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Problems I Tuition, parking, safety among tasks for new administration Now that all the debates, flyers, runoffs and rumors have faded away, it is time for Student Government to get down to hncinpQC Thp winnprc chmilH nnt wactp timp in V-\pmnr?i?r? tr> lii/o V/Uiiv/Mivt 11VI. TT IAUI-V IXAAAW HI UV^llllllllg LW 11 V V up to their promises. Marie-Louise Ramsdale, who will be inaugurated as S.G. president Thursday afternoon, promised to work on many of the problems that have plagued every student leader in recent memory. Ramsdale, John Leary (who was elected vice president) and the Student Senate must work together to find solutions to these problems. Tuition, which will probably reach new heights this year at USC, remains a top priority. Previous administrations have tried a variety of tactics ? marches on the State House and mass mailings to legislators ? to urge state government to curb the rising cost of education, but these efforts have had little effect. Student Government officials need to live up to their promises and tell state government that USC must receive adequate funding. Parking is another major concern at USC. Ramsdale, Leary and the Student Senate need to prod the administration toward alleviating the parking woes of students. Although parking will always be a problem, Student Government can work toward improving the situation. Campus safety is also an important issue the new officers J must address. Crime is actually down on campus, but it remains I a serious problem. USC students should feel comfortable walk- f ine around and living on camous. and it is the resnonsibilitv of 1 Student Government to work with the administration to ensure that USC is safe. Most importantly, the new Student Government officials need to show they are dedicated to serving students. The fact that about 1,500 students out of more than 20,000 took the time to vote indicates that most students do not care about Student ^ Government. It is up to Ramsdale, Leary and other S.G. of- kZ ficials to give students a reason for them to get involved. Otherwise, apathy will continue, and nothing will get done. Throughout her campaign, Ramsdale stressed her experience in Student Government. Now is the time for her to prove it by getting down to work on the problems that face students at fl,r JSC. Z Nc "IF WE KEEP PRETTY QUIET, MAYBE THE " KHOMEINI THREATS WILL 60 A i Mc ths m| /^i \ ing I he (jamecock ;n < itesf Non-daily Collegiate Newspaper, Southeastern Region rej Society of Professional Journalists, 1987-88 Pei Editor in Chief Datebook Editor soi ANDY BECHTEL JAN PHILLIPS the Managing Editor Graphics Editor dei JEFF SHREWSBURY MICHAEL SHARP Copy Desk Chief Comics Edjtor KATHY BLACKWELL TRACY MIXSON Assistant Cop\ Desk Chief Graduate Assistant CARYN CRABB ROBERT STEVENSON ^ News Editor Adviser f MARY PEARSON PAT MCNEELY Assistant News Editors Director of Student Media l_ KELLY C. THOMAS ED BONZA SUSAN NESBITT Advertising Manager Features Editor MARGARET MICHELS TODD HINES Production Manager Assistant Features Editor LAURA DAY TOMMY JOYNER A^n..D^.winn wa Sports Editor rIv BURGOS* sit, KEVIN ADAMS Assistant Advertising Manager dis Assistant ports Editor BARBARA BROWN to CHRIS SILVF.STRI m? Photography Editor we TEDDY LEPP ter Letters Policy: The Gamecock will try lo print all letters received. Letters should be, at a maximum, 250 to m( 300 words long. Guest editorials should not exceed 500 words. We reserve the right lo edit letters for style or tT possible libel. The Gamecock will not withhold names under any circumstance. wj, ? J Cc Iji npii Strides in raci Have you ever seen a clock tick backward? Well, you're seeing it now. The big clock hands of racial equality that were st set in motion during the 1960s and had reachmaybe 6 a.m. on their way toward a full 24 urs, have recently faltered and started to slow. )w it seems they are reversing their course. They are ticking back around to the starting int, and if something is not done soon, they will nd us back to yesterday's evening. Evidence the recent racial attitudes and incidents it have become increasingly apparent: ?A former Ku Klux Klan leader was openly cted to the state Legislature of Louisiana under ; guise that he is fighting for the rights of white ople just like the blacks are fighting for their hts when actually he is fighting for white premacy. ?A new wave of racial bigots, the skinheads, is :reasing in number and popularity. They preach :ial separatism as the only way blacks and whites a live together in harmony. ?Affirmative action and racially equal legislan are being overturned by our courts and allenged by our leaders. ?Racial incidents on college campuses, places ually reserved for liberal and precedent-setting ;nts, are on tne rise. ?People are being shunned for what they lieve in and who they know. ?Riots are cropping up in some areas of our ies. ?Police are being charged with harassment and lings of minorities. Blacks, whites, Asians, Hispanics, Jews and lers are being forced through subtle and not-so btle ways to go back to the way things used to be a time when races lived apart and feared one other. Letters to the v j 1 noon in pui )uote reveals ^ 0 quested us t< nixed message became susf eating a Fig the editor: inmtigatior \sif Kidwai's statement (in the ?, e na mday edition of The Gamecock) a ma"ua << t a ? 11 u u. . realized my it the Ayatollah ought not even f , , J 'er a single dime of reward for kill- ?"n e ' , ; (Salman) Rushdie" is hardly a , ? a an 1 ging endorsement of the novelist's espise in b b make a long ^ ,u , va 16 students. Dne can suppose that Kidwai . , ? , iuld have no qualms if Rushdie Quire o r re killed for purely altruistic th.en broke ,J t where we r tsons as opposed to mere , :uniary ones. I can only hope that eac Person , ., cm i / ,? must ingest iwai s sense of toleration is per- ? tal and that he does not represent son mus exe : views of the USC Moslem Stu- ?ne pers?'n . . tablets of f nt Accnpmtinn equal to tha W. Redd Turner III cotfee)> ^hl1 History graduate student stud then urinate Hology lab 1 volume and lumiliating When he oK ~ periment, 01 eluded hims< i the editor: the group (" As a fourth-year English major, I that was goir is recently exposed to an academic and carry it uation I found unethical and bathroom to turbing. While taking Biology 102 it was disco fulfill an S.C. College require- made up foui :nt, 1 have been attending labs entrance of ekly since the beginning of the measurement m. Last Wednesday, after a full data." The> >rning of classes that left me ex- and proceed mely hungry, I raced to Coker the room, as! th my Fig Newtons and Coca- and making j >la, prepared to 3pend the after- I object I al equality re\ Shrewsbury ; A 1 Great strides had been made between the '60s and now. Even changes in attitudes have come a long way. Not far enough, mind you, but still a long way. The reason for this reversal is two-fold. First, it has to do with economics. Second, it has to do with the U.S. government's seeming indifference to the problems. On the economic side, everyone in the country is starting to feel the pinches and digs of current and former economic mistakes. They are starting to feel whatever they make is not enough and that they may be losing what they've got. When people start to feel like they are losing something they start to look for reasons. They start to look for scapegoats. And that breeds fear. Fear is the mighty motivator. It motivates people to do and say things they may really not believe in. When people are afraid, they fear those who are different. In the United States now, people are afraid of losing what they've got, and they are blaming the people who appear different to them. editor suit of science, only to several levels. In our.socie ur lab manual had re- joy certain unalienable r ) abstain from eating for freedoms, and the right t previous to the lab. I seems to be one of the fur ricious ? what did my values in American Newton have to do with Alongside this ordeal runs I 1 into the veiled mysteries that our bodies are our al world? Had I read my possessions and no one has is assigned, I would have to make us open ourselve trepidation was well- against our will or even fore hale second-hand smoke it on the flippant note 1 so place. I assert that u my lab instructor and bathroom is a private act, a story short, in a class of invasion of privacy t , each student was re- undergraduates perform ink a liter of water. We their urine while the into groups of four, gloats, eceived instruction that from each small group More importantly, in { 18 salt tablets, one per- decent grades, students jrcise for 20 minutes and enough caffeine to keep th was to swallow four hours and an amount o Jo-Doz (caffeine about physician would recommen t contained in a liter of enjoyed the experiment, e the final person