The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 06, 1991, Page 3, Image 3
Issues
Student Government must work
on problems it can control
Now that the dust has settled in the USC Student Government
elections, it is time for the winners to make good on their campaign
promises. Looking over the big issues concerning students,
the outlook is pessimistic.
Crime on campus is a consistent problem at USC, but there is
little more that can be done about it now. With callboxes and regular
police patrols, the campus is protected well. Student leaders
won't be able to reduce crime much more unless they encourage
students to never leave their dorms.
Tuition is ever-increasing, hut again, the student leadershiD will
not be able to affect financial decisions made on the state level.
Similarly, it is doubtful the student president and vice president
can make the Carolina Research and Development Foundation
clean up its act.
However, the students' elected leaders can make a difference, as
former S.G. President Marie-Louise Ramsdale proved with her aggressive
leadership. Student Government leaders can prevent the
worst excesses of power by the Board of Trustees (as shown by
Ramsdale's negotiations with the board over opposite-sex
visitation).
President-elect Manish Shrivastava has some fresh ideas, such
_1 ? _ lit -f 1!.!-! ...1 _1 1J 1 . - J J
as ms pian 10 maKe a nil lisi 01 politicians wnu snouiu oe vuieu
out of office because of their lack of support to the USC system.
This is as close as the student president can come to influencing
the amount of money the state allocates to USC.
Vice president-elect Shine Brooks received a lot of attention for
his proposed programs. These could turn out to be good ideas if he
can persuade faculty and administration to implement them. His
idea for a grade-forgiveness policy might be especially difficult to
get through the powers-that-be.
In summary, our student leaders are hardly symbolic figureheads,
but they will have to work to gain influence in a university
dominated by the good of boy network.
GREAT MOMENTS IN GOVERNMENT
The Invention
Of The / \
& i ft? I
ruacy ( g V
1
The Gamecock
i
News: 777-7726 Advertising: 777-4249
Kathy Blackwell robyn Thompson
?<#tor in Chief Managing Editor
Chris Silvestri David Bowden
Copy Desk Chief Viewpoint Editor
Lucy Soto Kathy Heberger
News Editor Carolina Life Editor
Steve Johnson renee Meyer
Sports Editor Photography Editor
Aaron Sheinin Tige Watts
Assistant News Editor Assistant News Editor
Oct a via Wright Patrick Vellegas
Assistant Carolina Life Editor Assistant Sports Editor
Jennifer Jablonski Julie bouchillon
Assistant Copy Desk Chief Assistant Photography Editor
Eric Glenn Wayne Williams
Darkroom Lab Technician Comics Editor
Ed Bonza Erik Collins
Director of Student Media Faculty Adviser
Laura S. Day ray Burgos
Production Manager ~ Assistant Production Manager
renee Gibson Kyle Berry
Advertising Manager Assistant Advertising Manager
Carolyn Griffin
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, pro- <
fessional 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 I
space limitations. The newspaper will not withhold names under any ]
circumstance. I
President hurl
Jim Bakker and Jim Holderman: long lost
wins? Think about it.
Same first name, same moral consciousness,
>oth belong in jail and both deserve to have to
;ell plasma monthly to put themselves through
:ollege.
Who should we start with? Most everyone
cnows the crimes to humanity Jim Bakker has
:ommitted in his tenure as No. 1 butt-head.
Poor little old ladies who actually find comort
and security in their religion are turned
igainst it by the likes of Bakker. As Hank Wil
iams Jr. said, 'They're asking you to send your
noney to the Lord, but they're giving you their
iddress."
Does this make sense? And why is society
lefending such a con-artist? Oh yeah, fry the
;uy who got fed up with the hand society has
lealt him and robbed the local Circle K, but put
t heart-stomping, faith-stealing (at this point, I
;uffered a severe anxiety attack by trying to
hink of a non-expletive strong enough to get
ny point across) jack-ass like Bakker back on
he street, because the judge gave him a piece
)f his mind. Where is the justice in this?
I better move on to Holderman before I pop a
)lood vessel, die and not get to thrash that basardizing
ex-president.
First, let me make it clear that Jim Holderman
did do some things to benefit this university.
