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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 26, 1978)
Viewpoint The Battalion Texas A&M University Wednesday April 26, 1978 Sexual equality and the cover charge By GARY WELCH Battalion City Editor Last weekend I visited a Dallas night club to hear some progressive country music and paid $3 just to get in the door. Now, I know what you are saying: if I want to hear good music I have to pay for it. Fine. I agree to that. But what really surprised me was that the females in our company paid only $2. Before I am ac cused of being some sort of chauvinist, let me say that I certainly believe in being chivalrous on occassion, and if I had been paying for one of the young ladies, which I wasn’t, I would have been glad for the price reduction. But as it was I, a male, was paying more than she, a female, to see the same show. If we examine the principles involved, then if we possess any sense of equality we see that the situation is unfair to a degree. Since I am a college student and she is a college student, probably neither of us has any money to spare. Commentary Some fine day when I have a lucrative job (hopefully), I seriously doubt if I will even flinch if I happen to pay more than my share. But since I am now engrossed in trying to learn enough to qualify for that lucrative job, I feel I have the right to complain. Plain and simple, the policy is unethical and unfair. Any sincere advocate of non sexist equality must object to the practice, or risk being hypocritical. That is not to say that females are causing the problem, because for the most part they are not. The person responsible for the price policy is probably male, because his is a good job and because, as any equal rights supporter can tell you, males still have most of the good jobs (whether they are the most qual ified or not). If it is female superiority we want, then we should actively pursue it in our thoughts and actions, although in my mind a certain superiority already exists. But that is only my opinion. It is also my opinion that female superiority should not exist in our policies simply because that would also deviate from the principle of equality. I would like to see a true equality, both in everyone’s words and in their actions. Nothing more, nothing less. I do not want to leave the impression that this particular club has done any sing ularly terrible deed. The music was excel lent, though refreshments were a bit on the expensive side; but over all the eve ning was well worth it. All I ask is that we get things fair and keep them fair. Of course, if any of you price-setters out there have any compas sion for a couple of college kids, then in stead of raising hers to $3, just lower mine to $2. Martina’s ^private relief citizenship By WILLIAM E. CLAYTON United Press International WASHINGTON — The case of a fa mous tennis player who defected from Czechoslovakia dramatizes the emotions that mark Congress’ work nearest the grassroots: the private relief bill. It is normally among the least visible things Congressmen can do. Federal debts can be forgiven. A person can be made eligible for a benefit. He can be paid some claim. A freedom fighter can be sped to ward citizenship, waiving a waiting period or some prerequisite. Washington Window The Martina Navratilova case falls into the big basket of citizenship cases. There are tens of thousands of people awaiting citizenship. Many of them persuade a con gressman to sponsor private relief bills for them. In Miss Navratilova’s case, it was Rep. James Collins, R-Texas, whose district is in her newly adopted hometown, Dallas. She asked that the waiting period, be tween being a permanent resident and being eligible for citizenship, be shortened from 1980 to this year, so she can compete on the U. S. team in certain tennis matches. “While Americans are aware of Miss Navratilova’s tennis exploits, few are aware of the fact that when she was only 18 she made the momentous personal deci sion of defecting from her native Czechos lovakia to seek a new home in the United States,” Collins said. He spoke of the strength she would add to the American team in the Federation Cup team tennis competition. But there are issues other than just tennis. Rep. John Rousselot, D-Calif., who helped get the House to postpone the Navratilova bill for further consideration, said the tennis star’s lawyer felt the bill was needed to speed the day when she could visit her parents. And, he said, there are allegations that her sister, also a tennis player but still in Czechoslovakia, has had some hardships that would not occur if Martina were able to become an American citizen. The emotional issues make some private bills hard to handle objectively, Rousselot said. “It is very difficult, in the name of equity, fairness and justice,” he said. Letting the tennis star’s bill pass “would make it hard to explain to those many other people who are waiting” for citizen ship, Rep. Robert Bauman, R-Md., said. Cutting the waiting time by two years “is highly unusual,” Rousselot said. “There have been very few of those that have gone through; maybe in the last sev eral years.” “They all have a very legitimate emo tional side to them.” One