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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 30, 1984)
All graduates deserve chairs A posthumous degree — a final tribute to a dead student. This year’s list of degree candidates includes Pamela Sue Rey nolds, a physical education major from Valley Mills, and Bill Robinson, a journalism major from Round Rock. Both have died. Robinson was close to our staff, Reynolds was not. Both deserve this memoriam, a posthumous degree. Though gone, Robinson remained a spiritual part of The Battalion Editorial throughout the semester. He was selected to be The Battalion’s Editor last spring. This should have been Robinson’s last day as Battalion Edi tor, but it wasn’t. He died after an automobile accident before producing his first paper of the semester. Robinson would have loved the excitement of this semester. He would have loved his job as Battalion Editor. He should have written the editorials. He should have handled the irate phone calls: the raving fundamentalists, the insulted Citizens for De cency, the angry anti-apathyists. Unfortunately, he was here only in spirit this semester. Those of us who are graduating would like to have him with us in spirit as we end our college ca reers; we wanted to save an empty seat for Bill. The University says it cannot leave an empty seat for posthu mous degree candidates when diplomas are handed out. The registrar says it’s hard enough to organize 1,100 students. He says leaving an empty chair for posthumous graduates is out of the question. When degrees are handed out next week, one will bear the name of James William Robinson, the other, Pamela Sue Reynolds. But they deserve more. There are two reasons the University should take the extra time to set up folding chairs for these students and for any stu dents who are awarded posthumous degrees in the future. First, as a reminder to each of us of how lucky we’re to be alive. Second, out of respect for their parents and friends. Posthumous degrees are a fine way to remember those Ag gies who died just snort of gaining a degree. An empty chair at graduation would be fine reminder. It seems the University could spare a chair. Rehashing a semester ali< mester comes a new Battalion staff and a new Editorial Board. For this, our last editorial, we offer a rehash of our opinions on local issues this semester: 1) The Goodrich death was not solely the fault of the cadets involved in the hazing incident. It is the fault of a system that has turned its head and said: “Boys will be boys,” when confronted with hazing incidents through the years. The system must be kept in check; never again should administrators, students, fac ulty or staff treat hazing in that manner. 2) Texas A&M University should give into liberty and recog nize the Gay Student Services organization. It’s not a matter of approving of homosexuality. Instead, it is a matter of allowing a group of people the right to assemble, to meet and to post notice of meetings. Allow the GSS to be recognized and they will disap pear into the myriad of over 500 campus organizations. Contin ued oppression of the GSS is a denial of basic rights given to all Americans. 3) The Student Government’s decision to confront the GSS recognition dispute was a step in the right direction. The Stu dent Senate’s action should become a precedent. Student Gov ernment, if it is ever to be an adequate voice of the students, must take stands on important issues —even if people might not like them for their decisions. 4) Women should be allowed equal access to a//campus orga nizations. It’s time to end sexist traditions at Texas A8cM — sep arate but equal was once a tradition, too. 5) Speaking of separate but equal, racism unfortunately con tinues to be a tradition at Texas A&M. Earlier this year, a black student was chased by a truck-driving bigot who yelled “nigger” at her. Thursday, a Rebel flag fluttered at the bonfire construc tion site. The university community must take steps to make Texas A&M a desirable place for students of any race, creed or color to attend. 6) Students need to realize that Aggie spirit doesn’t come in a bottle. Too many Aggies have already died in alcohol related car wrecks. Over half of all Aggies remembered at Silver Taps ceremonies died in alcohol related accidents. 7) Something must be done about the train tracks which split the campus in two. The tracks are dangerous. Adequate mark ings aren’t enough to avoid a train derailment. This isn’t a sub ject that should be looked at in retrospect after a disaster by say ing: if only ... 