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Vote! USC students need to escape apathy and make some changes Student apathy is no new thing to most college campuses; * ^ ~xl J- i-J _x TTC/-1 sumtuiiica it 3ccui5 mat ay am y was iriverueu ~ai uo^. Students at Carolina have traditionally shown a lack of interest in anything significantly affecting them. But if ever there was a time for change, that time is rapidly approaching this fall. Most students at USC are at least 18 years old. This gives these students the right and responsibility to vote on political candidates and issues. Yet only a small percentage of USC students are registered voters, let alone politically active. Twenty years ago, college campuses were political "hotspots;" students were among the most outspoken of the voting public. And the student voice was not only loud, but also insightful. Students, many of them at the forefront of the Sixties activism, brought the country's attention to many issues that may have otherwise gone unnoticed by the general public. Today, there are probably some students who couldn't name the Republican and Democratic presidential contenders, their state governor, their Congressman, or their mayor. Yet most students are extremely outspoken about our political system, with the majority of outspoken students criticizing existing policy. 4'Hypocritical" is too nice a term for students that complain about the political system but make no move to change it. If college campuses could unite a voting block, students would have a tremendous amount of influence. When an issue such as "full-formula funding" or "drinking age" is a concern of a student, that student has a responsibility to exercise his or her political rights and vote for candidates who have the same opinion. If a student wants to the right to cruise around Dutch Square Mall and there is a candidate who believes that students should cruise where they want, then the student should give the candidate the opportunity to make a change. Politicians probably believe that a student's "bark" is worse than their "bite;" and after seeing the failure of Student Government attempts at a postcard campaign, who could blame them? USC students have a reputation of complaining about situations but doing nothing to correct them. With the tuition at USC rising in the fall, students need to voice their concerns and pressure legislators to understand student needs. Don't allow officials who reduce educational funding to be re-elected; vote for a candidate who will lower your tuition instead. 'OF COURSE THEYXE NOT EXACTLY COMfftRABLE ? EXCEPT?* The Gamecock t ;? i m Editor in Chief TOROD NEPTUNE News Editor - J. I PAMELA HEAD Assistant News Editors 1 PRABHAKAR KHOLE f GINGER GADSDEN |^ ? y^ir\ 1 r Viewpoint Editor 11\ ? ^jk~ \ 1 r TODD CHRISTENSEN I \ ?X" V I t Features Editor I \ ^~~" V I CASSIE YANG 1 / \ f C Sports Editor 1V ?\ BOBBY JONES V^N .' ...cm Photography Editor BRENT WAHL /1 r Comics Editor \\ / # TOROD NEPTUNE ^ Graphics Editor RANDY HALL Director of Student Media Advertising Account Executives ED BONZA BARBARA BROWN Advertising Manager MEGAN O'KEEFE MARGARET MICHELS ELIZABETH WOMACK Production Manager Adviser LAURA S. DAY BILL ROGERS Production Staff ROBBLANE * ? : Letters Policy: Tht Gamecock will try to prijttletters. received. Letters.should be.at a-maxitntmiT 250 lo-300? words long. (iuest editorials should not exceed 500 words. We reserve the right to edit letters for style or possible t libel. The Gamecock will not withhold names under any circumstance. { [(I^Chica^Iribure.. / om, THEM,. / TOCW.WC ^ ACTIVATE 11 Turning 21 a When in the course of human events it becomt necessary for one people to limit the freedoms c another, let age be the discriminatory factor. . . No, it's not the Declaration of Independence bu an age-old principle used countless times to restric the activities of persons without a voice in thei own defense. I explore this subject as I approach the last ma jor hurdle in my life - my 21st birthday. Nex Wednesday, after I complete my final exam ii Business Writing, I shall walk proudly into th Motor Vehicle Division of the South Carolina Stat Highway Department and have a new driver' license made, without "Under 21" stamped on it Not that my current license isn't valid for thre more years; it's just the principle. And after that day, there are only three things cannot do (within reason, folks): be a Represen tative, a Senator, or the President of the Unite* States. Except for these speedbumps, the road o my life will be clear. I will now (legally) visit all of the exhibits in thi "carnival of experience" we call life. But what wil that one day actually change about me? Not i damn thing. Will I be any smarter? Doubtful - an< I certainly won't pick up any more maturity. Someone would really have to be ignorant t< think something like: Boy, that kid can't hold hi liquor, and he doesn't know when to quit! You't think that someone with a college degree and < 30-grand-a-year job