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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 12, 1979)
by Jim Earle “7 keep having this dream that a guy from the Registrar’s Office pulls me out of line as Vm waiting to get my dip loma!’’ Opinion Discrimination? Here at A&M? Yes Texas A&M University is going to get nailed to the wall — for discrimination on account of sex. And well it should. It’s unfortunate it may hike a court order to do it, but the tradition of excluding women from certain elite groups in the Corps of Cadets must change. The Corps is discriminating against women. A&M challenges the lawsuit it’s facing with two basic arguments. - One, the institution says the laws under which the suit was filed do not apply to A&M. In other words, A&M slips through under loopholes. A&M also says — truthfully — that no women have applied to join the groups (except the Ross Volunteers), and none of the groups officially prohibit female members. A&M’s reply is that women may join alternative organiza tions in the Corps, such as the Women’s Drill Team. But there is no alternative for women who can’t join — or who are strongly discouraged from joining — the Aggie Band, the Ross Volunteers and Parsons’ Mounted Cavalry. Cadet Melanie Zentgraf applied last year to join the Ross Volunteers and was not accepted as a member. The Corps argues that since the RVs are selected by members of the outfit, Zentgraf had no right to expect to be chosen. But it is obvious to anyone who has sampled RV opinion concerning women in the Corps that as long as that closed selection system exists, no woman will become an RV. Women have been in the Corps since 1974, but only this semester were they allowed to wear senior boots. While few may have applied to join the elite groups, the women should still have the option to do so — as well as the right to be seriously considered for membership. As long as they aren’t, there will still be discrimination. Traditions — such as enrolling no women at all — have changed before, and A&M has become stronger for it. Besides tradition, what good reason is there to keep women out of these Corps organizations? The Battalion usps LETTERS POLICY Letters to the editor should not exceed 3(X) 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 number for verification. Address correspondence to Lettirs to the Editor. The Battalion. Room 216, Reed McDonald Building. College Station, Texas 77843, 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 K'riods and the summer, when it is published on Tuesday hrough Thursday. Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester; $33.25 per school year. $35.00 per hill year. Advertising rates furnished on request. Address: The Battalion, Room 216. Reed McDonald Building. College Station. Texas 77843. United Press International is entitled exclusively to the use for reproduction of all news dispatches credited to it. Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein reserved. Second-Class postage paid at College Station. TX 77843 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 045 360 MEMBER Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Congress Editor • - Liz Newlin Managing Editor Andy Williams Asst. Managing Editor Dillard Stone News Editors Karen Cornelison and Michelle Burrowes Sports Editor Sean Petty City Editor Roy Bragg Campus Editor Keith Taylor 4 Focus Editor Beth Calhoun Staff Writers Meril Edwards, Nancy Andersen, Louie Arthur, Richard Oliver, Mark Patterson, Carolyn Blosser, Kurt Allen, Debbie Nelson, Rhonda Watters Photo Editor Lee Roy Leschper Jr. Photographers Lynn Blanco, Sam Stroder, Ken Herrera Cartoonist Doug Graham Regents. The Battalion is a non-piofit, self- supporting enterprise operated by students as a university and community newspaper. Editorial policy is determined by the editor. Viewpoint cai The Battalion Texas A&M University Wednesday December 12, 1979 Broder Cutting states from federal funds gives Carter chance to play politm The offi | University “Out of By DAVID S. BRODER WASHINGTON — Two kinds of head lines have dominated the news from Washington in recent weeks. One con cerned a president supposedly preoc cupied with the unending crisis of the Tehran hostages. The other concerned an administration purportedly using federal grants to reward the friends and punish the opponents of the same president s re- election effort. Those two issues provide the political context for a scheduled meeting of a dele gation of governors with Jimmy Carter this week. The meeting will focus on the issue of bypassing the states in federal-aid prog rams for the cities. The session is part of the process of con sultation Carter is going through before making his final decisions on the budget he sends Congress next month. A year ago, in a similar session, the gov ernors asked Carter to recommend re moval of some of the categorical-program restraints which now impair the flexibility in state and local use of federal aid, and to avoid the temptation to bypass the states in future grant-in-aid programs. Their plea will he repeated this year, with special emphasis on the 1980 renewal of the general revenue-sharing program. Carter has said from his campaign days onward that he wants to eliminate the states from their one-third share of that $7 billion a year distribution. The governors, understandably, think that is a rotten idea. But they are not alone. The U. S. Con ference of Mayors and the League of Cities, representing municipal govern ments, have both endorsed continuation of the present program. Their view is that any alteration in the distribution formula might jeopardize the political coalition supporting revenue-sharing. There are also substantive reasons for keeping the states in the program. As Tom Cochran of the U. S. Conference of Mayors noted, “The studies show that at least 40 percent, and probably more, of the state share is passed on to the local govern ments. ” And there is evidence that the pass through process targets money more effec tively, on areas of real need, than does direct federal aid to the cities. A National Science Foundation study of 20 years of grant-in-aid programs made by a pair of scholars from the University of Missouri- Kansas City, G. Ross Stephens and Gerald W. Olsen, concluded that “the states do a much better job of placing these funds with ‘active’ local governments than does direct federal-to-local formula allocation.” A newly issued study by the National Governors Association staff on aid to “dis tressed cities,” found that, whatever “hardship index” is used, there is better