Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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f "?aifcock Serving USC Since 1908 J.T. Wagenheim, Editor in Chief Shayla Stutts, Viewpoints Editor EDITORIAL BOARD Jav Kino Hnrrlnn Mantler Roh Rnrinslrv ?j o> ?? Lee Clontz, Carson Henderson Centralized Structural change in higher education could inhibit resources to USC, other schools The blatant power grab by the Commission on Higher Education two weeks ago was just the beginning of what could be a long, arduous evaluation of S.C.'s higher education structure. In response to the CHE's move and other concerns about higher education's organization, state Sen. John Drummond proposed creating a board of regents, a central board with ultimate authority over all aspects of the state's public colleges and universities. If passed, a board of regents would replace the 10 boards of trustees mm IiuT? uw>uv J/V11VJ ivjl U1C11 IIIU1V1UUU1 111M11U11U1I5 U1 S^aicilli. USC President John Palms, who worked under Georgia's board of regents as president of Georgia State, said this system will probably not add the resources our system so desperately needs. And we agree. Rather than waste valuable time and money debating structural changes in higher education, the Legislature should figure out a way to allocate more funding to USC and the state's other financially struggling schools. It's great that the restructuring craze has finally hit South Carolina. We . do need to question overly bureaucratized government on all levels, especially in a state where the good old boy network still runs rampant. But next year's legislative session is not the time. Nor is next year's ? session the time to cut secondary education funding just so a few large j property owners can get a tax break. Funding must be the top priority, not theoretical structure changes that ^ might or might not work. In addition, the jury is still out on the overall effectiveness of a board ^ of regents. It's true that neighboring states such as North Carolina, . Georgia and Florida have this type of system, but that does not necessarily mean South Carolina should join the board of regents bandwagon. As Clemson President Max Lennon said, Michigan, whose higher education system uses a board of trustees, has two of the best public universi- ^ ties in the country. The bottom line is each state needs to decide which system is better for j! it. Blindly cloning another state's structure isn't the way to do it. In South Carolina, it seems the individual boards know best what their institutions need because they are in constant contact with the schools. A 11 central board would only make the process more political and would j! probably create more animosity between the state's small colleges and the large research institutions that compete head to head for every dollar. Since it seems unclear whether a board of regents system would actual- ^ 1v hpln nnr nrnhlpme u;a cHrvulHl fA^nc rvn utLnf ? M.J V? V/C*V1410, TTV OIIVU1U 1V/VUO V/II WII ?11 W ^ M1UW Will llClp. 11IU1C state money for higher education. Period. n fi t Clinton foreign policy I must stress economics J aiiairs, 11 is extremeiy nusiraiing to watch the world unravel 3nd build a nation-state from w under our watch. total wreckage. 8( The feeling of total power- 11 took a bungled mission that lessness I felt watching the left three downed helicopters * video from Somalia and Haiti 311(1 at least 15 dead Americans ai tells me that we have been fool- 10 llP us ?ff that there might be ing ourselves in thinking we 3 Pr?blem with our Somalian could be the grand defender of po lcy> ? . , democracy in a world with just , f cadous as it may sound, if ei one superpower. ^ Umted States based its for- be Whether we were ever the eign pollcy on strictly economic el world's police chief is debat- interests, we would not be able, but it's obvious we aren't expending valuable resources, sn now basically people and money, in ke We just don't have the Somalia. And that would have T1 resources to do it. And frankly been ^ ^ decision we could ...... " n.n/la Ho 1 don t tninjc we should be imvc maw" expected to. That's why an 1 wish we could helP the N( organization with representa- thousands starving there, but it he tives from across the world seems that the powers that be exists today in New York. don't want us there. And if we ot un..,n.,oi- jt coomc . wanfprl rn hpln all thnQp in nppH Sh nuwtvti, ii ouvino nidi 10 w -v.j. v?. w.... wu, have any clout at all, the United we'd never have time 10 do ^y* ?? Nations needs the full support elseand participation of the United II d?esn't seem fair to those ca States. Somalia is a good exam- starving in the Sudan and other oti pie of this parls Africa, Latin America, el1 But the Somali debacle is Asia Md even our own nation an also an excellent illustration of when we pick an obscure coun- |h< the directionless foreign policy lry Wlth no strategic signifi- ?