The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 21, 1989, Page 3, Image 3
Money
Student Government should
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Although at first glance it all seems like a step backward, the
removal of the book exchange bulletin board this week was the
right move. Perhaps Student Government can try again and get
it right.
The concept-of a textbook exchange as a means of fighting
high prices at area bookstores has been around for a long time.
Each semester it seems that prices for texts spiral even higher,
and students have no choice but to pay. At the end of each
semester, they sell back many of their books to the stores, which
offer a measly sum for the used texts, but manage to sell those
same used books next semester at outrageous prices.
The solution appears simple enough: cut out the middle man.
If students sell books to each other, they all save money in the
long run. The only hitch is starting a system that students can
use and rely on to exchange textbooks.
During its waning weeks earlier this semester, the administration
of James Franklin, former S.G. president, put up a bulletin
board on the first floor of the Russell House. Its purpose was to
allow students to advertise what books they had for sale and
how much they were asking.
But the bulletin board was a pathetic fiasco, simply because it
failed to attract students. And if it had, it would have been overwhelmed
? a university the size of USC needs more than one
bulletin board to run a successful exchange program. In the end,
the only function the bulletin board served was to let Franklin
claim he had fulfilled one of his campaign promises, when he
really had not.
Franklin's successor, Marie-Louise Ramsdale, wisely decided
to take down the bulletin board and take another look at the
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is committed to creating an effective program that would last.
It will take a serious effort to establish an exchange that will
appeal to students, but it is an effort worth pursuing. With hard
work, perhaps Student Government can indeed serve students,
providing them with a system that can help them exchange textbooks
? and save money.
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The Gamecock
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Best Non-daily Collegiate Newspaper, Southeastern Region
Society of Professional Journalists, 1987-88
Editor in Chief Photography Editor
ANDY BECHTEL TEDDY LEPP
Managing Editor Datebook Editor
JEFF SHREWSBURY JAN PHILLIPS
Copy Desk Chief Graphics Editor
KATHY BLACKWELL MICHAEL SHARP
Assistant Copy Desk Chief Comics Editor
CARYN CRABB TRACY MIXSON
News Editor Graduate Assistant
MARY PEARSON ROBERT STEVENSON
Assistant News Editors Adviser
KELLY C. THOMAS PAT MCNEELY
SUSAN NESBITT Director of Student Media
Features Editor ED BONZA
TODD HINES Advertising Manager
Assistant Features Editor MARGARET MICHELS
TOMMY JOYNER Production Manager
Sports Editor LAURA DAY
KEVIN ADAMS Assistant Production Manager
Assistant Sports Editor RAY BURGOS
CHRIS SILVESTRi Assistant Advertising Manager
BARBARA BROWN
Letters Policy: The Gamecock will iry to print all letters received. Letters should be, at a maximum, 250 to I
300 words long. <;uest 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.
Bond between
There is nothing more inherently beautiful and
touching than the sight of a woman holding a
small child. It's a bond, a warmth and a feeling
unlike anything else on earth. It's something only
women can really understand and men can merely
envy.
Maybe because it's spring, when emotions run
high, or maybe because I'm getting older, but
lately I've noticed more the glow of a woman
with child.
