The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 20, 1989, Page 3, Image 3
Housing
Increase of 6.3 percent to add
to burden of cost of education
By approving a 6.3 percent increase in housing fees, the Board
of Trustees has compounded the problem of the rising costs of
education. The raise will hurt on-campus students where it hurts
? in their bank accounts.
The latest increase is the second in two years for the nearly
7,000 students who live on campus. In 1988, the trustees voted
to raise the cost of living in one of USC's residence halls 6.7 percent.
The combined increases will leave students to face housing
rnsK that arp nprrent hipher than two vears aen.
The cost of on-campus housing is rising dramatically across
the country ? between 7 and 9 percent. Clemson has already in- t
creased its housing rates for next year by 7.2 percent. Living on
campus is getting more expensive.
Still, USC does not need to jump on the bandwagon and raise
its rates. In fact, it seems that they are already quite high. For
example, students living on The Horseshoe pay more than
$1,000 a semester; next year, Horseshoe residents will pay
$1,100 for their rooms.
USC administrators said the primary reason for the increase
was security. Much of the extra revenue is earmarked to hire
more desk assistants and security guards to enforce visitation
policies. USC security officials report that crime is actually \
down on campus.
Security is a real issue tffat needs to be addressed, but
residence halls are not the best place to start the fight against
crime. The visitation policies are well enforced. Hiring more
students and security guards to monitor who comes in and out
of residence halls will not curb crime because crimes such as
larceny and vandalism are often committed by the residents
themselves. USC needs more security guards to patrol the cam
pus, dui 11 uoes not neeu muic pcupic iu wine uuwu me names
and Social Security numbers of guests.
This latest increase could spur a mass exodus of students as
on-campus housing gets more expensive than off campus. As
visitation policies continue to be more puritanical and rates continue
to be more expensive, students could decide that the
benefits of moving off campus may outweigh the advantages of
living at USC.
YET?"
s>i9t 1
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m/hiawta ayjsnmriohi
Excesses upst:
The word has come down from the president ?
USC needs a housing increase, a student activity
fee increase, a tuition increase and who knows
what the hell else increased.
1 don't know how to spell this sarcastically
enough, but here we go ? heh heh heh haaa.
Yup, James Holderman has assured us that in
order to continue the quality of programs we have
here at "This USC," he needs more money.
So the question is who gets to pay?
The students, who else? He wants our money,
and there's iust about nothine we can do to stop
him.
You see, he's goi the Board of Trustees lined up
right behind him. They rarely question USC's
spending policies. Holderman says "money,
money, money," and the Board nods.
Holderman, giver of porcelain, wants more of
your money. He needs to keep this university on its
financial feet, and he's not willing to trim the excess,
unnecessary programs to do it.
He could sell off the university jets and fly coach
from now on, but he's a part of the jet-set, you see.
USC runs the rather expensive Bell Camp that is
rarely used, but we need bucks for the library.
USC has a parking division, but it's really a division
designed to ticket students who can't find
S.G. shouldn'i
It's almost over. The banners. The buttons. The
posters. The promises. The hoopla.
Hurray.
In case you haven't noticed, I'm talking about
that wonderful institution we call Student Government.
This is the same Student Government that
Dan "D. J." Jensen horrified when he ran for
president.
It's shameless ? the very idea of him running
for S.G. president. After all, what was he thinking?
Did he really believe that his ideas and goals
for USC were innovative . . .daring . . .revolutionary?
He wanted to restructure Student Government.
He wanted to change things. He wanted to
make it better. Horrors. The gall. The nerve. The
shrewdness.
Let's face it. Student Government, for the most
part, is a farce.
It's loaded with hundreds of students on more
than 30 committees, which usually accomplish
nothing. They sometimes have good intentions that
they suggest to our great university president, but
we all know his attentive face and open ear aren't
always what they seem.
Why should he be attentive to Student Government
if it doesn't wield any real power? Perhaps it
Letters to
Columns tend
l Oi pp Aleutian Ch?
to be iluity ?. ni hi ?
* cruise missil
on March 6,
To the editor: the arrival
1 was appalled by Jeff North Bay c
Shrewsbury's colunTn of Feb. 13 titl- La Mcaza, s
ed "Oh, Canada, what a great coun- on Jan. 9, 1
try, eh?" Yet 1 was not surprised by It appears
its exemplification of the unrelenting unresearchei
conjecture and irrelevance currently Island origi
printed in The Gamecock. neti, which
His sole basis for it seems to be a of whitewoc
trip during his childhood when he in Huron Ir
was a cinematic aficionado. What is the poplar ti
so perplexing is how this child pro- it Boys Blai
digy who could not only digest the wood." Th
significance of Checkpoint Charlie, Bob-lo whei
but retain such a phenomenal name of th
memory to regurgitate verbatim visitors wou
heard at such an age a decade later cing "Boys
could write such a piece of fluff. 1, for one
I assure you that Canadians are pagandized
well aware of nuclear weapons from authorities,
age USC's fun<
I I 1
1
e
parking because there aren't enough spaces where c
we need them. t
Holderman has a private parking space (actually,
he's got about three or four), so tickets are no
problem for him. s
USC runs a telephone service called ASKUS. r
ASKUS provides a nice service, but it isn't a vital
service.
