The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, December 07, 1990, Page 3, Image 3
Surprise
Smith changes tune about salaries
after criticism by local media
USC Interim President Arthur Smith discussed university
salaries during a 20-minute speech to about 250 faculty men
bers Wednesday.
Smith said he would revise salaries if selected as president <
the university.
"I do believe the next president should reorganize the adm
nistration, change a number of titles, reporting relationships ar
position descriptions," Smith said. "I also believe that once th
reorganization is carried out, the next permanent president shoul
invite the state personnel division to carry out another manag<
ment review of the position responsibilites and salary ranges."
Smith said he would decrease raises given to university admin
strators, eliminate extra compensation and be more judicious wil
salary supplements for private sources.
Smith called media reports about the salaries, "university basl
ing" that "have propagated a variety of misinformation, and I b
lieve this ... ought to be exposed as such."
It is good to see Smith so committed to making salary reforn
if he is selected university president. But isn't it interesting th
Smith's commitment level has increased since this "misinform;
tion" and "university bashing" by the media has occurred?
Where was Smith's commitment to revising salaries a fe
1_~ O 1X71 1 .1 A C 1 ?/i.. I.
wccks ago: wnere was 11 wiien uie avciagc tji pay h
creases were handed out, including a $5,046 raise for Smith
Where was Smith's commitment before a petition was circulate
by faculty members calling on the university's leadership to free/
administrative salaries indefinitely until professors' average pa
increase to regional average?
Where was Smith's commitment before South Carolina Horn
Education Committee Chairman David Beasley, D-Darlingtoi
said that in order to eliminate some of the unnecessary administr;
tive positions, it might be necessary to hire someone other tha
Smith as USC's next president?
Isn't it interesting how a little "university bashing" and "misii
formation" by the media can make Smith change his tune?
Life is full of little surprises.
THE 6REAT PISQPVERY
OP/MOH
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Mm^\A Sk&2 \ (fig\ ^5 CONFLICTS - LIKE
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i The Gamecock
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Editor in Chief Managing Editor /Copy Desk Chie
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Assistant Advertising Manager Business Manage
' Letters Policy: The Gamecock will try to print all letters received. Letters shot
be, at maximum, 250 to 300 words long. The writer must include full name, pr
fessional title if a usc employee or South Carolina resident, or year and majoi
a student An address and phone number are required with all letters sent. T
Gamecock reserves the right to edit letters for style, possible libel or in case
space limitations. The newspaper will not withhold names under ai
circumstance. ^
k
3f
i
iy
e p
LETTERS T(
di~ -. -
m
vx nn
v Kacism aiiects
whites, blacks
To the editor:
As a student of USC, I have had
time to realize what racism is and
how it affects the majority of the
population, both white and black.
Bigots judge everyone according 1
to their outward appearance or beliefs
? skin pigment, the shape of
facial features, the color of eyes.
To people of small minds, these
criteria are vastly important. To
people of normal intellect, they are
the mark of twisted minds.
i
The definition of racism is "the j
belief that some races are inhe
rently superior to others." Racism (
is also a form of intellectual lazi- i
ness, meaning that those people i
don't take the time to learn about |
other cultures or races do not feel
that it is important to them. ]
Since coming to college, I have
realized a few things. It seems col- i
lege is a place where you test the j
validity or an 01 your Knowledge j
and pretty much set yourself the i
way you will be the rest of your
life. It also is a place where you
can interact with people of other
cultures and races. But some people
seclude themselves from other
groups by joining fraternities or
sororities that seclude themselves
from the rest of campus. And there
are a few fraternities on this campus
who show they like things just
the way they are, or worse. (
m 1 Take Kappa Alpha, for instance.
Their slogan is "The Old South." .
What exactly does that mean? It
seems to have a racist undertone
because it suggests that they wish
g the South was the way it was (
"back in the old days." Well to
me, the "old days" seems to be a (
part of time most of us are trying (
f to forget. Also, I was thrown out
of a Delta Upsilon party because
of my color. Why? A lot of people
don't even know why they are racist
Once you realize you do discriminate
against certain people,
ask yourself why, and do you think
^ that person is losing sometning
from your discrimination? You
R might be losing something too.
