The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 03, 1989, Page 2, Image 2
Criteria
Raising admissions standards
would be beneficial to university
University officials are considering raising the standards for
admission, and USC would benefit from such a move.
According to the proposal, the entering freshmen in the fall of
1990 would have to have at least a "C" average in four units of
English, two units of laboratory science and two units of other
subjects. Two years of a foreign language and a score of at least
1,000 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test would also be required.
Math courses and English classes would have to be geared
toward college preparation.
This proposal is not a radical upgrade from the current standards.
For example, this past year's freshmen needed a 900 on
the SAT to be accepted by the university. Of those freshmen,
only about 4 percent would not have reached the proposed
criteria.
An increase in admissions standards would help make USC a
better university. By requiring college-preparatory classes, USC
could cut the number of remedial courses needed for freshmen.
USC spends much of its time and resources teaching subjects
that should be taught in high school. One recent study reported
that 46 percent of freshmen in the state's colleges needed some
type of remedial work; an increase in standards would alert high
school students that they need to work hard on their studies to
get into USC.
Still, the new admission standard would remain flexible.
Students who scored less than 1,000 on the SAT could make up
for that by having exceptionally high grades or ranking in the
upper part of their classes. This flexibility provides an option for
the students who are not good test takers or had a few tough
classes that lowered their grades.
USC's Faculty Senate, which will make the final decision on
the new standards, has returned the proposal to the admissions
committee for a few minor alterations. Once those changes are
made, the Faculty Senate should act by implementing the new
standards. By doing so, they will be making a statement that
USC is committed to becoming better and better until it ranks as
one of the best state universities in the country.
"YOUR HONOR, THE PEFENSE WANTS 40,000
PASES OF OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS*
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11
The Gamecock
Best Non-daily Collegiate Newspaper, Southeastern Region
Society of Professional Journalists, 1987-88
Editor in Chief Datebook Editor
ANDY BECHTEL JAN PHILLIPS
Managing Editor Graphics Editor
JEEP SHREWSBURY MICHAEL SHARP
Copy Desk Chief Comjcs Edj|or
KATHY BLACKWELL TRACY MIXSON
Assistant Copy Desk Chief Graduate Assistant
CARYNCRABB
KUdCKl 3 1 E VfclNiUIN
News Editor Adyis(,r
MARY PEARSON PAT MCNEELY
Assistant News Editors Director of Student Media
KELLY C. THOMAS ED BONZA
SUSAN NESBITT Advertising Manager
Features Editor MARGARET MICHELS
TODD HINES Production Manager
Assistant Features Editor LAURA DAY
TOMMY JOYNER Assistant Production Manager
Sports Editor RAY BURGOS
KEV IN ADAMS Assistant Advertising Manager
Assistant Sports Editor BARBARA BROWN
CHRIS SILVESTRI
Photography Editor
TEDDY LEPP
Letters Policy: The Gamecock will lr> lo prinl till Idler-, rccciird. I,cttcr> sht)it 1(1 be. af a maximum. 25?i in
300 words long. (?uesf editorials should not exceed 500 words. We reserve the right to edit letters for stvle or
possible libel. The Gamecock will not withhold names under an> circumstance.
ONE NATION, UNDEP
A
Television sh
"I got 13 channels of #$%& on the TV to cho
from." ? Pink Floyd
Have you noticed what's happening in Tel<
sion Land lately? It's growing up and at a blaz
rate. Those plastic people are becoming a bit m
realistic.
The deal is that the three major networks can
longer afford the editing board that used to p
off the rough edges of everything. Networks
now doing their own paring, which leads to $o
livelier entertainment.
TV characters are now expressing expleti
that would curl Tonto's feather. Unfortunate
even with columnist's license, 1 am unable
pollute these last vestiges of decency in Amerk
media with the kind of words that are now go
around like a bottle of Mad Dog 20/20 in a h
t school parking lot. Trust me, it doesn't take
rocket scientist to figure them out.
For instance, the characters on Moonlighting
fast becoming purveyors of the expletive explosie
I n tVlA cViAU/'c firrt raocAn - ^
mv onv^w o mot avaaun L/avt wai icuuitu IU
ing Maddie a "meany" and Maddie would ri
back that Dave was just a big "dummy." It lose
little something unless you're seven years o
Them's fightin' words at that age.
But now Dave, without batting an eye, C?
