The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 17, 1993, Page 3, Image 3
"tSanfcock
Serving USC Since 1908
J.T. Wagenheim, Editor in Chief Shayla Stutts, Viewpoints Editor
EDITORIAL BOARD
Jay King, Gordon Mander, Rob Rodusky,
Lee Clontz, Carson Henderson
Obese
Thousands who starve to death proof
of America's attitude about food
hances are you are eating something at this moment.
" Tf hamnn Kmnlrffto* r?-?mrko it 1C a Konal onH PAffpA If it 1C
11 yuu cllC 110*1115 i/ivaiiicul, inajuv n ?o ci uagi-1 cuivj vunw. ?? ?i u
lunch, maybe a hamburger or an eggroll.
If you are not eating, it is probably your own choice. Perhaps you are
on a diet, or you just do not have the time.
Either way, consider yourself lucky that you are not part of the 20 percent
of the world's population who have nothing to eat today...or tomorrow.
; As students, it is not difficult to get wrapped up in our own lives and
problems. We constantly forget that parts of the world have bigger problems
than long lines at Sub City or waiting for breadsticks.
! They do not have anything to eat.
; Today, an organization called Carolina Oxfam is urging USC students
to give up something ? a meal, cigarettes, alcohol or even food for the
entire day ? and donate the money they would have spent to Oxfam
America.
' Oxfam America works in the United States and 28 other countries to
alleviate hunger and poverty by educating, providing resources and
Empowering local people through self-help programs toward better food
production.
Members of the organizations expect 750,000 people nationwide to fast
loday to experience what true want feels like.
; The United States is one of only a few food surplus nations in the
world. We actually make more food than we need.
Through efforts in Ethiopia in the '80s and Somalia this year, the citizens
of the United States have have shown themselves to be legitimately
concerned with the needs of the rest of the world.
College students have a bad reputation when it comes to being conscientious.
A large portion of the general public looks at twentysomethings
as self-centered, profit-driven and jaded.
Today, everyone can make a difference without even trying that hard.
The sole problem with events such as Oxfam Fast Day is they tend to
be restricted to a single day. Earth Day is a good example. People go
through the motions without really thinking, and then they forget by the
' next day.
Hunger is not temporary, but it can be stopped. It will take more than
skipping a meal to help end it. It will take a change of attitudes and, for
some, a few changes in lifestyle.
But with 40,000 children dying of hunger-related causes every day and
people starving on the streets we walk on, there has to be a change.
And we, the "generation of change," are going to have to be the ones to
help make it happen.
So, take a day off from junk food or detrimental habits. You may feel
hungry or distracted for a while, but maybe you will have a new outlook
tomorrow.
Do it because you have a choice.
Timing wrong to grant
statehood to Puerto Rico
chance to become the 51st state 'I
binding, the vote does not actually
decide whether Puerto Rico ment is not a given. And many
^ will apply for statehood. It was of the companies in Puerto
only a vote to gauge how Puerto Rico, which are enjoying
Ricans felt on the issue. extremely low taxes now, might
But it is highly unlikely that a leave because they can find tax
bid for statehood would be tak- breaks elsewhere,
en seriously by Congress since Poor Puerto Ricans do
less than 50 percent of the receive some federal benefits
island's population supported now, including food stamps and
the notion. And that is the way education grants, but statehood
both Congress and most would require a lot more tax
Americans want it. money flowing down thefe. And
In this time ol tights over the from wealthy Puerto
NAFTA, health care and gov- Rjcans will not make up the difernment
reform, the last thing ference.
Congress needs is to decide jhe idea of a 51st state is an
t whether it wants to absorb excitinc idea, one this genera
another slate. And 1 uerto Kico don has never experienced. But
is not just another state such as ^ u . js ^ wrong Puer,0
Alaska and Hawaii, which were Rjcan sta|-ehood would ^ t00
both moderately wealthy when many resources from the gov.
they were added to the union in ernmem jn (Ms |ime of djre
.. r d financial straits.
