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F uture After difficult year, university must work toward improvement Another academic year at USC is rapidly coming to a close, and with this conclusion comes a time to reflect on the past year. The 1988-89 school vear has been a time of soarine hiehs and plummeting lows at USC, but the university has survived through it all. With dedication and hard work, it can get better. The year began with the hullabaloo over the change in moniker to "The USC." Although the transformation is essentially irrelevant, it does indicate a change in attitude. But it will take more than a meaningless cosmetic alteration to make this university as good as it can be. It will take real action. This school year has also been plagued with the perpetual problem of money. USC and this state's lawmakers need to work together to bring more funding to the university. The effects of a lack of funding from state goverments will linger into the next century through tuition increases that leave qualified students unable to attend USC. Budget problems will also leave USC behind in the area of faculty salaries, and the quality of education will not improve. USC's library will also slip. The bottom line is that you get what you pay for, and if lawmakers do not provide adequate funding for USC, then the university will fall back into mediocrity. The athletic department had more than its share of problems this year. Gamecock squads in almost every sport performed well, but at the same time, allegations of steroid use tainted the university's reputation and cast doubt on the athletic department. USC must ensure that the athletic programs are clean of drugs and corruption and work to restore the university's good name. The death of Joe Morrison earlier this semester came as a terrible shock to the entire university community. Despite the football team's problems, Morrison will be remembered as a man who brought a winning tradition to USC. He will be missed. But all was not tragic at USC. The opening of the Koger Arts Center signaled a new era for the university. Students can now enjoy excellent performances at a facility designed for them. Academics continued to imnrove as USC's graduate business program (among others) received praise. Ultimately, it has been a tough year for USC. Still, the university community has weathered it all, and hopes are high for the future. Perhaps those hopes can become reality. REFLECTIONS OF A PUBLIC TAXPAYER The Gamecock 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 try to print all letters received. Letters should be, at a maximum, 250 to 300 words long. Guest 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. cuitx 11" 25H5HSSSH^p POVERTY w<mII?aBBI | Graduation c "Memories. You're talking about memories." ? Harrison Ford in Blade Runner The last time I graduated from a school, I was surrounded by marine mammals bobbing restlessly in their tanks, and the backdrop for the ceremony was a small lake littered with props for a hillbilly ski show that was never performed. That was in June 1985 at Sea World in Orlando, Fla., my hometown. Down there, some lucky high schoolers get to hear fractured valedictory speeches at local tourist attractions under the early morning sun. I was one of those fortunate stlidents who got to sit in the Florida heat for two hours as the black cap and gown absorbed the sun's rays, creating a miniature greenhouse effect in each person. I recall not a single word of those addresses that day, but I do remember tossing that cheap piece of cloth-covered cardboard into the sky with everyone else ? save my friend Scott, who simply clutched his to his chest and stood in silence. Afterward, Scott and I floated in the cool water of a swimming pool, bobbing restlessly like the whales, otters and seals at Sea World. We talked for a while about what it all meant, but failed to reach any moment of clarity. 1 Letters to Soccer games . ^ people, tl need regulation necessary To the editor: that aim ? I am an international student at but what i USC. I am from Spain, and like study the most Europeans, I am a great soccer origin is r fan. For many people in Europe and the socio around the world, there is no feeling reflection comparable to seeing two sides on a and boun football ground playing in a national The cui or an international tournament; it is cruel fan a sensation 1 have often tried to ex- change of plain to my American friends. ed society I understand the news that arrived pie's attei from England, reporting the killing economic of 93 people during one of the sport a semifinals of the English F.A. Cup. repressed Events of this sort may sound com- could otl pletely foreign to the American unrest. Tl public, but Europeans are getting fans by th more and more used to them. porters sh I remember images of the deaths of ly politica more than 30 Italians at the hands of magnitudt Liverpool hooligans in the finals of by British the European Cup in Brussels some to hide, years ago. Those television images were seen live around 'the world, shocking everbody. As a consequence, tough penalties were imposed on English clubs, and the International Football Association seemed A to say: "We are going to make sure i\Ul this will not happen again!" 9 However, seeing the news from the lTH'lf _._J: PI PP:?U t _ 1:?A u?^ AAMM.M.V dlauiuiu in oiicmciu, i icauz.cu n nau indeed happened again, only this time with the result of twice the To the edi number of victims. Once aj To those who fail to understand abortion i the nature of these events, I shall say it that aft they not only prove there is practice, something wrong with football as a supporting sport, but also with the society that right anc allows these things to happen. defense of Football is clearly, at least in legions of Europe, a reflection of a social and tinue to bi political situation. Unemployment- before th stricken countries such as Britain, answer, in Italy or Spain have a representative med up in group of people who live and breathe the Sound nothing but football, people who Many c have given up hope of raising their bornly refi living standards, people sometimes nore it. EW YORK STORIES "%! 