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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1984)
Opinion Page 2/The Battalion/Tuesday, May 1, 1984 r« Reversing the trends Texas A&M pre-law students have tr ied the University and found it guilty ... guilty of not adequately providing for their pre-professional needs. A single counselor in the general stud ies program is r esponsible for keeping all the University’s pre-law students up-to- date. That’s a big job. Even though the Uni versity keeps no statistics on the number of students planning on law careers, surely it’s too much for one person to handle at a University this size. The absence of a law school in the Texas A&M University System is no rea son to ignor e the needs of the under graduates planning further studies at other' universities. "The current system of pre-law advis ing is vague and unorganized. The stu- dents spend more time trying to figure oul how to be advised than being ad vised. The situation, however , is still salvaga- ble. The University has a foundation to build fr om, but the program needs more coor dination befor e it can truly be called a pr ogram. The first step is commitment from the administration. University officials need to r eexamine their pr iorities and r ealize that a pre-law program would benefit the Univer sity as well as a sizeable number of its top students. It never hurts for a state university to have lawyers — potential state legislator s — as alums. Secondly, the administration needs to put its full support behind efforts to im prove. An effective system — one which lias been established at the University of Texas — would be a networ k of desig nated pre-law advisers acr oss the colleges and departments. Students expressing an interest in law would be sent to these adviser s in their depar tments. It would be the pre-law coordinator’s responsibility to keep in close touch with the pre-law advisers, making sure all of them were passing on accurate informa tion to students. With a system like this, the pre-law problem could be settled out of court. — The Battalion Editorial Board Slouch “There’s no real reason, that Tel like to sell it. ” / just decided The Battalion USPS 045 360 Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battation Editoriat Board Bill Robinson, editor Stephanie Ross, managing editor Kathy Wiesepape, editorial page editor Shelley Hoekstra, city editor Brigid Brockman, news editor Kelley Smith, news editor Ed Cassavoy, sports editor Battalion Staff Assistant City Editors Melissa Adair, Michelle Powe Assistant News Editors Bonnie Langford, Tracio Lynn Molnb. Kellie Dworaczyk Assistant Sports Editor Travis Tingle At Ease Editor Bill Hughes Assistant At Ease Editor Angel Stokes Senior Reporters Patrice Koranek, Robin Black. Bob Caster, Dave Scott Staff Writers Ed Alanis. Shawn Bchlen, Dena Brown, Dainah Bullard, Leigh-Ellen Clark. Tony Cornett, Suzy Fisk, Patti Flint, Kari Fluegel, Donn Friedman, Louis Hilganner, Scott Long, Karla Martin, Kimberlee D. Norris Sarah Oates, Jan Perry, Lynn Rae Povec, James R. Walker Copy Editors....; Kathy Breard, Kaye Pahmeier Photographers Dean Saito John Makely, Peter Rocha. Mike Davis, John Ryan Cartoonist Scott McCullar Editorial Policy The Battalion is a nnn-prolh. sell-supporting neus/Mper oper ated as a community service to Texas anti Hi \ an-College Sta tion. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those ot the Editorial Board or the author, and do not necessarily represent the opinions ot Texas AX..M ailministrarors. I'ac- ultx or the Board of Regents. The Battalion also serves as a lab- orator} newspaper lor students in re/Mirting. editing and photography rlasses within the Department ot exceed 300 words in length. The editorial stafl reserves the right to edit letters for style and length but will make ever} effort to maintain the author's intent. Each letter must be signed and must include the ad dress and telephone number of the writer. Reader's Forum columns and guest editorials also are welcome. The Battalion is published Monday through Friday during Texas A AM regular semesters, ex cept for holiday and examination periods. Mail subscriptions are St6.75 per semester. $33.25 per school year and $35 per full year. Advertising rates furnished on re quest. Our address: The Battalion. 216 Reed McDonald Building. Texas AAM L T niversitv. College Station. TX 77H43. United Press International is en titled exclusively to the use for re production of all news dispatches cretiited to it. Rights of reproduc tion of all other matter herein re served. Second class postage ftaid at Col lege Station. TX 778-13. Journalists hindered by popular stereotype by Jim Earle Some fields of study are more acceptable than others. Unfortunately, I have found, journalism majors tend to fall in the category of not-so-acceptable. Being a journalism major, I get all types of reactions from all kinds of people when I tell them I'm studying journalism. And the reac tions never cease to amaze me. Once when I went home I told a woman in my church that I was majoring in journalism and