> the United States has had ever caacf a"d try to feed them, since the fall of the Soviet should be careful not to Union blindly support vicious human SP' The fundamental problem riShts. abu;>ers and two-bit dicta- Q with Clinton's foreign policy |ors' ut . e bottom line, unforand the end of Bush's was and UI^.f y'1S economics. --v, still is the inherent conflict in on must change his poli? between conducting policy cy 10 on^ 1Venrk^).y our eco" j based on U.S. economic inter- no c ?"eres*- Otherwise, he M ests and policy based on altruis- ^V1 in out of a job in ral tic and more humanitarian our yearsf Wlth ncf,nS a W goals legacy of foreign policy failures. Our presence in Somalia was _ , , originally justified by Bush as AGordonf ^antl'r IS 11 simply humanitarian aid but e(^ltor ?f Tfie Gamecock. His then evolved into a mission to column appears every oner [J eliminate an obscure clan leader Wednesday. i ? VlEWPOI How do you think a I 4 T* ' e f **, "It sounds like a good idea until you realize each < university and college 1 campus is different." 1 Julie Frazier i Journalism junior t Master Minds? Prisons detract 1 We can't solve the crime problem by impri; >ning more law violators. Indeed, such a "soli ion" will aggravate the situation and cost yoi JSC students, dearly. For every new dollar spent on more correc ional buildings and/or staff, a few cents is take iway from the budget for higher educatior loth prisons and colleges require major exper litures, and right now, prisons are winning th >udget battle. While in real dollars educational budgets ar ailing behind, the corrections system is receiv ng additional bucks even in supposedly auster imes. And there is a huge clamor for even mor ells. More prison beds come right out of you lide. We can incarcerate, or we can educate, bi ve can't do both. For every adult we impriso or one year, tuition and expenses for two US( tudents could be paid in full. The curren nmate population of 18,000 is growing rapidl nd will soon reach and surpass the USC Columbia campus student population. But, you say, we want to be protected fron iolent criminals. We want to be safe; we wan hem off the streets, out of sight and out o lind. First, we have plenty of prison space alread; 3r the violent crime population. Of the 18,00( r so in S.C. prisons, 10 percent are serving rr?A fr>r ham\r*\r\c? onrl loco tKnn Jiiv 1V1 11V/I11IV1UV/) CUIU IV/OO LllClll lldli cut llltdl erated for violent offenses. Many are larcenist nd drug addicts; others are traffic offenders an< ad check writers. The population capacity of current prisons i: 6,221, and two prisons already under construe 'ut faith healer ?"ly p.eo 1 P i i i llke 11115 ? charge ot health administr ... salesmen o the editor: . . . Recently, I began watching Pat J? s c ear obertson's "700 Club." Having :ver watched a televangelist, I rongly thought faith healing had Pnaal )ne out with Oral Roberts. Not so. oh it and his two cast members, Ben prevei id Terry, are into healing over the rwaves big time. To the ed Why, on one show alone, they I never :aled jaw pain, sinus trouble, to go dc omach and leg problems, Thursday, ukemia, delivered someone from night. Bui >mosexuality, delivered someone have been se from satanic bondage, took guns, I'n meone off crutches, stopped a The next i loking habit and healed the bro- from can :n bones of a 90-year-old woman, proof ves iey can also heal courtesy of the pellets wo istal Service by placing tfc Mr We sho nds on stacks of written requests, precaution at only that, but people are people do aled on reruns! do than di What does this mean? Well, it's gun at s ivious that President Clinton streets. I'c ould dump Hillary and put Pat in one aimei arge of the health care plan, shall 1 b< link of the possibilities. Patients vests and n watch Pat's tapes in doctors' much and fices and be healed. This will hospital b minate the need for hospitals, ONE eye. d that in turn will take care of Let's g ; homeless, who can be housed tion, "Fiv the hospitals. there on U We'll save billions of dollars to wear I it can be given to A1 Gore to some of u end on the environment. The good tim " ?Hi i jX^vrlN 5u?qum?' NTS i statewide board of regen t rp^sj? 'I don't think it would be "Having an overall fc >ood for our university *of regents would because our school is so away from the good )ig that we would't get as vidual ideas that w nuch individualized at- instead come from di ention as we need." ent boards around Tara Manning state." Nursing sophomore Kier Gog} Psychology st Tom real crime soli il^L. Jf tion would add another 2,260 beds for a total of e 18,481. Surely, that's enough to protect us from r_ the dangerous criminal element. Others need to e be placed in community programs such as intene sive probation, restitution, electronic supervision or community service-. r Second, the current trend to put more teen,t agers in jails or juvenile institutions needs to be n halted. Again, there are plenty of spaces for the 2 truly dangerous youth, but the truants, drug lt abusers, petty thieves and others need to be y removed. Each juvenile incarcerated costs tax. payers $30,000 plus annually, which is enough money to send five students to USC for one n year. it Most of these youths are in trouble because f they are without direction. Adolescence is a time of challenging authority ? the rules of y parents, relatives, any other adults and society 3 itself. With lots of tender loving care and good 3 adult role models, most adolescents get through this period with a minimum of rule and law s breaking. Without such concern and attention, j these formative years can be disastrous. Our answer has been to lock them up with s other troubled teen-agers so they can model after and learn from each other. Smart? pie who aren't going to watch