He has helped us get on the front row of
academia in state universities, and he propelled
several programs to national acclaim. Holderman's
goal of being a top 10 school by 2001 is
within reach.
However, with the recent discoveries of his
inexcusable spending and outrageous salary
Bush guaranti
This article is a shameless rip-off of Rich
raylor's Chip Shots column in our beloved
Sports section. My column is a compilation of
various ideas floating around in my head that I
have been meaning to rave about.
. . . Now that President Bush has locked up
another term as our exalted leader, the Democrats
should run somebody out of the political
mainstream who they can use to raise dozens of
neglected concerns Bush has been overlooking.
Jesse Jackson would be ideal. Maybe he can
embarrass Bush into doing a better job domesti?11-.
Litliy 111 111S SCCVJ11U LH 111.
. . . Speaking of the presidency, the Republicans
may stay in power for the rest of the decade.
General Schwarzkopf in 1996 is a real
possibility. The U.S. loves to elect generals
(Washington, Jackson, Grant and Eisenhower
come to mind). Hope that trend doesn't start in
the USSR.
. . . The Peace Prize going to President Gorbachev
may be the Nobel Prize Committee's
biggest mistake since giving Pearl Buck the
LETTERS TO Tl
Soldier writes coalition fo
in tt7 around our
OH CjUII Wnr army units
Foreign Le
To the editor: ^Pf frorr
Normally at this time of year, I 1 States i
would be a student at USC. Instead simP'y beCt
I am just inside the Saudi/Iraqi n wc car
border waitine for the eround war _ .must
to begin. (This letter was written au "er ar
on Feb. 15, but was just received niC(j_ c ean 1
Monday, ed.) I have just finished e*c ang'ng
reading the edition of Jan. 25 and a 011 Li c
find myself highly irritated at the v^ar' ey
letter sent by Lila Faulkner and 1 e
Nicole Berrv a duSty' w
bers of th
They state that "the United They are U
States has rushed into an unneces- ever met. 1
>ary war." This is wrong. The U.S. are here,
gave Saddam every chance to sur- These m
render before attacking. We did kings fight
not rush into anything. they are ev
Also, the U.S. is not the only want to go
LOSER*
; USC more th
rfr" 1
' * AARON SHEININ
supplements, he might want to adopt a new
goal for 2001: not being in jail.
Many of his "supplements" were reported to
never have been entered on his taxes: uh-oh
Jimmy, that's a no-no.
I remember when I was a freshman, during
Carolina Preview week, I saw slides of Holderman.
I remember thinking, "This dork is the
president of our university?" I soon found out
however, through my work with The Gamecock,
that he was not a geek, just a crook.
How is it possible, that $3.3 million in scho
larsnip money couia oe spent on paying me ivoger
debt?
How is it possible to justify a $32,000 Hawaiian
vacation, Jimmy?
How, Jimbo, could you defend why in the
hell you sent a $3,000 Excalibur doohickey to
Bill Cosby for speaking at commencement? I'm
sure we paid him plenty anyway.
$400 for a pair of cowboy boots for the late
Joe Morrison, James? I could maybe understand
Jim Morrison, but not this.
Holderman is now living in Jacksonville, Fla.
This doomed town lies right off 1-95, the interstate
that leads to Daytona, where many college
students will be heading this weekend.
I have a request for all USC students headed
that way. Stop by his house, sit on his front
porch and ask for a dime because you didn't get
that scholarship you were counting on. See if he
tells you not to fret because you have a worldclass
arts center to sleep in at night.
eed to win, G
f%?f DAVID BOWDEN
1
prize for Literature. Gorbachev will be lucky
(or unlucky, depending on how you see it) if he
is still in charge in 1992. The onerous job of
running that mess called a country may soon be
in the hands of either a reformer like Boris
Yeltsin or a military dictator.
. . . The Bowden Early Pick for the next
Nobel Prize goes to F.W. DeKlerk, prime minister
of South Africa. In one speech before the
South African parliament, he set the wheels
turning for the end of apartheid.
