Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 27, 1981)
Viewpoint The Battalion Texas A&M University Friday February 27, 1981 i Service, but no students What’s in a name? When it comes to the student service fee, a lot. While it’s certainly a fee, and it funds many services, the “student” part of the tag is open to some question. The Finance Committee of Student Gov ernment has recommended the student service fee be increased by $7, from a max imum of $33.50 to $40.50 per student per semester. That’s an increase of 21 percent. To illustrate just how much the service fee and its recipient agencies have blos somed in the last few years, the student service fee maximum in 1978-79 was a pal try $20 per student. If the Finance Commit tee’s recommendations hold, that means the fee will have increased by 103 percent over a four-year period. Sidebars By Dillard Stone students the opportunity to observe the us ers justify their requests, to closing thealo cation hearing (not just to reporters, butto the entire student body), the Finance Coni' mittee has acted in a capricious mannei prejudicial to the best interests of the stu dents. In 1978, the Finance Committee sur veyed, with a 75 percent degree of accura cy, a group of students. The goal: To deter mine whether the student body, if guaran teed an increase in the quality and quantity of services provided, would be receptive to a $3 (15 percent) increase in the $20 student service. By a narrow margin, those surveyed approved. Whether the services deserved their in creases, and whether or not the ensuing increases are appropriate, is an issue to be addressed as modifications in the recom mendations are made. What matters now is that the Finance Committee in 1979 solicited and received student opinion before recommending a service fee increase. No such concern for student opinion characterizes the 1981 Finance Committee. From not asking for any student opinions on a proposed fee increase, to only giving Students had no say in urging a fee iu. crease. Students had no opportunity to tel users what they thought of the increases Students had no opportunity to tell the Fi nance Committee their feelings on there- commendation. The committee simply popped up will “We think students should pay $7 more Maybe students are willing to subsidize three more doctors at the health center Maybe they’re willing to subsidize more intramural activity. Maybe they’re willing to continue to pay for a deficit-accruing shuttle bus service. But maybe they’re not. Whichever, shouldn’t students haveasas in setting and allocating the student service fee? It’s your turn A tribute to an Aggie: JeffBogert Reagan s plan is form of shock therapy By DAVID S. BRODER WASHINGTON — British Prime Minis ter Margaret Thatcher has come to Washington at an opportune time. Her pre sence is a reminder to President Reagan and the nation that good intentions do not always produce desired results. Eighteen months ago, the Conservative leader was pointing Great Britain toward a new economic course, with a bold show of energy and confidence that even a David Stockman might have envied. But today, with inflation and unemployment both on the rise, the prime minister is a bit belea- gured, if still far from bowed. When Stockman, Reagan’s young budget chief, was asked about the Thatcher experiment at a hearing of the congressional Joint Economic Committee last week, he answered — a bit ungallantly — that the lady had got it all wrong. “Taxes and govertment spending (in Great Britain) have increased, not de creased,” he told Rep. Parren J. Mitchell (D-Md.). “The growth of the money supply has been high, not low. What has been implemented has failed, as one would have expected,” said the fellow who invited the congressmen to call him by his new nick name, “Deep-Cut Dave.” And besides, he said, this has nothing to do with Reagan’s program for economic recovery. Well, maybe. But there is one similarity. What Thatcher was trying to do was admi nister shock-therapy to a slothful economy, not just with policy but with rhetoric. She told inefficient manufacturers they were coming off the government dole, like it or not, and she told workers, “You’ll enjoy a German standard of living when you work like Germans.” The more one examines the Reagan eco- monic program, the more it too appears to be a form of psychological shock-therapy. There is an underlying economic theory, but at root, the President’s proposition is that economic problems will get better when we think they are getting better. As Reagan’s budget document put it, “Central to the new policy is the view that expectations play an important role in de termining economic activity, inflation and interest rates .... Establishing an environ ment which ensures efficient and stable in centives for work, saving and investment now and in the future is the cornerstone of the recovery plan. ” “Establishing an environment” is also a tricky exercise in mass psychology. Reagan has been masterful so far in creating a sense of confidence in his leadership and an ex pectation of rapid knd salutary action. But the more people examine the econo mic assumptions underlying his plan — the more they peek behind the wizard’s curtain — the more skeptical they seem to become. When Secretary of the Treasury