The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 21, 1986, Image 4
Viewpoint *
Monday, April 21, 1986
Asbestos
State assistan
remove substa
It has been more than a year
sincc asbestos was first
discovered in USC's Columbia
Hall dorm, but the cancercausing
material has yet to be
removed.
It should have been done
long ago, but USC needs state
funding to do the job.
Although the health risk in
the dorm is minimal and the
level of asbestos has been
determined to be non-toxic,
there is certainly cause to
worry as long as it is present.
Asbestos has been proved to
cause certain types of cancer,
unH cnmntimAc
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exposure do not appear until
many years later.
Aside from the possible
danger to their health,
residents of Columbia Hall are
subject to other annoyances
because of the asbestos.
Residents cannot disturb
anything in their rooms near
the ceiling. They have to be
careful when hanging posters
on their walls, and aren't
allowed to use their top
shelves.
Small nuisances, yes, but
nhi-j.
bill! 5 routes
needed to read
my footnotes
A big fear in my life is that
some of my columns will be footnoted
to death in literature textbooks.
I'll demonstrate with a
paragraph from my Dec. 4 column.
Numbers in parentheses indicate
footnotes.
"The (1) first problem (2) was
how to get the fish from Point A,
the third floor (3) of Bates House
in Columbia, to Point B in
Batesburg (4). I carried a Tupperware
bowl full of water, gravel
and fish downstairs, gritting my
teeth, with the bowl held a good
two feet away from my body (5).
"'Hi,' one girl (6) said."
(I): One of Duncan's favorite
tools of composition, the word
the appears four times in the
passage above. In a letter, Duncan
once wrote: "The is a word
that appeals to me for its
specificity and admirable
economy. 1 heartily recommend
it to all beginning writers; they
will be amazed at how rnnunnf
repetition of the will improve
their writing."
In his fondness for the, Duncan
was following the lead of one
of his favorite authors, T.S.
Eliot, who often used the in his
titles: The Waste Land, Murder
in the Cathedral, and so on. The
is also common in footnotes, appearing
in this one ) 1 times.
(2): "The first problem" may
be a teasing reference to "The
Final Problem," the concluding
story in Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle's The Memoirs of Sherlock
Holmes (1894). Then again,
maybe not.
(3): This is one of many
references to the number three in
Duncan's writings. One scholar
studying the columns of a oneyear
period, compiled this list:
The Third Man, the third degree,
Three's Company, Three Rivers
Stadium, the Three Musketeers,
Three Mile Island, Three Days of
the Condor, the three cardinal
virtues, the three Fates, the Three
Stooges, the Three Laws of
Robotics, the three little maids
from school, the three men in a
Send us a
Express your likes and dislike*
tf?r tf? fhf* prlitnr or a onocl
Letters must be typed, doubh
more than 300 words. Include
I dressv telephone number and wl
reached for verification.
l etters also should include wl
student, staff or community
editorials must be limited to i
writers must come to the newsi
picture taken.
ce needed to
mce from dorm
constant reminders of a
dangerous and illegal
substance that surrounds
them.
USC President James
Holderman recently presented
a petition to university's board
of trustees signed by residents
of the dorm. This petition
should have been unecessary.
The course of action and the
reasons for it are definite and
incontrovertible.
USC is requesting $4 million
from the state legislature to
fund the removal.
The health of USC students
and staff are being put into a
potentially threatening situation,
and it is up to the state to
make things safe by supplying
the funds.
This situation, though
minor when compared to
other large-scale asbestos problems,
is not a matter to be
debated and discussed by state
legislators. There is undeniable
need for the funding, and
South Carolina's responsibility
in this dilemma is quite
clear.
'.'las
-: fxj
Andy
Duncan
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Bears, Three Blind Mice, Three
Little Pigs, Three Faces of Eve,
Threepenny Opera and the 3:10
to Yuma. Most experts consider
this list about as useful as a
doorknob on a doghouse.
(4): An early draft of this column
spells the name of the town
"Batesbung," but this generally
is attributed to Duncan's
atrocious handwriting.
(5): Duncan holds the water, a
traditional symbol of life and fertility,
away from his body. This
suggests self-denial and a rigid
asceticism that elevates the mind
at the expense of the body ? or
maybe just an inability to get
dates. (See Brewer, "Duncan as
Wet Blanket," in Andv Duncan
Studies, summer 2024.)
(6): The identity of this girl is
unknown. Some scholars with
nothing better to do believe her to
be Amy Bedenbaugh, referred to
elsewhere in the Duncan output.
Others have speculated that the
girl is Amy DclPo, former
i litorial page editor at The
Gamecock and Duncan's immediate
supervisor for a
semester.
At least one scholar has proposed
that the girl is Amy Carter,
daughter of Jimmy Carter, president
of the United States from
1977 to 1981. That the girl in
question may have been named
something other than "Amy" is,
of course, a very real possibility.
i letter
by writing a let- The Gamecock
rial. letters a month b
^-spaced and no only be withheli
your name, ad- pseudonyms are i
here you can be
icther you are a The Gamecock
member. CJuest and guest editorii
500 words, and returned. Send
room to have a Gamecock, Draw
bia, S.C. 29208.
10
Letters to the
Chinese students find
'Shoe' strip offensive
To the editor:
We arc fans of your newspaper and find it
both informative and interesting. However, it
is insulting to read the cartoon "Shoe" byJeff
MacNclly that appeared in the April 14
issue of The Gamecock.
ine cartoon stated, "That figures ? you
would have to be pretty stupid to live there
(China)." First of all, we do not think that 22
percent of the world's population are all
stupid just because they live in the People's
Republic of China.
Although we know that it is supposed to be
a joke, we think it was in extremely poor
taste. We are writing this to let you know that
we are disheartened to see a cartoon such as
this appear in The Gamecock, which should
serve not only the American students, but the
foreign students as well.
