The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 10, 1986, Page 5, Image 5
Viewpoint
Monday, February 10, 1986 0
Ail .
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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|
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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
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