thomas Cooper Library, between the library and the student pinions. Ex- 500 words and the writing a let- tnre. Photos canno The Gamecock w spaced, with letters a month by 5. They must will only be with! ss, telephone and pseudonyms ai n be reached The Gamecock i letters and guest edi whether the returned. Send 1< community Gamecock, Drawei be limited to umbia, S.C. 29208. vvpx a7/ 7tv8 rouble.d waters, but >n troubled oil? " mlitv nf rnllonc w * WVfUl^U relay this knowledge to the students. Students who cannot understand garbled English have no idea whether their professors know the material or not. This doubt in students' minds can lead them to lose respect for the instructor. The proficiency test is not the true insult; rather, the insult lies in some students' teasing and joking. The sad thing is that the same teacher being ridiculed is probably an intelligent, highly competent person. But U ~ 1 - uic language carrier blocks students from this realization. There are many ways to test proficiency: observers attending classes, questioning students as they leave; student surveys; or written and oral ?.??_? _ health center. This was the clincher ? stairs with no conceivable use, but for which much time and money was no doubt spent on construction. I began to formulate a theory somehow, through failing to read the fine nrint on a rnntrant a ? , IIIV UIIIWI^ll) managed to obligate itself to contract the construction of a ccrtain number of stairs, far more than it could make good use of. Thus, buildings such as the Byrnes Center and Russell House have extra stairwells, and other stairs have no buildings. My theory was supported by further evidence: the front stairs connecting the top three floors of the library when there are already three elevators and another stairwell; the top flight of stairs at Pendleton Street Garage, which are closed off by metal bars and lead nowhere; and :he fact that, although some itairs are justified, university buildings in general seem to have i surplus ? a prime example beng Barnwell College, whose Front stairs are exceeded in Coljmbia only by those of the State Capitol. Imagine the monev .vhich has been wasted on jnclimbed stairs. I'm not saying that I necessariy have documents from the iniversity and local contractors jiving the names of those respon.ible for this hideous conspiracy. iut it is worth thinking about. * Robert Berry Psychology, junior writer may submit a pic>t be returned. ill print no more than two the same writer. Names icld by special exception e not allowed. reserves the right to edit torials. Letters will not be etters to: Editor, The A, Russell House, Col ? education testing. An English course similar to those for foreign students should be started for inctrurtMrc foil ??* ......uvivu T.i.w lull UICSC ICM5. The money for testing will be well spent if only one teacher is helped. After all, the students' tuition should assure they will have teachers that can teach them and teach them well. But, rather than providing a service that students are paying for and improving the quality of education, the university is leaving students to fend for themselves when they cannot understand teachers. Thus, choosing foreign instructors ic a WinH nf D."-""" .U M I\iuu \J i I\U3SiaiI roulette with students and .their grades behind the barrel of the gun. iw-- ' 1 MMliaMMHMMMMaMMMBnMHIHMlMMlii Less cheers for Lady Gamecocks To the editor: I went to my first USC basketball games Saturday evening, Jan. 18. The women's and men's teams were both very good and 1 congratulate them on winning. I noticed how much fun and excitement were generated by the large pep band and by the cheerleaders durinn the bov<;' pamc r?n<? thino reserve Fund to cover the revenue shortfall for fiscal year 1985-86. Kditor in Chief Marisa J. Porto MuniiginK Kditor Jeri Howe Copy Desk Chief Linda Taylor Assistant Copy l>rsk Chief Muddy Moore News Kditor Juliet Nader Assistant News Kditors Carl Dawson Bob Kudelka f J " ^*,v puzzles me: where were they during the women's game? Marky Deese Morris against education cuts To the editor: Although 1 agree with your editorial, "Scapegoats," of Wednesday, Jan. 22, I must bring to your attention a glaring omission. The Budget and Control Board is composed of the governor, the comptroller general, the treasurer, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Of the members, the Hon. Earle Morris Jr., the comptroller general, and who everyone knows is a friend of higher education, supported the usage of the Emergency Times are a chan the end of my ice I don't want to disillusion all my ardent fans out there, but I .ufv .? VW 111 V.3.