. . . One of the more amazing things in 1991
happened almost unnoticed because of the Persian
Gulf War. The Warsaw Pact has officially
disbanded, leaving NATO as the only military
HE EDITOR
h troops here. This is a was taken away by a n
rce. In just a small area war will be won when
camp, there are French this.
, units of the French Jim
gion, Saudi troops and Operation D
i Bangladesh. The UnIs
of course doing more AlllfTHIl ?1
luse we can. To do less ?
i would be wrong. p j ~ op J| (
be quite easy for Ms. HIvII
id Ms. Berry to sit in a
classroom or apartment To the editor:
cute political cliches Surely, Mr. Watts,
non-necessity of this response to your edii
should remember one Feb. 27 issue of 77i<
jy are not here. I live in comes as no surprise ti
indy place with mem- labeled as "apathetic
e Kuwaiti resistance. conservatives" is not c
le finest people I have for, but quite judgmei
rhey are the reason we part.
Being graduates o
ten are not princes or High School and supp
ing to regain a throne, actions taken by Princ
eryday people who just denbaugh, we have
back to the home that where were you whei
> STILL
DM
an he helped
That's another good idea. I hereby propose
that every USC student should march on the
Koger Center, rip out a chair and take it with
them. Hell, I might even get one of those nifty
things out of the lobby as payment for the scholarship
I should have gotten.
Now, this isn't to say that this is the only reason
I didn't get a scholarship from the university.
It also is partly because I screwed around
in high school. However, I have chosen to
champion the cause of all the poor saps who did
get robbed. And that's what it is: robbery. And
we, the students, in order to form a more perfect
school, should show our anger!
All you in-staters out there, write your legislators,
tell them you want Holderman's butt in
a sling or their head on a platter.
Out-of-staters send hate mail to the Board of
Trustees and SLED demanding Jim Holderman
be tarred and feathered.
We deserve and must start demanding better
than this. No matter what he did to increase the
credibility of this university, it couldn't have
been done without us, the students, for God's
sake, and to think the administration has started
to forget this. It's our job to cattle-prod their
memory and force them to start serving the
needs of the students instead of the needs of
their wallets.
What it comes down to is I'm pissed off. Jim
Bakker and Jim Holderman are both despicable,
and neither one of them really deserves the
time, work, stress, ink and paper it has taken to
make this column, but I think this needs to be
addressed. We have a voice! Whip out the
Chloroseptic and oil that sucker up.
I implore every single student or faculty
member out there who is not happy with the
present situation, to get off their behinds and
take some intiative. Let's get them both.
orby to lose
organization in Europe. If anyone didn't already
know, this is the final proof that Communism is
dead. Somebody should tell Fidel C-astro and
Deng Xiaoping.
... An editorial in The Christian Science
Monitor called for the disbanding of the costly
Selective Service Administration as it has been
proven that our volunteer military does a great
job without draftees. Being a 20-year-old male,
I couldn't agree more. Seriously, the draft as a
necessary part of our military machine will
probably never be used again, so why bother?
... It is sad that Japan, a country I greatly
admire, showed so little intestinal fortitude in
the gulf war. Japan has a huge military machine
that should have been put to use defending its
own oil interests.
Protecting the stability of the Persian Gulf
should fit any Japanese definition of "selfdefense."
For a country with such a long military
tradition, Japan is really being a . . . how
shall I say it, a member of the feline species?
ladman. The was united under yellow ribbons?
they can do Why only report the diversities
within the school? Where was your
i M. Cherry "judge and jury" journalism then,
esert Storm Mr. Watts?
We are very much aware that
coicf this has been a "personal hell" for
many people, but everyone has a
finl right to express their opinions ?
liUl even the ones protesting the pro
testers. Mr. Watts, we have had
nothing but respect for your jourthis
letter in nalism in the past, but you have
torial in the crossed over the line this time.
? Gamecock As a final statement expressing
o you. Being 0pjnjon Qf at two Lexing:
puckerbutt tQn School graduates (and
rnly uncalled peace-loving, patriotic Americans),
n on y?ur Mr. Watts, you can kiss our white
apathetic puckerbutts!
f Lexington John A Benson
>orters of die Lexington High Class of 1986
ipal J?e Be~ Joanne L. Benson
to as you. Lexington High Class of 1990
n the school