University of South Carolina Libraries
Viewpoint I Wednesday, April 22, 1987 11 ' -. Decline State should work harder in recruiting black students Since the '50s and the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kan., the United States has taken on an arduous task in integrating the nation's schools. It's been a long road. Still, many places are not totally integrated, and minorities are still scuttled off to places where the education is less than adequate. South Carolina has only recently become integrated after decades of struggle and resentment. In 1981, the state oegan a ieaeraiiy-manaatea desegregation etiort aimea at colleges. The effort seemed to be working at a normal pace until this year, when black enrollment at state schools declined. i The problem is plain to see. Colleges in the state have been more interested in building their coffers and have not recruited minority students heavily enough. In 1981, minority enrollment accounted for 10 percent of total enrollment or 5,152 students. In 1985, that figure had risen slightly to 11.1 percent or 5,641 students. The most recent figure is for 1986 where the figure has declined to 10.9 perc a. i ccm ui J,JO^ siuucnis. South Carolina, under the 1981 plan, has spent nearly $20 million in efforts to increase black college enrollment and black faculty at predominantly-white schools. Apparently money isn't enough. Some schools have made r progress, but most schools, like USC, have fallen behind in their effort. USC's black enrollment has steadily declined since 1981 with no sign of marked improvement. In 1981, 14.6 percent of USC students were black; in 1986, 13.S percent. The problems at USC range from more widespreac recruitment by other colleges in the state to a lack ol mnnpv Dicino r-Act c pHuratinn imnmnpr kllV/IIV J AXlOlll^ VV/OIJ VI VUUVUVIVII) lllipi vpvi JVVV1IVM1 J school preparation, blacks ruling out higher education anc weak efforts at recruitment of blacks and other minoritiei have also contributed to the decline. Obviously, more ha: to be done to get blacks into school to share what belong fe to everyone: an education. Recruitment must be intensifie< in order to bring about any substantial gains in blacl enrollment. Many blacks aren't aware of what's available to them, like scholarships and various grants. It's abou time they knew. The Brown decision decades ago signaled an eventua equalization of educational opportunities for blacks am whites. Until the state and the nation can successfully wor blacks into the educational system, there is not any tru equalization, only impotent normalization. $ Y - ' T"7 " M> sucH A bwojn! We 50U&HT Hf* fo* OMLV ^ Third W?i\r WE PAID ^ ft* Tfl? BK\A/ ^ in 1 #rt? p?jMy~ asun =ni?i==1 \ ^\\ \ w> /aY ? \XXXy^\ c?^ * cc :m TD W *x* mveps. 've tm ib v*w, ^ mw& , ite mum) twi w wte: its i?nu\b CMSMW: * t'K W? & Ufe Ajm ?u?tc .ITUjvtf" ee ne*W-v #| 5U**MT U*N Wtfe^rs." rrr#?5 W ii n'niiiiin i Tell us what's on your mind. Letters must There is a limi be typed, double-spaced and no more than the same writer. 250 words. Include name, address and We reserve th< telephone number for verification. Names on outdated toj will not be withheld. Guest editorials are topics. limited to 500 words. Indicate whether you Write to: are a student, USC staff member, or com- Gamecock, Dra mnnitv member in letters and editorials. Columbia, S.C. ? L__ ! I'm counting Billy Joel can sing about it I can write | about it. f I'm getting older. It's going to make faculty, administrators who are twice and thrice j my age laugh with incredible derision. They * probably wish they were as young as I, but 5 I'm 21 and I feel old. S I'm having more and more trouble s remembering the block I grew up on in the j Bronx. I haven't talked Jp my boyhood chums m seven years. Seven years. A third of my life. v I'm displaced, yes, but also beginning to e feel old. I look at things "these kids today" t are doing, and I am shocked, appalled outraged, and I realize it's a stuffy, old attitude. No, my bones aren't creaking, and my , eyesight has always been shot. I'm only showJ~ ing one classic symptom of age, but my hair k has been getting gray since I was 17. e But the thoughts and concerns of age arc : a. ^ c t _a 1: a i? ?