Maddie a !#$%&, and Maddie breezily calls Dav
= #$&!*%. That's real. When someone you wc
with says something snide you don't huff up a
say, "You, you. . . dummy!" You attack th
heritage or call them something socially disgustir
something that carries a little weight.
Letters to tl
USC's blacks or1:"
sell-centered
To the editor:
Blacks are in the beginning of a
celebration of what is at least supposed
to be a celebration. Organizations _ _
of the university are sponsoring f|Q|
events celebrating the history of
blacks in America. But the attendance
at these events has been less To the
than favorable. 1 was
about f
Blacks have done many miraculous The Ga
things in history. Many people 1 am
believe that the civil rights era began took no
in the 1960s. There were many people NASA,
fighting for civil rights 100 years negativ*
before then. Ida Wells Barnett, a have ta
black woman, was arguing against Cha/len
lynchings during the 1800s. Dr. forgottc
Daniel Hale Williams, a black man, NASA 1
performed the first successful open- sions ar
heart surgery. Dr. Charles Drew, a Space
black man, gave the world plasma. business
He bled to death being transported to possible
a "black" hospital because he was further
refused treatment at a "white" pened ti
hospital. our mis
How can blacks be unconcerned, I thin
considering the state of affairs today? take toAffirmative
action cases are being NASA
Ai;nrtiirnoH t hp ot/proop tnoAmo Af A morip'
v?ci iui iivUf uiv nivuiiiv ui rvuiti ilc
black families is 78 percent lower they th
than that of white families. A former think I
Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan pointed
is winning primaries in Louisiana. to the g
One of the issues of his platform is NASA
welfare reform to reduce the number Americt
of black births.
Perhaps USC is representative of
society as a whole in that blacks are
only concerned with I, me and mine. A
There is so much fighting among
themselves that they forget about
everyone advancing as a whole. V2 I
I encourage everyone to learn more J
about Afro-American history. There
are classes given and books written To the t
on the subject. To not do so would be This
HHHit
i SIEGE, INDEFENSIBLE, WITIvK-47'S
FOR ALL."
tows stretching hi
ine
th"
17 i S f i i j
to I?____...?..--J ed
:an wa
ing Hjkewise-when you bang your shin on a coffee nat
igh tabj[e yoit don't stop and search for a word that or
; a wdfl't offend anyone before you crumble in pain. the
You say what's on the tip of your tongue. "Gosh bee
are golly" is not there. There are little words far more the
3n. menacing and far more expressive of the pain such hoi
all- as "!#$ &%$*" or simply wh
fie Lest we forget movies "edited for television." F
s a Those words flashed on the screen used to be a red see
Id. flag for me. I'd turn the channel in a skinny minute ual
knowing that most of the funniest lines were in a rep
ills pile on the cutting floor. But now at least entire tall
e a scenes are not zapped because someone says cha
>rk "#$%<?." It's still a bit annoying when mid- tan
nd sentence Dirty Harry becomes momentarily muted ess<
eir and calls someone an "$#%hole." Harry wouldn't per
lg, just call someone a hole and then give them one yot
through their head. He's made of coarser stuff. can
? _ I
le eauor
an important part of history. Smith's letter to the editor ("
lat important? tion must be kept legal," Mo
I'd like to give her and others li
Edwin J. Wilson something to think about.
Graduate student I would like to make it pe
Phi Beta Sigma fraternity clear that I am strongly pro-c
but that's where the question
~ nrtntir*i7 in- Is it a choice to kill or not~t
dLv I think not ? the choice came
# the women took the risk of bee
nC nation pregnant. The choice is no
there; there is a living human
inside her instantly, no mattei
editor: science says. How can anyoi
really glad to see the column that when egg meets sperm tl
4ASA in the Jan. 27 issue of not life? Do we just wait until
mecock. bigger, then it is life?
grateful that someone finally Let me give you a scenario tc
tice of the positive aspects of about. A pregnant woman
I am really fed up with the down the street and passes a b?
