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II Viewpoint V 2\ _ Education Campbell and Holderman must back up their promises In South Carolina, the opportunity for higher educa*c KopAmino a ninp Hrpnm psnpriallv at I 1 KJ 1 I IO VjUlVIVi J UVWIIUII5 M |yipv % ? v%*ammy J use. While USC's tuition has become one of the highest among public universities in the Southeast, South Carolina has remained one of the lowest personal income states in the United States. Gov. Carroll Campbell was elected on a proeducation platform, but he made 277 line-item vetoes this past June that reduced the state's Duaget ? including the 88 percent of full-formula funding for statesupported schools such as USC. Meanwhile, USC President James Holderman doled out expensive gifts to donors and politicians from a discretionary fund he controlled, but professors received fewer raises, promotions or other incentives to stay at Carolina. University officials have complained about a lack of money to provide enough classes or fund departments ? while spending lavishly to bring Lyn Nofziger, Jehan Sadat and other dignitaries here. Are these distinguished visitors and gifts going to make USC one of the top 10 colleges in the country by 2001, as Holderrnan expects? Not likely. South Carolina should fully fund USC and other state-supported schools. Such funding has been promised continually, and it is the only way for the state to ascend from its ranking of 48 out of all 50 states in higher education aualitv. And Holderman should now ? as he should have done in the past ? use the discretionary fund for education. Expand the list of classes offered; give incentives to professors; update the collection of books at USC libraries; and upgrade every USC college: these should be his main goals towards realizing his "2001 Plan." Holderman must emphasize the education USC can give ? not the fluff certain names can create. Students count ? not Steuben crystal glass. Campbell says the vetoes were necessary to prevent li the mid-vear budget cuts that occurred this past fiscal year. Good idea, but he should have left alreadyminiscule funding for higher education alone. Holderman apologized for his irrational spending earlier this year, and the USC board of trustees has taken steps to monitor the discretionary fund and limit his gift-giving. Another good idea, but it is sad such steps ever had to be taken. Campbell's and Holderman's actions have belied their stated priorities. Now is the time for them to put their money where their mouths are ? towards improving education. Divest USC should show concern for morality, human right The University of South Carolina has always shown c 1 ? * ? r ? _ 11 : ^ I general aisiiKe ana aisaain ior socially cuasuiuus giuup: and their issues. In the 1970s, Student Government closed down ECC 70's, an environmental group protesting the Unitec States' involvement in the Vietnam War. During th< same decade, USC also shut down The Gamecocl because it was deemed "too radical." In 1987, the Educational Foundation and the Carolini Research and Development Foundation refuse to dives from American corporations that operate in Soutl Africa, a country that blatantly abuses and subjugate its majority black population through apartheid. USC is still showing a disdain for justice. I l?:.>arr<:?ir Dmci^ont lomAc 1-1r\ 1Hmnn anH nthp 1*^1 111 Vt.1 1 LVSIU^Ill JUIIIVJ t 1U1UV1 MIUI1 MW%. W>. members of the Educational Foudation have said the maintain their holdings in corporations in South Afric because of the Sullivan Principles, created in 1977 t help black South Africans working for America companies. But the Rev. Leon Sullivan, author of the principlehas renounced them, saying they are 4'of no reasonabl value." He has called for total American divestmen Regardless of Sullivan's disavowal, both foundatior rofnco onlv tr\ Hivpct hut to rHpase infnrmatif) II I UJV 11V71 V/II1J I V/ V?i t v./l ) V* V v w . v?vv.w. about their investments. ''Those who invest in South Africa should not thin they are doing us a favor," says Archbishop Desmon Tutu of South Africa. "They are here for what they g< out of our cheap and abundant labor." The foundations, both of which provide financial su| port for USC, no longer have any moral grounds c which to defend their positions. Divestment is their on || option. Write