The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 04, 1987, Page 8, Image 8
Viewpoint 1 t
B ^ Wednesday, March 4, 1987
THE GAMECOCK """"""** *
The edge
'Requests' that Holderman resign
premature unless he slips up again
The jackals are once again nipping at the heels of USC
President James Holderman. Even so, he's goose-stepping
all the way, determined not to get buried in the caterwaul
of dissent, where rumors of his dismissal are exaggerated
M rt LJn V AO /\ Ino 1 m #1 /I ia;i1] Ulii
uui mv~ft t,uauig. i lv j liwi icavt anu win |ji
stay around until his mission is achieved, including a 9-year
struggle to bring Pope John Paul II to USC.
Holderman will not give up easily or quickly, but even
his colleagues are screaming defeat. One USC board
member said the best possible thing for the university
would be for Holderman to "find another good job."
Holderman's future is uncertain. But calling for his
resignation at this point is impetuous and could cause more
negative repercussions. There is no doubting that Holderman
has made mistakes in the past, but recently he realized
he must change to rebuild credibility.
Let him.
If he doesn't ? then he should go.
President Holderman has been at this university for
nearly a decade. That is a long time for a university president.
He must have been doing something right all these
years. But now he's in trouble. Unlike Ronald Reagan,
who did too little, Holderman simply did too much.
There are things, however. Holderman can do to show
us he is sincere about running a good, honest university.
First of all, more of the university business must be
brought out in the open. If this had been the case in July,
Paul and Cheryl Perkins might not have brought a
Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the university.
And Holderman might not be in the doghouse right now.
Secondly, he must learn to know what is and isn't imporant
to this school. Giving gifts to certain people might
advance this university a few paces. On the whole, other
state universities have proven it is unlikely that gift-giving
is in any way conducive to raising an institution's prestige.
If Holderman wanted to show appreciation to the people
who donated to (JSC, a thank-you card would have
sufficed.
The gifts Holderman deems appropriate arc just too
much.
The most important thing, it would seem, is Holderman's
relationship with the students of this university. It
would be nice if he came down from his throne once in a
while and mingled with the peons and common folk. Every
student knows Holderman's face, but only from
photographs, it seems.
-If Holderman is indiscriminately fired or forced to
resign, or whatever scenario you would like to construct
for his demise, it would be like cutting off your head to
cure a headache. All we have to do is hold him accountable
for his spastic spending fits. No more gifts, no more exorbitant
salaries. Concentrate on the good of the school instead
of on the purging of a man who got a little carried
away with large amounts of money.
Holderman is on the guard. Now's the time to hold him
responsible for his actions. He has said, "They're going to
have one hell of a time getting rid of me." But if he slips up
again, he'll have one hell of a time trying to stay.
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fviELL.&URE.THERE) /&fi\
ARE STILL S?ME A YS\
BUGS in IT. V jt* / r* \
?*? ?# urw& no CPS
Write us a letter
Tell us what's on your mind l etters must There is a limit of p
be typed, double-spaced and no more than the same writer.
250 words. Include name, address and We reserve the righi
telephone number for verification. Names on outdated topics t<
will nol be withheld. Guest editorials are tonics.
limited to 500 words. Indicate whether you Write to: View
are a student, USC staff member, or com- Gamecock, Drawer A
munity member in letters and editorials. Columbia, S.C. 2920;
Kourttn
The
Another electioi
My buddy Hal and I were elcctcd student
senators as write-in candidates. We ran a
quiet little campaign; only the two of us knew
exactly why we ran.
1 put in a few early calls and patted myself
on the back Wednesday as the early returns
came in showing I had four votes in the
Russell House returns and was ahead. And,
for the amount of work we put in, I'd say we
got the number of votes we wanted and
deserved ? about 10 votes, each.
Total.
I ran my campaign with every intention of
winning with the smallest possible number of
votes, just so I could prove a point to this
campus.
Student Government is important.
When I sav 1 was elected bv about 10 neonle
to represent 23,000, does a little bell ring in
your head saying what we did is very wrong?
It should.
That bell has been ringing in my head for
the past week, because I know it's wrong to be
elected by 10 people to represent 23,000.
