The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 27, 1993, Page 2, Image 2
"(Baifaclt
Serving (JSC Since 1908
J.T. Wagenbeim, Editor in Chief Shayla Stutts, Viewpoints Editor
EDITORIAL BOARD
Jay King, Gordon Mantler, Rob Rodusky,
Lee Clontz, Carson Henderson
Gender bias
USC activates task force to study
inequities in female faculty's salary
This past week, a task force study of USC professors' salaries
revealed that inequities exist. In other Words, men are get
ung paiu lllOie limn wumcii.
Women are no longer cast in a traditional role. This is a relatively
new trend to the 20th century. Women appear content with certain
freedoms and opportunities, appear to be on equal standing
with men. The truth is women's salaries reveal otherwise.
We must decipher the secrets behind the numbers, though.
According to the Professional Women on Campus, 32 of the 207
ranked faculty women make more than $50,000 a year. However,
280 of the 691 men working on a nine-month contract without
administrative duties make more than $50,000.
These numbers raise the issue of exactly what types of jobs these
salaries are related to. And why are there so many fewer ranked
faculty women? How much professional and educational experience
do the men versus the women have under their belts?
Women's emergence since the days of the American Dream has
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have many miles to cover before society recognizes them for their
potential. No one said it would be a simple task to cut through the
entanglements of a ready-made structure where men make key
decisions.
This would be simple if women were happy with a slightly lower
salary than their male colleagues. However, as women continue to
stand up taller, their heads keep bumping into the glass ceiling.
What contributes to this problem? Many male professors have
been teaching at this school for years, long before the presence of
women in USC's academic system. Experience alone creates higher
earning potential. Those who have been here since the '50s don't
change the fact that everybody is struggling to keep up in 1993.
The cost of living is skyrocketing. If you think women have it easier
today simply because they've seized the challenge of working
alongside men, think again.
The type of oppression women receive now is a bigger blow to
confidence and sense of self, especially when it happens in the academic
world. It's absolutely unfair that women who have as equally
high merit and intelligence as men are making less money.
Take Nora Bell for example. This leader in bioethics left USC
this summer to become a dean at the University of North Texas.
She was not offered more money as an incentive to stay at USC.
The USC administration allowed yet another asset, who just happened
to be a woman, to slip through its fingers. A culturally progressive
school only diminishes its power when it allows quality
employees to depart frustrated and disappointed for not receiving
the treatment they deserve.
Women should actively seek positions where key decisions are
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face more competition with each other rather than constantly battling
their male colleagues. Meanwhile, USC, the principle academic
source in the Columbia community, must face the music. To
those women who have earned it, USC owes them pay equal to that
of their male counterparts.
No constitutional basis for women
in Citadel Corps of Cadets
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of _
Appeals will meet in Richmond, L
Va., today to consider whether I
Susan Faulkner was denied her BI. W
constitutional rights by The
Citadel, which is a state-support- lk?igL
ed school. Faulkner was accepted
to the all-male military institute I
earlier this year and was later f?
denied admission after the
administration learned of her
gender. TTie court will review the
widesnread accusation that the
S.C. school offers men better
educational opportunities than concerned. If this amendment
women. was law and Faulkner was denied
I don't wish to tackle the issue admission to The Citadel, then
of allowing women to be a part she could argue that her constituof
the Corps of Cadets. Rather, I tional rights were violated. To
would like to address two other say that women are being denied
ideas that came to my mind when an "inalienable" right in this case
I learned of this latest event in is an unfair statement,
the ongoing battle of The Citadel The argument that The Citadel
v. All Women. should automatically admit
How can Faulkner's constitu- women because it receives state
tional rights be violated when the ending neeas ciarincation. io
Constitution doesn't guarantee knowledge, there are only a
anyone the right to an education? handful of schools in the nation,
I realize that a strict interprets Pnv,ate ^ state-supported,
lion of the 14th Amendment 5 Publlc
, . . ??or funding. Columbia College is an
mandates that everyone is guar- all.fema|e sc|)oo| ^ is?consid.
