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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 30, 1984)
Opinion Page 2/The Battalion/Friday, March 30, 1984 Parking fees: More for our money? The parking situation at Texas A&M has gone from bad to worse, and then to worse still. Bad was a serious shortage of on- campus parking spaces for students and faculty. Worse was the campus po lice crackdown on parking violations, with penalties ranging from $10 fines to $50 towaways. And now, parking fees will increase by 66 percent next year, thanks to the Texas A&M System Board of Regents. On-campus students, off-campus stu dents, faculty members, staff members — all will be hit by the higher rates. Off-campus students may think they can save on parking by riding the shut tle buses. Think again. Shuttle bus passes are going from $42 to $44.50. A better solution might be to move into a dormitory and leave your car at home. But student housing fees are going up, too — by about 6 percent. Altogether, the board passed 17 fee increases. Eight of those will affect the main campus. Student housing, student services, board plan and shuttle bus rates are going up by moderate amounts. A 3 to 6 percent increase seems reasonable to correct for the tionary economy. But what about parking? The econ omy doesn’t need a 66 percent correc tion factor. It would make sense if we were get ting something for our money. But the on-campus parking garage that’s been promised for the last few years is be ginning to seem like little more than a mirage. The massive parking fee in creases would be justified if plans for the long-awaited multi-level parking garage had materialized. What’s done is done. The board has voted, and we have no choice but to ac cept. But the regents need to realize the financial burden they’ve placed on stu dents — especially since the increases have been unaccompanied by any sub stantial increase in available student fi nancial aid. At the regents’ meeting Tuesday, Vice Chairman William McKenzie said that in the future, the board needs to look for ways to decrease the steadily climbing fees. That idea is long overdue. — The Battalion Editorial Board Dan Dei design Ron Me structioi put toge Letters Belgium trip memorable P® for visiting Texas professor orv Texas A&M on trial at Editor: I have been a graduate student Texas A&M University for five years. I have to admit that I am an irremediable two-percenter. I’m a Baptist, a Republican, and I know that Hwy. 6 goes both ways. For some people, both are the wrong way... J. J. Robinson II Grad. Student, Entomology Mice make headlines I thought that the students of this school were a faceless monolith until I observed signs of actual outrage when Texas A&M hired Mr. Sherrill. I am sufficiently encouraged to write this let ter before I leave for good. Editor: On Tuesday, a picture of Dr. C. Thomas Caskey appeared on the front page of The Battalion along with a slide of “genetically engineered mice.” It is past time for the students of this school to organize for better purposes than to shield mental children with edged toys. This institution has an un fortunate tendency to confuse partial or otherwise inadequate instruction with academic rigor, tradition with ethics and morality. I thought your readers would be in terested in knowing a little more about the significance of those two mice. They are siblings. One of them is more than twice the size of the other be cause it contains a foreign gene com posed of the mouse metallothionein promoter fused to the human growth hormone structural gene. As members of the world academic community, we have the duty to do what we can to maintain the quality of our ed ucation when our institution fails to do so; a responsibility to express our out rage openly when the regents, adminis tration, or faculty acts against the inter ests of students they are hired to serve. Apart from research, the students of this institution and their intellectual ful fillment are the only proper reason for the existence of Texas A&M. To substi tute football, military discipline, or 19th century tradition for the active nurture of mental abilities of those who must soon accept the responsibility for the survival of our species is a crime against humanity. A picture of the same two mice ap peared on the front cover of SCIENCE, the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science on Nov. 18, 1983. According to SCIENCE, this is thought to be the first example of a human gene expressed in another ani mal. Readers desiring more scientific de tail may wish to refer to that issue of SCIENCE. Since I won’t be here much longer. I’ll answer the obvious criticisms now: Accolades to MSC Great Issues for bringing the ethical and philosophical issues associated with genetic engi neering to the attention of the Univer sity community. Mary Alice Meyer Medical Pathology Department When Super Tuesday and The Day After become only blurred recollec tions, I will remember Belgium. Even after the furor over school prayer has subsided and Aggie football is no longer a mystery, I will still be haunted by memories of Louvain la Neuve. There is nothing special about travel ing abroad. Defectors do it. Hijackers used to do it with frequency. But two weeks of torture in this “man-made” Belgian city is an exception. It is a spe cial story which must be told so that many respectable, anti-orange, Battal ion readers can be spared similar pun ishment. My first midsummer impressions of Belgium were bad. It was taxmg enough to have to buy gasoline in liters and or der meals in French, but to eat all of that sauce on my food was too much. My sanity was further put to the acid test by being shut off from the USA. Yes, my deprivation in this small college commu nity southeast of Brussels caused me to appreciate the value of chicken fried steak, saying “howdy,” and the unparal leled scenery along highway 6. This qu^si-vacation had its roots in a decision by NATO to have me take part in an international institute on comput ers in science. Since there were only 15 of us from North America, I thought I had finally grasped the meaning of that ubiquitous cliche “creme de la creme.” What an illusion! In retrospect I still wonder why I was punished in this fash ion. I hadn’t openly criticized Ross Perot or the 12th Man; I wasn’t even an ex pelled staff writer for The Battalion. Belgium is a schizophrenic nation with two principal ethnic groups, the French-speaking Walloons and the Flemish-speaking Flemings. Arguments over which is the dominant culture have resulted in perpetual conflict. The Belgian government attempted to achieve some degree of peaceful co existence by having virtually everything printed in two languages. And get this: the university used to offer all courses of study in French and Flemish. How could 1 find logic in this creative remember meeting an | By BETH] Ref The Big Eve punity service I even American tourist in Brussels ami we simultaneously asked each Miurday at “What are we doing here?" Bot too late to The most gratifying memoiip ro g rani - Louvain la Neuve involved makii Anyone wl lone or want reader’s professional acquaintances and lis!* e B - Ev ‘, lU to profound speeches. I recallo[m )Venin , enl() ’| forum pn. Participants foups will do madness? At least blacks and whites speak the same language in Texas — most of the time. So I had to keep asking myself, why am I here, a place where you can be fined for not voting? Why am I in a city where Walloons do talk — but not in English? My first full-scale indulgence in French dialogue was futile. I vividly re member the French lady who took a bottle of wine and sat on a campus bench directly in front of me as if to at tract my attention. When I went over and started speaking French, the jeune fille wept profusely. Thinking she had been moved by my irresistable oratory I naturally sought the reason for her emotional outburst. Was I surprised to learn that it was my inept command of the language which had brought her to tears? As I de parted I heard her mumble in English, “I thought all Texans spoke a foreign language.” There were other anxious moments during this trans-Atlantic fiasco. I recall visiting Waterloo and getting lost in a Flemish community, after having spent the night before learning how to say “I’m lost” in French. And how could I forget the illusion of instant wealth I experienced in ex changing dollars for Belgian francs and how I had to call to Houston for $50, only to find out later that the call cost turer saying “Any teacher who (Gj might be replaced by a computer be replaced.” There was also another quote® 1 ^ Domini uted to Tennessee Williams whid f i,’ 1 Tj ‘ l W )a Make voyages; there is nothing#|j ar Dystroph Williams did in fact say this, 1’nisiiW Members of didn’t have Belgium in mind. Bompany B-2 On Monday, my scheduleddepi date, I was confronted with thei of returning to the United States maining in Belgium. All signs from home were ora The Americans had been beaten in the winter Olympics andthedi left by Hurricane Alicia matched only by the Longhorn’sta ball season. And to top it all off,1 Mondale had been deluded into! ing he was losing “beef’ insteadof' Closer to home the situation w better. There I had to face the [t inevitability of hugging my motl* law at the airport and listening to) bie bring me up to date on new jokes. Despite all these negative signa choice was easy. The maladies! Brazos are only petty nuances pared to spending another Tuesi Belgium. William E,i Editor’s note: Dr. Moore is serving as visiting professor in tit year chemistry program. A guished professor at Prairie View! he has lectured or participated ini pean conferences for five summed ing the last decade. Senator Hart works on a aew jagnaturo... The Battalion USPS 045 360 ^Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference Editor ....Rebeca Zimmermann Managing Editor John Wagner City Editor Patrice Koranek Assistant City Editors Kathleen Hart, Stephanie Ross News Editor Tracey Taylor Assistant News Editors Susan Talbot, Brigid Brockman, Michelle Powe, Kelley Smith Editorial Page Editor Kathy Wiesepape Sports Editor Donn Friedman Assistant Sports Editor ..Bill Robinson Entertainment Editor Shelley Hoekstra Assistant Entertainment Editor Angel Stokes Staff writers Ed Alanis, Robin Black, Dainah Bullard, Bob Caster, Bonnie Langford, Christine Mallon, Sarah Oates, Tricia Parker, Lauri Reese, Dave Scott, Travis Tingle, Karen Wallace Photographers Bill Hughes, Katherine Hurt, John Ryan, Dean Saito The Battalion also serves as a kboratorj' 1 paper for students in reporting, ediMl photography dasses witin the Depart 1 * Comm unications. Letter Policy Letters to the Editor should not e.« words in length. The editorial staff relt^ right to edit letters for style and length make every effort to maintain the 31^ tent. Each letter must be signed andW elude the address and telephone numbt' writer. Reader’s Forum columns and guest $ also are welcome. Address all inquiries^ itorial Page Editor. Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-support ing newspaper operated as a community service to Texas A&M and Bryan-College Station. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the Editorial Board or the author, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, faculty or the Board of Re gents. The Battalion is published through Friday during Texas A&M t. mesters, except for holiday and examine riods. Mail subscriptions are $16.75 fC ter, $33.25 per school year and $35 per^ Advertising rates furnished on request Our address: The Battalion, 216 f? Donald Building, Texas A&M Univent 1 lege Station, TX 77843. 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