out for these m plan are doctors, hospital shmucks who shoot at pe ators and pharmaceutical might do more than the , but A1 can find them Horse Patrol, and we'd be ting up the environment. meantime. Licia Stone If you want to get invo Retired this organization, meet me es vests rniilri Te Points Thursda>' nis' cay vcais CUU1U the one wearing goggles. it violence Arshlc Engl thought I'd be frightened StlldCIlt CJUGStlOT >wn to Five Points on Gamecock editii Friday or even Saturday now, after some students the edit<>r: i shot by pistols and pellet * 2111 writing in respon i getting a bit nervous, partially published USC time I walk to Five Points response in the Oct. 18 iss tpus, I'll wear a bullet many people fail to realb t and eye goggles so the once a statement is mac 'n't shoot my eye out. individual to the press, I uld all begin to take these has the right to make any is. It's more than sick that that they deem necessar n't have better things to printing a story or a viewp rive by and shoot a pellet press has the power to < omebody walking the much as they want oul 1 be quite ticked if some- amount of information 1 at me. Yet, no longer tnem. 2 worried. Bullet proof In my case, such an goggles don't cost too amount of my statemi are better than stitches, altered until in print it ; ills and new glasses for rather senseless and degra only to me but to the spec et together an organiza- viduals it mentioned, janitc e Points Patrol" and go only a minor portion of r he weekends. We'd have ment was published, it i he required attire, but that I was being demeanin< s could drink and have a tors and citing them as e while others kept a non-college educated indivi %$ ^ The Gamecock I received. Letter I jm*? Officer ] and must includi or year and mai l axvaff I be personally c y y Gamecock nev g room 321. The ( \V^r a . to edit all letter; space limitations WjOmUM- under any circur ts would affect USC? Nl -'?)? ?f oard "If they can do better, take then it is a good thing." indi- Guo Yongping ould Mechanical engineering graduate the line 5 ~ snior ition: education Third, the current approach to "justice" actually aggravates the problem in that the dollars that could alleviate the crime dilemma if spent on education, social services and family assistance are instead poured into the bottomless pit of incarceration. Study after study uncovers a direct correlation between education and street crime. For every year of school completed, the chances of the individual committing a serious street crime or being a victim of such an incident is decreased. The more education, the less crime. Educated people learn to deal with their problems with words and constructive action. Uneducated or undereducated people too often tum to violence and destructive action..Educated people can see that simple answers to complex problems not only don't work but often escalate the problem. In the late 1960s and 1970s, the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) began a "not one more brick" campaign to halt jail and prison construction in the United States. NCCD argued that every jail and prison built would be filled, and every dollar spent would be taken away from better answers to the crime situation. NCCD was unsuccessful in stopping the massive "lock 'em up" mentality, but it was prophetic in its argument. The time has come again to say "not one more brick," and it's you, the leaders of tomorrow, who should be leading the campaign. The quality of your education and the society you live in is at stake. Gene Stephens is a professor in the College of Criminal Justice. mseating I regret that this fallacy was ever :ople. We published, and I apologize to those Columbia people who were deeply affected >nd in the by what they thought I said. P ' - ? * oiiux uiai viewpoint was publved with lished, I have experienced the most 5 down in horrifying endeavors of my life, tit. I'll be People have approached me and maliciously addressed vulgar lany Derrick guage toward me. Individuals ish senior whom I once referred to as my friends have turned their backs on IS me. Those who once hailed me in IP passing now lower their heads and 0 turn away or raise their eyebrows at me and give me wild-eyed se to my stares. ? Voices My roommate and the few .ue. What remaining individuals who I can se is that honestly refer to as friends have le by an been approached and harassed by the press strangers who know of their assocideletions ation with me. y before Because of this error, my life has oint. The been threatened. When I enter the ielete as Russell House, large crowds of of any people now surround me and yell given to out silly slangs to me and ask me to autograph their copy of The extreme Gamecock. Even though I am 2nt was attempting to clear this misunderappeared standing with as many people as iding not possible, there is still a vast numific indi- ber of people out there that want to >rs. Since condemn me for the partially pubny state- lished viewpoint, ippeared I hope that this entire situation 1 to jani- will blow over in time. the only La Wanda Burgess iduals. Biology junior will try to print all letters s should be 200-250 words e full name, professional title or if a student. Letters must Jelivered by author to The i/sroom in Russell House Bamecock reserves the right 5 for style, possible libel or >. Names will not be withheld nstances.