-)! VII I I 11111 K you both should hear. Journalism is a nerve-racking business, and routine pressures tend to pile up in the brain until the victim is either painting with his toes in a spacious corner room at Tapioca Acres or forced to find a means of clearing the gathering sludge from his head. More times than 1 care to recall, I've staggered from the newsroom with but one aim: the blessed release of sensory oblivion I sit at my usual table and start ordering doubles. I hold up two fingers, and the guy behind the bar nods grimly as he peels two bananas and s 1 i cc s them lengthwise. Then comc the scoops of chocolate, the harsh spritz of soda, the teasing shplorp of the whipped cream. "You aren't planning on driving home, arc you?" the waitress asks as she hands mc the foaming goblet and checks my I.D. One chocolate ring-a-ditig, two strawberry, banana and cream sundaes and three milkshakes 1 a t I totter- intrt ...... . IU11VI IMIW lilt UUL N I 1)1)111 to sleep it off, an object of awe, a soda-fountain legend. 1 find an unoccupied shelf and lapse into a bloated stupor alongside other comatose forms, and sloe-eyed wenches rifle our pockets for change. Sometimes I wake on a police-station floor, with no recollection of anything I've said or done since asking the stranger at the next table: "Hey, arc you going to eat that cherry?" Saturday evening marked my last such trip to Swcnsen's on South Main. As of today, the management is overhauling everything, to open in the same location, but as a different ' WiBPlWiW)MiiWW) > i 4 In the interest of accuracy, your newspaper should make this itnnnrlnnt nnJnl "I?- ?lfl?- < luui (juiiu titrti . w ny OIfend our friend, Earlc Morris, by grouping him with the rest of the bunch? H.E. Greenleaf II Public Administration, graduate student Empty promises cause dangers Business Kditor Maria Fraius Viewpoint Editor Lynn Cusick Spotlight Kditor Mary Jo Miller Assistant Spotlight Kditor lid Cham bliss Sports Kditor John Boyette Assistant Sports Kditor Jeff Shrewsbury Photography Kditor Ray GronberR MnMgnMHHBmnHni To the editor: Is there nothing anyone can do about the promises made to us by President Holderman a year ago? When Emily Younginer lived here and complained about the dangers here for our children and the bad living conditions, we got some results and a lot of promises, which we have yet to see. A year later we still have dangerous railings on our balconies which Holderman said he would have something done about. Just the other day when it rained, my two-year-old son almost fell though those railings. 1 hate to think that it would take a child falling to his death to get results. Our playground has old boards with long nails sticking out of them laying around and small ; children could easily get hurt. They have been there for days. It's true that some of the older kids put them there, but if the workers would have disposed of L gin', and with it, } cream palace Andy Duncan restaurant. This saddens mc, for less definable reasons than mere ice cream. Swensen's was the place we went as high school students after watching classy movies we didn't understand at the Nickelodeon. It was Main Street in Columbia, but for us it was bohemian Paris and the Algonquin Hotel, and every bearded guy who came in smelling bad was Jack Kerouac. How intellectual we were, how daringly anti-Establishment, how different from the rednecks back home gulping P.J. in the roller rink parking lot! I got older and realized that the parking lot people were the real anti-Establishment types, but by then I was more concerned with people than with ideas, and I kept going to Swenscn's because 1 felt comfortable there and liked the people. And the ice cream. I'm sorry Swenscn's is no more because it means one more part of my life has slipped into past tense. There's too much of that going around. ' 1 1 them properly in the first place, they wouldn't be there now! It upsets me to see all of USC getting a facelift except U.T. and other family housing, which I and others feel needs it badly. The least that can be done is beautify the place a little. Other colleges have nice living quarters for their married students, yet USC, which is trying to be one of the top colleges in the nation, has such bad housing for married students. It's hard enough to raise a family and go to school. The least that can be done is make life a little better for us. Maybe what we need is some visits from some top officials, then we may get some results. But then I may not stop here. All we ask is a nicer and far safer place for us and our children to live. Norma Martin T~~ ~ w| j i aw oe / i ! I I Ct> MOT .7 1? ck Assistant I'holugruph) hdilor C * ' r .iciin a eejer Adviser Hill Rogers Director Bill Clements Proline lion | Lewis Covington Mark Armstrong Advertising Manure' Margaret Michels ' student Advertising V1unaj{fr Kelh /-'reus jj i