Editorials
Minority conditions
require action now
The newly released President’s Re
port on Minority Conditions is scathing
— not shocking, but scathing.
Texas A&M has failed to provide
equal opportunity for many years. But
the report emphasizes the seriousness of
the problem.
Texas A&M is still behind the times;
we’re just now doing what other universi
ties did in the 1960s when the civil rights
movement started. The attitudes here
are f righteningly conservative regarding
the acceptance of people who are “diffe
rent.”
Opinions here won’t change over
night. But before we can become a
“world class” and “pre-eminent” univer
sity, those opinions must change.
Texas A&M has been designated by
leading educators as a flagship — or ma
jor, leading institution — and that im
plies a certain responsibility to set an ex
ample.
Educators also have designated the
University of Texas as a flagship institu
tion, and many of the figures of minority
enrollment compare UT with Texas
A&M. The comparison is valid. We claim
to be leaders and claim to be superior to
UT in many areas, but when it comes to
racial equality we’re far behind.
University leaders have for years tried
to sweep the minority problem under the
rug and instead focused their attention
on other areas.
Now something finally has been done.
Specific problems have been identified
and specific solutions have been given.
The committee has done its part —
now it’s up to us to finish the task.
Regents’ appointments
political football game
Three men appointed to the Texas
A&M Board of Regents were among the
5 9 lame-duck appointments returned to
Gov. Mark White by the Texas Senate on
Thursday.
Regents are appointed to oversee the
state’s higher education systems. In his
inauguration speech, White promised to
aid Texas education. This should include
higher education. But recent actions
have turned the regents appointments
into a power play instead of a search for
the persons best qualified for those posi
tions.
What is really wrong with the regent
candidates of fered by Clements? What is
really wrong with the three regents cur
rently serving on the board? Aren’t they
qualified to fill the positions?
They aren’t White supporters. No
more, no less. In the end, it really seems
to come down to who supports Clements
and who supports White.
Regardless of the outcome of the
appointments, this move does confirm
the Senate’s desire to do away with lame-
duck appointments. Senators have been
quoted as saying the Senate feels such
appointments represent bad state policy.
Now the Senate must follow through
on this and abolish lame-duck appoint
ments. To save time, money and turmoil,
the dates of office terms must be changed
so there is no way an outgoing governor
can make such appointments.
Prevention needed
for campus assaults
December 6 — A woman is assaulted
in the basement of Mosher Hall.
December 12 — A woman walking
between Mosher and Krueger dorms is
grabbed from behind and hit in the face.
Wednesday — A woman is stabbed
outside of Mosher Hall while trying to get
into the dorm.
Who’s next?
Three assaults have occurred in the
Commons area during the past month.
The parking lot is dark. Lighting
around the Commons is not of the high
est quality. Doors have to be locked to
keep intruders from entering the dorm.
But that’s also a problem.
It’s a Catch-22 situation. The doors
are locked to keep intruders out. But the
same locked doors also prevented a
female student from getting inside fast
enough to escape an attack.
In the University’s five-year plan,
locks will be placed on dorm doors that
will open upon insertion of an ID card.
But there are at least four years to wait
until those plans become reality.
Meanwhile, lighting needs to be im
proved in the Commons area. The Uni
versity police should check the location
with extra runs each night. A door
monitoring system needs to be organized
so female students can get in without
delay.
But these steps may take a while to
come about. So, be careful.
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
Member ot
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
Editor Diana Sultenfuss
Managing Editor Gary Barker
Associate Editor Denise Richter
City Editor Hope E. Paasch
Assistant City Editor ........ Beverly Hamilton
Sports Editor John Wagner
Entertainment Editor Colette Hutchings
Assistant Entertainment Editor . . . . Diane Yount
News Editors. . Jennifer Carr, Elaine Engstrom,
Johna Jo Maurer, Jan Werner,
Rebeca Zimmermann
Staff Writers Maureen Carmody, Frank
Christlieb, Patrice Koranek, John
Lopez, Robert McGlohon, Ann
Ramsbottom, Kim Schmidt, Patti
Schwierzke, Angel Stokes, Tracey
Taylor, Joe Tindel
Copyeditors Daran Bishop, Jan Swaner,
Chris Thayer
Cartoonist Scott McCullar
Graphic Artist Pam Starasinic
Photographers David Fisher, Jorge Casari,
Ronald W. Emerson, Octavio
Garcia, Rob Johnston, Irene Mees
Editorial Policy
The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting news
paper operated as a community service to Texas A&M
University and Bryan-College Station. Opinions ex
pressed in The Battalion are those of the editor or the
author, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of
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bers, or of the Board of Regents.
