Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Interns USC lost more than it gained with its exclusionary program State Sen. Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, is a bit upset right now. He's gotten letters from his constituents, who say they are also upset. To send their children to USC, they ? like many other parents across the state ? had to pay increased tuition in addition to their tax dollars. And then they find out that USC President James Holderman had yet another lavish spending program. This time, instead of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on distinguished visiting professors, instead of spending millions of dollars buying gifts for potential donors to the university, Holderman spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on students. But it wasn't spent on all of us, or most of us or even a lot of us. Holderman spent that money on a small, select group of students. You guessed it, his interns. Despite what the president said, it wasn't a program most of the students knew about. We all saw the "Holderclones" walking around campus in their suits and ties, and we all knew who and what they were, but we didn't know that it was a program open to us if we wanted to join. So all that money was spent on those few lucky students who had the connections to get their names sent up to the president, and we all sat around, thinking they just worked for him, copying things, running this or that errand, being good little go-fers. But most go-fers don't get to go to Europe for being the best stapler in the bunch. Most don't get to stay in the richest hotels and eat in best restaurants. This program, no matter if it was more than paid back by donations, was exclusionary and elitist. It's a good thing that the traveling has stopped. And it's a better thing that an open selection process will soon be instituted. But what are we going to do next year when we have to go to the Acc#?mh1v9 T will farp senators snrh a? MrCnnnell who now distrust the administration's statements that the university is underfunded. So USC may have taken two steps forward by using interns to get donations, but it has taken three steps backward, because the program fostered distrust among those who pay the bills ? the increased-tuition paying students of "The USC," the people of South Carolina, and fostered anger as well as distrust among those who sign the bills giving us tax dollars, the state legislators. "YOU'VE <S0T JO REMEMBER, HE ONLY HAP 5 MONTHS JO P6CIPE ON A RUNNM5 MATE ? '9ea The Gamecock Best Non-daily Collegiate Newspaper, Southeastern Region Society of Professional Journalists, 1987-88 Editor in Chief Datebook Editor STEPHEN GUILFOYLE JENNY SHARPE Managing Editor Graphics Editor SON HA MICHAEL SHARP Copy Desk Chief Comics Editor WAYNE YANG TRACY MIXSON News Editor Director of Student Media HAL MILLARD ED BONZA Assistant News Editor Advertising Manager STEVE PRADARELLI MARGARET MICHELS MARY PEARSON Production Features Editor LAURA DAY SUSAN NESBITT RAY BURGOS Photography Editors Assistant Advertising Manager BRIAN SAULS BARBARA BROWN TEDDY LEPP Letters Policy: The Gamecock will try to print letters received. Letters should be, at a maximum, 250 to 300 words long. Guest editorials should not exceed 500 words. We reserve the right to edit letters for style or possible libel. The Gamecock will not withhold names under any circumstance. 1^0} -m fj? fk cowjtr* fk^. Hypocrisy lc Once again, Congress confronts the issue of ii posing economic sanctions against South Afric And once again, the pundits on both sides of t issue mire themselves in self-contradiction ai hypocrisy. In dealing with the racist South African gover ment, many members of Congress ? particulai liberals ? want to prod South Africa toward tr democracy through stiff economic penalties. Su an action would be a statement against the gover ment's repressive policies and force South Afric< white regime to bring in reforms, they say. But opponents of sanctions ? particularly co servatives ? claim sanctions are the wrong way encourage South Africa to move toward a fr * ? /ii A- ? 