bill, considered and postponed the same day the Navratilova bill was, dealt with a Lebanese man whose appeals have a very legitimate emotional side to them. Rep. Joshua Eilberg said, in the report on the Navratilova matter, “The threshold question to be answered is whether U.S. citizenship should become an award for athletic excellence.” The question of making it possible for her to compete in team tournaments more quickly does not meet a criterion of national interest, he said. “I do not believe that we should waive the requirements for citizenship so lightly,” Eilberg said. Jimmy gets tough The ‘no-politics’ president By DAVID S. BRODER PITTSBURGH — Now that President Carter has been “tough” with his staff and Cabinet in the meetings at Camp David, the question among politicians is whether he will be equally “tough” with himself. According to participants, Carter was unusually blunt in placing responsibility for the administration foul-ups and failures of coordination within his administration, during the talks last weekend. He ended with what those present called a rather stirring plea that the embattled adminis tration start pulling together. But in the political community, and par ticularly among fellow Democrats, the question is when or if Carter will begin to not just to pull his administration to gether, but to divide the country in a polit ically purposeful way. THE QUESTION has been put in vari ous forms to this reporter in recent weeks by people as diverse as a major Republican pollster and the campaign manager for one of Mr. Carter’s defeated rivals for the Democratic nomination. But it came most clearly into focus here in the comments of freshman Democratic congressman Doug Walgren. Representing a district as diverse as any in the country, ranging from the weal thiest of Pittsburgh’s suburbs to blue- collar ethnic steel-making communities, Walgren said: “President Carter gets criti cism from every corner. He’s rolled the ball right down the middle and he’s lost on both sides. “To me,” said Walgren, “it looks like he’s not making any political judgments at all. He just proceeds on the policy and administrative level without considering the feelings of people who are affected by his decisions. He doesn’t even bother to encourage the people who agree with him. I just don’t find any strong supporters — people who speak up for him when he’s criticized. ** WHITE HOUSE LOYALISTS may dismiss those words as the worried rationalization of a freshman congressman feeing a tough reelection battle in a district Carter lost last time by 15,000 votes. But the Gallup Poll published earlier this month shows the President’s support sinking toward a uniformly precarious level among all groups in the population. He runs no better among the poor than the rich, the less educated and the well- educated, the Jews and the Protestants or Catholics. He is disillusioning many, but enlisting the loyalty of few. The view that Carter is insufficiently “political” is held inside the top ranks of his own official family. By that, they do not mean that he is indifferent to his political fate in 1980. They mean that he governs in a way that appears oblivious of the need of attracting allies — and provoking political enemies. Outsiders, like the Republican pollster and the Democratic rival’s campaign man ager, tend to attribute that to an undiscip lined ego that prompts him to believe, as this Democrat says, “I can get them all.” Others closer to the President say it is his disinclination to play up to the interest groups, his low-keyed rhetorical style and his non-ideological approach to issues which kept him from building a strong personal constituency. But both these theories miss the central point. What defines a President — what draws or repels political support — is not his style but his substance. It is the goals he espouses that give the hard edge of meaning to his administration and that politicize the country into meaningful blocs. CARTER HAS BLUNTED that pro- cess by espousing a bewildering variety of contradictory causes in both foreign and domestic policy. He has allowed himself to be tugged this way and that. He has buried himself in adminstrative detail and failed in a President’s first duty — to communicate his vision to the nation he leads. After the enormous expenditure of time and energy on the essentially secondary issue of the Panama treaties, Carter must recognize the limits of his presidential power. Now he must determine what is important to him to accomplish with it. Knowing he cannot do everything, he has to decide what it really is he wants to be remembered for as President. He has to commit himself to those concerns and resist being pulled into other fights that are not his own. In doing that, Carter will divide — and politicize — the country, which is not an evil but a necessity, on lines that reflect his priorities, not someone else’s. Oddly, even his critics are inclined to believe that if Carter would display confi dence in the personal political instincts which guided him from Plains to the pres idency, he would regain the confidence of the people. In that sense, at least, Carter has no al ternative but to be “tough” with himself, if he is going to succeed. (c) 