Donald T. Regan went before the Joint Economic Committee last week, he was forced to admit that the administration plan assumed sustained and rapid growth in business in vestment greater than this nation has known it its entire previous history. The Washington Post quoted economist Otto Eckstein as saying such investment rates “would require a massive restructur ing of the American economy.” Irving S. Shapiro, the chairman of DuPont, told the New York Times, “All we’ve got to rely on is an economic theory.” Rudolph G. Penner, a senior economist in the Ford administra tion apd now at the conservative think tank, the American Enterprise Institute, called the Reagan plan’s economic assumptions “particularly worrisome.” Even a 1 percent shortfall in assumed economic growth could tilt the budget deficit upward by $10 bil lion, he said. What is particularly striking — at least to a layman — is the apparent assumption that the work of “establishing an environment” for this prodigious economic risk-taking and investment at home will not be disturbed by any uncontrolled events outside our bor ders. So far as one can judge, there is no allowance for another OPEC oil-price jolt, for an eruption in the Persian Gulf, for a Soviet move into Poland, or for a U.S. showdown with Cuba over aid to El Salva dor, to mention just four not entirely theoretical possibilities. When Stockman was asked about these uncontrollable factors on “Face the Nation” last Sunday, he seemed to suggest that the effects could be cushioned if the Federal Reserve Board just kept a firm grip on its monetary policy. To a non-economist, that sounds an awful lot like whistling your way past the graveyard. But maybe Margaret Thatcher is giving her American cousins lessons this week in how that is done. Editor: His long hair, balding on the sides, his quick wit .... You may have known him, he worked at nights in the ZCC, and was active in many activities on campus. From Philo sophy Club to Micro-Computers Club, fighting against the hedges around the MSC, he was everywhere. For those of you that were not here: He wanted money spent on hedges to go to other things he felt more important, such as to honor the Vets on campus that had served. He thought that wheelchairs or an emergency loan fund would help more. He, more than the rest of Come on. Town Hall Greeks: A plus Editor: On Wednesday, Feb. 26, MSC Town Hall announced for the first time in The Battalion that Jimmy Buffet and the Coral Reefers Band would be presented in con cert on March 7. When I went to purchase tickets in Rudder, I noticed that no announcement of the Buffet concert was posted. When I asked about the Buffet concert, I was told that tickets had gone on sale the Editor: From the time of my birth I have ben brought up to believe the “Aggie Fratemi ty ” was a state of mind followed throughl)) brotherhood not by preconceived notionsot one fellow “brother.” What “brother; us, could say such things for he served six previous Monday and that the only seats left years in the United States Navy dhwgir., were general admission and a few reserved Vietnam TAMU lost one of its most out going students Tuesday, Feb. 24. Perhaps he didn’t say “Howdy,” and didn’t attend all the football games. He helped many of you with programs while he worked tearing paper over in the ZCC. He’d loan you money even if he had to forego something like paying rent.... Maybe his jokes weren’t always funny, but he was always there when someone needed a hand. On March 10, he will be honored by a Silver Taps. On behalf of the Department of Philosophy, the Philosophy Club and my self: Jeff O. Bogart, sir, we salute you. Jay Clements ’81 Silver Crapper morbid 1>&ats high up oh the west side of G. Rollie White. I have since visited the Town Hall cubicle in the Student Programs Office several times in search of an explanation for this somewhat curious advertising technique, but so far I have been unable to find anyone to answer my inquiries. Therefore, I take this opportunity to ask publicly why Town Hall delayed announc ing ticket sales in The Battalion until after- the more desirable seats were sold, and why there is still no posted announcement of ticket sales in the Rudder ticket office win dow? Also, is this the type of “advertising” Town Hall intends to use in promoting future attractions? Terry L. Vanderburg liste the com c 11 Editor: The night of Wednesday, Feb. 25, a “Sil ver Crapper” was held in the area of Keath- ley, Fowler and Hughes, and continued past the Haas and McFadden sidewalk. Pall-bearers in black suits suits with dead boutonnieres on them carried a black cas ket, in which lay the Broken Hearted. They walked solemnly through the quads and across the sidewalk, then headed towards McFadden and Haas, singing funeral hymns and telling the onlookers to “Step aside, have a little respect.” Perhaps some found this amusing. We, however, found it morbid, disgusting and in very bad taste. We realize it was probably done in fun, and without much thought. But for us, the sight of someone lying in a casket with his hands folded over his chest, with eight or so pall-bearers is not amusing; it brings back painful emotions and upset ting and unpleasant memories. We feel a funeral is nothing to make light of or im itate. We hope more forethought and