A large segment of Puerto G|ven u s(aIehood cou|d
R.cos population IS impover- be an exce|,en, jnveslmenl
f re?r TIh lhere> bul cannol afford to
under the U.S. poverty level. t v th . .
a i , u Jr* r.- taKe lhat risk now. Another
And only hall of Puerto Ricans niPhi?pirp nrnk ki i.
speak English. Puerto R.can Pleb,sc"e P'obably will noi
statehood would mean billions come UP a^n or at east a
4 of additional federal welfare yearS' Mayl^ by Ulal "me- ^
benefits, billions more than we Co"Sress a"u Americans in gencan
afford eral wou be more W1,,int- ^
Statehood adherents say it able 10 accept Puert0 Rico inl?
would help economic develop- 1116 anion w arms'
ment, which has stalled in the Right now. Puerto Rico as a
past few years. New develop- commonwealth is truly the "best
ment would bring jobs to an ^otb wor'^s .'or ^ot'1 Puert0
island with an unemployment R'co an(^ United States,
rate stagnated at about 18 percent
Gordon Manlier is university
However, a new state is only editor of The Gamecock. His
guaranteed two things: taxes column appears every other
and federal benefits. Develop- Wednesday.
4 . I
VlEWPOIN
J
Are yoi
"No. I'm not fasting. I "No.
don't believe in fasting heard
because of my religion. I gion
also have to take medica- doing
tion. So, I can't fast."
Shakimah Glover
Elementary education
sophomore
Master Minds?
/^t i
^onsiaer rese;
Every semester, professors tell me that they
dread having to read their students' research
papers. "It's not that the students don't try or
that they haven't worked on the papers," they
say, "but the papers are so hard to read." One
professor told me that her students' papers are
usually disjointed and seem to rehash other writers'
ideas.
Well, it is getting to that point in the semester
when students need to think about putting ,
together research papers. So, in order to help
students and professors alike, the Writing Center
offers some advice on writing good research
papers.
First of all, we urge students to be sure of the
assignment. There are few things worse than
spending weekends in Thomas Cooper researching
something that is not part of the assignment.
Once the researcher understands what to do,
the next step, which is the most important step,
is to formulate the research question. The writer
may have to do some preliminary reading and
prewriting to help formulate a research question.
The research question will solve many common
problems.
It will prevent researchers from going off on
tangents and thinking they need to include
Global econom1
ft
Too often, the North American Free Trade
Agreement is debated from a U.S. perspective.
It is important to consider the impact of a failed
NAFTA on Mexico. President Carlos Salinas de
Gortari is both an economic and democratic
reformer whose political future rests on NAFTA's
success.
NAFTA's failure could mean not only the
end of Salinas' economic reforms, decreasing
investment and privatization in Mexican commerce
but also the end of democratic elections
and human rights improvements. In this vein,
canning NAFTA could also lead to a resurgence
of the autocratic PRI, the formal ruling party in
Mexico.
First, if NAFTA is voted down today, both
Mexico and the United States will lose face in
the international arena where prestige matters.
Already, anti-NAFTA slogans and stereotypes
pushed by Ross Perot have caused racial animosity
in Mexico. The imase that all Mexicans
are poor is misleading. Mexico is the second
largest consumer of U.S. goods and will only
continue to increase its demand for U.S. exports
as Mexican wages and the standard of living
increases.
Second, NAFTA is not a free trade agreeCoaching
change
There has been a lot of talk about the status
of Sparky Woods' job and rumors about
prospective replacements. There are two distinct
factions on this issue. The pro-Sparky
group claims the USC program is headed in the
right direction and is just one step away from
being a top 25 caliber team. They cite youth,
injuries and the difficulty of the SEC as reasons
for USC's failures this season.
The other faction, the anti-Sparky crowd,
says Sparky has not shown any improvement
this year, is a poor game coach, does not prepare
the team well for the game and is not capable
of ever competing in the SEC.
As a longtime Gamecock fan who has seen
virtually every same for the past decade, I
believe the truth falls somewhere in between
these two viewpoints. The USC program is no
doubt a competitive one. With the exception of
two games this season, USC has been in a tight
ball game every Saturday with the likes of
Alabama, Georgia and Florida.
USC's recruiting has been getting stronger
with every season under Woods. I believe a
I """fci ^ J "J B
TS
u fasting tomorrow and
Actually, 1 hadn't "No.. 1 think it's kir
about it. My reli- overrated. It's not r
doesn't believe in my thing. A lot of p<
that anyway." are doing it because
fad. There's not a v
Sharon Belcher j0( 0f sincerity involv
Biology freshman
Michael Tin
Biology j
arch papers d
pf] fof//', '/
t jlPr - ^':: " - ---g-i.v-i
everything in their papers.
It will lead to better organization. If the purpose
of the paper is to answer a question, then
the paper should answer the question.
It will also provide subquestions and guidance
for where to do research.
Armed with a good research question,
researchers can then begin investigation.
Many experienced research paper writers see
themselves as detectives assigned to solve a
case. Where should you, researcher and detective,
go for answers? We encourage our clients
to make sure that they exhaust all possible
sources of information.
