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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 24, 1984)
; 'Vy- V .‘ ‘ T\* •- ■ ’ • ’ ' Page 2/The Battalion/Tuesday, July 24, 1984 Opinion Pe Tech college: unsound idea In Monday’s Board of Regents meeting, Texas A&M Provost Gor don P. Eaton said the University is forming a committee to investigate establishing a College of Technology. One possible model for the college would offer a “two-plus-two” degree. This would offer a two-year associate degree with an option to continue two more years for a bachelor’s de gree. But a student wouldn’t be re quired to continue for a bachelor’s degree. “As soon as we look into associates degree, a lot of red flags are going to go out,” said System Chancellor Ar thur C. Hansen. Good. Red flags should go up. Offering a two-year associate de gree goes against everything Texas A&M has been striving for. The asso ciate degree has been the province of junior colleges and community col leges. It has no place in an institution that talks of raising academic stan dards and limiting enrollment. It would be ironic for Texas A&M to institute a two-year program at a time when Prairie View A&M — in an effort to raise academic standards — is phasing out such programs. Fortunately, the idea is only in the discussion stage. If a College of Tech nology would mean offering an asso ciate degree program at Texas A&M, we don’t need it. — The Battalion Editorial Board Electronic-Democrats abandon party's roots By DAVID S. BRODER Columnist for The Washington Post Writers Group SAN FRANCISCO — In the welter of colorful and confusing scenes that the Democratic National Convention presented, one symbolic shift may have been most significant. Except for the presidential nomination, where the television networks insisted on the traditional roll-call of states, all the voting was done for the first time on an electronic data system. I may be making too much of this symbolic “nationalization” of the vot ing process, but it shows a fundamen tal shift that has taken place in the Democratic Party and suggests one reason why it faces a hard fight in the coming election. The permanent building blocks of the party are no longer its state and lo cal affiliaters but its national ethnic and interest group caucuses. Perhaps the best speech of the con vention was given by New York Cov. Mario Cuomo, whose potential as a presidential dark horse has been so generously praised in recent months by many of us in the press that we ris ked becoming partisan publicists for him. But the Democrats are so tuned to Washington and national-coalition politics that they managed to ignore the star in their own constellation until the nomination search was over. SORM,CiMI>£RettA„,BOr ACCORP/Na W THE FEP£RALWM commission,: pipnt /m w m w wm m warrani m oor.„ Choices necessary in electoral process MOS denied die Ger Slates 1 _ missiles 1 doubts < First, let me say that the Democrats dodged the bullet here in San Fran cisco. When the convention began, there was a degree of uncertainty whether the Democrats would leave the city as one party or three or four quarreling tribes. They came out as one party. The mood at the end was positive, if not ebullient, and the assumption here is that the first round of post-conven tion national polls will show the Walter Mondale-Geraldine Ferraro ticket within striking distance of President Reagan and Vice President Bush. But whatever the national stand ings, every state-by-state anaylsis points to a massive Reagan-Bush ad vantage in Electoral College terms. The weakness of the Democrats’ Electoral College situation is not a re cent discovery. But it struck me forc ibly here that it reflects a fundamen tal flaw in the party’s approach to politics — a preference for nationaliz ing its philosophy and procedures and an inclination to ignore the federalism that is built into the structure of Amer ican politics and government. The irony is that the Democrats have forgotten the essential federalism of this political system at a time when their greatest strength and greatest talent is in local and state government. Cuomo may be the most eloquent of the 35 Democratic governors, but there are many others who could give him and the country lessons in effec tive economic development, education and budget management — to men tion three of the domestic issues of greatest concern to the voters. At the city level, the Democrats enjoy a near monopoly on the talent. “In the middle of the faithless sky there hangs a small, dark world that once was green and blue. Some say it killed itself by stabbing all its lovely lands with deep atomic wounds. Some say it took an overdose of hate. ” (Opening paragraph of “The Song” by Calvin Miller.) This is the real weakness of the na tional party, displayed here once again this week. The great public doubt about the Democrats, as Sen. Fritz Hollings of South Carolina has pointed out regularly, is not about their ideals