targeting of resources when the states are used to channeled the funds. Pennsylvania Gov. Richard L. Thornburgh, one of the National Gover nors’ Association officials scheduled to meet with Carter on Thursday (Dec. 13), drew the Iranian connection when he said, “With the increasing tempo of interna tional concerns on the part of the federal government, it hardly seems necessary for selected, dent. “Jud year. ■ “After tl Contrar on talent t “This is them to be reaching for respoi the local level, when the statestaf ||talent pres monstrated their ability to judge ihtip Noak fel ity needs of their localities with midp ater skills.” What Thorburgh, a Republican,4;U the turnon say was that bypassing the states,* ting states entirely our of program revenue-sharing, does increase the-K of Carter and his agents to plaiBNoak. Fc election politics with federal graititH ships. Wh cities. Busing theii The pending decision on the stasL, The tale tion of revenue-sharing thus bea>,H Interviews index, not only of Carter’s commitafE intelligenc effective use of resources in a tiraedi budgets, but also of his willii abandon some short-term political tage in order to concentrate on the tial elements of his own job. ‘The ini national a If good government is indeedthj him politics, then the governors sympathetic hearing from their fbm league. [rad (c) 1979, The Washington Post Compu The chaii tandard O letroleum i ommence] 'exas A&A nd Saturd; Approxin ire expecte md under wo cerern 30 p.m. c in Saturday Harold h&M grad riday. He lard Oil fo: Michel h&M grac Jniversit) tlumni aw miversity’s vas name 'ears ago. he gradual Analysis Politically organized homosexuals may he affecting political platforms By PETER A. BROWN United Press International WASHINGTON — California Gov. Edmund G. Brown is courting the gay vote with unusual enthusiasm and if the move pays off politically, other candidates also may decide homosexuals are worth wooing. Brown is running behind both President Carter and Sen. Edward Kennedy in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. He is trying to build a coali tion based on his fiscal conservatism and social liberalism. Recently, he was the only major presi dential candidate to appear at a gay disco bar for a fund-raiser to help a homosexual group. He is also the first governor ever to appoint an openly gay judge. Behind the gay bar appearance is an ap parent decision by Brown — who has stressed gay rights in his California cam paigns — that it is politically profitable to go after the homosexual vote nationally. In the past, gay rights has been a subject presidential candidates ran from, feeling that being friendly would cost more among voters horrified by gays than it would win from homosexuals. But gays — like blacks, Jews, women, labor and virtually every other interest group — have begun organizing politi cally. And, at least on the local level they have had some successes. In San Francisco — which has the na tion’s most visible gay population — Washington D.C., and other major cities, mayors have been elected in recent years in part because of gay support. But the suspicion persists among politi cians that any votes a candidate identified with gay rights gets in cities with big homosexual populations will be over shadowed by losses in more conservative area. Of particular importance in presidential campaigns is that Iowa, New Hampshire and Florida all hold early primaries or cau cuses and have a good deal of influence in winnowing out the candidates. Many candidates have felt the gay issue would not win them friends in those cru cial states and Brown is the first to test that assumption. Homosexual activists, who are trying to get gay rights planks in the Republican and Democratic platforms next year, say studies show about 10 percent of the popu lation is gay. They dispute the stereotype that? are more liberal politically becauseofS sexual preference and say homosexual' gister with the political parties in ak the same manner as the general pop tion. Republican stategists apparently i believe that, however. While thet Vote-USA fund-raiser at the dii tracted Carter and Kennedy aides, if was no GOP candidate or represent to be seen. Although Brown says both Kennedy! Carter have come out for gay rights, k! gone further on the issue, pledgingtoi point gays to federal jobs, issue an«« 1 tive order banning discriminational ! homosexuals in federal jobs and worn passage of national gay rights le Letters Freshman says Taps vote indicates his class is not being represented Editor: This letter is written primarily for the Class of ’83 and for the five freshman senators who voted in favor of the Silver Taps resolution. From my understanding, it is the duty of elected officials to express, as best they can, the views of their constituency. We’ve given our senators the responsibil ity of representing our views and I see them as failures. There can be no valid reason for the manner in which they voted. In Monday’s Battalion Chris May, a freshman Senator, admitted that evidence was presented that showed our class was against the resolu tion, but the freshman senators voted five to two in favor of its passage. Our seven senators should reevaluate their roles in a representative govern ment. Regardless of the pressures on an individual involved in a role-call vote to “follow the crow, ” it was not their call to follow the upperclassmen. I’m not against the passage of the bill; that is not the issue. The issue is whether we are being represented. The role-call vote is posted in the Stu dent Government office and I will make use of it for the next election. I hope you will to. — Rodney Paris, ’83 Send cards to Iran Editor: Last Friday night on the Channel 3 (ABC/Houston) 10 p.m. newcast, the an chor man, Dave Ward, made a commen tary on the hostages in Iran. He called on all Americans to give our hostages a Christmas by sending a card, letter, or package to them. Mr. Ward gave the address: An American Hostage U.S. Embassy Tehran, Iran It takes a 31-cent international airmail stamp, but what better way to show our hostages in Iran that we care than to bring Christmas to them by way of a card or something. I called the ABC Television Network in New York and they plan to run a similar commentary on national network tek* sion. There are also announcements!) made over radio. I would like to challenge all Aggiej take a moment and send a card orleW The true spirit of Christmas is thatofcl ing — let’s give our hostages a Christi and show the people of Iran what is all alxmt. — Bill Way Thotz By Doug Grabs mm alllllll