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4 • The Red arxj Black • Wednesday, April 19, 1989
OPINIONS
The Red & Black
EtUxbitHrd 1893—Incorporated 1980
An independent ttudent neat paper not a/Jiliated with the Uniuenity of tieortfia
Jeff Turner/Editor-in-chief
Keith Phillips/Managing Editor
Mark Sheftall/Opinions Editor
EDITORIALS
Good plan, right time
Public distrust of college athletics is at an all-time
high. The University's athletic program, not exactly
unscathed in recent years, is in the midst of a nasty
situation involving a former star basketball player and
a sports agent.
There couldn't be a better time to begin a system of
accreditation for college athletics.
Richard Schultz, executive director of the National
Collegiate Athletic Association, is seeking support of
the NCAA Governing Council for an athletic
accreditation system. If the governing council supports
the program, the plan must be approved at the
convention in January.
Under the system, every five years an outside team
will review the performance of NCAA members in
areas including recruiting, admissions standards,
athletes’ progress toward degrees, the behavior of
players and coaches and graduation rates.
College athletics has received bad publicity in
recent times In the last six months the NCAA placed
the University of Kansas, the Univerity of Oklahoma
and Oklahoma State University on probation.
Closer to home, the revelation that former Georgia
basketball player Dominique Wilkins signed a contract
with an agent while he was in school prompted
questions about the integrity of the basketball
program.
An internal investigation conducted by local
attorney Edward Tolley stated no direct evidence
suggests head men’s basketball coach Hugh Durham
knew of the relationship between Wilkins and agent
Jack Manton. But Durham's detractors probably will
continue to look at the circumstantial evidence and
draw the conclusion that Durham knew about the
relationship.
Public perception isn’t always indicative of reality.
The majority of college athletics is a clean and positive
experience for participants and spectators.
College athletics is in dire need of a public relations
boost. But more than that, the proposed system itself
makes sense.
At this point there is no system in which an outside
group examines athletic programs regularly. The
NCAA and the Southeastern Conference investigate
programs only when they have evidence that
infractions have occurred.
The NCAA does require an internal study from its
member institutions every five years. But this study
deals mostly with recruiting and athletic program
administration.
The proposed system would use an outside team —
composed of a financial-aid director, a faculty atheltics
representative and a director of athletics — to evaluate
each campus’s performance. If the program is deficient
in an area, it could be subject to sanctions including
loss of scholarships, a reprimand or probation.
The schools wouldn’t be subject to national
standards. Instead, each campus would be held to
standards that make sense on its campus. For example,
the graduation rate for athletes would be compared to
the graduation rate for other students at the school,
and not for students at other schools
Vince Dooley, the University’s athletic director,
said on Monday he approves of the concept of the
system. He has questions about who should serve on
tbe accrediting team, how the standards will be
determined and what the standards will be.
Dooley should make an active effort to find the
answers to his questions. If he is dissatisfied with the
answers, we hope he will use his influence to correct
the problems and implement the program.
QUOTABLE
"I wish that we could have had some opposition because It
would have brought some more recognition to the sa.
— Mark Schlsler, the only candidate tor Student Associat on
president, on the lack of an opponent In next week s election
Higher minimum wage will hurt economy
The latest attempt by Massachusetts Sen.
Ted Kennedy to cripple the economy seems to
be gaining momentum.
Two weeks ago the U.S. House of Represen
tatives passed House Resolution 2 promoting
the raising of the minimum wage to $4.55 per
hour over the next three years. The vote passed
by a vote of 248-171 and was supported by all
Georgia congressmen except Rep Newt Gin
grich, Rep. Lindsay Thomas, Rep. Richard Ray,
Rep. Roy Rowland, and Rep. Doug Barnard.
This bill, known as the Murphy Amendment,
for Rep Austin Murphy, D-Pa., will, according
to Rep. Bill Goodling, R-Pa., spark inflation and
increase unemployment. The bill now moves to
the Senate where an increase to $4.65 is being
considered. With the Republicans having a
greater voice in the Senate, the final bill will
not likelv be over $4.50. Therefore, a compro
mise with the House will have to be worked out
before the bill moves to the President’s desk.
President Bush has promised to veto any wage
over $4.25, and veto he should.
As students, we are sure to welcome this leg
islation because most of us who work are
earning a minimum wage — myself no excep
tion. But students are involved with this wage
for only a short time. In four to eight years, we
expect to be making a decent salary. In the long
run this issue does not affect our real wages.
However, many people in the land of oppor
tunity are employed at a minimum wage for
many years, and the auestion is asked, "How
can we allow people to live on a $3.35 per hour
wage?" The answer is that working for $3.35 is
Phillip
Foil
better than not working at all. Many, but defi
nitely not all, minimum wage earners work for
small companies, are unskilled, or are minori
ties.
Small businesses struggle to survive. Most
are new companies that have large outstanding
debt. They can not afford an increase in cost
from their suppliers, let alone their workers.
These workers are suppliers in their own
right, in that they supply labor. From here two
things can happen: Businesses must acquire
greater debt to support their payroll, or em
ployees are released from their jobs. The latter
is most likelv.
Many workers earning a minimum wage are
what society likes to call unskilled laborers.
These people lack the technical training to be
considered for higher wages by the market.
These people are also the first to be let go by
many businesses. Sure, some of these people
will be allowed to stay on with the firm at the
higher wage, but what about the ones that are
not?
Unfortunately, nTinorities nlso fall victim to
H R. 2. It is ironic that the liberal Democrats
who claim to represent the "little guy” will be
hurting the very individuals they claim to help.