anteed an equal opportunity for ered prjva|e Whi)e Co|umbja
education. College doesn't receive as much
Women are now allowed to pubHc money as usc u does
enroll in night classes that are receive limited public funding.
comparable to the day classes nas it been forced by a federal
that men take at The Citadel. court to admit men? Has
Therefore, I assert that women Converse? How about Hood or
are absolutely guaranteed the Mount Holyoke? I don't think so.
same education as men at The Again, I don't want to opine
Citadel. Just because women on the issue of women being
aren't allowed to be a part of the allowed to join the Corps of
Corps of Cadets doesn't neces- Cadets. I just think the arguments
sarily mean that their constitu- surrounding the debate need
tional rights to an education are some fine-tuning before a fair
being violated, since the concept decision can be made.
of "education" isn't mentioned
once in the Constitution. Wagenheim is editor in chief
The proposed Equal Rights of The Gamecock. His column
Amendment would mandate that appears every other Monday.
gender shouldn't be a consideration
when college admissions are
What contributes to *
"Women * are still "I reall;
underpaid in society, stand
even though it has can rrn
gotten better." men if
mm . ,, the sam
Maceo Mitchell
Business senior tney
cioninQt
CI
i The -reason uhh v
I SEEM To BE S1
Extremists create i
"Don't accuse me of your crimes, Hewlett. I
didn't commit them."
Pretty strong words by journalism junior Bill
Blume in his letter to the editor in Wednesday's
issue of The Gamecock. Can anybody blame
him?
I've never been one for generalizations, and
apparently, Blume never has been either. That's
what I believe I've been witnessing these past
few weeks after Melinda Hewlett's letter to the
editor. I must admit it disturbs me greatly.
Now, it is true that in the past, fundamental Ca
Christians and I have rarely seen eye to eye, but 1
I feel compelled at this time to stick my neck
out for these people. Ch
Rpinn Q Rnman Pothnlif irk (hp dppn Qfkiilh I alt!
can relate to Blume and others like him for, on Sel
several occasions, I have been subject to the
generalizations and misinterpretations of ua]
We Want To
Does something really get under ;
everyone know about! The Gamec
words, include your phone numb
newsroom, Russell House room 32
salary inequality amoi
*m > yS/ f it*.
y I*
y don't under- "Men seem to h
how women more authority,
tke less than they shouldn't c
they're doing criminate agai
ie thing. Don't women just beca
have laws they're women."
lhls?" Tricia Mr
Brian IVIay Education sophor
tiemistry graduate
SC's SALARi BIAS
'uck IN THE SforJE/
Know What
^our skin. Maybe an editorial, colu
ock welcomes letters to the editor i
er and local address and submit i
1. We'll do our best to print it. Don't
B.C. " 0IOLo&/<
raise image of C
tholicism by other Christians.
Mow, the shoe is on the other foot.
I've been involved in Campus Crusade for
rist at times, and I can honestly say that,
hough I disagree with certain aspects of evan
lical and fundamental Christian doctrine, I
ye never heard one of them say that homosex1s
or abortion doctors should be killed. Most
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r
ig women faculty?
ave "In a lot of fields, f
but women are qualified,
lis- but (employers) take
nst the man's perspecuse
tive. They feel like a
man'c Hporf^P ic nf
)Ser higher status."
nore LaTasha Anderson
Engineering freshman
/PROGRESS
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Christian doctrine
of these types of Christians believe in the philosophy
of loving the sinner but hating the sin.
When one hears about the disturbing propaganda
of these extremist groups, one can be
rather quick to clump these David Koresh-type
organizations with what we know as the mainstream.
We as students on a campus that
recently held a Diversity Week need to be a bit
more knowledgeable before judging people as a
whole. Remember it's always best not to judge
at all.
As far as extremist groups go, they should be
avoided at all costs. They are nothing but trou
ble. They are characterized by hate, malice and
inability to understand sacred writings.
However, let's keep these groups separated from
those who have nothing to do with them.
Jay Tilley is a columnist for The Gamecock
) I ?VVMab:- lsaed
You Think!
mn or any sort of concern. Let
ill the time. Just keep it to 250
X in person to The Gamecock
keep those thoughts bottled up.