would be more responsible It'll be great when he turns 21 tomorrow am achieves enlightment! Age rules our lives. A standard timeline coulc be: school at 5; makeup (usually girls) at 12 driver's license at 16; vote and be drafted at 18 Klan shouldn Welcome to the '80s - the decade when mam kids have grown up with the barest of social con sciousness and virtually no sense of social respon sibility. Alienated, scared and looking foi somebody to blame for the world's malaise, som< have taken to the streets in gangs, where the rites o: passage to adulthood involves drugs, guns and kill inn onrl urbara aoa'c narcAnol u;ArfVi ip r\orifrArr 1115 ailu vvuviw uiiv o ^wjuuai ?ui ui io ulviawvi nv/ii hurting or killing others. While it would be naive to suggest that gangs ar< a new phenomenon, they certainly appear to be or the resurgence as do the Ku Klux Klan and neo Nazi groups. The recent trial of Skinhead membei Dean McKee provides a graphic and very sad ex ample of a kid gone astray. But this is America, right? People have the righ to believe and promote any ideology they desire This unfortunately includes the KKK, whicl recently asked to have a show on a public cabl< television station in Kansas Ciry to promote it: philosophy and ask for members. A clip featuring a Klan member made it onto th< Letters t o thi : USC students lesson too m The result lisregarded 7$ that seem: ro the Editor: shoulders The cost of tuition continues to or a jealoi ise at the University of South Other p Carolina, but the quality of educa- cast sequt ion continues to fall - at least in one the studen ollege at USC. broken, < The College of Journalism and faculty do dass Communications raised the re- to proper! luirements from a 2.2 GPA to a 2.5 operations n 1986 in an attempt to raise the frustratior ating of the school. The main ingre- extra help lient that seems to be forgotten by ty; in mj he Broadcast sequence is the quality usually to >f instruction. personal b It appears that class time is spent whenever vith talk of what has been done but Many ti tot much time on how the student a chance t hould accomplish the task at hand. dent ratinj rhe student learns by making very impo: nistakes on projects turned in for a feel that a ;rade; "You should have done so the class ind so." Why didn't the professor then the a nstructon the "How'' and "What" to either r jefore the project? The student suf- him or 1 ers the bad grade and learned the students' < X)R AEGIS COMPUTER \ ?EfbRTS WE ARE WIPER q WK NEITHER AM IRANIANF-W,...THE f EASTERN SHUTTlE, ^ WEU-HMET&OoA ^?ll I K-UP PRCCEPUPE' . SUfciJU. EMERGENCY T -t ?fc F&ElgTOWtij ^ ^ in opportunity ?f | i ?t ?io fn s an R< e drink at 21; marry at 25; have kids before 30; retire co I at 65; die at 72. Sounds pretty boring, doesn't it? th Age barriers would at least make sense if they ou i were reliable guideposts of maturity. But as wi f everyone knows (or should know), age is probably the worst possible scale to judge maturity by. I fo s know some very immature 25-year-olds whom I re; II wouldn't trust near my liquor cabinet and some ex- de a tremely mature 18-year-olds whom I'd give my car es] i keys for a weekend. T1 Not that it's easy to judge maturity by means be a other than age; I'm sure that it could be very dif- all s ficult. But should people be judged inaccurately fr< 1 because authorities aren't willing to take more time i to make a better evaluation? I j Anyway, now that I have all of that out of my pl< i system, let's see if I can't lighten up a bit ... . wi re; i Turning 21 - what a feeling! Already I'm plann; ing out the following weeks, trying to take advan- mi ; tage of my new freedom. What can I do? an 't use TV to spi ?? ? ter eleven o'clock news. The man in the clip, complete am with an army hat and a Confederate flag, expound- as ed on the need to end segragation, eliminate ex- po; isting Equal Opportunity laws and prevent inter- the marriage. ] He did not go so far as to state that blacks, Jews, siti Catholics, women and persons of varying sexual yoi orientation are inferior and therefore entitled to ho fewer rights than a white male. But anyone who has been privy to the speeches and rallies of the the Klan has heard these and other profoundly de- suj meaning, racist and sexist sentiments expressed. rea Although the American Civil Liberties Union bo may argue that the Klan has the right to air time on cable television, to do so would allow an Th * editor I IIi i:. 1. I hi mi HI 11111 late to change that grade. Many students get dissatisf . lb liusiiaicu biuucuib. 