USC runs a service to rent out camping equip- r
ment. That's a darling little service, but it just isn't 1
necessary.
USC runs a program, which is getting bigger and 1
bigger, to study the freshman year experience. 1
[ hp spsirpfl of r:
?? I
b
serves a purpose as being the voice of the student f
body. But it is not sufficient to be only heard. tl
Can Student Government change itself to be e
more effective? That remains to be seen.
One person who proposed a radical change was
taken off the presidential ballot on a mere >
technicality. Maybe this should be inspiring. After '
all, the S.G. types were united for this cause. t
Another candidate's efforts to propose a change in t
our stone-age voting system were killed because
some people only saw it as a campaign stunt. <
editor
ound test on Nov. 6, childhood experiences or th<
onchitka Island in the escapades of Chuck Dear
lin to the well-publicized cartoons draped in condorr
f a B-52 with unarmed in an unrelated segment tc
es over western Canada toon are in poor taste. I
, 1984 ? not to mention adamantly against columi
of nuclear warheads at sole purpose was to mentior
>n Dec. 31, 1963, and at friend's name in the paper,
i base north of Montreal I do not mean to lambast<
964. of The Gamecock fo
that the whole piece was understaffed and press
i. The name Bob-lo deadlines that produce this
nated as Etiowiteedan- if you cannot find it too d
means "people's island produce quality journalism
)d guarding the islands" time periods, try reduci
idian dialect. Because of periodical to a weekly issue
rees, the French renamed
nc, which means "white . ar
is was transferred into International stud
n adopted as the official y . ?
e park in 1929 because lO lG<
Id have trouble pronoun,B'd7?'o,
care ,0 be pro- folld mCtTlC
by uninformed pseudo- To the editor:
whether it concerns As a soon-to-be alumr
ml
ding needs
"hrow all that money back into the general till, and
'11 tell you about the freshman year experience ?
t was a pain. And it isn't necessary to study it,
>ecause it's a pain 1 and most others.can and did
landle without a study or a class.
USC runs a huge public relations department,
>ut that's not enough for Liolderman. Last year,
le had to hire a private media consultant to help
mprove his image.
Nothing's getting cut; we're not watching the
noney close enough. So without cuts, revenues
leed to increase. We're certainly not going to get
nore money from the state because there are
nough legislators out there who think Holderman
loesn't run a tight ship over here. They snicker up
heir sleeves at any request for additional money.
So where does the extra money come from?
Look around next time you're in class. The guy
itting next to you ? whose father, unlike Holdernan,
didn't get a 12 percent pay increase last year
- he's gonna pay it.
The girl who sits at the front of the class, whose
nother works in a mill and whose father has been
aid off ? she's gonna pay it.
But Holderman ? soon-to-be-maker of movies,
hey say ? he's not going to pay it. And he's pro>ably
the only one who can afford to.
Lidieal change
"hat's a stupid reason not to implement a mucheeded
reform. What would happen, do you supose,
if they unified for a worthwhile cause? Could
hey possibly accomplish something? Probably
ot.
Success involves change. You're all too familiar
/ith the phrase, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
"his seems to be the motto of Student Governlent.
When faced with serious change, Student
jovernment has repeatedly wimped out. I suppose
:'s only natural to resist change when you're comlacent
with mediocrity.
What's the solution?
Student Government whines that the student
ody is apathetic. They seem surprised and ofended
by our apathy. Do they honestly believe
hat they've ever given us a reason to be anything
lse?
Once upon a time, a student ran for president
>vho promised to eliminate Student Government.
Mot surprisingly, he won. The surprising part is
hat he kept his promise. Unfortunately, someone
wrought it back.
Maybe, just maybe, there is hope for Student
Government to have the power to make a change.
j drunken always have fond memories of "The
i. Phallic USC." But surely my fondest
is printed memory will be of my worthless stu>
the car- dent parking sticker, those yellow
am also parking tickets and my long drives
is whose around the campus in search of a
1 a female parking spot.
j the staff One of my fondest memories is the
r being administration's response to the proed
with blem printed in The Gamecock. The
filler, but phrase "there is no parking problem
ifficult to at USC" will always stick in my
i in short mind,
ing your
As 1 begin to receive my alumni
"we need money" letters from USC,
I Juncker i w:ii rnovv that surelv thev can't be
les senior serious for anyone who has paid for
parking stickers, tickets and meters
1^0 knows that there is "no financial
problem" at USC.
>ries
Rob Clarke
^ | wj|j Graduate student