We hope that you will use more discretion
in printing offensive cartoons like this in the
future.
Hanfu Mi, Huiying Li, Xinhua Ren,
Zhijian Wu, Qualong Wang,
Chanzheng Hu
Chinese visiting graduate students
U.S. support for Israel
causes terrorist acts
To the editor:
After the United States' strike against
Libya and killing in the process women and
children, I think it is time for the United
States to sit with the Libyans and the Palestinians
and discuss the ways to stop terrorism.
The United States blames Libya for recent
attacks on innocent people in Europe,
though, strangely enough, no solid proof of
the Libyan connection has been presented to
the world, and that is why Spain, Italy and
France refused to participate in the air strike.
Britain did participate, but 1 think this was
done because the British owe the Americans a
favor ? the United States aided Britain in the
Falkland Islands war against Argentina. Also,
Britain wanted to avenue herself on Khadafv.
who helped Argentina in that war and who
has been helping the Irish Red Army.
The United States government should find
an answer to the question: Why is it that
Americans are the main target for terrorists?
To answer the question, we have to go to the
core of the problem, i.e., the Middle East
crisis.
The problem started with the Palestinians
losing their homeland, being scattered all over
But
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will print no more than two Marisa J.
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. , . . . . Jeri Row\
by special exception, and
lot allowed. < opy
Linda Ta
Assistant 1
reserves the right to edit letters Buddy to
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i editor
the Arab world, and Israel killing innocent
people left and right. The United States is
seen as the blind supporter of Israel in
everything it does (The United States vetoes
any decision against Israel in the United Nations
and the Security Council).
Grievances are the cause of terrorism. Terrorism
is the only option available to many
i aiiaiiiiiau:>
The United States can help establish peace
in the Middle East if and when it adopts an
even-handed policy in the Arab-Israeli conflict,
when it forces Israel to pull out of
Lebanon, when it stops being 101 percent on
the side of Israel. The United States' can
become a peace broker when it becomes
neutral.
No one accepts terrorism against innocent
people, be it against Americans, Libyans or
Israelis, so let us find non-violent ways to
solve the grievances.
Everyone was pleased with the way the
Reagan administration helped the Philippinos
get rid of their tyrant, so let us hope for
another foreign policy success and get rid of
international terrorism.
Mahmoud Salem
Comparative literature, graduate
Graduate says letter
underestimated work
To the editor:
I would like to reply to Mr. Larry Bagwell's
letter of Monday, April 14. In his letter, he
only presented half the picture and gave a
distorted view of our demands.
First, he declared that teaching two courses
a semester means 24 hours per week. Among
the duties he listed are 11 hours grading
papers, three hours for office hours and five
hours for class preparation.
even ii we accept his calculation that 60
essays every two weeks could be graded at a
rate of 11 hours per week, that leaves out the
reading and grading of weekly journals,
quizzes, in-class assignments, written exercises,
etc. He also forgot to mention that we
are required to have at least three conferences
per student a semester. This can be translated
into approximately 20 hours per academic
term.
As Mr. Bagwell pointed out, the amount of
time varies from one graduate instructor to
another. However, there is no way that a
responsible instructor could fulfill his duties
effectively in 24 hours a week for two
freshman English courses.
His other argument was that $8.31 per hour
is a very good rate compared to jobs off camr\
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Kdltor Viewpoint Editor Asslsi
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Spotlight Kdltor Senlo
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Assistant Spotli^l Kditors jose,
ylor Stephen Guil/oyle *
Copy l>esk Chief Patrick Jean c ,
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?r John Boyette
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^ College Press Service
issue. In the job market, the salary is determined
aceording to responsibilities and
duties, skills required and market demand. In ^
all three aspects, the work we perform surpasses
most of the skills and demands of jobs
w11 tuiiipu^.
Finally, I would like to make clear to Mr.
Bagwell that it was neither ingratitude nor envy
for TAs in other departments that made us
denounce our situation, but concern with the
quality of our graduate work. 1 believe that
the faculty support of our grievances points to
the validity of our problem.
Carmen S. Rivera
Comparative literature, graduate
Guest editorial was
baseless, senseless
To the editor: A
This is in resnnnsr tr* Y1r ^ii'nhin ir>?
iv,/.m.. .JV.I loiter
to the editor in The Gamecock on April 9,
and his guest editorial on April 18.
First of all, he is blinded by sin and,
therefore, cannot distinguish what is good
and evil. The Bible says "the wages of sin is
death." Furthermore, the anonymous letter
must hurt his feelings because the sin he finds
harmless is being attacked. Secondly, I
visited his country ? France ? and was
shocked to see the naked people in the public
and tourist places on the banks of ti.e River
Seine in Paris. It was disgusting. Let him visit A
my country, India ? that is where he was also
born, but he grew up in France ? and he
won't see those indecent exposures in the
public or tourist places.
However, there are exceptions. I once did
see a mentally sick street beggar woman not
wearing any clothes in my hometown in India.
She was definitely out of her mind when she
walked on the streets like this. Everybody
knew she was mentally sick and incapable of
discerning what is good and bad.
Furthermore, Mr. Sen's understanding of
America to be a rational, open, progressive ^
and pluralistic society as that of an immoral ^
and sinful society is utterly wrong. His guest
editorial "Obscenity laws create, instead of
stop, problems" is a senseless and baseless
argument. I advise that he refer to statistics
on sex-related crimes and pornography.
There is hope for Mr. Stephan Sen. He can
be set free from the slavery of sin and can
come under the control of righteousness. The
result is eternal life for him through Jesus
Christ our Lord.
Raj Aluri
Education, doctoral student
iecock ' ~|
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