1 1 1 CC x * society. aucn an action wouiu oe ineiicciivc m serve only to hurt the black population, they sa The debate over South Africa seems fairly cle on the surface, but the issue of economic sanctio against another controversial country, Nicaragu presents an entirely new set of problems. In dealing with the leftist Nicaraguan govei ment a couple of years ago, some members of Co gress ? particularly conservatives ? wanted Benson lettei Imagine my surprise when I opened The Sti newspaper Friday and saw what everyone arou me was laughing about. Robby Benson had writt a letter to the editor defending USC Presidt James Holderman from the villainous, scurrilo attacks of that bastion of yellow journalism, 7 Charlotte Observer. I was surprised, really surprised. It's not lik< thought he couldn't write, but I just never thouj he would write, even if he had to. But there it was ? in black newsprint rij before my eyes. Robby had written a letter, a what a doozy of a letter he had written. Readi this letter, I began to rethink my opinion Holderman. I had always thought of him as 1 somewhat lavish president of this university. Apparently no one before Robby caught on the fact that Holderman is a visionary somewl like a cross between Gandhi and Jesus Christ, w a smidgen of Aristotle thrown in. I'm sure, right after he read the article, Hold man sat back and said, "Well, everything's O Robby says I'm neat-o." I don't want this to seem like I'm trashing I guy for having an opinion. But this letter was 1 strangest thing I've read since I read a review (j a review) of the Marquis de Sade's famous boc As someone interested in the English language ?4 kws.ronfor 1 , tot f^ulous oms over issue to L???????????????? ee prod Nicaragua toward true democracy through nd stiff economic penalties. Such an action would be a y. statement against the government's repressive :ar policies and force Nicararagua's Sandinista regime ns to bring in reforms, they said. ia, But opponents of sanctions ? particularly liberals ? claimed that sanctions were the wrong n- way to encourage Nicaragua to move toward a free >n- society. Such an action would be ineffective and to serve only to hurt the poor population, they said. r to 'The Stat* Jte ^ ?d f I ng of he was tragically fascinating for me to read Benson's to letter. The Charlotte Observer's story could hardl) lat be called character assasination. It just listed the ith rather expensive details of Holderman's unusual intern program, er- You've only been here for a few short months, K. so you don't know that "his extraordinary vision" that you have only "glimpsed" has been accomthe panied by increasing costs not only in tuition but ir the taxes. The state sales tax went up in 1984 to finance ust education, Robby, and many of the citizens of this ?k. economically depressed state didn't appreciate an , it tics and tuition increases that accompanied it. ; of sanctions 1 he douoie standard nere is sicxenmgiy oovious. Depending on the country in question, the liberals use the conservative arguments, and the conservatives use the liberal arguments. For some unknown reason, both sides fail to see the hypocrisy of their stands. Then again, perhaps it is too much to ask politicians to use logic and be consistent. But both sides glance over the issue of the actual effectiveness of sanctions, which is perhaps the most legitimate question in the debate. For example, did the U.S. grain embargo against the Soviet Union after the invasion of Afghanistan prompt the withdrawal of Soviet troops? No. Has the embargo against Nicaragua forced the Sandinista government to allow civil liberties such as freedom of the press? No. Have economic sanctions against Panama forced drug-dealing Gen. Manuel Noriega to step down? No. Finally, will members of Congress of both parties ever wake up to the futility of economic sanctions, not to mention the self-contradictions in their hypocritical rhetoric? Probably not. surprising I must say I loved the line about your life being a "mosaic of influential people." That's the cutest metaphor I've ever seen. The chills run up and down my spine just thinking about it. I for one am real sorry about you and your wife putting your careers on hold and the financial loss you are experiencing. But it seems to me that you have absolutely no conception of how poorly underpaid real teachers are, and how ridiculous it seems to them that you are complaining about not making six figures this year because you came here to teach. They'll probably never make more than five figures in their entire careers. And those of us who have been at USC for more than "a few months" know that the president isn't ; asking you to teach here for free. It's probably ' beaucoup dinero. I But I do feel sorry for you. If it can be arranged, I wouldn't mind if the extra $100 I had to pay this semester for tuition could go to you, even though my life has only been a quilt of ordinary people. Take that money,which I had to put in a week's i work to get this summer, and use it to bring your ; hot tub from your Hollywood pad or to buy an ex; tra option on some mediocre script or to add some mutuals to your stock portfolio. I won't mind ? not one bit.