Page 2 THE BATTALION
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1974
The economic reply
Batt columnist
By MIKE PERRIN
The Battalion gets $65,000 a year
from student services fees. It
shouldn’t get a penny, since the
money leads to four harms: hassle
from student organizations, indirect
administration control, forced pay
ment from the student body and
sloppy technique, which weakens
the paper.
Before I go any further in the col
umn, let me make it plain that evil
people do not make these
results—they are the inevitable end
of an inept system.
Student organizations like the
Memorial Student Government feel
that the money given to The Battla-
ion every year entitles them to a
certain amount of free coverage. Of
course, the obvious point here is
that it is not the organizations which
pay student services fees, but rather
the individual students—yet each
student does not demand his two
column inches a year.
The Student Government in par
ticular has a powerful club to hold
over the Battalion receiving a large
allocation every year—the threat to
revoke it or not renew it. Used in
this way, the subsidy is no longer a
subsidy, but a tax on the Battalion.
The administration also has this
club over The Battalion although it
has not been used since I have been
here. But the administration does
use editor selection as a device to
control the campus press through
the Student Publications Board. Al
though many on the Board are my
friends, I don’t really think that they
are that vital to the day to day run
ning of The Battalion. ,
The Board is made up of the man
in charge of University public rela
tions, the assistant to the university
president, three faculty members,
only one connected with journalism
and three students—the student
body president and two of his ap
pointees, who traditionally know lit-
'ER, THIS IS NOT EXACTLY A FLOOD . . . HIGH WATER, PERHAPS, BUT WHEN I SAY HIGH
WATER, LET ME MAKE ONE THING PERFECTLY CLEAR . .
Listen up
Nice but unwanted fungi
shares students’ room
Editor:
What does it take to get mainte
nance to repair your room at this
place? For the last 11 weeks Tve
been sharing my room with this
nice, hut unwanted, fungus that
moved in the second day of school.
I have complained to the resident
advisers and counselors along with
the head of housing about removing
this unwanted guest but so far only
the fungi’s friend, the dripping
water, has been removed from the
premises.
The dripping water was ejected
five weeks ago and a promise was
made that his fungus friend would
be eliminated early the next week.
Along with his removal I was to re
ceive a fresh coat of paint for the
injured wall.
All I have received is the
runaround from the housing office
but I hope this letter might initiate
some action. I’m sure this problem
could have been corrected some ten
weeks ago if I was of the opposite
sex.
Darrell Pye ’77
Courts taken
Editor:
Three times in the last week we
have wanted to play basketball but
have been unable to find an availa
ble gym floor. What with the
university’s male and female bas
ketball teams, the volleyball team
and intramural volleyball, we
learned that there was no place for
“regular students to play.
Usually this domination begins at
5 or 6 p.m. and continues until 8
p. m. Why can’t these groups at least
get organized so that one of the
three main gym floors (G. Rollie
White Coliseum’s upper and lower
floors and the Deware Fieldhouse)
is available for general student use
at all times?
Do these groups have to work out
at the same time? Well, if so, it just
so happens that this is the only time
some of us can play basketball, too.
Our main point is this, though.
There are over 20,000 students at
TAMU yet as few as 100 (maybe
fewer) have complete control of the
gyms for three of the evening
hours. This isn’t fair and we are get
ting tired of it.
We ask you to do something or at
least tell us who is in charge of
scheduling when the gyms are in
use, so we may talk to them and get
this unfair practice changed.
Mark Chastain
Ron Felderhoff
Lyle Kehnent
An investigation of both com
plaints will be explained in
tomorrow’s Your Man at Batt —
Ed.
Economist cut
Editor:
For several weeks I have been
reading Mike Perrin’s opinions with
mounting disgust. I have watched
him condemn U.S. government pol
icy (Nov. 13), student policy (Oct. 9,
Nov. 5), government funding (Oct.
