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Tickets Parking committee, legislature pass proposal for fee increases The parking battle at USC is quickly making enemies of faculty and students, and the latest developments are no exception. Thursday, the state legislature passed a $1 increase to USCissued parking tickets that will go into effect next semester. Except for students who amass wallet-crunching amounts of tickets through the year, a $1 increase is not going to do anyone's finances too much damage. However, this bill was sent through the University Parking Committee during the summer, when there was no student representation on their board. The parking committee is comprised of eight faculty members and two students. All issues concerning parking at the university must be voted on by the committee before it takes its next step down legislative lane. Considering that the parking directly affects students, it seems rather presumptuous of the committee members to assume that we wouldn't mind if they go ahead and vote without us. We have a right to representation in any decisions that affect students. Granted, this decision only cost us a dollar, but what if they pushed a proposal to turn a student lot into a faculty lot through one summer. Students would really make noise then. Then, however, might be too late, so we need to make noise now when injustices such as this one arise. Here's another thing to think about. With over 27,000 students at USC and only a little over 1,000 faculty members, why are there eight faculty members on the parking committee and only .two students. Doesn't the logic behind that system of representation seem slightly flawed? And while tuition rates keep rising, these same eight faculty members voted Thursday for gates to keep students out of two faculty lots that will cost over $16,000 each, plus the cost of labor. The two students representatives voted against the proposal. That $32,000 will be taken out of students' tuition and the extra dollars we will all be paying next semester for parking tickets. <fy\CK TEAM -A, - - I The Gamecock I News: 777-7726 Advertising: 777-4249 Jeff Wilson Sharon Willamson Editor in Chief Managing Editor/Copy Desk Chief Lynn Gibson Elizabeth lynch News Editor Carolina Life Editor DougAube Renee Meyer Sports Editor Photography Editor Kelly C. Thomas Viewpoints Editor Elizabeth Fox Sherri Tillman Assistant News Editor Assistant News Editor David Bowden Kathy heberger Assistant Carolina Life Editor Assistant Carolina Life Editor Brant Long Julie Bouchillon Assistant Sports Editor Assistant Photography Editor Sara Verne Octavia Wright Assistant Copy Desk Chief Assistant to the Editors Kristin Francis Erik Collins Graduate Assistant Faculty Adviser Ed Bonza Laura S. Day Director of Student Media Production Manager Ray Burgos Renee Gibson Assistant Production Manager Advertising Manager Kyle Berry Carolyn Griffin Assistant Advertising Manager Business Manager Letters Policy: The Gamecock will try to print all letters received. Letters should be, at maximum, 250 to 300 words long. The writer must include full name, professional title if a USC employee or South Carolina resident, or year and major if a student. An address and phone number are required with all letters sent. The Gamecock reserves the right to edit letters for style, possible libel or in case of space limitations. The newspaper will not withhold names under any ; circumstance. 1 I of m& irmimv. mTKittpof ipior miv ! mtmPiMWtf True race< Some time ago (April 20, 1990), I read with much interest a ventriloquisitc column by W.E. Rone Jr. in The State newspaper. It has been on my mind from time to time ever since. As Mr. Rone sees it, the central question today is, "Why, after 25 years of equal rights ? indeed of special remedial treatment under the law ? do so many African-Americans remain outside the bounds of middle class society? Why do even educated blacks seem increasingly remote, hostile and paranoid? In a society besotted with quick fixes and easy answers to every problem, is this the one that will prove insoluble?" I thought about Mr. Rone's column as I listened to President George Bush at the USC Commencement last May. He talked about the injuries "beneath the surface ... The deep scars on the spirit left by four decades of communist rule (in Eastern Europe)." As I listened to him talk about believers persecuted, churches and cemeteries razed, citizens turned against one another, etc., my mind wandered back to the centuries of oppression here at home. We should not be surprised if it takes a long time to undo the infrastructure that it took centuries to construct Just one example: isn't it ironic that today, eleven o'clock on Sunday morning remains the most segregated hours in America? The issues we are discussing are matters of conscience and the spirit; the churches are the primary institution of leadership in those areas. But this is no reason for despair. No matter how long the distance, history will record that we in our time took a giant step. The strides wer made in our time should be a source of pride and inspiration. It clearly demonstrates that we can and have changed. We must keep the faith and move steadfastly forward with vigor. The claim that we have had 25 years of "equal rights" is wholly illusory. First, even if we assume that our society has 25 years ago. There is no doubt that Brown v. Board of Education 'of Topeka and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 established a policy of equal treatment under law. However, it is likewise true that translating that policy into reality required numerous court decisions, presidential orders and actions, legislative hearings, conferences, etc., over many years. Therefore, as a statement '.'.'J . . - -.-J.'.'.i. LETTERS TO Th i li-itru n,. . .. - -::.- ...>: . ...