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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 16, 2003)
* 1 *20 Off 6 Month Package lollege Station -6790 not the ;rvice. 'e Rotation i Inspection) Uignment el ) $ 49." * savings 3-8575 RESS i VASH OR ALL lollege Station 8 's Gym) ECIAL y ebrow Waxing 7.00 uzzi Spa Pedicure | ‘18.00 cepted nue, College Station I shopping strip next to j Outback Steakhouse) 693-0 EDITORIAL Howard Graves Epitome of the Aggie Spirit Howard D. Graves lost his battle with cancer Saturday, and A&M lost a trailblazer and a friend. Graves should be remembered as a true asset to the University who selflessly served his country. Two weeks ago. Graves resigned as chancellor of the Texas Texas A&M System due to his failing health, but little did the student body know how severe his fight with cancer had become. Graves graduated from West Point in 1961, and after study ing at Oxford University in England, he served on active mili tary duty until 1996. During this span he served as superintend ent of the U.S Military Academy at West Point as well as assis tant to the chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff William Crowe and Colin Powell. In 1999, Graves was appointed chancellor of the A&M System. Graves worked until his dying day to help improve the lives of Aggies across the state. He created two new A&M campus es: Central Texas and San Antonio, which allowed more stu dents a chance at receiving an education through the A&M System. He supervised the expansion of A&M's Health Science Center, which now includes five colleges of nursing at different A&M campuses. Without Graves, the A&M System would not be what it is today. With these accomplishments. Graves solidified his place in Aggie history, but what makes Graves a true Rudder-esque leg end is the way he worked. . “Howard Graves was the epitome of public service, a man who dedicated his entire life to giving back to others,” said Gov. Rick Perry. Pastor Dwight Edwards of Grace Bible Church remembered Graves as a humble servant to the A&M System. These are high praises from respected men that show how Graves truly exemplified the Aggie Spirit while improving A&M. THE BATTALION EDITORIAL BOARD Editor in Chief Managing Editor Opinion Editor Metro Editor Sommer Hamilton Elizabeth Webb Jenelle Wilson Sarah Szuminski Metro Asst. Member Member Member C.E. Walters Collins Ezeanyim Matt Maddox Matthew Rigney The Battalion encourages letters to the editor. Letters must be 200 words or less and include the author’s name, class and phone number. The opinion editor reserves the right to edit letters for length, style and accuracy. Letters may be sub mitted in person at 014 Reed McDonald with a valid student ID. Letters also may be mailed to: 014 Reed McDonald. MS 1111, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-1 1 1 1. Fax: (979) 845-2647 Email: mailcall@thebattalion.net MAIL CALL Intelligent Design is a valid theory In response to Midhat Farooqi’s Sept. 15 column: Ir. Farooqi’s column fails to Support his position that the fal- ' inherent in the theory of evolution should not be includ ed in high school texts. His dis cussion of the peppered moth experiments does not address the real issue: did the experi- nental techniques used taint |he results found? The change In the moths did not represent a Sundamental genetic restructur ing. Simple mutation and natu- lal selection do not produce the Kinds of radical change forward ed by the evolutionary theory. He also addresses Behe’s |horough analysis of evolution. Vhether or not Behe’s theory is conclusive argument for Intelligent Design is irrelevant. ‘Vhat matters is he points out nany biological systems within |he cell simply cannot be explained through evolution. This inability of evolution to Explain certain cellular facts d be discussed within stu dent texts. r. Farooqi points out that an (Intelligent person” would not design DNA with all the useless Information present; however, Intelligent Design does not plaim that an intelligent person s responsible for anything. Evolution has many holes. ing students the freedom of thought and study around Opinion The Battalion Page 5B • Tuesday, September 16, 2003 this issue would be of great value to Texas education. Stephen Addcox Class of 2005 Large vehicles are useful and safe In response to Daniel Chapman’s Sept. 15 feature: There is plenty of use for cars the size of a Suburban or an Excursion. The first would be any business, especially main tenance services that uses the back portion for storage of equipment. Large families also have need for larger cars. I’m the oldest of five kids, and we tried a Ford Expedition once, it was too small. With the entire family in the car, we couldn’t so much as go to the grocery store because there was no physical space left. Nothing smaller than a Suburban is practical. Also there is the question of safety. I hope that I am never involved in an accident with fatalities, but I know that if I am in a serious accident, my F-150 gives me a greater chance of walking away from that than an economy car that gets 50 miles to the gallon. Gas may be expensive, and prices will con tinue to go up, but I can always make more money. My life is a little harder to replace. Chris Farmer Class of 2004 The naked truth Clubs pay tuition for female students who bare it all 9 CHRIS LIVELY A s students at the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada, head to class this fall, that dreaded tuition bill will once again have to be paid. But for some students there is a new and nontraditional option for getting the money to pay the tab: stripping. A local chain of strip clubs that exists both in Ontario and Michigan has posted an ad in the university’s newspaper that reads. “We Pay Your Tuition.” Robert Katzman, the owner and operator of the strip club chain, says his intentions are honor able. “We put an ad in the paper. If they want to call, that’s up to them. There’s nothing wrong with topless dancing ... espe cially if you’re progressing in your life,” Katzman said, accord ing to the Ottawa Citizen. Katzman should be credited for his tech nique in that he is, like any business, marketing employment to a population that is desirable for this line of work. However, a higher standard must be held when dealing with a public insti tution of higher learning. Seeking strippers in a college newspaper is inappropriate and detracts from the standards college students should seek to hold. The function of a public university is to provide students with the necessary skills required for success in the real world. It is the university’s obligation to provide a moral and intellectual environ ment to fulfill this function. Because of this obligation, the paper should refuse to take such ads. A simple advertise ment recruiting employment for a law ful business is acceptable. Even at Texas A&M, a local strip club advertises employ ment opportunities. Katzman has obviously found an untapped resource to which he is trying to appeal. Katzman sees nothing wrong with his tuition offer and believes he is offering students a