A person running on an election-day whim
just might have been the person who would
represent you to the public, the campus, the
administration, the press and even state
legislators considering USC's budget allocation.
But in almost every senate district you
will find representatives who were voted in by
Letters to the
Politicians have ;?
touched up
imposing power
people hav<
To (lie editor: mous amou
Political tensions fester in mold and s
many societies like the sores on a legislature 1
diseased animal. But in America, me wear m
our eiti/ens lie dormant and let car, what's
the state and federal governments agenda 11
grow. Participation by the proposal,hi
eiti/ens of a nation is essential to formation,
a country's future and we are the state lc
neglecting the future of this great will be enac
democracy. the danger:
Life has become a puzzle, a underwear.
confused mass of information legislation
and the people in Washington underwear
want us to let them solve this puz- what could
zle. Don't be naive and think a
politician will look after your
best interest. A politician seeks
power, and the ability to wield
this power cannot co-exist, pro- g
/i.i/.i.i r
uiiv.il vv. , Willi IV,.^l.')UlllV,t iiuill uiuun
society. In short, you better
watch those guys in Washington are m
because they are certainly watching
you. Every politician in
Washington is not a power- To the edit
hungry monster, trying to strip Barry J<
our constitutional freedoms leb. IK, si
from us. But we have to be aware exists again
of the ability these people have to Whether o
restrain our actions. with LcVai
The government often tests our his reason
resistance to restrictive legislation editor. It \
by imposing laws on us, such as dispute wh
the seat-belt legislation. Statistics For cent
claim lives would be saved. been con
Whose statistics? We have to man's wor
remember figures and statistics complished
can be interpreted to mean many past ccntui
things. A person can decipher a complisher
group of numbers and bring out went ignon
the meaning that best suits his whites wer<
goal. Just imagine, hypothetical- This is one
mm [The~C
hditor in ( hie f
iVi) letters per month by Roni lieu Kayne
ManaxI'iK Kditor
! to stop printing letters ^my
. f C opy Desk Chief
3 make room for new UMfuyk,
Assistant Copy
point Editor, The Desk Chief
,, Russell House, USC, Andy Bechtel
ft. New* Hditor
Paula Wethington
(
i Veiach&d Management Style-.
i perspective: A
I I
a very small group of their friends on almost
the same kind of lark as mine. And right now,
you don't care.
Start caring.
But I'm in the senate now, right? Riiiiight.
Maybe some of you out there have begun to
think: "Isn't it a bit of a conflict of interest
for you to be in office and work at the paper
at f enmn limp?" Rnf t Mnl/ tKot
M? H?v JUIIIV uuav . UUl l/VIWIV JV/U llllim lllcll,
let me tell you it sure as hell is one whopping
big conflict of interest.
If Hal and 1 stay in the senate, what's to
keep us from revealing information the senate
might go into executive session to keep
private? We might put the interests of this
paper and the public over the interests of the
editor
lawmaking body has as "Miss Black U?
these statistics and is "Black History Mont
ng the amount of our arc there to give blacks
o this new law. These and recognition they
; been given an cnor- T his world is not a "wl
nt of power; they can world." It is a world to
hape our lives. If the by all people.
las the abilitv to make I JSC is not rurkt tr?
y seal-belt in my own organizations as the N/
next? Maybe on the Society of Black tngi
ext year another Association of Afro
used on statistical in- Students, among oth
will be brought before organizatons as these e:
gislature. A new law the advancement of bl
ted to protect us from to defend our civil rig!
s of not wearing any In view of Johnsor
This is very resrictive mative action" statem<
, especially if the not ask, nor do we w
is tight. Who knows treated special because
be proposed next? or of our skin. All we
be treated equal, reg
John Kites Jr. 0ur color.