- .V.: - - . Sex dilemmas confines of that's great race everyone main cem* " partner ? c To the editor: wishes. I would like to respond to Mr. Burkholder (Nov. 5) in a very But fidel; simple manner. The definition of lion' is a 1 bisexuality is not a person who has lliat eac^ c had sex with people of both sexes, make for c but a person who is sexually at- perfect way traded to both sexes. Ideally, a as ,0^ bisexual person can choose from ^ere either sex for'a life partner. Fidel- can 5 ity does not even enter into the si- whom? . .? m? Oh QnH tuauon ai mis poini. inis is a """ question that couples have to an- holder, one swer for themselves. probcms a not happen Again, I would like to remind tionship. A everyone that hetero-, homo-, or against sucl bisexuals (that means everybody) nicate open] have a choice. To have sex or to all subjects not have sex is everyone's "moral and "moral dilemma." If you want to have sex has. Once tl with everyone who you .are at- is up to the tracted to, go to it. As long as both decide whal parties consent and are of legal their relatioi age, who cares? Those who prefer One othe quality still a O'NEAL SMALLS CrLLp.xt dnlumnixt of legal reality, it is incorrect to say that we have had 25 years of "equal rights." Secondly, Mr. Rone's statement implies that 25 years ago, the people in power ? people who dispense privileges, ended racial discrimination and started treating people equally. That is simply not true. When viewed against the background of some three centuries of deliberate and effective efforts to turn the races against each other and to dehumanize AfricanAmericans, 25 years is a very short period of time. There is simply no way to dismantle and eradicate all of the trappings of racism in such a short period of time. The legal, social, religious, political, economic and psychological infrastructures of racism and racial separation have been carefully and systematically constructed over the centuries. Attitudes and stereotypes were set in cement on both sides of the racial wall. There is another reason why the notion of 25 years of equal treatment is misleading. That reason is reflected in an important maxim that rings down through the ages, and should not be forgotten. It must influence out thinking about those "twenty-five years of equal rights." That proverb says that "to treat unequal equities equally is also a great injustice." I am reminded of the old fable in which milk was offered to a fox and a stork on a flat plate. In a superficial sense, there was equality in that both could drink from the plate. But can anyone seriously doubt the need for different serving utensils if the stork is to enjoy the milk? So it is with race relations. It is like having two runners, one having been bound and chained for a long time while the other was exercising and running. To release the former and expect him to immediately compete in a race with the latter, is wholly unrealistic. Knowledge is both cultural and cumulative. IE EDITOR . . .. ual activity within the couple has a "Christian special relationships ? does not automatically i Those who wish to re- each will be faithful to ite until finding a life :ongratulations and best Hypocrisy runs rampant ligions and belief systems face looks do not always ity, like sexual orienta- truth. Be careful what v /ery personal decision bandy around, Mr. Burkl )f us has the right to one day you may find tl lurselves. There is no one has a clearer view c for everyone. As long tion than you do, and yo us differs in any way, forced to eat the words be different lifestyles, have spoken, say what is right for Dorene Thomas Cooper I by the way, Mr. Burkwould hope that such 17 4-1% s you describe would H/illfllC WO in a permanent reia- _ m i good way to insure are insulti i would be to commuly with one's partner on To the editor: , especially the sexual This letter is in respom code" that each partner Taylor's Nov. 5 article lose codes are known it noles scalp USC, send f partners as a whole to early." It is bad enougl l constitutes fidelity for Florida State campus p< nship. the racist objectification i r thing: just because a can Indians through the long way off What a student knows depends to an important degree upon what her grandparents taught her parents, and upon what the parents taught the student The characteriestics, traits habits, etc. of any ethic or discrete insular group can only be truly understood in a culturally historic context. For good or ill, our minds and behavior are shaped in fundametal ways by the dreams and fears of our parents and forebearers. To an important extent thev influence us from their graves. I am told that in the fall of 1989, 54 percent of African?American freshmen in the nation came from homes where the parents were either divorced, separated or deceased (as compared to 25 percent of the white freshmen). The disparity between income was also great 38 percent of the African?American freshmen came from home with income under $20,000 as compared to 12 percent of the white freshmen grew up in homes where the mother was not a high school graduate as compared to 6 percent of the white freshmen; 20 percent of the fathers of African?American freshmen did not have a high school education as compared to 9 percent of the white freshmen. These realities affect the quality and nature of education young people receive. Home education is just as important, if not more important, as school education. Most importantly, the education received in the homes of Black and White students is simply different. So when we bring discrete" groups togeter, one group should not insist on measuring everbody by its old measuring stick. When we bring the races together, we must fashion a new order r I * 1 . i ii mere is 10 re muiuai respect ana equality. Neither group should insist on having the other abandon its values and wholly adopt theoter's way of life. Rather we should take from both to create a new unity and a new society. Intersecting values, cultural eclecticism; this is the challenge at USC in the 1990's. With a good will, this task can renew and electrify our alma?mater. O'Neal Smalls is a professor at the USC Law School and chairman of the USC ad hoc committee on race relations. I X marriage" sake "the Seminoles." In fact, the naon iVmt ovictpnrp r\f national cnr>rts tpams uv*au uiai v/vwivnw ?* " * """ the other, such as the Washington Redskins and the Kansas City Chiefs ought in all re- to be considered a shameful refleci, and sur- tion of our treatment of the Amerireveal the can Indian as an ethnic group. /ords you of course, most viewers of holder, or Monday Night Football are hardly lat some- phased. Rich Taylor's reference to if a situa- the football team's successes as u may be "scalpings" is irritating for two that you reasons: 1) it is yet one more example of an insensitivity to AmeriM. Boltz can Indians as an ethnic minority librarian group, except this time made by a university student (who should 1 know better?); and 2) it is such an rUS obvious and overused metaphor that it highlights Taylor's oblivi112 ousness to this issue, as well as his ? lack of headline creativity. Next time, why not cut right to the se to Rich quick: "Redman Tomahawk j, "Semi- Squash-um Chickenhead." Or betans home ter yet, why not show some respect i that the and stop using these insulting ;rpetuates cliches. of Ameri- Peter J. Ferbel sir name- anthropology graduate student