31), student funding (Oct. 9 and 24),
our student government (Oct. 18),
our U.S. government (Nov. 13), and
government period (Nov. 1), assert
ing his opinions on these topics as
established fact with no documenta
tion or evidence of personal qualifi
cation whatsoever. I’m through
watching.
Mr. Perrin might be knowledge
able in his field (what is it?), but is
he? His assertions might be fact, but
are they? The readers don’t know.
Witness his logic from November
13:
‘But we shouldn’t be self-
sufficient . . . self-sufficiency can
lead to one of three results: either
U.S. oil prices will be higher, the
same, or lower than the world oil
price.
I ask you: Does self sufficiency or
complete dependency or rain in
November in any way make U.S. oil
prices higher, lower, or the same as
world oil price?
“. . . If the prices are the same,
then why be self sufficient? The ad
ministrative costs of the system
must be paid for, so that is still a loss
to consumers.”
Count a) so that we aren’t depen
dent upon unpredictable nations for
vital national resources and count b)
administrative costs must be paid
for regardless of sulf-sufficiency or
partial-sufficiency. But we only lose
if they’re labelled “self-sufficient”,
right, Mr. Perrin?
With these examples, Perrin and
the Battalion expect us to trust
Perrin’s acute observations and sage
critiques? Bunk!
If a statement is an opinion, it
should be expressed as such. If it’s
fact, it should in some way be
documented. Until we see either
from Perrin, his “replies’ are empty
and should be taken so.
I’m sorely disappointed with the
Battalion for endorsing Mike
Perrin’s opinions as fact.
To put it lightly.
David Newman
Perrin is a senior economics major.
— Ed.
Cbe Battalion
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editor request. Address: The Battalion, Room 217, Services Building, College
or of the writer of the article and are not necessarily those of station, n \as /7H43.
the university administration or the Board of Directors. The The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for reproduction of all
Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting enterprise operated news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in the paper and local
by students as a university and community newspaper. news of spontaneous origin published herein. Right of reproduction of all
, ii.i /•• other matter herein are also reserved.
Editorial policy IS determined by the editor. Second-Class postage paid at College Station, Texas.
LETTERS POLICY Editor .Greg Moses
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words and are Assistant Editor Will Anderson
subject to beingcut to that length or less if longer. The editorial Managing Editor Lalonya Perrin
staff reserves the right to edit such letters and does not guar an- Sports Editor Mark Weaver
tee to publish any letter. Each letter must be signed, show the Photo Editor Alan Killingsworth
address of the writer and list a telephone number for verified- Copy Editors Cynthia Maciel,
tion. Carson Campbell
News Editor Roxie Hearn,
Address correspondence to Listen Up, The Battalion, Room X. C. Gallucci
217, Services Building, College Station, Texas 77843.
Campus editor Steve Bales
, , , , . ^ City Editor Rod Speer
Members of the Student Publications Board are: Jim Lindsey, chairman; Dr. c . i » . , ... /-.i..
Tom Adair, Dr. R. A. Albanese, Dr. H. E. Hierth, w. C. Harrison, Steve Special Assignment Reporters Teresa Coslett,
Eberhard, Don Hegi, and John Nash, Jr. Mary Russo, Jim Crawley, Paul McGrath, Tony
Gallucci,Gerald Olivier, Steve Gray, Jack Hodges, Judy
Represented nationally by National Educational Advertising Services, Inc., B a S8 e ff Barbara West
New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. General Assignment Reporters Dave Johnson,
Kanaya Mahendra, Jim Peters, David White, Cindy Taber,
MEMBER Roxie Hearn, Debi Holliday, Rose Mary Traverse, Ron Ams-
The Associated Press, Texas Press Association l e r, Robert Cessna, Richard Henderson, Daralyn Greene,
„ , , „ „., ... ,. —, , Scott Reynolds, Sandra Chandler, Jim Sullivan, Leroy Dettl-
The Battalion, a student newspaper at Texas A&M, is published in College
Station, Texas, daily except Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and holiday periods,
September through Klav, and once a week during summer school.