would takers felt bloated; the conrol. drinkers began to speak ra ent in the room would' sweat; the exercisers into a Solo cup every 20 nauseated. The experiment the next two hours and unhealthy and humiliatin specific gravity, color, regret having been involve pH of his own urine. any way. When I raised obj ginally explained the ex- the T.A., he pointed oui lr teaching assistant in- could have refused to reply ;lf and the professor in cop out answer because to r everyone in the room") be penalized, and I'm sure ig to have to pee in a cup will suffer. aown me nail rrom the As students, we are pa) the lab. Then, surprise, than $1,000 for the privili vered that 16 students education. Speaking for m> groups of four, and the enrolled to learn more < two extra sets of world and to develop perso s would "mess up the to serve as the brunt of joke ' exempted themselves pie who are supposed to b ed to circulate around ting me. Never again wi cing us if we felt all right ticipate in an experimen iokes. unethical or degrading, ai :o this experiment on students to examine their c MP J nER ifc l| 'ersing lately It should be the government's first domestic responsibility to head off these fears. It should be its responsibility to send messages through whatever means that we are not so different, and there is nothing to fear. But the government has shown an almost callous indifference to what is happening around the United States, and the messages it is sending is that is it okay to distrust those who are different. /\n example is ine recent u.a. supreme i^ouri case that overturned the city of Richmond, Va., minority contracting quotas. This and decisions like it have set the precedent that minority quotas and hiring practices are unfair to whites. They have sent the message that whites are losing1 their rights. But the fact is, whites have not lost anything because they have always had everything. If all the rights in this country were an apple, the whites own about 50 percent of it, and the rest of the minorities split the rest. That means whites already have a majority of the rights and therefore cannot begin to lose rights until the rest of the minorities have an equal share. And we are not there yet. Blacks and other minorities don't have equal opportunity yet, and it is the people like David Dukes of Louisiana and the skinheads who are playing on the fear of the whites to feed the anti-racial fire. They know if they tell people they are losing what they've got, they can get them to fear others. And it is working. But it is working against us as a whole. The government needs to send positive messages to let people know we are all Americans ? not black and not white, but just Americans. Until all the rights in the country are shared equally, whites are not losing anything and have nothing to fear, but fear itself. ty, we en- with a more critical eye. ights and 0 privacy Carol Weir idamental English senior society. ^persona! Coach treats sts use badly :e us to in- v 1 a public To the editor: sing the An open letter to Dick Sheridan, nd it is an head football coach at N.C. State o make University: tests on Less than a week after USC head instructor football coach Joe Morrison ? and even before he is buried in his Ohio hometown ? you announce in pursuit of Raleigh that someone has "unofingested ficially" contacted you about the em up for coaching vacancy. One week later, f salt no you say you're not interested in the -1 v T ? IrxK on/1 turn it- zJ/M./n U. 1>0 UI1C Juu """ LUI " 'I UWVV11. The salt The USC Athletic Department caffeine later names Sparky Woods from Apipidly and palachian State University as its new became coach. Officials neither confirm nor was both deny they ever spoke with you. g, and I But 1 refuse to believe they called :d in it in you that quickly. Coach Morrison iections to was a very special man, and I think t that we they took the week of Feb. 5 to deal . This is a with their shock and grief over his efuseisto loss ? not rush out to replace him. my grade The only people who wanted to bury him, not praise him, were you and ring more the members of the media who ege of an reported your ill-timed, ill-mannered 'self, I am comments. ibout the In short, Dick, you were out of nally, not line, and you owe your employer, my :s for peo- alma mater ? and especially Mor>e instruc- rison's widow ? an apology, ill 1 parit I find Patrick Jean id 1 urge 1988 alumnus urriculum Pinellas Park, Fla.