1978, The Washington P f <S^EET'N(5^, BRETHREN! Letters to the editor Muster was ‘abbreviated’ Editor: The 75th Muster at College Station was a miscarriage of tradition. Muster at the central campus is the largest gathering of Aggies in the world and should be a dedication to all deceased Aggies and not just to students and Brazos County residents. In proceeding years. Muster’s roll call has included the “mis placed heartbeat” of those all over the world. Why was this year’s Muster hand led differently? Muster is a sacred Aggie tradition, so don’t try and change it by abbreviating it. Let us hope that next year’s Muster, and those to follow, are handled differently from the Muster of 1978. Sincerely, Lynn p urne ll, ’77 Don Hagan, ’76 Terri Millender, ’79 ' Bill Adams, ’78 older population. Secondly, the present cost of each meal is $1.91, not $2.74 as quoted in the article. Thirdly, the meal planning is done by a nutritionist, not by a “nutritional council”. People desiring additional information about participating in Years for Profit, Meals on Wheels, or Energy Assistance can contact our office at 822-1302 for fiirthr information or assistance. —Dale J. Marsico, Executive Director Brazos Valley Community Action Agency Let's make a deal Editor’s note: According to the Muster committee it has not been a tradition for all names to be read — at least during the past seven years. Each local Muster is suppose to name the^Aggies who have died in that area. A spokesman for the Former Students said if anyone wants to change the Muster format they should contact the Former Students. Clarification Readers’ Forum Guest viewpoints, in addi tion tii Letters to the Editor, are welcome. All pieces sub mitted to Readers’ forum • Typed triple space • Limited to 60 characters per should be line • Limited to 100 lines Editor: There appears to have been some mis understanding concerning our elderly projects discussed in your article “Pov erty” appearing in the April 7, 1978 issue of The Battalion. First of all, the Years for Profit Nutrition Program provides 695 meals a day in 12 centers through the Brazos Valley area. These meals are provided once a day to residents 60 years of age; who are in need of a balanced meal, who cannot properly prepare meals on their own, or who suffer from isolation prevalent among today’s Editor: This letter is addressed to the fellow Aggie who “borrowed” my bike outside of Zachry Monday morning. I WANT IT BACK! I can’t understand why you would want to keep it. After all, it is over eight years old, the paint is chipped, the spokes are loose, the foot pedal hits the kickstand, the front tire rim is bent so that the front brake works improperly; and to top it all off, only the top five gears work. So why keep it? Sounds like junk to me, and chances are, with a bike in that condi tion your’re gonna have a hard time selling it. So I’ll tell you what, why don’t you sell it back to me? I’m probably the only per son on campus that would want it. Call and make me an offer. 693-8536. —Karen Ann Rourke Correction \ The Reader’s Forum “Where is home of free & brave?” in Tuesday’s Battalion was written by Robert Oler. His name was not included with the Reader’s Forum com-i mentary. The Battalion regrets the error. Top of the News Campus Flu drug study continues Committee applications taken Century Singers to perform Nation Oil firms buy land off Gulf coast Petroleum companies and drilling firms bid more than $1.5 billion Tuesday for the rights to 711,000 acres of possible oil and gas deposits near the Gulf of Mexico. An Interior Department spokesman said the highest bids on each of 146 tracts of land off the Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama coasts totaled $767.4 million. The U.S. Geological Survey estimated the lands could contain as much as 250 million barrels of crude oil and 3.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Toledo teachers refuse to work Striking Toledo, Ohio, school employees Tuesday violated a court order by refusing to return to work and setting up picket lines at schools. The 2,800 members of the Toledo Federation of Teachers and about 600jiQn-academic employees, who went on strike April 10 in a contract disptite, were ordered Monday night to return to the classroom. Lucas County Common Pleas Court Judge Peter Hand work issued the temporary restraining order calling for an end to the work stoppage. Handwork said he would fine the unions $10,000 a day and individual employees $100 a day for each day the strike continues. Handwork also banned all picketing. The TFT said it con sidered Handwork’s order unconstitutional and said it would leave it up to each employee to decide whether or not to return work. “No body’s going to work today, said TFT spokeswoman Ann Lepsi. “We are picketing in frill force. The American Federation of Teachers will pay the fines out of its militancy fund. We’ve been through this before.” Farmers told to organize Leaders of the American Agriculture movement are urging dis gruntled farmers to align with minorities and labor and strengthen lobby efforts in Washington to improve farm produce prices. As esti mated 2,000 farmers from 34 states gathered Monday at the state fairgrounds in Oklahoma City