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
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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
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ot Texas AX..M ailministrarors. I'ac-
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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
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