111 nabbCb aiiu iwiiitnib n, the fault lies in the lack class. At the beginning instruction by a faculty semester, students are given i s to carry a chip on their outline with required text - a "don't care" attitude and daily assignments, bui usy for the students. classes meet and none of the c roblems exist in the Broad- tures cover the required text :nce. One, the equipment for the day; but when test tii t has to use is usually either around, the required text Dutdated, scarce, or the may be all that is on the test esn't know enough about it If that is the way the class ly instruct the student on then why is a professor re i. Again the student suffers Why not have standardize 1. Then, if students need printed up by the book auth , they can forget the facul- administer the tests to s / opinion, the faculty is periodically, and save th o busy with committies or thousands of dollars on pi usiness to spend extra time salaries and benefits. Many students need it. tests given in the classes an mes the students do not get type exams which professt :o rate the professors. Stu- score any way they choos< is of professors should be a possible that the professor's rtant factor. If the students toward a student may aff professor is not instructing grades that student receives, properly and effectively, In a regular class, the stude idministration should look certain amount of class mee eplace the .professor..or let drop the class .without a pena ier know the about the not in an internship in the Br :oncerns. sequence. Once the contract i c \ n ,?. OR AM ENRJCtP \ IT mm mmv ^W7CCTFiRfl flg. ) : r/ \ T\m Rl(5HT,$AlWR, .. r^- OPEN THE P<?PTOa,E for thought Actually, I probably won't take quite as many >erties as you might think. For example, I refuse drink to excess just because I'm old enough to. /e never been able to understand behavior like at; why someone would consume so much :ohol (or other substances) as to lose contact with ality is beyond me. It certainly isn't "cool" - if meone gets falling-down drunk at a club, people rtainly don't stand up and applaud. More than anything else, I will enjoy the jedom to go where I want if I choose to. No nger will I be turned away from seeing my vorite bands. I can proudly walk into Scarlett's id watch The Ed Crosby Big Band or go to >ckefella's to see 10,000 Maniacs. When I finish a heavy day at work at a local mputer corporation, I don't have to worry about e embarrassment of saying, "Uh, I'd like to go it with you guys, but... I have to spin my heels, I mean, rotate my tires." My 21st birthday will not only mark my newund freedom but also establish me as a person spected by the under-age community. I will sudnly be a great person to invite to parties, pecially if I'm stopping at Green's along the way. lat little piece of State-issued documentation will the key to a side of society I have never been lowed to participate in - although I graduated 3m USC two and a half months ago. Of course, I could have been wrong all this time, ust might wake up next Wednesday with a com sieiy new ouuook on are - a new maiuruy mat 11 help me make better judgments about social sponsibility. The only thing I really worry about, though, is aking sure that my kids never read this tide .... ead ideology janizatiion that is utterly without merit and >rally reprehensible access to a wider audience, nply because a group has the right, according to : First Amendment, to stand out on any public eet cofner in the land and scream its views to [h heaven, this right does not and should not exid to privately-owned media sources. Television d radio stations have just as much right to refuse the Klan does to ask. Anyone who wishes to exse themselves or their children to the ideology of : Klan can do so. Parents and other adults need to be aware of the jation. To run the risk of unknowingly exposing ung, unsupervised children to these views, wever, is quite another matter, rhough people do not need to watch anything :y don't want to, a case can certainly be made for jervising children's viewing, knowing what they id and discussing it with them. Skinheads are not rn, they're molded. e Oracle, the University of Southern Florida ; ied with by the University and the sponsor, I for the the student has no way out. The stu- ; of the dent has to accept a grade of A, C or ; i course F, even if the sponsor decided that reading after one day that the student is not t many what was expected. Again, the fee- lass lec- paying student is the forgotten ingre- I reading dient in the process, me rolls Another problem facing a student ; reading transferring into the College of Journalism and Mass Communications is * is to be, the waiting to be accepted into the I quired? school. Not until grades are recorded I id tests at the end of the semester and the ap- ; ors and plication is received is the student itudents notified of acceptance. If the student e state desires to pre-register it is impossible rofessor unless applied for a year in advance. I of the Students realize that if they do not " a aooavt nrP_ror?;r>??- MiOflV plopprtr. ...ill Ka filla<-1 - cwaj- F*v-iv5i3ici mo"; win ^ *nicu >rs can and they will not be able to get into " It is them, feelings Therefore, if tuition and professor ect the salaries continue to increase, some thought should be given to the main : nt has a purpose of having the University and tings to its professors - the student. Jty; but oadcast George Deas s signed Journalism Senior