History sophomore 1 would like to 1
Johnson's "paranoia"
ing him he is much m
groups cupied with our blacl<
. anyone else.
ot racist Carolyn
Criminal justice
or:
shnson, in his letter tAfp fifftBIQl* II
tated "Prejudice also ? C IIIUOl U
ist whites on campus." x^
r not Johnson agrees TigM 10 pft
nohn Oillinvc nnf
for writing to the To the editor:
vas, however, only to I hope that ever;
at a black had said. Patrick Jean's column
uries, this world has 23 edition of The (
sidcrcd the "white USC students' apath
Id." Blacks have ac- getting involved in pro
I many things over the ing us as students
ries, but since the ac- members of the hu
s were black, they needs to he addressei
;d by the whites, or the facing a tuition incr
; given credit for them. again, and we all thin
reason for events such fair. Wednesday,Feb.
Gamecock _
Assistant News hditors Sports hit I tor
Shern Berry Jeff Shrewsbury
Brenda Myth Assistant Sports hditor
Viewpoint hditor Wayne Washington
HaI Millard Photography hditor
Money hditor Thomas Humphrey
Candy Burr Assistant Photography hditi
Features hditor Jennifer Steih
I a mar a Willis
Assistant features hditor
Patrick Jean
/
:
rj
I
c L
l winner brags
senate, and then get The Gamecock into trouble
for running something it shouldn't have.
The credibility of both the Senate and The
Gamecock might have been at stake if we
didn't, from the very start, plan what we were
doing.
We ran to show you how inadequate the
representation is now, because you do not
think it is worth your time to stop and vote,
because you don't care.
We ran to show you how inadequate the
representation is now, because some whimsical
fool running unopposed or running on a
write-in on an empty ballot can get elected.
We ran to show the students we considered
SG important enough to risk both our
credibility and The Gamecock's.
We also ran with the intention of resigning
if we pulled off our little upset. Hal and I ran
for the senate seats to prove these points to
you; not to keep the seats.
So, Ui>C students and specifically, Leigh
Hunter, president-elect of the USC Student
Senate, and vice president-elect of USC Student
Government, we hearby tender our
resignations to the Student Senate. We hope
we have done some good; we think we have.
We think Student Government is important,
even though we can't serve in it. ?.
Stephen C. Guilfoyle
Hal Millard
SC" and chance to march in protest, a very
h." They direct and powerful means of getthe
credit ting our beliefs across to those in
deserve. power. But barely 200 students +
hite man's were there to march. Barely 200 ^
be shared students march against a tuition
increase, but an average of
have such 10,800 students go to every home
the football game. Something is
ncers, the wrong.
American 1 he university gets its funding
ers. Such three ways: the government,
dst to help private donations and tuition.
lacks and When one source does not give an
its. adequate amount of funding, one
i's "affir- or both must make up for it.
;nt, we do Who is not funding adequately i
ant to be our public, government supof
the col- ported school? The government. .?
want is to President Reagan never made i
ardless of it a secret that he proposed to
"slash the government" while in"assuage"
creasing defense spending. In I
by assur- 1988, he proposes to cut the
ore preoc- higher education funding from 1
;ness than the $8.4 billion we have now to
billion, that is a reduction of l>
I Cowan Percent* ^ V?u think tuition
f're<ihman is hi8h now' 1 won't even men- (
tion how many billions of dollars i
he plans to add to the defense
til|7P budget. Ronald Reagan won by a
landslide at his last election. We m |
all knew what he was going to do ^
J Hiss*! to the budget. Those who voted ll
for Reagan or who neglected to
vote cannot complain about the
/one read tuition hikes. We all must analyze
in the Feb. what candidates are proposing
jarnecock. more carefully and what the imy
towards plications will be. Voting as well
iblems fac- as marching are two very powerand
as ful rights that we have to make
man race our beliefs heard and incorJ.
We are porated into policy.
ease once ,
k it is un- Katherine C. Cannon
18 was our Political science, senior ^
" 1
(Graphics Kdilor Director of Siudtnt Media
Robb I.one Bill Clements \
Datehook Kdilor Craduate Assistant
Kalherine Gilbert Mary Anne Munich ] ^
Comics Kditor I'roductlon
Tracy Mixson Chuck Norris 't
or Wire Kdilor Son Ha
(fillian Smith Advertising Manager
Adviser Margaret Michels
Hill Rogers Assistant Advertising Manager ^
Jan Hodges ^
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