Right now the unemployment rate stands at
5.1 percent, the lowest since 1974. This rate is
below the normal rate for unemployment,
which usually is considered to be around 6 per
cent. The economy could stand a little more un
employment, which the Minimum Wage Bill
will accomplish. The problem is that minorities
will be the victim of this unemployment The
minority unemployment rate is already higher
than the overall rate and will rise if this legis
lation becomes law. The liberal Democrats are
literally handing many minorities their pink
slips.
President Bush said he would sign the bill if
it included a training wage of $3.35 and if the
minimum wage rate wasn’t over $4.25 per hour
The training wage, according to the H R. 2
would pay workers who have never been em
ployed $3.61 for 60 days and then the v. orktr
would be installed at the regular minimum
wage.
Does this mean that firms could, in effect,
hire and fire workers every two months to keep
their payroll at the lower training wage 0 The
minimum wage shouldn’t be raised at all, but
with the Democrats controlling Congress, some
sort of increase is likely. Any increase is dan
gerous. but the worker will be better off with
the smallest raise.
Phillip Foil is a senior economics major
Current generation quietly very activist
Lately, I’ve heard it again and again —people
talking about my generation.
They keep saving how passive and unin
volved we are We’re apathetic, we don’t stand
up for what we believe in. They even question
whether we believe in anything at all.
They throw us memories of violent protests
as examples of true activism.
Usually, the people who say these things
were the ones who burned draft cards and
ROTC buildings in college.
That was their social protest.
What these aging hippies who are so “disap
pointed’’ in us don’t understand is that protest,
like most things, can be improved and per
fected.
You see, there is a fashion to protest.
Burning things is out.
Passe.
Primitive.
We all know jail terms yield less produc
tivity.
No, we’re far more organized today — and
much less destructive.
Groups like Students for Environmental
Awareness are in. So are Greenpeace, Amnesty
International, Sierra Club and the Wildlife
Fund.
Young Democrats and Young Republicans
are in.
In also are Greeks that staff homeless shel
ters.
Passive, you say? Uninvolved?
No. Just not destructive. Instead of wasting
our energy by tearing things down, we’re out to
help our people and our world.
We volunteer in hospitals, we tutor under
privileged kids and we’re active in politics.
We marched in Forsyth County against
racism and in Washington for freedom of
choice.
We speak out for our environment, which
other generations endangered.
We fight for our right to be represented in
local government and we fight to rezone voting
districts which eliminate the student voice.
We adopt needy children as our little sisters
and brothers through Communiversity.
Yet we’ve been labeled the “me" generation.
They confuse our ambition with apathy to
ward social consciousness. They say we hide
from social issues behind a fortress of material
goods. They confuse us with yuppies.
Still, we paint, we write poetry and short sto
ries. We attend the Human Rights Festival and
the Athens Music Festival and Earth Day. We
write letters to the editor and we write our con
gressmen.
Just listen to our music, read our t-shirts, or
look at what we do in our spare time. Our ac
tivism is everywhere.
We join together against drunk driving in
S.A.D.D. and against mismanagement of al-
chohol in G.A.M.M.A. We belong to more than
21 advocacy organizations on campus alone
It’s easy to see how the/re confused. They
see fraternity parties, beer cans and Brumby
Beach. How could such a decadent lifestyle be
productive, they ask.
They believe a stereotype and don’t bother to
see for themselves.
But these same adults, these towers of social
responsibility who chide our complacency, are
more uninvolved in the electoral process than
ever. Voter enrollment has never been lower.
We’re not passive and we’re not uninvolved.
We’re aware, we’re concerned, and we’re
working to make our world better. We’re just
more subtle than they were.
So the next time your parents or that pro
fessor or a column starts to blast our genera
tion, set them straight.
Instead of ignoring them, show them your
work, your art, your petitions, your letters,
your songs. And if they still don’t believe it,
don’t worry. They’re all getting old, anyway
Maybe That Generation should just leave
Our Generation alone.
Fran Munson is a stafff writer for The Red and
Black
Shelvers left out of budget
FORUM
If students are wondering why
books haven’t been shelved in the
main library for what seems like
weeks, ask the circulation depart
ment.
If students are wondering why,
in the South's second ranked li
brary and the nation's 19th, books
can’t be found, they should ask the
circulation department.
They should ask a department
which, although it pays student
shelvers minimum wage, now says
it has no money to pay anyone to
shelve books students use
They should ask a department
which now says it has no money to
pay the two full-time shelving posi
tions which have recently been va
cated.
If students are
wondering why, in the
South’s second-ranked
library and the nation's
19th, books can’t be
found, they should ask
the circulation
department.
□ The Red and Black welcomes letters to the editor and prints them in the Fonen
column as space permits. Ml letters are subfect to editing lor length, style and It
Delous metenal. Letters should be typed, doublespaced and must include the name,
address and daytime telephone number of the writer. Please include student dassifi
cabon and major or other appropnate identification Names can be omitted with a
valid reason upon request. Letters can be sent by U.S. mail or brought in person to
The Red and Black's offices at 123 N. Jackson St.. Athens, Ga. 30601.
Full-time employees sre being
told to do the best with what they
have — which, as it turns out, is
twice the normal workload because
of faculty inventory and no student
assistants.
A budgetary 'oversight' of this
magnitude is quickly going to
cause the ranking that President
Knapp is so proud of to go down
hill.
Books that cannot be found be
cause they have not been shelved
are of no use to anyone.
Students, when you can’t find
four out of five of the books you
need for a paper, ask yourselves
why a library that can afford to
offer a new director $80,000 a year
can't afford to shelve its books.
— Name withheld
/
I
INKS'