_ ucguuuug iu iorm. i siuuicu jimmy warier s presidency as part of a history course. Jimmy Carter. Do you realize it'* been seven years since he was president. A third of my life ago. Events I barely remember from my dimmest youth are being used more and more as comparitives of life as it is, instead of how it was. Watergate being compared to Iranscam is I I pttPVK tn thi |u,v'. um,*tw y y w m w wr m mr * mi mi ft Police harass ""2"' innocent man " bag (the To the editor: work an< I am a graduating senior work- of his li ? ing for my Bachelors of Fine Arts sunglassi in Theater. I don't want anyone was unsl viewing what I have to say as a and m> self-glorifying attempt to unders- What is tand something I really don't. we were A few years ago, I met another mainsta; actor, Stan Brown, whose talent employr and passion for all aspects of the ing aroi arts inspired me in so many ways. walked Recently, Stan and I were 10 feet Russell 1 away from USC's Longstreet Then Theater when a University police person, officer came from behind, and Arts gra stopped us from entering the has beei building. Before I knew what was munity < happening, two other officers much p from different directions (one out employe of uniform) approached us. One School of the officers asked Stan for minoriti some identification, but ty. Eve ? neglected to ask for mine, which I adores i did not have. Stan showed his But I I.D. quickly, yet calmly, as if this black, a was some daily ritual. The first Stan officer said, "Some lady called incideni complaining about you walking but I n around. You never know. A big Stan sa man with a big bag. You pick procedi things up." Stan brushed the ped wh whnl^ rhino off with some low- an "im key humor and even insisted that night h he knew one of the officers, who from hi denied any aquaintance with it has o Stan. I attempted to comprehend way: h what just happened. l.D. T Did the officer think Stan was South / I The e , . , Kdllor In Chief it of two letters ner month bv k,,v,^ ! ManHglng hdllor e right to stop printing letters Amy I)e,Po pics to make room for new to$h^CuMyie AuUtani Copy Viewpoint Editor, The i*tk chief wer A, Russell House. USC, AnriyBechiel ' Nen* hdhor 29208. I'aulu Wethington DISPATCH FROM MOSC my gray hairs just one example. In every such article an newscast, there is an unspoken, unwritte " . . .way back when " attached to th comparison. Maybe I'm not feeling old, but I'm certaii ly not feeling young anymore. Sure, I don seem to take anything seriously, but that just a facade, just like Ernest Hemingw. pretending he could cope with anything tl i world threw at him and then shootii himself. Lewis Grizzard saying he lik being a bachelor, while being forced to p alimony to four women. Lately, I've been tasting what colle students call the carefree life. Lots of boo and. .. other things. Party. Loo 'ugs? had a gun? or was I wondei if it' something? But more norant police. I < t, why him and not me? one incident wher s somewhat big, he had a cop walked onto same bae he takes to Theater stage duri i to the theater every day formance in front fe), and he was wearing because he "hearc es (but so was I, and I also usually seen laven, my hair unkempt, time in the theate ' clothes mismatched). business phones even more ironic is that calls. Or is it the i both 10 feet from our bia? Or something /, our place of study and theless, can this sti nent. As for the ''walk- pening in the U.S. ind" complaint, we had from the theater to the Jl House and back. I thnnnht ahnut Qtan the A UlUUfjIll UUV/Ul uvuit, tHV He's a Masters of Fine duate student in Theater, n very active in the com- tt lllvlkS and at the university with . rofessional work. He is CMllClSlK :d by USC's Graduate , where he recruits To the editor: les to attend the universi- 1 have never 1 ryone who knows Stan Gamecock since I md respects him. at the university I # It It ?V* C? ,x ? * 1 r* nr\Mr>n/l tUot mini! LIIC1I 11 llll inc. Jian i"> IIUIICLU iikii