That means making friends with the research
librarians, using sources other than the encycloy
depends on N
ment. It is a managed trade agreement that will
produce international conflict around investment,
intellectual property rights, environmental
protection and treaty violations. However, we
feel NAFTA provides a needed formal mechanism
for international policy on these issues.
Third, almost the entire United States is the
iraae partner or cnoice ior Mexico, a ianea
NAFTA will force Mexico to turn elsewhere
such as Japan and Latin America for investment
in the form of export platforms and subsidiaries.
Fourth, labor and environmental groups
opposed NAFTA early on when they were left
out of the negotiations. Hence, leaders on both
issues became locked into a negative strategy
with die news media, hoping to increase their
bargaining strength in an election year.
Fifth, we cannot predict net job growth from
trade even in 10 years for the same reason we
necessary if bette
Sparky-coached USC team will probably win
about seven games next year. Woods probably
would give USC some stability over the nexi
several seasons.
But on the other hand, I do not think Sparky
will ever be capable of leading USC to an SEC
championship, a 10-win season. Former USC
coach Joe Morrison was able to win 10 gamei
in 1984 and field a lop 10 team in 1987 because
he was an excellent game coach.
Morrison never had top-notch recruiting
classes, but he used star players such as Sterling
Sharpe and Harold Green to put USC in a position
to win almost every game. A Morrisor
The Gamecock will try to print all letters
words and must include full name, profe:
student. Letters must be personally delivi
newsroom in Russell House room 321.
The Gamecock reserves the right to edit
space limitations. Names will not be witl
I why?
id of "Yes. I am because I
eally believe thai we are
eople spoiled. We waste too
it's a much food. If someone
vhole can gain because I don't
ed." eat, that's fine with me."
ribes Marlone McCoy
unior Psychology junior
letective work
pedia, such as CD ROM, journals and magazines
and asking more questions. In addition,
think about using the phone to set up interviews,
getting pamphlets from organizations
and bouncing ideas off of your friends.
Research involves a lot of work and requires
plenty of time. Not only will you have to
devote time to your work, you will also have to
plan. Anybody who has tried to make efficient
use of the libraries on campus at the end of a
semester can tell you that it is frustrating and
will probably drive you insane. If, however, you
get to the resources before the other 10,000
researchers do, you will be better off and saved
from self-destruction.
After all your research is done, you can begin
the next step: putting together a paper. The writing
process is different for everyone, but you
should make sure you give yourself time for
prewriting, planning, organizing and for writing
several drafts.
For help in any stage of the research process
or for heln in anv writine task, call the Wriiine
Center at 777-2078 tor an appointment.
Chris Helms is interim director
of the Writing Center.
AFTA decision
cannot predict the weather and other non-linear
systems. There are too many changes for precision
modeling to he accurate.
Finally, what about job loss versus trade and
investment? In the long run, the treaty may do
two things: improve our bargaining hand with
other trade regions of the world, namely Asia,
and lead to greater consumer benefits and
increased trade between the three countries. The
failure of NAFTA, however, could be an ominous
sign to global investors and hinder the success
of future trade negotiations.
In the short run, jobs will be redistributed as
global companies become specialized to labor
markets. Some S.C. industries such as textiles
that are losing productivity may be replaced by
knowledge-intensive industries. With or without
NAFTA, local economies will have to improve
their education systems to attract new investment
and survive the inevitable structural
changes in the global job market.
Zac Moore is a former (JSC Congressional
Fellow. Phil Powell is a Ph.D. candidate in
economic development at Vanderbill University.
r coach available
team could beat top 10 teams such as FSU,
Georgia and Notre Dame. And they were within
one touchdown of beating Miami and Nebraska.
Woods' team cannot seem to get over the
hump and beat Alabama or Florida. Sparky's
biggest wins have been against teams such as
Georgia, Clemson and Tennessee when they
were in slumps or having a bad season. Even
worse, Woods' teams have lost home games to
i lightweights such as Kentucky, East Carolina
' and The Citadel. If there is one factor that will
t cost Sparky his job, it would be losing home
games to opponents USC should whip easily.
' The issue of whether to replace Sparky is
really quae simple, it Mike Mcuee can land a
! Dennis Erickson or Dick Sheridan, then he
i should make the change. 11 he cannot, then he
: should give Sparky one more year. In that case,
the decision in November 1994 could be a much
: clearer and easier one.
Tommy Touchberry is a guest columnist
i for The Gamecock.
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