work ing as a reporter for Texas A&M’s newspaper. Boy, was that a mis take. She asked me if I was going to be another obnoxious, nosey re porter—like that’s the only kind of reporter there is. At the time, I figured her only problem was that site just has old- fashioned ideas about journalism. Surely, I thought, no one my age would be so narrow-minded as to think all journalists have bad inten tions. I was in for a big surprise. It was during a class last semes ter that I first realized the truth. Not only do people my age not think highly of the press, but they also don’t trust journalists’ motives. The Grenada invasion was being discussed, and the professor asked the class what they thought about the press not being allowed to go there initially. People in the class overwhelm ingly said they were glad that the press wasn’t allowed to go to Gre nada. My classmates said they felt that the press would make a sensa- tionalistic story out of it and make the United States look bad. Is that what we really want? For the United Stated to “look good”? It's interesting to me that every day people criticize the govern- dents dedicated not only to being factually correct, but also to being ethically correct. Although I can’t speak for all journalists, I can say that this jour nalist wants to report the news. Sure, it’s nice to see my name in print, but it's even nicer to know that you have informed people of something they wouldn't know otherwise. melissa. adair ment, the President and the laws of the United States without ever bat ting an eye. Yet when journalists try to find out what the govern ment is doing and how it is being done they are accused of trying to purposefully make the United States look bad. Granted, not all journalists are ethical and not all have the right in tentions. But then again, not all businessmen are ethical. All pro fessions have their bad apples. Perhaps what bothers me the most is that I see so many ex tremely dedicated journalism stu dents here at Texas A&M — stu- I’m not quite sure where my classmates think they'll get news if journalists are banned f rom the in formation. Not to imply that I think the government would nec essarily lie to the public. It’s just that the government has a differ ent perspective on its actions that the average person does. That’s where journalists come in. The press is the government’s watchdog, informing citizens about what the government is doing - good or bad. The press is often criticized for reporting only bad news. But those making the accusations should re alize that they, too, have their eyes open only to the negative aspects of journalism. If the press is no longer able to get information, then the nation will have a much more serious problem than if Americans con tinue to be the most over-informed people in the world. Melissa Adair is a senior journa lism major and assistant city editor for The Battalion. Sexy names become liabilities for women in business careers By ART BUCHWALD Columnist f or the Los Angeles Times Syndicate As if there wasn’t enough sex discrimination in the business world, a recent Rensselaer Poly technic Institute study says that women with sexy names have less chance of being selected for man agerial jobs than those with non- sexy first names. The study, conducted by Debo rah Linville, a former graduate stu dent in industrial/organizational psychology, is titled, “Prejudice Toward Women Applicants Based on Their First Names,” and claims that men more often than women hold the traditional “sex role” ste reotype about managers. That stereotype: managers should possess masculine charac teristics, such as motivation and de cisiveness, and that first names cre ate expectations about people. Linville asked seniors and grad uate students at RPI, a popular training ground for Fortune 500 company managers, to rate the “perceived sexiness” of 250 female names on a scale from 1 (non-sexy) to 7 (sexy). She did not define the word “sexy” but left that up to the stu dents. They considered some first names sexier than others. For ex ample, among the highest-rated sexy names were Dawn (4.8), Jen nifer (4.8), Gheryl (4.9), and Mich elle (4.8). The least sexy were Ethel, who only got a 1.0, Mildred (1.5) and Esther (1.8). She then asked another group of students to play boss and rate job applicants with these seven names. The non-sexy applicants were cho sen for employment and promo tion over the sexy ones by a much larger margin of men than women, which made Linville conclude that men, when choosing women for jobs, are prejudiced by the sexiness of their first names. In case anyone is interested, here are some of the other first names that RPI men perceived as sexy: Alicia, Adrienne, Andrea, Gandace, Ghristine, Gail, Heather, Holly, Jaqueline, Julia, Kathy, Maria, Marilyn, Melanie, Renee, Susan, Tamara, and Tina. Ghristine got a 5.08, the highest. There were no 7s. If Linville’s conclusions are cor rect, these women will have a tough time making it in a man’s world. Here are a few of the names which were perceived as non-sexy: Alma, Gornelia, Doris, Edna, El