uiau^ ind I am white. faculty, and comr had told me about similar have not wri :s that happened before, Gamecock eith< ever took him seriously. amazes me is tha lid it is almost standard upset that four ire to be followed or stop- 35,000 possible i ile walking. He refers to have a discrepan plied curfew, a time at negative lette le knows he can't walk editor about t s house to mine. Stan said criticisms, nly changed his life in one I mean, so wh{ e must always carry an People should his reminded me of the mean even if it \frican passport policy. There is nothing \ Gamecock AmUIhiii sc?s Ictitors Sports Kdilor / odd Nines Jeff Shrewsbury lirenda lilvth Assistant Snorts hditor Viewpoint Kdltor Wayne Washington Hal Millard Photograph) Kdltor Money Kdltor 1'hontas Humphrey Candy Harr Assistant Photograph) K Features Kdltor ,\u h l.eoiwavallo Ionia r a Willis ( ruphick Kdltor Assistant leatures Kdltor Kohl) Lane Patrick Jean I ow. I as I set older I schedules and looser women (forgive this |j| hyperbole, Lord). -|? It's not the same thing as playing hide 'n' ft seek on top of a gothic church or in the |p graveyard out front. It's not playing football pi in the snow for 20 hours and coming home fc with a 201-202 score. S It's really fun, but it's really not carefree. jj I don't have a baby grand to go home to |j| and play the blues on, and even if I did have W i IJ -1 1a. t -j La ii J one ana couiu piay 11, 1 uouoi uic nou^ing tgz people would let me put it in Thornweli. te If I needed extra cash when I was growing ii d up, all I had to do was ask my dad for some B n money, but now 1 can't say, "How about a |jg le couple thou' so I can go back to school next B semester?" ip n- So I'm trying like hell to get a summer job P 't in the field I am studying here at USC, but it gl 's seems like no one wants to hire this copy p jy editor/reporter. p tie I keep remembering a line from "The Big p rig Chi\l." The husband who wasn't a part of the || :es radical group says "The thing is, no one ever 1 ay said it was going to be fun. At least, no one told me. . . ." ge No one ever says life will be fun, but you ze kind of assume. At least, I assumed it would se be fun. - mm s just the ig- they are doing. Besides, what if :an remember someone wanted to write a e a university negative letter about everybody the Longstreet writing negative letters to the ing a live per- editor? Sounds like the same opiof an audience nionated cry to me. My opinion is 1 noises." I've that the editors and columnists of them passing The Gamecock are able to withsr by using our tand and accept any criticisms for personal thrown at them, and I give them south? Colum- credit bigger? Neverjff still be hap- Soi^e school newspapers allow in 1987? columnists to argue back and get an unfair last "negative" attack Immy Flannery in the newspaper. I'm sure that Theater, senior there has been a time or two when one of our columnists has wanted to cause injury to that someone a. | special who has ripped their work T-?*JK6 to pieces, but I think it shows U professionalism and a great deal 1 W611 of understanding to take it on the cnin. So 1 hope everyone allows written to The themselves to think and express have been here themselves freely and not take the r. I have also useless path of forced other students, passiveness, acceptance, nunity members submission. tten to The it. But what The letters column is a favorite t someone is so of a lot of the students who read people out of The Gamecock. And if there were readers a week no negatives, then there would be cy, or rather a nothing positive behind the idea r sent to the of having the column to begin heir personal with. Criticism isn't so it if it is spring. bad. . . believe me. say what they displays anger. James David Donelan vrong with what Theater and speech, junior ? Datebook Kdltor Director of Student Medio Katherine Gilbert Hill Clements Comics hdltor Production Tracy Mixson Chuck Sorris Wire Kdltor Son Ha Gillian Smith Advertliing Manager ditor AdvlKr Margaret Michels Bill Rogers AhMum Advertising ( nduale AssltUnl Manager Mary Anne tianich Jan Hodges I ?