The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 23, 1989, Page 3, Image 3
Bad P.R.
Team doctor who failed to run
USC drug program still on staff
Fans who looked on page 79 of the football program guide ma;
have seen something interesting. A picture of the medical suppor
staff ? the team doctors.
One of those doctors is Dr. Paul Akers, a general practitioner.
He is the team doctor. Another is the team orthopedist, anothe
the team dentist.
It is interesting because former USC Athletic Director Bob Mar
cum was fired^ after an internal investigation revealed that USC
failed to routinely and randomly test athletes for drug use.
At that time, Akers was in charge of USC's "Lifestyles" program,
which was supposed to be a program of drug testing ANE
drug education for all USC student-athletes.
USC released a statement at that time saying Akers had beer
relieved of his duties as team physician because of his failure to
run the drug testing program.
There were some people out there who believed that Akers had
been fired. No such luck. A little while later, the university issued
a statement that Akers had been "reassigned" and was working at
the Thomson Student Health Center.
Somewhere along the line, he once again became team
physician.
It is interesting because during his "first" tenure as team physician,
drug testing was primarily his responsibility ? before Marcum's,
before the coaching staffs, it was Akers' responsibility to
run the program.
President Holderman would like us to believe that Marcum was
fired for failing to conduct the drug program properly.
And now we have the Marcum trial, where he is contending that
he lost his job because Holderman wanted athletic funds and he
wouldn't give them. The drug testing was a convenient excuse, a
dodge, Marcum contends.
The OIllv lofrir-al thina anvnnp ran rr?nr1nHi? ic tViot AUore eVu-mlrl
Photography Editor
TEDDY LEPP
Letters Policy: The Gamecock will try to print all letters received. Letters should be, at a maximum, 250 to
300 words long. The writer should include full name, professional title if an employee with USC or Columbia
resident, or year and major if a student. An address and phone number are required with all letters sent. Guest
editorials should not exceed 500 words. We reserve the right to edit letters for style or possible libel. The
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| The Gamecock
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J ? ? ? V*iv VMkA VV11VIUVIV AO U1UI niiWO OllUUIU
have run the program and didn't. Whether Marcum should have
had more oversight of the program is something else, but it was
Akers who wrote the program and it was Akers to whom the responsibility
of the program was delegated.
While he is team doctor, he is not responsible for the drug testing
program anymore. That has been taken out of the team physician's
area of responsibility.
There are some who say people deserve second chances. But in
these days at USC when all the news is being made in the cour
troom and all the news is bad, that second chance may not be
deserved. After all, what has Akers done to deserve this second
chance?
As so much else that has happened here, USC's credibility is
hurt by having Akers retained as team physician.
ii|' n' j|^ I
PRUG
; TESTING
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JTTTH.
O
jiyu
Fair brin^
"Robby and Linda,
go to the rocket. kjw
Robby and Linda, go
to the rocket George
Williams, meet your S ^
party at the front V
The loud, crackling 'Jk
voice filled in the gaps flk
between the excited ^B2|^
voices of the crowds
and the hard-sell
voices of the modem
day carnies. The air \
reeked of Italian saus- T
age dogs, elephant ears
and vinegar fries.
Children smacked their
lips clean of candy and caramel-coate
That nauseated-from-excitement fe
-abbed my stomach and I knew that
Letters to t
SCC shouldn't
lower standards
To the editor:
I feel compelled to comment on
the Oct 11 article regarding black
enrollment in South Carolina College.
First, I want to express how
disgusted I am that Reenea Harrison
chose to use such an offensive
phrase as "lily-white" in her description
of SCC. Ms. Harrison, if
you are white there is no reason to
use a degrading black phrase in order
to show allegiance to the black
community. If you are black,
shame on you. How would you
like a white person to describe a
black-dominated group as charcoal
black? But then we have different
standards for blacks and whites,
which brings me to my next
comment.
The buzz word for the '80s has
been "increased minority enrollment."
Hey, what's wrong with
that? Everyone deserves a fair
share of the pie, right? Right. The
bad part of this increased minority
movement comes to light when we
examine Harrison's final comments:
"Black students don't perform
as well on SAT and ACT
tests as while students . . . black
applicants will judged more
on . .. (other factors). What Harrison
is really saying is that it is career
and politically astute to have
more warm black bodies in SCC,
so we will lower standards for
blacks in order to achieve this
goal.
Whenever policies such as this
are enacted, blacks will fail to get
the most imoortant Dart of the nie.
RESPECT. I don't care if the setting
is academic, government or
business, whenever a black is
promoted or placed in a lucrative
position, the perception will be
that skin color got him there, not
merit. This really hurts the blacks
who are accepted into SCC (or
whatever) because they exceeded
SENIOR HIGH
rV
?s touch of i
the State Fair. People brus
?|ggl hurry to ride the biggest ri
blurred my vision, my ears
^ 1 v the different noises of shri]
M from the roller coasters or
people to try to sink a ball
stuffed animal. But it all st
m' i| slow motion.
