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Show Page 4 The Thunderbird Monday, May 14, 1984 -- 5 Sr ui5 Opinkm VSN 2 Loan repayment bill deserves our support Until late last year a student with several Guaranteed Student Loans processed through different lending institutions could apply with a federal agency to have the loans consolidated. This not only decreased the amount of the monthly payment, it usually gave the student more time to pay the loan back. That is no longer the case. Now, if you have several loans, youre stuck making several monthly payments, each one a minimum of $50. In other words, if you have three separate loans, you pay at least $150 a month. And that doesnt even include such things as the National Direct Student Loan, which is separate from the GSL. There is a bill now making the rounds through Congress that renews the authorization for the Student Loan Marketing Association (Sallie Mae) to consolidate GSLs, and this bill deserves our most intense support. Sen. Orrin Hatch, recently became a of this bill, and for that he should be praised. In short, the bill makes it possible for Sallie Mae, along with state agencies and individual lending institutions, to buy up a students assorted loans, consolidate them, and offer a lower monthly payment. The bill also allows for the interest rate of such consolidated loans to go from 7 to 9 percent, but it is a price well worth paying when the benefits of the program are considered. The Thunderbird believes Congress should act swiftly on this legislation. There are already college graduates who are suffering because of intolerable monthly payments. When he announced his support for the bill, Hatch said he had received a letter from a Utah graduate who had accumulated six loans and a $300 monthly payment: As with most graduates in his chosen field, he will take employment at the entry level which will pay an annual salary about equal to the amount of loan principal he or h, owes. The bill, Hatch pointed out, would cut the students payment about in half. That would still be a burden, but it would be more reasonable. if Che CfninderCnrd THt ''Tl PtKT fcXS WIHIt'l'.OF MX "I Hi RN UTAH si TL t Ol.LU .E I'm lrAH Volume 79, Number 31 Editor Lynn Nolan Managing Editor Doug Christensen Associate Editor Tamara Rumbaugh Copy Editor Vicki Baxter Photo Editor Mark Weston Sports Editor Stewart Smith Entertainment Editor Stacey Smitn Associate Copy Editor Lisa Laird Campus Editor Lanai Greenhalgh Senior Staff Writer Fletcher Matson Advertising Manager Donna Messerly Faculty Adviser Larry Baker The Thunderbird is published each Monday of the academic ycn by and for the student body of Southern Utah State College. The views and opinions expressed in The Thunderbird are the opinions of the publications individual writers and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the institution, faculty, staff or student body in general. The unsigned editorial directly above is the opinion of The Thunderbird as a single entity. Letters to the editor must include the name, student number if from a student) and phone number. Only the name will be printed. Names will not be withheld under any circumstances and the editor reserves the right to edit letters for length and to preclude libel. Letters must be submitted exclusively to The Thunderbird by noon Friday for inclusion in the following weeks edition. The Thunderbird : editorial and advertising offices at 529 West 200 South, Cedar City, UT 84720. Mail at SUSC Box 384, Cedar City, UT 84720. (801) 7758. Politics dash Olympic spirit Commentary by Doug Christensen When Germany invaded Poland, France and Great Britain went to war. When Cambodian communists seized the merchant marine vessel M ayaguez, President Gerald Ford sent in the marines. When the Soviet Union launched a bloody assault on Afghanistan, depriving these staunchly independarit-minde- d people of their freedom, what did President Jimmy Carter do? Why, he took the bold step of boycotting the 1980 Moscow Olympics! What ye sow ye shall reap. Or something like that. Not only was our Olympic boycott the moral equivalent of spitting into the wind, it was counterproductive. We are surely now paying the price for the inanities of the Carter Administration. Analyze what happened when we led the boycott: Did the Soviets pull out of Afghanistan with their tails between their legs? Hardly. Did the entire Free World back us up in the boycott? Again, hardly. Did we violate the spirit of the Olympic Games and further politicize what generations have tried to keep l. Youre darn right! So why are we surprised at the Soviet pullout of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics? The sad part of this whole thing besides the tragic truth that, for a second time hundreds of athletes have lost their chance for the glory theyve worked so hard for is that we cant even put up much of a protest. After all, we set the standard. We lost the moral non-politica- ) high ground when we pulled out of the Moscow games for a purely political reason. How do we dare complain if communist nations now pull the same stupid trick on us. Yes, the Olympics have been beset by politics almost since their modern inception. The example that comes most quickly to mind is the 1932 Munich Olympics, which Hitler tried to turn into one long demonstration of Aryan superiority. The world hasnt yet finished condemning Hitler for that. Twenty years from now people will still be condemning the superpowers for the tricks they are playing with the Olympics now. But it is the structure of these modern games that most contributes to the politicization of them. Politicians are incurable beasts; they, like mythical Midas, change the complexion of everything they are allowed to touch, usually for the worst.' The planners of these modern Olympics blew it when they allowed that individual athletes would represent the nations they come from, rather than themselves. With that in mind it cant be very surprising that leaders of the two superpowers should pollute the Olympic spirit. It may sound unpatriotic, and selfish, to suggest that athletes should not represent individual nations when they compete, but I cant really see any other way for the modern Olympics to survive. It is sad that the supposedly sophisticated Soviets took their revenge for the 1980 boycott in this manner. They apparently never learned that when you fight fire with fire, all you get is a larger fire. |