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I Viewpoint 1 I 8 A Wednesday, April 8, 1987 GAMECOCK?"" mi ?iiiwwii mimm Villain Rnhv M iudee's name calling - ' ? J ? O was out-of -line and nasty A little more than a week ago a judge in New Jersey ruled in favor of William and Elizabeth Stern in the now famous Baby M custody case. From a legal standpoint, New Jersey Superior Court Judge Harvey Sorkow seems to have made a valid, lawful decision concerning the 1-yearold child. But, as a whole, the ruling became too broad, too inconsistent, and most of all, coldly calculated against the surrogate mother, Mary Elizabeth Whitehead. A K4 DnoantKnl /\f Vl V/irt Titytoc CQlH "thp /A. 1VI. IVUSVIIlIiai V/l 111W IV*, rr M vi n A ouiu^ HIV Baby M case was a tragedy without villains until the very end, and then the judge stepped in." Indeed, the judge did become a villain. Instead of shutting his mouth after the ruling against Whitehead, he had the audacity and the bitter meanness to let Whitehead know exactly how he felt. And it was totally uncalled for. Sorkow called Whitehead manipulative, impulsive and exploitative. What did Whitehead do to deserve such un professional, nasty verbal abuse from a man wno snouia have known better? Whitehead was not a criminal, only a person embroiled in a desperate custody case and as such deserved to be consoled, not attacked. Not only did Whitehead lose her child, she lost her dignity. She plans to appeal. But her chances to get her child back will hinge closely on what happened in the first trial. She must go in to the appeals process with the label of a manipulator, an exploiter and an impulsive person. Good luck, Mary. The judge's ruling that the baby would be better off with the Stern's was his motivating factor and he may be right. The Sterns can give their daughter money, education and all the advantages that come with it. But the decision of the judge to "terminate" Whitehead and completely strip her of all rights to see or be with the baby was unduly harsh. After the ruling, the judge then railroaded through an adoption process with the Sterns in his chamber ? ana Whitehead's lawyers didn't even know what they were doing back there. Such is Sorkow's brand of justice. Judge Sorkow asserted too much dominance in his decision, decided hastily upon it and managed to vilify a woman that up to that point had had courage, fortitude, and felt inside that her cause was somehow right and that she could win. But Sorkow looked at surrogate motherhood as if it were the equivalent of sperm donation, which is just plain dumb. The conclusion of this case has brought joy to the Sterns. desDair to Marv Elizabeth Whitehead and highlighted the cold insincerity of Judge Sorkow. It is unfortunate that this trial had to occur. Likewise, it is unfortunate that a woman must heed the laws of the Constitution, which have been around for 200 years, over the laws of natural motherhood, which have been around forever. But, if it served any purpose, it was to show people the seriousness of surrogate motherhood and that effective and sensitive guidelines must be set up to ensure not only the cold legality of a contract, but more importantly the reassurance that the surrogate have some right to change her mind about keeping what had been a narf r?f her fnr nine months. j 1 " 'I pphs j f fY'HWffl >?j^? I * I ?*-*> K4i-*iA / i I 3r^kHUHfa?ty?J i P*u* Dhy *6 * " OJ??O? PI?M S?vc? ( Cl??. 1 flSMRR5 ) f i ^ far- FWhW V~- tWtBCtH j&Z cWFJ^LY Jg~ HWL } 1 \ %i, jri^J ;? V??* ,? * f^miT ^C l^vl ^ .TO W . w v^J Is? M rt j- ^ W i?) & J C.cMtQu (*ieu iwoce I Tell us what's on your mind. Letters must There is a limit o be typed, double-spaced and no more than the same writer. 