The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 26, 1988, Page 3, Image 3
Shuttle
By denying funds to shuttle,
S.G. shows it only serves self
Student Government wimped out Wednesday.
Its members had a chance to do some real good for the
students they are supposed to be representing, and they wimped
out. Instead of giving money to the Five Points shuttle, money
that could have been used to help worried students who might be
walking home alone, they whined and complained about potential
liability and left the shuttle to live or die by itself.
T1 n . in. m .1 A
i ne aororny apa rratermty councils tnat are lunding and
operating the shuttle went on ahead because the shuttle is probably
the most appropriate response to the crimes that have
been occurring in and around the Five Points area.
Students are banding together, beginning to take responsibility
for each other. And the group that should be taking the
forefront in this action, S.G., is sitting back idly letting everyone
else do all the work, bear all the financial burden and smugly
saying that it is responsible.
The liability question is legitimate, but not enough that it
meant taking no role in the shuttle. What S.G. did was tell the
Fraternity and Sorority councils, "You go out and take all the
risk, and if you don't fall flat on your face, we'll do what we
can."
S.G. should have taken the risk. If the student senators did
not consider this action because they were afraid of a veto from
S.G. President James Franklin, then that would mean they
don't understand the process of the government they are in. In
the face of a veto, you take a vote anyway, and check to see if
you have enough votes to override, or if you are close. You
don't wimp out.
And if both Franklin and the Senate were just concerned with
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care of. The university has a capable legal staff that is at the
disposal of student groups as well as the administration. The
university legal counsel could have investigated possible
liabilities for such a shuttle and maybe reported to S.G. by
Friday.
But what S.G. decided to do was watch and wait, and maybe
by so doing, have doomed a program it should have been
operating from the outset of this crime problem.
This weekend, the shuttle carried more than 100 people from
Five Points back to campus. Perhaps one of those 100 people
might have been attacked, robbed or even raped if the shuttle
wasn't there.
And that possibility, even in the remotest sense, is why we
have to have the shuttle. And that is why the actions of the
Fraternity and Sorority councils were those of responsible
students taking charge not only of themselves, but of others.
And that is why the actions of S.G. members were those of
contemptuous vacillatory weaklings.
Student Senate has another meeting Wednesday. They have a
chance to rectify their error, but only if you let them know how
you feel about this idea. Maybe if the students were to show up
1 a_11 xl i.- i it i * *
anu len ine senators now iney ieei, tney mignt get some
backbone. Maybe if some of those who rode this shuttle were to
show up and let them know how useful this is, they might start
serving and protecting USC students, instead of covering their
collective ass.
Mollis?
fueviMA CMff/iviM
I WANT you _
f TO DEBATElliyifc^
" MAYBE QUAYLE'S PAD CAN PULL SOME STRINGS /..."
i
The Gamecock
Best Non-daily Collegiate Newspaper, Southeastern Region
Society of Professional Journalists, 1987 88
Editor in Chief Photography Editors
SILRHLN uUILrUi Lt BRIAN SAULS
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Assistant News Editor PAT MCNEELY
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MARY PEARSON PHILLIP MCKENZIE
Features Editor Director of Student Media
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Assistant Features Editor Advertising Manager
TOM JOYNER MARGARET MICHELS
Sports Editor Production
KEVIN ADAMS LAURA DAY
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BARBARA BROWN
Letters Policy: The Gamecock will try to print letters received. Letters should be, at a maximum. 250 to 300 I V
words long. Cues! 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.
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Columnist po
As we near the end of the Reagan nightmare two
new guys on the block are making waves and trying
to fill the Oval seat. They're wetting down their
hair, straightening their ties and putting on their
game faces.
They're ready to kick some political butt.
With the possible exception of Battlestar Galactica
being shown on reruns, this whole funky
presidential campaign has to be the single most
talked about event of the year. It's sort of like the
cream of the political social calendar.
It's nifty and sleazy at the same time ? it's
slifty.
And because it is being talked about, and the
candidates as men and humans are being scrutiniz
ed by every walk ot lite in this huge old land mass,
we should hear what they think.