I've always seen the mother-child bond as
something special, but as l grow emotionally ana
intellectually, I've begun to become moved by the
sight. L
I first noticed it St. Patrick's Day in Five
Points this past March. ai
I was in Five Points with some friends enjoy- c;
ing the weather and the Irish cheer, and we had d
stopped by the side of the street to rest. We sat ai
watching people walk by, joking and laughing,
and reveled in being a part of a wonderful day. s<
As I sat near the curb, a couple with 11-weekold
twins sat down next to us. A young woman cl
sitting next to them began a conversation with w
the parents who were bottle feeding the two tc
children. When this lovely dark-haired woman e;
saw the children, she began to smile broadly and
moved closer to the couple who were so proud h
and happy of their babies that they were happy n
to show them off. Soon the woman was holding u
one of the babies in her arms. h
She cradled the little girl, wrapped in a blanket tl
with her eyes closed and sucking on the bottle, lc
Letters to the
. ,, ^
U.S. should torn Nicaragua
lift embargo
To the editor:
This letter is in response to the
editorial in Monday's issue of The
Gamecock. Three obvious points ~ 9
were made: IllSllOFI
1) U.S. mindset toward Cuba remains
locked in antiquated cold-war
hysteria; 2) the United States should To the editor:
end the economic embargo against Is fusion ai
Cuba as a first step toward improved everything it is
relations between our countries; 3) supporters, or
the trade embargo and other U.S. hoax that its c
cold-war policies toward Cuba have no sure way ol
driven the island nation further into the scientists fr
the clutches of communism. Utah publish
When reading this editorial, what allowing other:
immediately came to mind was how nounce it sciem
these three points even better apply fusion at roon
to Nicaragua. The Ronald Reagan assuming that i
Administration successfully escalated There are m
the Nicaraguan revolution into East- can be brought
West terms. Clearly, Soviet involve- the belief tha
ment with the Central American na- known laws of
tion was minimal until the Reagan that room-temj
Administration interfered by its ag- answer to r
gression against the Nicaraguan dependence bl
people. while possibly
The U.S. war against Nicaragua likely be fount
has devestated the Nicaraguan future,
economy (not to mention the billions For fusion t
of U.S. taxpayers' dollars poured in- physics, it woul
to Reagan's war). Nicaragua was crease in order
forced to escalate its military pected overall c
defense. After all, the United States Many claim this
invaded and/or occupied Nicaraguan fusion reaction
soil many times since the 19th cen- of its environn
tury. The damage already has been greater rise in
done by Reagan and his right-wing the description
supporters; therefore, I will not ad- be true, excep
dress what we should have done over over the possibi
the past eight years. I will address in- the componen
stead what policies George Bush and and platinum, h
Secretary of State James Baker degradation do<
should pursue. The trade embargo plain the rise in
against Nicaragua should be drop- tion of extra en<
ped. This embargo and the Reagan the deutirium i
war have driven Nicaragua, with loss of order
nowhere else to turn, into the hands palledium and/
of the Soviets. Contrary to What about I
Republican rhetoric, the Sandinistas in supplying en<
have shown some democratic and If the possibility
free-market tendencies. The San- become fact, t
dinistas were elected and plan to hold amounts of enei
more elections in early 1990. with the eventu
Nicaragua has expressed its desire to nent materials,
resume good relations with the degradation dt
United States. must realize t
Not only does the United States materials might
have an opportunity to improve rela- sive for use in tl
tions with Cuba, but it also has a tricity. All one 1
mother and c
Shrewsbury ^ /A, ^
ad held her close to her chest. She had such
ire to her movements that the child felt no
iscomfort. She held the baby's head in her palm
nd gazed at her face.
She began to rock with the child and hum
lothingly as she swayed slowly.
Soon tears began to roll down this woman's
tieek. She was happy, but she was crying. She
as so affected by the moment that emotions
>ok over and welled tears in the corners of her
yes.
I think it was the most touching moment I
ave ever seen. Merfe:Was this woman, who had
o children of her own, as she was young and
nmarried, sitting with a stranger's child and
olding it as if it were her own. You could see
le bond and the ? for lack of a better term ?
>ve between them.
editor
>n to do so with war- shocking rise in the
palledium to realize that thi
possible an outcome t<
Michael Yoder dismiss. This may once ag
te student, geography how human greed can ov
the potential advantage
_ mankind.
n omiP
^ Fm8uv Andrew J.
Chemistry/international
t room temperature Upperclassi
claimed to be by its . j j
?" ,the ,in diWe Set bad de
ritics claim? There is O
f knowing until after
om the University of To the editor:
their findings, thus I am writing in regard to I
5 to verify it or de- published in The Gamecock
tifically. What would ing housing and the displac
1 temperature entail, juniors and seniors from th<
t does truly occur? red roommate spots i
any possibilities that dormitories,
up. Among them is This problem, obviously <
t fusion is breaking the new visitation policy, h
physics and the belief many students who were
jerature fusion is the with their hall-bath dorm
nankind's energy- relocate to suite-style and a]
lues. These beliefs, style dorms. Also, those
being true, will most who lived in Burney and Do
i untrue in the near new freshmen dorms, got
of those dorms they wanted
0 break the laws of Of course, many students
d have to show an in- dorms were rising sophom
compared to the ex- they were given first priority
lrive toward entropy. Capstone and Columbi
1 is the case. That this previously set aside foi
is increasing the order upperclassmen.
