Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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RHA resolution would encourage discussion BY JON TURNER THE (iAMECOCK Partly in response to the Big Man on Campus controversy and partly to address what is per ceived by some to be a growing discrimination issue at USC, sev eral members of the Residence Hall Association are working to ^pass a resolution emphasizing ^RHA’s capacity as a forum for discussion. Bates West President and sec ond-year political science student Steven Byrd initiated the idea to pass a resolution. “Basically there have been a lot of issues coming up on cam pus of late in regard to different issues dealing with diversity and misunderstanding,” Byrd said. “So basically what we wanted to do was make RHA, an organiza tion which represents some 7,000 students on campus, into kind of a forum where we can talk about thintrc ** Byrd said there might be a more elusive discrimination problem at USC. “The main one •that people point to was the ZTA incident, but often there are broader-issues where people don’t get this kind of coverage — just one-on-one problems. Whether it’s a racial minority, ethnic minority, gender, class — all of those are issues that have to be addressed on cam pus. The first resolution Byrd draft ed failed partially because, ac cording to Horseshoe senator Alicia Marchioni, “As a group, RHA decided that maybe it was a little too aggressive. It was plac ing blame on all groups, not re flecting the fact that certain “We are the body of the students; we’re the student’s voice. As their voice, we need a place in the discussion.” ALICIA MARCHIONI RHA SENATOR groups had already taken steps to promote diversity.” The first resolution stated that RHA “condemns the use of university facilities to promote and promulgate a system of seg regation” and “requests that members of the Greek system are denied access to university facilities unless they make a rea sonable effort to incorporate more diverse groups into not only their rush process, but, at the same time, their social events.” Maxcv senator Deirdre McCabe said the initial resolu tion would never have passed. “It was directed toward Greek orga nizations, and we were telling them what to do,” she said. “The first one addressed the ZTA inci dent, but that just sparked dis cussion.” McCabe said the sec ond resolution had really evolved into a more general re view of discrimination. “Everybody commented and ev erybody got their opinions in,” she said. “We were up there for about two hours.” Marchioni helped organize the meeting to rewrite the resolution after the first attempt failed. The revised resolution, drafted by a total of eight members of the as sociation, basically affirms its de sire for a diverse campus envi ronment, declares support for the USC administration and offers to provide a “forum to all organiza tions willing to discuss issues of discrimination.” McCabe emphasized that RHA should be a forum to all groups, not just blacks. “I think that’s one of the main issues, but I think there are others,” she said. Marchioni said many groups were already taking steps to en courage more diversity among their membership. “One of the fraternities that was represent ed at our meeting,” she said, “they have made changes at na tional and chapter levels in re gards to recruitment processes. I’ve also talked to members of certain sororities and know that they’ve been active.” Still, Marchioni said she be lieves that passing the resolution will help RHA. we are me uuuy ui me stu dents; we’re the student’s voice,” she said. “As their voice, we need a place in the discussion.” Byrd said the forum is essen tially “a place where people can come with their issues and say, ‘This is a problem; I see this hap pening on campus.’ And this way people will see beyond isolated incidents.” “Unless you show people that there’s a pattern,” he said, “they’re not going to think this is something they need to address. We’re going to help people see that these issues do exist and they’re being addressed one way or an other. We need to make people feel like they’re not alone on this cam pus.” Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocknews@gwm.sc.edu Fraternity CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 logged almost 400 hours of com munity service this semester with its membership totaling almost 30 brothers. They have participated in Clean Carolina, Habitat for Humanity, Dance Marathon, Special Olympics and the MLK Day of Service. The fraternity accepted mem bers as freshmen with a 2.25 GPA. “This GPA requirement fluctu ates because we require our broth Abortion CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 use of D&X, but says it should not be banned. The College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says alternatives to D&X usually exist, but in some circumstances, it might be the best procedure. Opponents of the ban also argue ers to maintain a 2.5 GPA because you have to have that to gradu ate,” Havirdsaid. Gamma Triton fraternity mem bers are involved in Student Senate, Student Government Cabinet, FCA, Residence Hall Association and many more. “Having members very in volved on campus allows us to par ticipate at USC,” Havird said. Gamma Triton followed Phi Sigma Kappa’s cardinal princi ples of brotherhood, scholarship and character. “Brotherhood is the obligation and duty to help my brothers and to get along with each of them. If there is a problem, you talk about that the language in the federal legislation is vague and could be interpreted as covering more com mon, less controversial proce dures, including “dilation and evacuation.” Known as D&E, it is the most common method of sec ond-trimester abortion. An esti mated 140,000 D&Es take place in the United States annually. it and work it out,” Havird said. “Scholarship stands for the desire to learn, and character is leading by example.” Gamma Triton brothers do not have a fraternity house, because they do not have alumni or a large budget. The brothers cur rently live on campus in McBryde. “We are a down-to-earth, close group of guys that try to stay away from the stereotype that fraterni ties are drinking clubs, and prove that is not what fraternities are,” Havird said. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocknews@gwm.sc.edu “We will do everything to keep this law from taking place,” said Louise Melling, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Reproductive Freedom Project. 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