us a letter Let us know what's on your mind. Letters must Names will no I be typed, double-spaced and no longer than 300 will not be acce| words. Guest editorials must be no longer than 500 editorials per moi words. We reserve the Include the following information for verifica- for legal ramifical tion: name, address and home and work telephone We also reserve I numbers. Indicate whether you are a USC student, and editorials on staff member or community member in letters and Write to: Vie> editorials. If you are a student, include your school Drawer A, Russ year and major. Carolina, Columl Some darn gc The good things about USC are: Thanks to the South Carolina General Assembly, you can drive 65 mph on certain portions of the interstate to get to USC. Tuition isn't going up until next year. The football team will play, and be beaten by, some of the best teams in college football. The upper deck of Williams-Brice Stadium probably won't sway like it used to in the good old days, when the university wrote slogans and printed bumper stickers about the sway. A new engineering center is being completed for students who are into that stuff (engineers are folks who do things like design and check out football stadiums' upper decks and determine that they are safe so no one will die because it won't collaDse. but their word obviously isn't worth diddley-squat). People seeking admissions don't have to send in toe jam with their Scholastic Aptitude Test scores anymore (toe jam is that stuff left over between your lower digits after you take off your socks). Everyday co! I know you didn't ask for this newspaper t< be mailed to your house, so I feel rather lik< f an uninvited visitor who puts his feet on you sofa and demands beer. But let me introduci 1 myself anyway. I won't keep you long. 5 My name's Andy Duncan. I'm fron Batesburg, S.C., and I graduated from USC ) in May 1986. I worked for The Gamecoa j while in school, and filled this space for tw< semesters with a regular column. This is th ~ part where you ask, "So what?" ( So this: I know the road you're about t< travel. I've been down that road myself, arn j I'm willing to tell you some of what you're i: ^ for, if you're willing to listen. i These are true stories from my four years a 1 USC and each, I think, carries a moral: S The Russell House Theatre, which show cheap movies all semester long, once schedu r ed Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the 196C musical with Dick Van Dyke and a flying cai The folks who run the theater expected few, a any, to show up. 0 They got a standing-room-only crowd thi n cheered their favorite characters, sang all th songs and applauded thunderously at the en< 5 Many returned to pack the house for the s< I' cond show. "It was incredible," a friend told m "Who would have guessed so many US IS students are into Chitty Chitty Bang Bang? in MORAL: No matter how odd your taste you can go to USC and find a theater full < k people who share them. Iti WI ?Vio pfimnnt rctr\ir\ ctatirtri h WkJV/"l i?4 j HIV vuillpuo IUUIW JIUV1VII) 11 et an annual fund-raising event called "Mooh for Music." People phone in requests ai make pledges; the more money you pledg the faster your request gets on the air. >n One year while this was going on, a WUS ly person walked down the hall to the newspap office and handed me a slip of paper with r name on it. , . fr The t be withheld, and pseudonyms pted. A limit of two letters or Editor in Ch ith by the same writer exists. Patrick Jeat\ right to edit letters and editorials I'm c RHitfir tions, grammar. taste and clarity. I NCWS EiGIIOI the right to stop printing letters Mary PeaTSC outdated topics. Viewpoint E vpoint Editor, The Gamecock, Ifnthvrin* n ell House, University of South Aal/ItrrIfler O ?ia, S.C. 29208. >od reasons t( Guiifoyle The Shuttlecock bus system doesn't follow any kind of schedule, and every once in a while, you can get to class on time. Unlike that university in the Piedmont, the likelihood of a cattle stampede on campus is almost nil. The Carolina Band is so good at pepping up the crowds that it is censored every year and will probably be next year. No more of those devilish rock 'n' roll beat songs. liege life does lnj d "Someone pledged money to hear you c n the air," he said. I followed him back to the radio statio: . u/hprc