lent without an even Many students, includinj
entropy seems (from have had to change their liv
of the experiment) to and either choose a less
t that consideration modating dorm or search
lity of degradation of campus housing, an often
[ meiais, paiieaium uaoie anernauve. /\s a rising
las not been voiced. If should be given the privilege
;s occur, it would ex- in Capstone or Columbia H
order by the produc- my situation has been vei
;rgy and the fusion of tunate. By being bumped o
vith a possibly large room in Capstone, I hi
in the structure of separated from my roomr
or platinum. my friends in the adjoini
:he benefits of fusion Now I must live in Sims fo
;rgy for all mankind? year, without air conditio)
y of degradation does with someone I do not knc
he creation of huge meone I hear was bumped c
rgy must be tempered Capstone room, too.
al loss of the compo- I realize I am not the on
If, on the other hand, this unfortunate situation, b
>es not occur, one I speak for people when I
hat the component something be done w
t become too expen- preferred-roommmate plan,
le production of elec- student lists a preferred rooi
las to do is look at the sure would be nice to think
twiN?W
VoQk NEWSOAV
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hild touching
It seemed so amazing that with all these people
milling around, the woman was completely
oblivious to anything but the child.
It was truly a beautiful moment .that I won't
soon forget.
This scene made me think about families and
the sacrifices parents go through to raise
children, but the sacrifices and the pain that
every parent endures seemed to fade in comparison
with the bond and the warmth a baby,
helpless and unexpecting, in the arms of a
woman can exude.
Men can love children as much as women, and
they can have a bond, but it's a different bond
than that of women. Men can love children, but
they can never feel like they were a physical part
of them. Women carry children. They went
through the physical stress and pain of birth.
They went through the hormonal changes. They
went through the feeling of supporting another
living being.
Men can only imagine what that was like.
And it is this distinction that makes the bond
between woman and child so different than man
with child.
A woman can be physically beautiful all her
life, but she is never more emotionally and internally
beautiful and content than when she is with
a child in her arms.
It's an inner emotional strength men can never
know.
I'm jealous.
price of move is not a waste of ink on paper,
s is all too A dorm is a student's substitute for
3 simply a home. If we cannot guarantee com;ain
show fort in our home away from home,
ershadow why should we be comfortable with
ior an staying ai uat;
M. Celeste Burch
Psychology sophomore
Lawrence
Xiz: Programs need
canteen space
nen
, To the editor:
Q I Since Eric Ward was unable to talk
with me about the background on the .
proposed conversion of the canteen
in Gambrell before writing his article ;
the article Monday, it might be useful to clarify
: concern- a few points.
:ement of The proposed conversion was the
;ir prefer- only relief we in Gambrell could
n those identify for the growing space crunch
in that building. The increase in
caused by students, classes and computers has
as forced reached a critical point in Gambrell.
satisfied The proposed conversion would give
itories to four large offices, one for history
sartment- and three for GINT. The offices
students would be used for graduate students,
uglas, the not faculty. They will accommadate
first pick 16 to 24 GTAs and GRAs.
to live in.
in these The proposed conversion would
ores, but necessitate moving the vending
to live in machines from the canteen to the
ia Hall, lower level of Gambrell. All the venmostly
ding machines can be accommodated
on that level. We could not, however,
g myself, locate any space for the tables that
ing plans would meet the fire marshall's codes,
i accom- Anyone using the vending machines
for off- and wanting a place to sit would need
unaffnr- tn on to one nf the three laroe fnvers
;junior, I in Gambrell. There are benches, but |
: of living no tables, in all three central lobbies,
all. Also, We are sorry about the loss of
y unfor- tables at which to sit, eat and study,
>ut of my but given the serious space needs of
ive been our programs in Gambrell, there
nate and seemed to be no other solution,
ng suite. Contrary to some rumors cir- *
r another culating, the proposed conversion
ning and would not affect the nearby canteen ?
iw ? so- in the Welsh Humanities Building
>ut of her and the sidewalk tables by the reflec- ?
ting pool. These are completely ^
ly one in separate from the Gambrell canteen
ut I hope and would be unaffected by the
urge that proposal.
ith the I
When a Carol McGinnis Kay
nmate, it Dean, Humanities and Social ?
that this Sciences