but about their capacity to discipline their hungry factions suffi ciently to govern. The best refutation of those doubts is found in Democratic-led state and local governments. And the National party, by ignoring those components, even in its new voting procedures here, resolutely cuts itself off from its own greatest strength. The Democrats really do need to rediscover their roots. The attitudes of those that govern us (not just in the United States, but everywhere) give us the impression they would prefer all out war, or even total annihi lation, to egg-on- face. Jimmy Carter proved that even great countries Steve Thomas / ' The Battalion (ISPS 045 360 Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Rebeca Zimmermann, Editor Bill Robinson, Editorial Page Editor Shelley Hoekstra, City Editor Brigid Brockman, News Editor Kathleen Hart, News Editor Travis Tingle, Sports Editor The Battalion Staff Assistant City Editors Robin Black Assistant News Editors Dena Brown, Bonnie Langford Staff Writers Ed Alanis, Kari Fluegel, Bob McGlohon, Sarah Oates Copy Writers Karen Bloch, Cyndy Davis Copy Editor Tracie Holub Photographers Peter Rocha, Eric Evan Lee Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspaper operated as a community service to Texas A&rM and Bryan- College Station. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the Edi torial Board or the author, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, faculty or the Board of Regents. The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper for students in reporting, editing and photography classes within the Department of Communications. United Press International is entitled exclusively to the use for reproduction of all news dispatches credited to it. Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein reserved. Letters Policy Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit letters for style and length but will make every effort to maintain the au thor’s intent. Each letter must be signed and must include the address and telephone number of the writer. The Battalion is published Monday through Friday dur ing Texas A&M regular semesters, except for holiday and examination periods. Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per se mester, $33.25 per school year and $35 per full year. Adver tising rates furnished on request. Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald Build ing, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843. Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843. could withstand humiliation; proved it over and over again. Before him, Ken nedy, Johnson and Nixon did their damnedest to keep America’s John- Wayne image clearly focused in the eyes of other nations, while craven military decisions eventually turned Vietnam into our most humbling na tional experience since the Great De pression. And now, in light of San Francisco’s recent Democratic infestation — and its decision — we have been presented our candidates for president. It is almost as if Nixon were run ning against Carter: the showman Re publican against the spineless Demo crat. And though an itchy trigger finger on the big red button isn’t good, economic disintegration is worse. We have to keep Reagan for our own eco nomic good. Yet it is a paradox of our times that, while we tease disaster like a child tea ses a snake, we make social advances of almost proportionate caliber. If a young, black preacher had stood before the Democratic National Convention 30 years ago, told them he wanted to be president, declared an al most totally theological platform and asked for their support, the side-split ting laughter would have been unbea rable. And had that same black preacher kissed the convention’s female chair man on international television, as Rev. Jesse Jackson did Wednesday night, the repercussions could have made him just as immortal as Jackson’s mentor, Martin Luther King. Equally surprising was the selection of a female running mate for the Democratic presidential ticket; sur prising because it has taken so long to get around to doing it that we began to doubt its likelihood. Women, of course, have just as much claim to intellectual superiority over animals as men do. It’s a shame that a decision of this import came first from a drowning underdog, reaching for any kind of voter buoy ancy he could find. Hart wouldn’t work; too much con troversy. Jackson wouldn’t work; too headstrong and philosophical. No body else could turn the voters’ heads, except maybe a dark-horse female. But the Democrats have done their best in a lesser-of-many-evils cha situation, and now the nation must its best in November with thesa kind of choice. It is a disgrace. The thought must rest in the la of every educated person’s it “Why must I choose between lesser-of-many evils?” We continue to award the la ership of the most powerful nation earth every four years to that u (and possibly someday, to that worn who paints the prettiest picturebef( the