discre tion will be used for future Silver Crappers. Come on guys, we like the underwear and ties. Nancy Kelly, ’83 Terri Blomquist Smarts, idiots & Witzel Editor: I would like to address this letter in response to the letter by David Witzel in the Feb. 24 edition of The Battalion. First of all, I would like to say that society is divided into three classes: The Smart People, The Blithering Idiots, and David Witzel. I just cannot believe that you would let this im- bicile express his narrow minded opinion in this day and age. Whenever hearing critic ism on society as a whole, I ask myself if it is coming from the horse’s mouth. What amazes me is how this person describes four different types of society in five short para graphs. The man must be a genius. People like him is what we should protect ourselves of. These kinds of short sided attitudes are the vile threats to our society. In response to his quote, “Keep that brotherly spirit,” he is no brother of mind. Herman McGeezer Aggie does not realize is that A&M is grow ing which is making it harder for peoplt from small over-protected towns togetoul and meet people. If it was not for tlit Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta I would stil be following my big sister around by k heels. My brother FIJIs have helped m break out of the once unbreakable shell d for this reason I am more than proud tocal everyone of them “brother.” Speaking for one FIJI, maybe not all,1 am totally against the acceptance of fratemi ties and sororities. It was not my intentiot to come to this school and totally destro what my family still enjoys today, “Aggit brotherhood.” So Mr. Witzel, call you “watchdogs” away from me and ffij brothers if you do not want to be the even tual one to take the credit for destroy^ what we ALL hold so dear. I am really curious as to what you aretf here for. You slandered the Greeks forpar tying, you made fools of the pre-medfa taking time out to study to insure a success ful future, and ridiculed the Student Gov ernment for “hanging around” because oi the simple fact they have the ambition to one day make good leaders for “their school and country. In my eyes there is not much reason left for you being up at school It seems to me you will one day be t blue-collared, K-mart shopping laborer With all my heart, I pray your uneducated boss does not fit in, talks funny, and just does not know how to have a good time Tom Lester I it dj I caiis Correction The “Focus” supplement to The Batta lion contained an error concerning weekend drink prices at Grins Beer Garden. That listing incorrectly stated that Grins offers Happy Hour prices 4-7 p.m. all weekend. The listing should have said thal Happy Hour prices are in effect during those hours on Weekdays, but not during the weekend. The Battalion regrets the error. P ride Hot Rod F will Den offic onh cava trail 1 rode travi 71 ride Warped By Scott McCullar The Battalion MEMBER ISPS 045 Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Congress Editor Dillard Stone Managing Editor Angelique Copeland Asst. Managing Editor Todd Woodard City Editor Debbie Nelson Asst. City Editor Marcy Boyce News Editors Venita McCellon, Scot K. Meyer Sports Editor Richard Oliver Focus Editor Cathy Saathoff Asst. Focus Editor Susan Hopkins Staff Writers Carolyn Barnes, « Jane G. Brust, Terry Duran, Bemie Fette, Cindy Gee, Jon Heidtke, Glenn Krampota, Kate McElroy, Belinda McCoy, Marjorie McLaughlin, Kathy O’Connell, Ritchie Priddy, Rick Stolle Cartoonist Scott McCullar Photo Editor Greg Gammon Photographers Chuck Chapman Brian Tate EDITORIAL POLICY The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspaper operated as a community service to Texas A&M University and Bryan-College Station. Opinions expressed in The Bat talion are those of the editor or the author, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Texas A&M Universi ty administrators or faculty members, or of the Board of Regents. The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper fa students in reporting, editing and photography classes within the Department of Communications. Questions or comments concerning any editorial matter should be directed to the editor. LETTERS POLICY Letters to the Editor should not exceed 350 words ■» length, and are subject to being cut if they are longer. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit letters for style ard length, but will make every effort to maintain the authors intent. Each letter must also be signed, show the address | and phone number of the writer. Columns and guest editorials are also welcome, and are I not subject to the same length constraints as letters Address all inquiries and correspondence to: Editor, The | Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University- College Station, TX 77843. The Battalion is published daily during Texas A&M'sfal and spring semesters, except for holiday and examinaW periods. Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester, 13325 per school year and $35 per full year. Advertising rat* 1 furnished on request. Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald Build ing, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843- United Press International is entitled exclusively to th* 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