and were told they need to organize to increase their political influence. “We will explore and use all av enues available to us to improve the economic well-being of the farmers of the nation and the economy of the world,” said Tommy Fulford, of Alamo, Ga., chairman of a day long rally. World Prisoner exchange planned American officials are awaiting the arrival of an East German lawyer to see if a complex, three-nation prisoner exchange can be expanded to bring about the release of additional prisoners in other countries. The discussions are expected to resume with the arrival this week in Washington, D.C. of East German lawyer Wolfgang Vogel, who was instrumental in negotiating the 1962 swap of U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel. Brezhnev denounces bomb Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev Tuesday in Moscow denounced the neutron bomb as a “new and especially inhuman weapon of mass annihilation and said Russia would not produce it if the United States would agree to a curb. In a nationally televised address, Brezhnev said he believed the Soviet Union and the United States could reach an agreement on a new strategic arms limitiation treaty by “sensible and realistic compromise.” The Soviet president said “some progress was made in working out an agreement on strategic arms limitation” during negotiations with Secretary of State Cyrus Vance in Moscow last week. Fire aboard U.S.S. Concord A roaring fire burned for five hours Tuesday aboard the 6th Fleet supply ship U.S.S. Concord at Palma, Majorca, a fleet spokesman reported. The spokesman said there were no injuries from the fire and the ship was not seriously damaged. The fire broke out Tuesday morning in a storage area of the ship. Weather Partly cloudy skies today, tonight and Thursday with warm afternoons and cool nights. High today near 80, low tonight mid-50s. High tomorrow low 80s. Winds from the northeast at 10-15 mph this afternoon shifting to the east at 5 mph tonight. Participants in the influenza drug study are reminded that the final blood specimen will be taken on Thursday from 7:30-9:30 p.m., in Corps dormitory lounges A and B. All participants who gave an initial blood sample are requested to give a final sample even if the drug was terminated during the course of the study. Please bring all outstand ing weekly reports or illness reports to receive payment. Applications now are being accepted for student representatives on University committees. A list of these committees and application forms are available in the Student Government Office, Room 216 C, MSC. The deadline for application is 5 p.m., Monday. Texas A&M University’s Century Singers will be in concert at8 p.m. Friday in Rudder Theater. Music ranging from the “FaureRe quiem to a sentimental journey of ’40s tunes will be on hand for music lovers of all ages and tastes. Mrs. Margaret B. McArthurwill direct the 78-voice choral group through the 90-minute show. Tickets are on sale in Rudder Box Office or from any Century Singers member. r U { A R bis peti am and The Battalion Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editor or of the writer of the article and are not necessarily those of the University administration or the Board of Regents. The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting enterprise oper ated by students as a university and community newspaper. Editorial policy is determined by the editor. LETTERS POLICY Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words and are subject to being cut to that length or less if longer. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit such letters and does not guarantee to publish any letter. Each letter must be signed, show the address of the writer and list a telephone imber for verification. Address correspondence to Letters to the Editor, The Battalion, Room 216, Reed McDonald Building, College Station, Texas 77843. McDonald Building, College Station, Texas ^ United Press International is entitled exclusi'^ use for reproduction of all news dispatches cred'^ Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein^ Second-Class postage paid at College Station, Represented nationally by National Educational Adver tising Services, Inc., New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. The Battalion is published Monday through Friday from September through May except during exam and holiday periods and the summer, when it is published on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester; $33.25 per school year; $35.00 per full year. Advertising rates furnished on request. Address: The Battalion, Room 216, Reed MEMBER Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Congress Editor Managing Editor Karei^ Sports Editor News Editors Carolyn Blosser, Debbie^ City Editor G*Jj Campus Editor h 2 .. Assistant Campus Editor Andy'* Editorial Director Lee Roy Photo Editor J. Wagn^ Staff Writers Mark Patterson, Paig^’ Andrea Vails, Michelle Scudder, Photographers Susan Webb r Dour' ! Cartoonist . f wb die M l day oof eo to 1 tme we thw thw Aus ,,(Vf Student Publications Board: Bob G. Rogers, - , foe Arredondo, Dr. Gary Halter, Dr. Charles I Dr. Clinton A. Phillips, Rebel Rice. Director of- ^Publications: Donald C. Johnson.