vira, Florence, Magdalena, Myrtle, Rosalind, Silvana, and Zelda. These women will have no prob lem rising to the top on the cor porate ladder. So what are we to make of all this? There is nothing much one can do at this stage of the game un less a woman wants to change her first name, but if the prejudice con tinues in the business world, new parents may think twice when it comes to naming their daughters. If they give them sexy names they may never see them rise to a vice presidency. If they give them non-sexy ones their daughters could become very successful pro fessionally, but might scare away nervous prospective suitors. Of course, parents can compro mise by giving a girl one of he frst names which wound up in the mid dle of the Linville survey. Those polled disagreed as to whether the following first names wre sexy or not: Anne, Audrey, Barbara, Betsy, Betty, Garolyn, Gatherine, Ghar- lotte, Elaine, Ellen, Faith, Hope, Jean, Jill, Joanne, Joyce, Laura, Linda, Marcia, Marian, Mary, Pat ricia, Prisilla, Ruth, Shirley, Vir ginia, Wendy and Yolanda. These first names may never make it to the top, but at least they won’t starve to death. Space forbids me from printing how all 250 names were rated, and one should say that this is not the only criteria for promotion used in selecting women for responsible jobs. But Linville’s study should be invaluable as evidence in a job dis crimination suit. If an Ethel gets promoted over a Ghristine, al though Ghristine has been in the organization much longer, I think Christine has got one heck of a case. On the other hand, if Candace gets to marry the boss and Mildred winds up as only the controller of the firm, Mildred has nothing to blame but her first name. Pre-law re Society MA not hidin Editor: I am writing in response three-part article published The vi< usl wt inday a us relij (tempted the 8( |io were izi's unci week in I he Battalion concert The re at It Elizabe eshman pre-law students here A&M. Kathy W’iesepape is correct her assertion that the pre-law advisors do need to toot nate their activities between tin inks, but selves. It is imperative thatstude p m pl e te t from different colleges at thisl versity be able to come togttl and exchange ideas and infon lion concerning a career in law, It would also be nice ilia A&M had an academic pit! program, such as the pre-meda the pre-vet programs. However is quite obvious that grams were set up as a am 8 a.it r Fount cal obs a’shoah, uclems r possibl up those p [ll ^ result oil I I ^ University’s medical and veterin schools. Until the University ates a law school it is unrealislk hope for a pre-law program Last week’s articles left tft reader's forum United Pi 1SHIN e Cour the net vd itsel -3 that due the (tiding v er cour Letters he posu 0r ning in 11. The Bt or. Out of the ashes Editor: A piece of sculpture entitk “Out of the Ashes” sits in Temp Emanu-el in New York City, ft signed in the shape of a mound dirt, there are faces, hands, arm and legs appearing periodical from bottom to top. At the top the mound is the Isreali flag. Sunday and Monday of tli week the world mourned thm from Nazi Germany who died' what has become known as ft Holocaust. Let us remember tl' tragic event in history, brought by over a thousand years of hat prejudice, and bigotry. Stephen Wet Class off Frat issue is dead Editor: I was amused at Davis-Gar’ “No-Frats” antics at this weekend’s Sigma Phi Epsik ! “Fite-Nite.” Their senseless reft lion seemed almost comical they started fights with son Greeks that required police tion. The Gorps, dorms, Greeks,an any other organization have eq« rights to exist. The issue is dead. Fraternift are established and will coinin' to exist. Craig Ghalston Class of’87 le rulii I court’ mer F r did urer. If le Supn f the ap ortanl ants be ds are : scourt 1< Dima 11 y set aside at the U reader with a feeling that (hep law students were wandering about the campus, and that Rundell’s “gut feeling” was nut worry since there aren’t manyuf in first place. Nothing could be furtherfm the truth. Thanks to the hardrn and dedication of people like! Hillary Jessup, the Texas AS Pre-law Soc iety is one of the larg organizations on campus. Itisal as I found out at the state pre-l convention in Austin, the sot u largest pre-law society in the stall It would be absurd to think ll Dr. Jessup could go around personally interview all 37,0001 gies to see who was interested going to law school. However, those who are, they need onlylo in the Student’s Organizalii guide for a description ofthed and a phone number to call stop by our desk upstairs in the! villion Building. We are not ini to hide from anyone, and we ways welcome new members. It is extremely easy for studel to criticize and poke holes in ami ganization. If The Battalion, ai Kathy Wiesepape, are really inti ested in the plight of the pre-l students here, we invite you come up with some constmV ideas that would help. We are ways willing to listen. David Fishi Presidei Texas A&M Pre-law Socie[P c k lo see graduati rue rei Db Kru< ling for his last j n-Colleg orr n Mond nrrectly j gradual We're s For more 1-800-4' — ■i