250 words. Include name, address and We reserve the rij telephone number for verification. Names on outdated topics will not be withheld. Guest editorials are topics. limited to 500 words. Indicate whether you Write to: Vi are a student, USC staff member, or com- Gamecock, Drawei I munity member in letters and editorials. Columbia, S.C. 29 m THb? ' Newspaper's 11 When I was growing up in the Bronx, the newspaper useu 10 dc a wonurous, magical thing. Dad would bring one home each night and read ine the funnies, only to find it gone by the next morning. But Dad would bring another home, and it would be a new paper. He would take it away, and when he returned, he'd had it updated. It was magic. It seemed to be a big brother as well, looking over my shoulder, watching out for me and teaching me. I remember when the Son of Sam was stalking the streets of New York, killing indiscriminately. It was frightening, but it seemed the only link between this madman and the rest of the world was the New York Daily News. Specifically, it was columnist Jimmy Breslin who was trying to talk that madman into surrendering himself. But everyone was scared. The Son of Sam could at any moment decide to stop talking to Breslin and the only link to him would be lost. But he was caught, and it seemed to be the climax of an Erroll Flvnn movie, where the hero would rescue the fair maiden. I was young and impressionable and fe" for it. That feeling that it was magic stayed with me, even when 1 was working for my high school I Letters to the in I mi mi mill nil i mi ii School isn't au;x t part of Oxford I To the editor: We read with interest the article in the March 25 edition of The S Gamecock concerning the USC Summer School at "England's Oxford University." We are both ? T C graduate students at Oxford University spending the academic year in Columbia and are delighted that USC students will have the opportunity to spend a To the ec few weeks in our beautiful city. After Summer schools are a wonderful speeches idea, and Oxford is the perfect ci- speakers ty to absorb British culture. this past However, the article was the distin significantly misleading, and con- countries tained an error that should be earth" if corrected. Manchester College, ministati< where the summer school is to be Central / held, is not part of Oxford My ant University. I was a tutor in of the C American history at Manchester when I College and am distressed that presence such a false impression has been Moscow given. Manchester College is a class tha private, independent college ? of rumor, f which there are a number in the CIA to ji city of Oxford. Only a handful of port of t Manchester's undergraduates in Guat take Oxford examinations, while Salvador the majority recieve their degrees The sp from the University ot London. Monday J To describe Manchester College the same ~1 The f . , .. . , txlitor In Chkf f two letters ner month hv ? M\ isrii i/iu nM/Mt > Mmmxlnn Kdllor ght to stop printing letters Amy DelPu ; to make room for new %Tpto*G$Voyle AiulMtnt Copy ewpoint Editor, The DeskCWef A, Russell House, USC, nm^r 208. fan la Wethtn%ton J ,m am m ! ? n , nagic replaced HHH newspaper. Sure, we would slave over the paper for a week, but we would send it out. It took us about a week to get it back, so we had forgotten most of what was in there. But the magic is gone now. When 1 started i a i i*?.. worKing ai uat s newspaper, me sneer reaniy of journalism hit me like the rock of Gibraltar. I know what it is now to put in a full day of editing and layout and see the finished project the very next day waiting outside my door. But the magic is gone. When I read a story in a paper ? if I read a story in the paper ? I read it with the knowledge that I have already ! editor " HilHMftriMiMtftttiiMillfltfMhMrlMMMMMIMiBllililMiMMMMiffMliiMtitiHidMtfililMlMMMtfflllnMlfN the colleges that make that President Urte iversity is fanciful, and Sandanistas are j ;nts should be informed gentlemen, never do harm the people, ai evil in Nicarauga is A John Hall to the Contras. Annette Steigerwald This all reminds n it. Catherine's College, saying that goes soi Oxford University this, "Oh what a tan weave, when at firs deceive." 