I took sort of an informal poll of my own to find
out what some people around this campus think
about the candidates and the campaigns. Here is
what they said more or less. The names have been
changed to protect the silly.
Hal ? "George Bush is a neophyte, pandering
weenie, and Mike Dukakis is a small man going
after a big job. Bush is going to wrap himself in the
flag, and Dukakis predicts gloom and doom. But
anybody with half a brain will realize Bush will fall
Gamecocks g
To the tune, "Chapel of Love."
Going to the Top 10, and we'll
probably go hi-i-igher.
Going to the Top 10, and
I ain 7 no li-i-iar.
Yes, we really beat Georgia,
beat 'em with the short pass routes,
and we're going to the AP Top 10
Yup, the Gamecocks sent a clear message to the
sports world Saturday. We told all the sportscasters
and writers who have ignored us for so
long that, "Hey, we're still here."
And we told all the teams we're going to play,
especially Florida State and Clemson, that there's
another kid on the Top 10 block.
You could also make the case that we sent a
message to Georgia. "We took your best shots,
and we're still standing. Sha na na na. Sha na na
na. Hey hey hey, goodbye."
But the problem we have here now is quite profound.
Who is our game hero? I think the entire
defensive squad deserves this honor. But then
again, their effort would have been for naught if
Todd Ellis hadn't thrown for more than 300 yards,
Letters to the
Don't whine
ments to\
about parking rs,
gas monej
To the editor: nnir nf u/n
First of all, I am a sophomore, and
I have always commuted to and from
school. Quite frankly, I am sick and Ci
tired of having all of the students
who live on campus crying about not g
having any place to park. I go to ItJLiI.2
Cooper Library two or three nights a #
week. I always park in the Coliseum Olllftj
parking lot and, may 1 add, without *
having to wait 30 minutes to get a
space. To the edi
Hov/ever, each morning I go In refere
hrough hell to get to class on time. son's lettei
I his isn't because there are too many Gamecock
azy students who live on campus and certainly r
efuse to take the shuttle or walk to wood. Th
:lass. One solution to the commuter toward qu
3arking problem might be to stop ad- deal of pr<
ling "generic" parking places and lective sen
iesignate certain lots for commuter thereof),
>nly and give us separate stickers. number of
3r, if that's too much trouble or ex- applaud S
>ensive, maybe we should address to make th
he real problem. We (commuters) bit better
:an't walk to class from Cayce, Lex- should not
ngton, Irmo, West Columbia, etc., sarcasm,
>ut you can walk to any classroom publicatioi
in campus from any student housing less fortun
)n campus. Also, S
V- ; f ARE TOO I
B? ARETOO L^_. {,
ARETOO I
TM / _] L' !
^r!5p|p^^
T'll. / Pead.
React
Us feeUngs abc
i
^kpib '
Jeff
Shrewsbury
like a dead dog in the heat. "
Hal's not much on tact.
Son ? "Personally I don't like either one of
them. I don't trust Bush, and I have no love for
Dukakis. I think I'll watch basketball on election
day."
What do you expect from a guy named Son?
Jim ? "Bush is a pilot flying in the wrong direction.
Dukakis needs elevator shoes to fill the
podium of the presidency."
A keen eye for observation, this one.
John ? "They seem to be big talkers with very
' little to say. Maybe someday someone will say
;oing to Top 1
in only four games surpassing the 1,000 yard mark.
And then again, there's Robert Brooks, the true
freshman who came out of nowhere but is making
people say, "Sterling who? Ryan who?"
Todd has had the laurels nlaced around his head
after many a victory. And the defense this year is
the same creation as last year, the much honored
Black Death squad. The faces are different but the
song remains the same.
So, I think it's time to make the freshman 1988
1 "
editor
n't you solve the real pro-, creative outlet to tho;
ad of making crude com- journalists in the area
vard administration and lack the talent to write
the responsibility off on publication. As you knc
? driving to class, save the the field of journalism
' and buy yourself a good easiest one in which to 1
Iking shoes! ment. Again, I app
Magazine's efforts to
Dennis Rabon forum for the writing of
riminal Justice sophomore ly deficient.