voting public, with reckless dis gard to qualifications and track reco ter Ro Ceauses viet Pi nenko \ long as siles ins The plied to ments I for uiu on limit nuclear and Per Our system of democracy faulty, nor is our system of select* We must redesign our qualified criteria so as to ensure capable can dates. I don’t think the founding fatli would be the least bit offended if asked for quality personnel in oi highest positions. In fact, were they wake up tomorrow, they might so* us for our stupidity in letting the cus last this long. wars ta The: r They allowed for as much ast could. And though they were rem; ably prophetic, we must take up slack in their foresight. Possibly, if we do, we can avoidi! peanut farmers — and the actors. (Steve Thomas is a senior jourt lism major and a columnist for H Battalion.) Even Republican finds hope in Ferraro choice It’s happened. Geraldine Ferraro has become the first female vice presi dential candidate of a major political party in the United States, something which pleases even a Republican like me — and not someone who could normally be called a “feminist.” There has been The job description could read something like this: Wanted, public relations expert, able to support — at least in public — all the poli cies of the president of the United States, willing to attend funerals of heads of state, and capable of presiding over meetings of the Sen ate and vote at those meetings in case of a tie. Period. some question as to her qualifica tions for the posi tion, but then, the vice president is, according to the June 4 issue of Time magazine, “so to speak, flash- frozen and then, should the need arise, thawed out later.” John Nance Kathleen Hart Garner, Vice President in Franklin Roosevelt’s first two terms, said that the office “isn’t worth a pitcher of warm piss.” What are the qualifications for vice president, after all? The job descrip tion could read something like this: Wanted, public relations expert, able to support — at least in public — all the policies of the president of the United States, willing to attend fune rals of heads of state, and capable of presiding over meetings of the Senate and vote at those meetings in case of a tie. Period. It doesn’t sound like a very difficult position: a parlimentarian who’s good at PR and owns a black suit (or dress). However, the i^presentative from Archie Bunker’s Queens district may not meet some mythical qualifications for the office. Time magazine says: “Ferraro is the first to admit that she is being consid ered mainly because of her gender, not her qualifications. But she adds, ‘If I weren’t capable of doing the job, I wouldn’t be talked about.’” It is her capability of doing the job that allowed her to attend law school at night while teaching. She passed the bar exam in 1960 and practiced law from her home while her three chil dren, now 22, 20, and 17, were small. Later, as an assistant D.A., she set up her district’s Special Victims Bureau. Then, in 1978, she mounted a cam paign for Congress, and won. As a representative, Ferraro votes “from her own life,” says the July issue of Ms. Magazine. She voted against Reagan’s budget and tax cuts in 1981, against funding the MX missile and tightening food-stamp eligibility, and in favor of a nuclear-arms freeze and domestic-content legislation (a protec tionist measure backed by organized labor). Most controversial of all in her district, she has taken a pro-choice po sition on abortion. She is the only woman in the Democratic leadership of the House of Representatives. And she is the first woman to chair the Democratic Platform Committee. She is called, after just six years in Con gress, “not only one of the leading Democratic politicians but also one of the party’s leading politicians, period,” by the June issue of Ms. And House Speaker Tip O’Neill says she was his choice for the Democratic vice pic dential nominee. But whether or not she’s whati! Democrats believe to be the bestchoi for vice president — which is wha 1 party’s vice-presidential noniin ! should be, after all — she is a choice as a vice-presidential noraii* because she is a woman. I normally don’t believe that wontf should be given a job, any job, simp! because of their sex any more ti they should be denied a job solely that basis. However, Ferraro’s noU nation and the rampant discussions her qualifications will do much tot this country “It’s OK to seriously cot sider a woman for a position of powt even to put her in that position if sht qualified.” If it says only that, if doesn’t say that a woman should f put in a position of power simply l 1 cause she’s a woman, doesn’t sa) woman should not be considered si® ply because she’s a woman; if it dot say that a woman’s qualificatiot should be looked at as seriously as at man’s, then Walter Mondale will ha 1 done a lot for women in this country But I’m still voting for Reagan. (Kathleen Hart is a senior joumi lism major and the news editor ft The Battalion.)