0?,. -.* Like ants scurrying arou
Jt scraps of food, we made oi
exhibits. The stench of live
our nostrils as we made ou
Kl8Ej|L ings with arts and crafts. Fi
colors protruded from the c
my frames. And the three dime
)mis breathed with the life of th<
" thought Inebriated by the i
? suffocating us ? we v
id apples. smell of urine and welcon
eling phant ears slapping us in th
I was at Breathing in the night'
he editor
x* j - i <-t;.
the requirements for admission. tl
I believe the SAT is an overused
tool of measurement. However, if c
we use it to measure one group it si
should be used to measure all. u
Why is it that blacks are the only o
racial and/or ethnic group that is v>
screaming for special considera- c
tion? When was the last time we b
heard the Jewish, Greek, Lebanese d
or Asian communities asking for o
special treatment because they en- tc
joy a different culture? I would S<
wager that the aforementioned A
groups perform just fine on the ci
SAT. Their cultural differences ju
sure have not hampered them ir
economically. bi
If I were black, I would not let 01
whites treat me as if I were not
capable of meeting standards that ei
are set for everyone else. it]
In closing, I would like to sav m
that I am well aware of how risky in
this letter is. A person cannot clear th
their throat today without being m
called a racist. However, if it is ra- ta
cist to believe that everyone should ju
have to live by the same standards, di
then, yes, I am a racist lh
th
C. Henderson m re
Graduate student kc
Honors college
must advertise
To the editor
With regard to Ms. Reenea Harrison's
summary of the South Carolina
College as portraying a "lilywhite
image" (The Gamecock, Oct
11), we feel compelled to say that
this is a big statement for someone r\
who has been involved with this ^
organization for less than a semester.
We have never perceived the Tc
honors college to be composed of
bigots, but even if this were blat- let
antlv true, the SCC is not well iss
known enough among college stu- inj
dents and applicants even to have pu
an image! If we did not have this pa
image of lily-whiteness before that sai
article, Ms. Harrison has insured tat
JUNIOR EL
HIGH
S&
A S~
magic 10 v
hed past me in their erately need
des, bright lights stomachs' pi
; couldn't untangle ger. Content
11 screams coming Up, up, u
the voices yelling for clouds, catc
and win a furry biggest circl
lemed to happen in Christmas I
lights. The s
nd a picnic with liice the mei
lit way toward the moon was ft
stock and urine filled ^ clouds
r way to the build- On our fe<
igures, shapes and aicd leaving
ncVwwfa ? s noticed befoi
visional works , ,
sir creators, or so I relaxed a liu
trt that surrounded us V01CCS ,s a
ears were su
talked again past the was obvious.
led the smell of ele- We trekke
le face. us from the
s aromas like desp- upon it in aw
T
iat we have it now!
Does Ms. Harrison know the
omposite breakdown of foreign j
tudents in the SCC with relation
> the whole of USC? If 30 percent i
f USC's students are Northerners, I
fould we make sure that 30 per- <
ent of the honors college is 1
forthem? No! The answer to our I
iversity problem is not to lower i
ur standards or show prejudice <
)ward some people. What the
CC needs to do is ADVERTISE. <
11 USC enrollees should be re- '
ruited. Outstanding high school ]
iniors and seniors should be sent ]
(formation not only about USC,
it also about the SCC. Let every- 5
le hear about the SCC. '
SAT scores alone are not 1
tough to indicate a student's abil- 2
v. That is whv the. SCC has ??t f
inimum SAT requirements and *
eludes an interview session in 1
ic admission procedure. These 1
inimum standards must be main- 1
ined, and all applicants must be *
dged equally. The SCC should *
scriminate only on the basis of r
e admission requirements, not on 1
e basis of skin color. Vigorous c
cruiting, not discrimination is the c
sy to a diverse student body. F
i]
Joanne Veatch
English junior ^
Honors college ^
Shannon Douglas h
Media arts junior r
Honors college n
iensen lacks ;
ompassion I
> ine eauor:
I am writing in response to the e
ler by Dan Jensen in the Oct 11 g
ue of The Gamecock. It is amaz- is
* to me that you would want to S
blicly display your lack of com- n
ssion for the hundreds of thou- ft
ids of victims who were devased
by Hurricane Hugo.
.EMENTARY
HIGH
WA
THE ATUWTA cotfsrrf(JTO\l
Columbia
ed oxygen, we succombed to our
leas and satisfied our human hunand
nourished, we ventured on.
p we soared touching the evening
hing our breaths while riding the
le. Columbia looked like one big
xee, decorated with little white
ky line was dark and majestic, untal
monsters of the daylight. The
ill and beautiful, not hiding behind
Jt again, some of the magic evapora
chill and a tiredness we had not
re. The nausea in my stomach had
Lie. No one seemed to notice. The
ked as before and fresh elephant
11 being served. Our insignificance
a 10 ine vcnicie uiai wouia remove
night's mystic circle and looked
re.
Reluctantly you admit, "For
some, Hugo was a tragedy." Congratulations
on your astute observation!
This terrifying ordeal was
not merely "the fish story of a lifelime."
It is a disaster that has left
our state in chaos. When we all
will be paying for this occurrence
for years to come, how can you
imply that we are "making Hugo
out to be more than he was?"
It is going to take South Carolina
decades to recover from the
lurricane. And three weeks later.
i^ou arc bored with all of the publcity
Hugo is still receiving.
How inconvenient that you must
;ee hurricane updates on the news,
lurricane headlines in the paper
md hurricane pictures in magazines.
Forget about the inconveniences
that the people of Charleston
elt when they had to stand in lines
o receive food and clean water. Or
he inconveniences experienced by
he Sumter area when they were
vithout telephones and electricity,
low tiresome it must be for you to
cad about the people of Myrtle
Jeach who could not even shower
>r flush toilets. Let me apologize
>n behalf of the grief stricken pcoile
of our state for inconveniencrig
you, Dan Jensen.
I agree with you that there arc a
at of other things going on in the
? n..4 i
ruuu iuuay. dul iiuw tiosc lO
ome do these other events really
it? President Bush's drug progam
is not going to rebuild govemtent
housing for the poor. Noriega
1 Panama is not going to restore
/ildlife and our coastline, only
me can do that Even the World
eries cannot repair the destruction
round our state.
I am pleased to discover, howver,
that I have seen hundreds of
enerous people, unlike Jensen. It
i wonderful to see the people of
oulh Carolina working together to
iplenish our land after this dreadtl
event.
Elizabeth A. Barrett
English junior