'r Another topic is interracial dat^
ing. A lot of people say that they
'r would not marry a person from
r another race because the child
s would grow up with no identity or
that the children would not be acS
cepted. The people who say these
r things are the people who won't
y accept the children. Also, a lot of
r these children come out beautiful,
^ both male and female. Take Marr
iah Carey, Jasmine Guy or Mario
^ Van Peebles. What would you do
if you found out one of your
c I _ J.J c .u ?
menus uaieu someone nuin uic
opposite race? A verse from Public
,ld Enemy shows what happens:
o- "Man, you need to calm down.
' if Don't get mad, I don't need your
sister, (But suppose she said she
?y loved me). Would you still love
her or would you dismiss her?
What is pure, who is pure? Is it
a
UPP TUP RAKFR
rl|U|\} III*? VI ? "
3 THE EDITOR
European, I ain't sure. If the whole in
world was to come through peace ca
and love, then what would we be ha
made of." cc
Five Points is an area where ag
most of the college's party people
go to have a good time, but the
majority ot the entertainment or- so
fered at some of the clubs is te<
geared toward whites, and so no of
effort is made to attract any of the de
USC blacks. fu
an
If we want a better world, we ^
must change now. It is hard for me ar
to trust someone who in the 1950s ^
ind '60s tried to prevent integra- ^
lion but who now wants black ^
males at their schools just to play w
football or basketball. We must
ilso teach our children to love ^
everyone because racist children ^
will be left out in the future. They $c
will not profit from their beliefs ^
but then will suffer. ^
Years from now, hopefully, peo- as
pie will look back and say the bi- ta
gots and racists were stupid and y
that might apply to some of us. So, ^
if you read this and you are of- j
fended, please don't be because
[he truth only hurts the guilty. M
Robert T. Davis j
political science sophomore p(
War efforts ?
Si
unjustifiable
in
gl
To the editor: w
After reading the letter to the jt
editor, "Columnist ignores facts" n(
in Friday's Gamecock, I was unnerved
as W. Keith Coones and w
Jonathan McHenry came to the de- nj
fense of President Bush and our, er
"geopolitical and economic inter- C(
ests in the Middle East." If this ab- &
surd contradiction is an expression
of the sentiments of the majority m
of Americans today, then we do ^
face a great crisis ? here in ^
America. With a quick glance at w
"the facts," Bush's war effort can- ^
not be reasonably justified. ju
First, it is Coones' and ^
McHenry's claim that it "is our
moral obligation to uphold the
rights of the legitimate Kuwaiti
government." Come on now, let's
not be pretentious. This war is for f
oil. But,-let's suppose for a moment
that Hussein is, in fact, ~
another Hitler. Right. And Dan *
Quayle is another John F. Kennedy.
But, perhaps we may sup- To
pose for a moment that this is a
"fight for right," and that we, as the
Americans, have an obligation to Ca
play world policemen. Gosh. How he:
suddenly Bush realized Hussein's
i .* r i ... T a.
vioiauon or numan rignts. n is the
funny that this is the man who has, m(
for the past decade, opposed sane- sul
tions that denounced Iraq and in ch
the last week of July vetoed sane- of
tions by Congress against Saddam H(
in his violation of human rights. "q
And, are we really expected to co
believe that "Bush has tried to sti
avoid war from the onset by ex- do
hausting all available diplomatic dc
power," when only days before the
invasion of our official position, as ne
fw ' > L
. ,THE CAN-PO 5CI
dicated to Hussein by the Amerin
Ambassador in Iraq, was "we
ive no opinion on Arab-Arab
inflicts like your boarder dis.reement
with Kuwait."
Second, it seems to me that our
ldiers, when they pledged to pro:t
our shores, invested a degree
trust in the wisdom of our presi:nt.
