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.
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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
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Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University-
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