Photographers Douglas Winship,
Mn.l subscriptions are $5.00 per semester: $9.50 per school war. S10.50 por David Kimmel, Jack Holm, Glen Johnson, Chris Svatek,
full year. All subscriptions subject to 5% sales tax. Advertising rate furnished, Gary Baldasari, Rodger Mallison, Steve. Krauss
tie or nothing about a newspaper.
Let me make it clear that none of
these are evil people; in fact, several
are my personal friends.
But many times, their positions
put them in conflict with The Batt;
for example, Jim Lindsey, the
chairman, is in charge of putting out
information about the University to
the world at large—a tough job, but
not really reconcilable with the no
tion of a campus press which owes
nothing to anyone and who must not
do favors for any side.
The assistant to the president,
Tom Adair, naturally wants to en
sure the Batt comes across as the
paper he’d enjoy showing his
friends, which is not necessarily the
same as what The Batt should be
doing.
The faculty members are merely
irrelevant, with the possible excep
tion of William Harrison, a jour
nalism prof. He could be helpful to
The Batt, but he would not have to
be on the Board for that.
Steve Eberhard, student body
president, certainly is not necessary
to the smooth functioning of the
paper and neither are the other two
students. Although these folks are
charged with representing the stu
dent body on the Board, the fact
that there are 21,(MX) of us and only 3
of them tells the true story.
So the controlling body is mostly
irrelevant and is certainly not
necessary for the day to day running
of The Batt.
The student body is also forced to
subsidize views which some may
find repugnant. No forced press can
claim the title of true servant to the
public. The students shouldn’t be
forced to subsidize the Battalion for
another good reason—it can lie self-
supporting.
The two month period ending
October 31, 1974 shows that total
advertising revenues for the paper
were $50,919.28, while total ex
penses were $50,455. 17! This clears
over $400 without the student ser
vices fee subsidy and without sub
scriptions, which totaled
$13,267.62, This brings The
Battalion s total profit to $13,731.73
for those two months. So you can
see that the services fee revenue is
just so much gravy. This is partially
because of this year’s boosted adver
tising rate. With the current rate.
The Battalion is self-supporting. A
10 per cent hike would leave re
venue for future expansion without
any need for services fees. The 10
per cent hike in ad rates would have
brought in an extra $5,000 over the
two months; this amount of money
could have tripled present staff
salaries or doubled the staff with 50
per cent wage boosts for everyone.
Or new equipment could he
bought or new techniques brought
in or any of the things which go with
an expanding and progressive busi
ness.
The forth danger of services fees
is that it can lead to complacency of
the staff. Knowing, for example,
that your organization can lose
$65,000 a year and make it up from a
forced tax does not lead to effi
ciency. Hustlers are born of neces
sity.
By forcing the Batt to be inde
pendent, slow and inefficient news
gathering methods would he scrap
ped. More and better news cover
age would follow.
The Batt s job, in a way, is a little
easier than SG’s or the MSC’s be
cause there are newspapers in the
real world. We know what they do
and how they operate; college
courses are offered in newspaper
production.
No similar analogues are found
for SG and the MSG. Other gov
ernmental bodies have the power to
tax and imprison and receive
salaries; they don’t merely make
suggestions to an all-powerful
higher source for better or for
worse. And there is no such thing as
a general purpose programming
body out there. So these two outfits
seem doomed to amateurism
forever.
This is why excellence is an
achievable goal for the Batt, as op
posed to SG and the MSG. And no
thing less should be accepted.
So this is my proposal—end stu
dent services fees, have the st;dl
select their own editor and have the
advertising pay for the paper so that
free distribution can still take place.
These changes will remove con
trols, direct and indirect, reduce
inter-organizational flak, eliminate
a $65,(MX) a year burden on the stu
dent body, promote efficiency and
professionalism and ensure a truly
free press on campus.
So support the Batt. Don’t pa\
services fees.
My apologies to John Oeffinger.
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