But where is the wisdom in
st setting an ultimatum for war
id sending a diplomat to consider
peaceful solution later. What
X)nes and McHenry speak of is
t adherence to a zealous, nationa;tic
ideal, which has proved in
e past to be extremely detrimen1
to the American psyche and
hat Bush calls, "the American
ay of life." Will we ever learn
am our mistakes? It seems that
milar notions of this American
nse of mission led to the futile
;ath of many thousands of young
mericans just two decades ago,
"a repressive and unstable mili
ry dictatorship in South
ietnam," as Robert Bellah put it,
icame a symbol of world free>m
and the American duty.
Third, what Coones and
[cHenry call the "world oil supies,"
which "the U.S. is in the
jrsian Gulf to protect," is a falcy.
When 4.2 percent of the
orld's population (the United
tates), is the world's largest
lergy consumer, has the greatest
ipact on fossil fuel depletion and
obal warming, and unnecessarily
astes 41 percent of all the energy
uses, perhaps it is the world that
>eds protection from us.
We must also remember that it
as the Reagan and Bush admiistrations
that have crippled
lergy research in our country and
msequently left us so utterly oil
jpendent.
The potential use of offensive
ilitary force against Iraq cannot
; reasonably justified and reveals
e complete lack of traditional
isdom in U.S. foreign policy and
e use of nationalistic zeal to conre
the support of the American
jople for self interests.
Dan Bush
media arts sophomore
I!ablevision
tot necessity
the editor:
Someone please explain to me
s logic of expanding Gamecock
blevision to "serve" the students
re at USC.
As I understand it, residents in
j Towers (a predominantly freshin
complex) will soon be able to
bscribe to twelve different cable
annels. These channels are being
fered because the director of
)using Services said they are a
uasi-necessity." How can they
nsider this important when Prean,
Sims and several other
urns, which house upperclassmen
n't even have air conditioning?
I consider good, safe parking a
cessity, but there is a severe
jjjg|
{TICK MAKER
% Is % i sS % |
shortage of spaces, and those few
that are there are poorly lighted
and in a different zip code. Graduate
assistants and resident advisers
are a necessity, but the university
is not going to replace them.
Once again, salaries have gone
up for top administrators while our
bills go up as well.
If armed gates on pampered fa
i-._. i i ui~
cuuy iuciiiDCi s iuls anu uauic in
the Towers are necessities, then I
guess my value system is just really
messed up.
If the university is in such a
budget crunch, let them prove it by
cutting things like useless administrative
positions and saving
energy by recycling. As a university
community, we should be
worried about greater things than
giving the Towers more cable
channels.
Jeff Dunson
criminal justice sophomore
Letter writer
fallacy victim
To the editor:
In the Dec. 3 issue of The
Gamecock, Katerina Kaloyanova
said the deployment of forces in
the Gulf will be "a model of the
international relations in the future"
and she urges the Bulgarian
volunteers to go as quickly as possible
to the region after the authorization
of the U.N. Security
WUI1V11*
Obviously, Kaloyanova has fallen
victim to the fallacy of composition
? if the American president
is deploying forces in the
Gulf and if Gorbachev approves of
tougher actions against Iraq, this is
the new world order and it cannot
be achieved in any other way different
from the use of force.
I am confident the place of Bulgaria
in the world of tomorrow
will be determined not by the repetition
of yesterday's mistakes.
The Soviet Union went into Czechoslovakia
and so did Bulgaria.
The United States wants war with
Iraq, and so Bulgaria should join at
once to demonstrate the shift in
her foreign policy.
Confident that no war would
have, ever heen u/aaeri if the. Ku
waiti economy was based on carrots,
(as a friend of mine says), I
think that not all diplomatic channels
have been tried and not all
peaceful means finished in order to
speak of a new war. Let's hope
that the peaceful efforts will bear
fruit and lay the foundation of the
new world order.
Ivailo Izvorski
business junior
Correction
In Wednesday's edition of The
Gameock, John Hanson's letter
was mistyped. The correct sentence
reads "Now we see clear
across the globe this country called
Iraq that has massacred many of
its non-Arab Kurds who just want
a country of their own." The
Gamecock regrets the error.
i