reasonable and efficient employ ment opportunity that can help them pay for school. On top of the $10 an hour rate the dancers make, students can receive $1,500 to $2,000 in tuition money upon employment, according to the Calgary Herald. This market ing technique used by Katzman is creative, but is inappropriate and misleading. The reality is that many college students are skeptical and uncertain about their val ues. When combined with financial limita tions, these immaturities can make a person quite susceptible to advertising schemes like Katzman’s. The problem with this vul nerability is that a student who otherwise would not even con sider working in such a place could easily make an irrational decision. The stigma society places on strippers and their work envi ronments is expected given the line of work; strippers display their bodies as a piece of property for the public to see. It may be a legal and legitimate industry, but the strip club environment is really not one to be associated with academic excellence. Not to say that there are no hard working individuals who make outstanding grades working in strip clubs, but the average newly-recruited stripper in college is probably more likely to get sidetracked in this sort of atmosphere. Offering scholarship money in a public university’s newspaper is bound to attract at least a few people whose college success would be hindered by such an endeavor. If only one exposed student chooses and is negatively affected by this lifestyle, that is enough to outweigh all those who benefit financially. While attempting to not only provide students with employ ment, Katzman intends to improve the image of his business by requiring that the students maintain a “B” average or higher, according to CNN.com. This measure is to ensure that strippers have not only good looks, but finely tuned intellectual minds. In turn, Katzman hopes this will make his strip club more rep utable. It should be well known that good communication skills and reasoning abilities are not exactly high on the “How to be a Successful Stripper” checklist. Katzman is a capitalist who wants more money. He cares about the well-being of his employees but does not consider the conse quences such a job could have for certain individuals. His marketing scheme is mis leading in that he is trying to portray his establishments as places of success and opportunity. He advertises that he will pay college tuition, but in fact is only paying part of it. He is using every legal means possible to attract any young and attractive potential employee he can. Katzman has every legal right to advertise employ ment opportunities. However, he should try mov ing to another population rather than preying on young and financially desperate col lege students. He should also refrain from giving the college students the wrong idea about his industry. Stripping probably is not the best work experience for a college graduate to put on a resume. Mahesh Neelakntan • THE BATTALION Chris Lively is a senior sociology major. CRACK harms children Children Requiring a Caring Kommunity fails to adequately address the real causes of drug addiction o DAVID SHOEMAKER ne of the sad dest social problems gen erated by substance abuse in this country is unwanted children who can have birth defects born to parents who are drug addicts. Such chil dren must be cared for by the state or extended family and can have needs that are hard to care for. One woman, however, feels that she has come up with a solution to the problem of unwanted “crack babies” born to drug or alcohol addicts. Barbara Harris, the founder of Children Requiring a Caring Kommunity, or CRACK (also called Project Prevention), believes the solution is to pay addicts to allow themselves to undergo long-term birth control. The real problem with Harris’ solution is not that she wishes to prevent addicts from having children they will surely abandon, but the means she uses to accomplish this goal and the fact that despite the program’s good intentions, it still does not attack the cause of addiction. According to Project Prevention, par ticipants receive paperwork about the project, which states that participants can earn $200 for undergoing one of several medical procedures used in long-term birth control. But the Project Prevention Web site outlining the program makes no mention of any other help being offered to the addicts. In fact, the Project Prevention page states that they do not monitor where the money is spent, “any more than the gov ernment monitors where welfare or other related money is spent.” Although this may be true, just because the federal gov ernment follows a questionable policy is no reason why a nonprofit organization should do the same. Project Prevention paying addicts for the birth-control procedure is unethical. While the idea of preventing pregnancy might appeal to some addicts, these women are essentially being given free money they can use to feed their addiction. Wendy Chavkin, a pro fessor of public health at Columbia University said in The Village Voice, “Whether or not to have a child is a profoundly important and private deci sion. CRACK is offering money (for addicts) to go out and get high in exchange for a fundamental human capacity.” This ethical problem could be avoided if CRACK or Project Prevention used other means to entice addicts to be part of their program, or at least tried to make sure participants did not take the money and spend it on drugs. But Harris may not be all that bothered by the ethical dilemma of her organization. According to a British Broadcasting Company article, Harris was quoted in one of her first interviews as comparing people who are substance abusers to dogs, saying, “We don’t allow dogs to breed. We spay a While the idea of preventing pregnancy might appeal to some addicts, these women are essentially being given free money they can use to feed their addiction. them. We neuter them. We try to keep them from having unwanted puppies, and yet these women are literally having litters of children.” Although her concern for the children of addicts may be genuine, she may not have any for their parents, who also need help. Harris — and those who bankroll her — seems to be fine with only treating a symptom of addiction, a problem the pro gram shares with many other programs related to substance abuse. Many in the United States, including the federal government, seem to want to avoid the fact that programs such as Project Prevention will unfortunately always have participants because they treat effects, not the dis ease itself. The way to end the dis ease of substance abuse is to reduce demand, but few pursue this route because it is time-consuming and hard to accomplish. It is easier to throw money at the participants, get statistics showing quick progress and go home at the end of the day feeling that they were able to help solve the problem. But really all groups such as Project Prevention do is allow the addiction to dig in deeper, while erasing some of the out ward social consequences of addiction. David Shoemaker is a junior management major.