Letters: Cocky vs the chapel? You know who wins

On Nov. 17, I attended a memorial service for a dear friend at Rutledge Chapel on the USC Horseshoe, right next to the elegant, finely appointed President’s House. There are no guardrails on the steps leading into the chapel, nor are there guardrails leading up to the dais. It is, in short, an accident waiting to happen. The chapel itself is dingy and gloomy, with inadequate lighting and an inadequate sound system. It is in need of major renovation.

On Nov. 18, USC’s Board of Trustees gave approval to build an $85,000 statue of USC’s mascot, Cocky. Two months earlier, the trustees had approved spending $1 million for a separate Gamecock sculpture to be placed outside the football stadium. President Harris Pastides and Dennis Pruitt, the vice president of student affairs, both appear to applaud these plans.

So this retired faculty member must ask: Is USC an academic institution in dire need of repairs to much of its infrastructure, or is it a sports franchise in possession of bundles of money to spend on false idols?