55555H5555H55^^ ^ ' : nniur^ fpar of But we agreed that we were going to evaporate from the legacy of high school ? the senselessness of hall passes, the facism of the principal as Big Brother, the profound agony of algebra, et cetera. Something else that sticks in my mind is what Susan, my pal from elementary through high : school, wrote in my yearbook: "And will we fade away? I think not. I know we will keep in touch." But the tragic tale of time reveals that Susan e editor family or friends outside number of Americans, t il football club. For these grows louder each day. ic tuiuis ui men icam aic it is tne cry oi injustice, than a religious symbol. of the weak and helpless, is reason, it is absolutely unloved being ground intc to revise the regulations by a society drunk with th it controlling football fans, self-gratification. Can ) is more important is that we them? origin of the problem. The They are the unwanted lot in football itself, but in Columbia ? 8,000 per year -political situation whose no advocate, who have shows pictures of violence defense, but silently await dless atrocity. ecution from the prison -e for these latest waves of mother's womb. Most are aticism in football is a the time they reach 14 we philosophy of dehumaniz- arms and little legs ripped 1 , a system that diverts peo- torsos by the powerful ntion from their political, machine in the hands of the problems to sport, making abortionist, way of channeling their And they are the rejected anger and frustration that Atlanta, where many surv lerwise provoke political nine months before meei le killing of the Liverpool cruel fate! Can you he e fanaticism of fellow sup- America? The cold, sharp ows there is a fundamental- doing its work. Too lar il and social problem of a through the pelvic openii ; that last-minute inquiries they must be pulled from authorities will not be able piece by piece. Can you he< their innocent little skulls crushed by the powerful Manuel Lirola The sound is deafening. Graduate student, And they are the little orn Comparative literature different cities whose silen beg for a reply. Twenty-fi' Irillc in 16years. Every 15 seconc >rilOn KllIiJ lost. Like the slave at the t taskmaster's whip and the . trPlll 11T P the Gestapo's boot, their or that someone will hear the itor: Wayne E jain, the controversy over Columbi s front-page news. Why is er 16 years of widespread countless court decisions I this basic reproductive 1 the staunch abortion ITVlii* "Tl ' the U.S. Congress, do the dll II pro-life malcontents con- ing this unpleasant subject be removei e American people? The my opinion, could be sumtwo words. It is because of To the editor: I first want to apologize f< lon't hear it. Some stub- about Mike Fair; but as lc use to listen to it. Others ig- continues to force his lif But to an ever-growing others, I feel that it is nec ?? DRUG!) WNMxNemAY fading away and I have not kept in touch. We have both evaporated from each other. I wonder how many people who tell me the same thing nowadays will disappear, and I wonder how many people I tell that, only to fade away. It'll be just as much my fault as theirs, just as it was between me and Susan. Then again, we do keep in contact with the precious few. I have kept in touch with Scott, and, as he wrote in that same yearbook, we shall be lifetime friends. Those words stand true four years later and will remain valid. And again, I will keep some lifetime friends from USC, people who cannot be allowed to fade away. I know we'll meet again some sunny day. But alas, all of our beings shall once again slowly evaporate across this campus. Resistance ic iicpIpcc Thp nrnrpcc ic onH I Kouo already surrendered. My hands?! Where are my hands?! Am I already fading out of the university's landscape? Have we won the victory over ourselves? Do we love James Holderman? So there you have it: the end. Hasta la vista, USC. Goodbye to all my beautiful friends. Take care, feed the people and stay alive. . . he sound criticize his actions. Last year, he attempted to justify the sound his initiating of a ban on overnight alone and stays by those of the opposite sex by > the dust saying he was worried the university e wine of could be held liable for AIDS cases, /ou hear Earlier this year, he justified his opinion by saying his daughter would be babies of attending Carolina. Now he is atwho have tempting to justify his actions on the no legal grounds of his religious convictions, their ex- Fair says he doesn't try to convert of their people. This makes absolutely no : gone by sense. Is converting others to Chris:eks; little tianity not one of the priorities of a ?rom their Christian? Was this not the purpose vacuum of the disciples? While he may not try calloused to convert others to follow his faith through reasoning, he attempts to babies of force others to follow his idea of a ive up to Christian lifestyle through ting their legislation, ar them, scalpel is hair calls pre-marital sex ge to fit unhealthy, immoral and illegal. He is lg intact, causing sex to be unhealthy by trying their cells to remove condoms from the dorms, ir them as Pre-marital sex is immoral to him are being because it conflicts with his morals, forceps? which are not necessarily the same morals possessed by each of the ;s in 1,000 students he is supposed to be t screams representing. It is illegal because of ye million others like him who force their values Is another on people they should be :nd of the representing, lew under llyhopeis Because of Fair, fewer than 15 Sound. people have signed up for dormitories designated for no overnight, . Mitchell opposite-sex visitation; 300 addia resident tional students have said they will move off campus if the proposal is put into effect, and the university is expecting more disciplinary problems and is being forced to employ a larger ^ residence hall staff and modify LlllSl buildings. dNot only is this man a problem to the students, he is a hinderance to the uniuprcitv I hpltAVA it \i/milH hp a Mill ? VI I. M. I/VJIV ? V IV nvuiu l/V U benefit to everyone, including his daughter, if he were removed from ar writing his position with the university. >ng as he estyle on Scott Deans essary to English junior