>azine not X
e worthless Portfol
D /\ni
tor: ACMUCUId
:nce to Mr. Andrew Robin- _
in Friday's edition of The TO D?L1*IC SL
, Shout Magazine is most *
lot a waste of good pulp
e readership it is geared To the editor:
lite obviously has a great I would like to resp
jblems with their own col- Brown's complaints ab
se of self-worth (or lack students parking in co:
and their pitifully small dent lots. First of all, I a
brain cells. We should all parking situation on can
hout Magazine's attempt lacking; it has been fo:
lese people feel just a little and, now with the lot o
about themselves. We being repaved, it is <
treat them with scorn and However, being a residei
as you have done, a bia Hall and owner of on
l's attempt to help those resident cars in the com
ate than ourselves. would like to know just v
hout Magazine gives a pects us to park. She say
1
iut candidates
something having to do with anything."
Wow, what ambiguity.
Mary Anne ? "I think I'll move to Australia
where the politics revolves around Koala bears.
Bush is clueless, and Dukakis means well, but I'm
not sure he has the know-how."
Another corner of the political spectrum heard
from:
Kevin ? "Bush. Yeah, man, Bush."
Straight ud. cool breeze.
Wayne ? "I don't understand the question."
Probably a Senator in the making.
Caryn ? "lam pro-Bush so that makes me antiDukakis.
"
A flare for the obvious.
Amy? "What candidates?"
Says it all doesn't it?
Steve ? "Sam Nunn is a great guy, But Mr. Andropov
is my personal favorite."
Yuri Andropov is dead, though.
Steve again ? "That's why I like him."
Not into politics, I guess.
Hector ? "I think George Rush is one of the upcoming
young receivers on the team and should
provide an added threat as the season goes on. "
No, George Bush, not George Rush.
Hector again ? "Oh, never mind."
0, I'm happy
first Big Man On Campus, who apparently took
the following old song lyrics to heart ? "You've
got to be a football hero to go out with the
beautiful girl."
Robert Brooks, Big Man On Campus, sports
hero of the week. If you see him, thank him and
tell him he did a stand-up job. That one-handed
toucnaown snag, to quote load fcllis, was a major
college play."
People are looking at the USC football program
again. Now we've got to keep their eyes on us.
But speaking of Saturday's game, our Black
Saturday didn't quite work out. But black is back.
Get with the program, sports fans. A little unity of
color goes a long way to impressing a national network
and a national audience.
Why do you think Clemson's on the tube so
much? That Orange school of theirs looks OK on
television. But it doesn't look as great as a wave of
black. When we played Florida State in 1984 on
ABC, Williams-Brice was black from endzone to
shining endzone.
It was awesome.
se would-be Columbia Hall and Capstone house
who simply well over 1,000 students, and there
for a better isn't nearly enough parking space
>w, Andrew, within walking distance to accomi
is not the modate half that number. Pendleton
find employ- Street garage is full every semester. I
laud Shout have neither the time between classes
provide a nor the money to continually feed a
the creative- parking meter. She also suggests the
Blossom Street garage. Call me
crazy, but I dislike the thought of
rid O. Lucas having to walk all the way across
nglish junior campus after dark if I should happen
liter in chief to need to use my car. Not only is it
lio Magazine inconvenient, it's also quite
dangerous. Several times, more than
1 I can count, I have driven out to
|f 3, t V Bates and parked my car there, then
ridden the Shuttlecock back to the
I SkO dorm; perhaps this is an idea for
some commuter students to consider.
If you allow for extra time, the Shuttlecock
should be ample transportaiond
to Ms. tion. I do park in the commuter lot
out resident on Sunday nights occassionally but
_ ,,tAt. rfit nnlv if I n't finH a cnorn onuu;Kflra
llllil U IvI JIU" V"V " * VM" ? **"? W HUJTT1IV1V
gree that the else and only because we were told by
npus is sadly our RAs that we could do so.
r some time There is definitely a problem, and
n Pendleton it needs to be solved. But don't place
;ven worse, the blame on resident students. We
it of Colum- need a place to park just as much as
e of those 15 commuter students,
imuter lot, I
vhere she ex- Kathryn Fitzgerald
s the dorms. Education junior