1 guess or * te|j wh0 the true hei r?rnr true villains were, an Ly WI 1011^ was deceived and wh the deceiver, right? Iitor: attending two of the Ell by our distinguished Political scien< from Central America week, I came away with ct impression that these jSrillSH O. would be "paradise on x the big, bad Reagan ad- 813-1*1 ?ID?tl 3n would just get out of * America. To the editor: hropology class had one I am writing in o-Madres speakers and Stephen Guilfoyle's asked her about the April 3, which sugj of Cuban soldiers or British "invented" i advisers, she assured the an American with t this was just a false European links, I jrobably started by the offended by Mr. jstify the American sup- gross misrepres< he present governments unreferenced fact, t emala, Honduras, El embarrassed that a anrl Pnsfa Him truman nf mini* r eaker on Nicarauga last such an ignorance c night presented us with appear to have no : theme. He assured us apartheid means, es Gamecock ?: ^ Assistant News Ml I or a Sports Editor Todd Hines Jeff Shrewsbury Hrenda lilyth Assistant Sports Editor viewpoint Editor Wayne Washington Hal Millard Photography Editor Money Editor Thomas Humphrey Candy Burr Aultlanl Photography fullio Feature* tailor Nick Leoncavallo Tamara Willis Graphics Fdltor Assistant Features Fdllor Robb Lane Patrick Jean 591 LATEST BSrl JAPANESE ?"? ? 11 MICROCHIP SI , DESIGN ' I 1 (k^Af^KllClROl nrjimuj |-;i ^ v-?- , california g honqudlu | stlool^j j j} oglaia j helena. ^ l <-uaw 1 ! oy journalism read everything at least once, and usually twice. I know and love the business end of journalism, but 1 wish I could work it and still have the magic. I wish I could go home after "T, , work and forget everything 1 have read during the day, so that when I open the paper the next day I could, "Gosh, wow." But it's anticlimactic, without the magic. The magic has brought me far though. I am beginning to get a sense of wonderment in people as they read the paper. It is just a thrill to know that what I wnte , about is to be read by maybe 22,000 people, ; three days a week. ; It is incredible when someone comes up to me and says, "I really liked your column to- I ^ day, it was funny," or "How in the hell could ! you have written such trash without talking to me first. IT WAS ALL LIES!" It is incredible to see that scores of people can and have worked themselves into a frenzy because I wrote something. Just because I wrote something. It is incredible to know that my ideas, hated or loved, cursed or worshipped, have been transmitted to Deonle I will never see. It's magic. t ^ ' " ' ' J ! - : &*<>ziJM, I. ii*( i - rm II mm fftrwiljh <J ! ga and the have many visitors at USC who ' all perfect come from South Africa and 1 anything to Great Britain, indeed, were he ' nd the only aware of the history of the world, ; America's aid Mr. Guilfoyle might see that ' what he represents as apartheid ? le of a little was practiced in the serfdom of ' nething like Russia, in the ancient dynasties ; i&led web we of China and Janan. nerhnns ? it we try to even in this country when ily time will thousands of Native Americans (< roes and the lost their homeland. d which side lich side was I think the most classic case of ! apartheid, previous to the ; disgusting situation in South ; izabeth Ham Africa right now, may be found :e, freshman in the story of a people who were enslaved, stripped of all dignity, \ ; a n forced into thousands of years of * IOH I hard labor, and today still suffer a ? , in many ways ? their story may rtneia be f?un(l in the first five chapters I of a book known to Mr. ' Guilfoyle: the Old Testament. \ response to ? "article" on To compare the plight of the \ ?ests that the blacks in South Africa with the 1 apartheid. As Irish dissent is totally ridiculous \ many Anglo- and I suggest that Mr. Guilfoyle was not only concentrate his energy away from ? Guilfoyle's areas in which he is uninformed ^ :n tat ion of and put it into history and ethics i >ut 1 was also classes. Maybe The Gamecock J fellow coun- could send him to South Africa | :ould display and Ireland on assignment. >f history and ! idea of what Marcy Krkh pecially as we English graduate student ; ^ ^ Dalcbook Editor IMrector of Katherlne Gilbert Bill Clements Comic* Editor Production Tracy Mixson Chuck Norris Wire Kditor Son Ha Oillian Smith Advtrtittag Mui|? r A^vUcr Margaret Mlchels Bill Rogers AnMuI Advtrtktet Graduate AutoUal Manager , Mary Anne Banich Jan Hodges' J <1 > . S