; attitude that Americans her way. The bank is being rc
ken toward NASA since the As she passes, the robber rui
ger tragedy. People have shooting; he shoots the woman
:n that before the Challenger, stomach and kills the child. C
had 25 successful shuttle mis- be tried for murder? You
id two since that time. believe it! The same woman
k avnlrtrotinn IC o HonnorAiir /j Anm 11-> A rtruat or?/J U AO/^C ft
- v./\piwi cliiwii id a. vucwigv. i uua uuwii li iv. oti v.v.1 anu nt.avj3 iv
>. NASA has done everything abortion clinic, goes inside an<
: to protect the shuttles from the child. Can she be trie
catastrophes. Whatever hap- murder? No. Any way you lool
o the saying, "we learn from it's murder. So we should mal
takes"? choice of who is allowed to mi
ik our society has learned to How can we?
o many things for granted, And what if she is raped? A
included. When most should not be forced not to live
ins hear the word "NASA," murdered) because the father
ink of space exploration. I mitted a crime. What if they
the column about NASA birth control, and it didn't 1
out that there is much more Then there are support group
overnment agency than that. clinics, and there are so many f
has benefitted us as in this world who would love t(
ins more than we realize. the chance to have a child an<
not anrl wonlr) aHont
Megan Lynch There is no reason a person s
Undeclared freshman murder a child because she d
want the child, is afraid to te
y* parents or is afraid of what i
UrilUn IlUl will think. There is no reason
# # an innocent child, and there
l/j rhnirP choice of who should be allows
Susan DeP
editor: Graduate si
is in response to Karen Student Personnel Se
_ """* THE AUA*JTA co*jsmu
jpjST
^ LIBERTY AND
mits of taste
Not only is it in the words, but changes are tak;
place in the themes on TV. There's one show
it's fast becoming a favorite of TV viewers ?
trried With Children. Those writers don't mess
>und. They go straight for the jugular, and it's
en where a lot of pent up laughter is stored. The
)gram totters on a line between lewd and pansy,
: place where many normal shows lie. Few dare
live on this line. And people are not stupid. The
pq arp not PYnlirit hut pvprunno
? ??wv W.V V.VIJVIIV M1V/W3 VYIiai
y are getting at except maybe my sister,
-urthermore, there's a lot more skin on TV. Not
)ugh to lose advertising, but more than there usto
be. Shows are unabashedly showing people
ndering around in their tighty whities. This is
ural. People aren't always dressed'for breakfast
walking around the house fully clothed. Here
networks have imposed a little self-restraint
:ause I have yet to see anyone "buck nekkid" as
y say in McCormick County. Try watching 24
jrs of BBC programs, and you'll understand
at 1 mean.
finally, some may claim there are more bedroom
nes lately. TV should never be a viaduct for sexeducation,
but it should in the least attempt to
resent one of our national pastimes. I'm not
cing ABC's Monday Night Orgies, but the bed
imber shouldn't be avoided exclusively. Import
stuff goes on in there that sometimes is even
;ntial to the plot. I think in actuality what's hapling
lately is longer bedroom scenes. Besides, if
1're not partial to scantily clad people in bed you
always turn the $#& % *!# channel.
? || % f ' * V '>s 1 - 1 s tZ-y ? $ lb'
- / H ||raj| < - ^
nday>" Group lacks
facts on SRP
:hoice, To the editor:
comes We had to laugh when we read a
0 Kin: recent nyer rrom ureenpeace that
: when was asking for people to come listen
oming and testify against the Savannah
longer River Plant and its evils to the enbeing
vironment. All anyone ever hears
- what from Greenpeace and the media is
le say biased accusations about the dangers
lere is SRP represents to the environment,
it gets If Greenpeace members would only
take the time to examine the en1
think vironment surrounding SRP, they
walks would find that wildlife thrives in its
ink on forests and streams. Its heated ponds
)bbed. (not radioactive) make it possible for
is out fish and reptiles to breed year round,
in the The bald eagle, our national symbol
!an he of freedom, roams SRP's forests free
better of any danger from chemicals or
walks radiation.
?r the Greenpeacers just cannot accept
d kills the fact that they get more radiation
d for from watching The Little Rascals
< at it, than they would receive from any
<e it a SRP radioactive "leak." We took
arder? the time to examine the facts before
we attacked a nuclear facility ? we
. child wish Greenpeace would only do the
(to be same. Greenpeace should stick to
com- saving the whales instead of getting
' used involved in false accusations aeainst
work? SRP.
is and We are not asking for anyone to
people take our word for it ? we are only
) have asking these people to examine our
i can- proof as well as our facts about SRP.
We are tired of hearing lies from
hould liberal, hackeysack, communist hipoesn't
pies who pollute our beautiful USC
;11 her campus. Greenpeace is applauded for
others not wanting one new production
to kill reactor at SRP ? we need five of
is no them to do the job right,
ed to. David S. Petersen
History senior
tfarco
udent Billy Mikelonis
rvices Geography junior