nanH#?mf?niiim reioned and nhon were ringing off the hook. We shov< through dozens of staff members, onlooke 's and vagrants to reach the control roor 1- where I sat down, found a mike and panic )s ed. "What do I say?" I asked. r. They handed me a tattered Green Lante if comic book. "Somebody else paid to hear th read on the air. Why don't we honor bo it pledges at once?" ic The song ended, the disc jockey introduc J. me, and I spent a blissful 15 cr 20 minul e- reading aloud from a Green Lantern con book, improvising voices, sound effects a: e. editorial comment as I went along. C MORAL: At (JSC, you will wind up usi " talents you never dreamed you had. s, oj A friend, returning to campus from weekend trip, parked his car in an illegal zc behind his residence hall. It was late Sund as night, he was tired, and he didn't want to 1 ih his baggage from the parking garage down t id street. "I'll move it after I unload," ;e, thought. Instead, he forgot about it and fell ash ;C after unpacking. Days passed while i rrt 1 r? A ar\ fri/tn/1 I o Kr\rn/1 nnHpr thp Ha t"I aud^lll'llliuuvu H IVIIU iauuivu uiivivi iiiv vtv ny sion that his car was in its assigned space the parking garage. Gamecock lief Features Editor Grapl i Ans1\> Rprhtt*! Rnhh Sports Editor Comi m Richard Breen Tracy Editor Photography Editor Advii ilbert Nick Leoncavallo Bill h ) enjoy USC Our Homecoming Commission just oozes } cutesy themes every year, such as the Disney theme of this past year and the Oz theme oU 1984. So expect your first USC HomecominjP 4 j to be something like the "Smurfiest Homecoming Ever." The Homecoming Commission was such a [ ?.--I i?i traditionalist, Student uovernmcm imu iu force it to return voting privileges to the general student body in the selection, oops, election of the Homecoming queen. And last of all, USC has a student publication ? The Gamecock ? that you're certain to hear more from this year, with a staff dedicated to reporting the news accurately and seriously. Except me. * *? !-L I want to get in troume, so it s my jou iu put my Gene Simmons-like tongue in my pudgy cheek and point out the inconsistencies and ironies and idiosyncracies as I see them.^^ ^ Or make them up. A Editor's note: Stephen Guilfoyle will be copy desk chief of The Gamecock for the fall semester. , CAN'T HELP WONt>Efc\NG Ny&OD/ W0VUT> fcE VltK.lK.irn& IN Tut PERS/Art 1 GULF.... = ^^ ? iiuvc iuurm? i | A week later, he went hunting his car, [{ couldn't find it and then remembered with j awful clarity that he never had moved his car j from behind the residence hall. But who had? ^ I The campus police had, of course, and w I before he could retrieve his car, he had to pay : a ransom equal to the total GNP of an H average Third World nation. MORAL: If you drive a car, you soon will be mutilating doll-sized effigies of USC traffic cops. >n In political science class one day, the professor stopped in ..^id-sentence, turned her n, head in my general direction and said, "Mr. es Smith, please leave." Smith, who sat hehind me. stirred and said rs "Ma'am?" He'd probably been asleep, n, though I never knew for sure. k- "Please leave," she repeated. After an un- , comfortable silence, Smith gathered his books rn and stomped out. The professor resumed her J lis lecture where she left off. th MORAL: Professors are lovable folks most of the time, but try to jack them around and ed they'll turn on you faster than you can say ;es "mean green mother. " lie nd This is one of my most vivid memories of college. One Valentine's Day, an admirer surng prised me by leaving five large, gaily colored helium balloons tied to my chair. After class, I happily towed my gift down the corridor, a gathering stares and comments in my wake. >ne I rounded a bend in the hallway to see a lay friend standing up ahead, hands in pockets, uk silently watching my approach. he I expected a joke or sarcastic remark, but as he I passed he said, in deadpan seriousness, "Never in my life have I seen such colorful :ep balloons." my MORAL: When you graduate from college, if lu- you've done well, you'll have more than an in education. You'll go out into the world with a fistful of balloons. I hies Editor Director of Student Media Lane Bill Clements ^ cs Editor Production ? ' Mixson Chuck Norris ?er Son Ha logers Advertising Manager 1 Margaret Michels : ____??? L B