The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper
for students in reporting, editing and photography clas
ses within the Department of Communications.
Questions or comments concerning any editorial
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Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 words in
length, and are subject to being cut if they are longer.
The editorial staff reserves the right to edit letters for
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show the address and phone number of the writer.
Columns and guest editorials are also welcome, and
are not subject to the same length constraints as letters.
Address all inquiries and correspondence to: Editor,
The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M Uni
versity, College Station, TX 77843, or phone (713) 845-
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Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald
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77843.
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Second class postage paid at College Station, TX
77843.
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Compromises ahead for Reaga
by Helen Thomas
United Press International
WASHINGTON — President Reagan
will be a man in search of many com
promises in the next two years if he wants
his presidency to work.
At midpoint in his White House
career, Reagan has had to reassess his
own hard and fast positions as he watches
his supply-side economic policies found
er on the shoals of failure.
Reagan would be the last to say his
three-year tax cut combined with his
monetary policy is not working.
Although, he was warned that it was
not the way to go if he planned a trillion-
dollar defense buildup, his economic
advisers had convinced him that the tax
slash would wipe out the recession.
Today, the nation is still in a slump
and Reagan has approved a three-year
$99 billion tax increase and a four-year
$20 billion gas tax hike, wiping out any of
the advantages of the tax cut. And that’s
not all. Social Security taxes will be accel
erated under the reform plan and Treas
ury Secretary Donald Regan has let the
cat out of the bag that the president will
propose a whole new package of tax hikes
in the forthcoming 1984 fiscal year
budget.
Some past presidents who have now
been sidelined may be smiling at all this,
particularly as one remembers Reagan’s
campaign battle cry against those "who
“tax and tax and spend and spend.”
The president came into office prom
ising a balanced budget and a job for
everyone who wanted to work. In his two
Letters policy
Letters to the Editor should not
exceed 300 words in length, and are
subject to being cut if they are longer.
The editorial staff reserves the right
to edit letters for style and length, but
will make every effort to maintain
the author’s intent. Each letter must
also be signed and show the address
and phone number of the writer.
Columns and guest editorials are
also welcome, and are not subject to
the same length constraints as letters.
Address all inquiries and corres
pondence to: Editor, The Battalion,
216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M
University, College Station, TX
77843, or phone (713) 845-2611.
years as president, the deficit looms at
around $200 billion and unemployment
has spiraled from around 7.5 million to
close to 12 million.
Confronted with the facts and a con
tinuing sluggish economy, it appears that
he can no longer hang tough. Under
strong pressure from Republican leaders
who have gone public on the subject,
Under strong pressure from Re
publican leaders who have gone
public on the subject, Reagan has
been displaying more flexibility.
Reagan has been disjjlaying more flexi
bility. Much against his druthers he sent
Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger
back to the drawing board and Weinber
ger came up with $$1 1.3 billion in milit
ary spending cuts.
His top GOP lieutenants on Capitol
Hill are telling him that is not enough,
but he passed the word that his bottom
line.
Reagan is enough of a politician to
know that he has to make concessions if
ie expects his programs to pass. It is dif
ficult for him to bend, particularly when
it involves his political convictions. But he
also sees the handwriting on the wall and
what is being called the “paralysis of con
frontation if he chooses to do battle with
Congress on the major issues.
When he was governor of California
Keagan had pronounced himself
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Construction
Reagan is being
change tactics and positions.
in con-
Slouch
crete on a given issue
had to compromise, he
porters, “You set* the concrete
around my feet.”
Direction is one thing,
another, and Reagan can see soi bsl annex
fruits of his philosophy in therukringbuildii
the country lias taken. Hd by the I
In the area of nuclear armsftif^cilities Pla:
‘luctantlv puff™ De P art
I he new eng
Although he is sticking with
option” in the nuclear arms Engineer
meaning no intermediate ranget ^ com pi et e
on the European continent oral®! Bob Evans,
capitals — the president and his&litiesconstrue
realize they are losing ground infoB
of public opinion as Soviet PrcsidfB
Andropov drops new proposalsf(T
in nuclear weaponry.
Another area where R ea SF|
bowed to outside jjressure andiiroj
been the administration’s apparc 1 |
nowledgement that it has not!
many women in high-visibilityorj
making top government jobs. As|
sequence, Reagan selected twowoi
join his Cabinet: Elizabeth Doleto
retary of transportation and
Heckler to be secretary of health
man services.
For some, the changes and
sions Reagan is making may be W|
and too late, as in the case ot
women’s groups who claim he is
only token gestures to women.
But it is a mark of a resilient,
minded president when he cao
with the times. In the case of Real
a necessity born of the need tos
By Jim Ear