8) Traditions can be great things, but blind adherence to tra dition is akin to ignorance. Blind disobedience is also akin to ig norance. The members of The Battalion Editorial Board have no mal ice in their hearts toward any group. We seek only one thing, to make people reevaluate their position: to make people think. Next week, a new editorial staff will take over the paper. Be sure to tune in. Same Batt time, same Batt station. The Battalion Editorial Board Stephanie Ross, Editor Patrice Koranek, Managing Editor Shelley Hoekstra, City Editor’ Brigid Brockman, News Editor Bonn Friedman, Editorial Page Editor Bonnie Langford, News Editor Ed Cassavoy, Sports Editor joo-uoo! m\ YEW WANNA GO JOYRIDING IN CHUCK m \JCADDY? “If you v march abou erage, I will jstair Cooke AfcM. ■Cooke, tl the E- L. Mil in 204C Ster K “I hope tl tion the thre and decide v especially to Cooke said, should make JCooke dis Ice on the Iasi of three He said h< wav” about t cover prim; Each netwoi Loo By K Yale strike opens can of worms Yale University is having a bit of trouble. Its secre tarial union, Local No. such-and- such, has gone on strike, effectively shutting down the a grain. Secretaries historical! v have track in ^Student sed a loa tivities parti ing after meeting We ■Student Tempe Erk had no plar the loan sys ■The loar students wh Robert school of the boola-boo. McGlohon Usually, this would be a small news item on the back pages for everybody but the New Haven Register. It’s not, however. Yale, egalitarian institution that it is, has decided to share this expe rience with the rest of the world. How? By turning a local wage dispute into a test case for “comparable pay for comparable work.” Now, this is not the same thing as “e- qual pay for equal work,” which is some thing we’re supposed to have today. The difference, you see, is the word “comparable.” Once you get past the rhetoric and the picket lines and the unionists and the anti-unionists, the whole crux of the Yale strike comes down to one thing: secretaries want to be paid as much as truck drivers. Which is reasonable, really. Truck drivers are better paid. However, things become unreason able when the Yale local says why its members are paid less than truck driv ers, and how it’s going to go about chan ging that. Basically, the secretaries say they’re paid less because they’re women. There’s a grain of truth to this, but only been women, except for a time the Roaring 20’s when male secretaries were a short-lived fad. And because this role has fallen to women, secretarial po sitions have been low paying, just as have teaching and nursing jobs. After all, the reasoning went, women don’t need high pay because their husbands support them. But that’s no longer the case. While sexism, like racism, is still with us, the day of rigid role models is no longer. If women want to be paid as much as truck drivers, they can be truck drivers. The government’s role in (his process should be limited. It should outlaw the use of force, by either employer or em ployee, and attempt to secure honest and straight-forward negotiations. The Yale secretaries, however, aren’t limiting their tactics to striking and ne gotiating; they’re trying to expand — more drastically than they realize, I think —the government’s role in em ployee/employer disputes. They would like, and have asked for, government in tervention to enforce “comparable pay for comparable work.” Although fair and reasonable on the surface, this concept is misguided and, taken to its logical extreme, would un dermine the entire American economic mutter darkly about the “liberals stale,” and think chaotvcalty aWufjjF°™ n g ai spiracies and elitists and the pervei sudiasstui of the will of the American people. ■> / » Actually, however, socialism isprt p/OTKi much of a dead beast — its perform; “ in Asia and Europe accomplished! The radical left, in fact, is moredos related to facsism. (By radial left don't mean liberalism, anymore Bircher means conservative.) In this, I’m using the originallyi ings of fascism and socialism. Wh cialism has come to connote libei Unite community. Its been a popular pastime in Amer ica to refer to “liberals” and “socialists” in the same breath, distinguishing the two only be matter of degree. At the same time, usually, conservatives would LIMA, P state of emt ... iter cann gone wild, it denotes governmentoi hundreds ( ership of industry. While fascism’ who block come to connote fanatic nationalismi buses durir racism, it is more basically desfnbffftesteconoir government control of industry. HAt least And “comparable pay for comp p* f 9 ur P 1 work” would bring us uncomfortair nc U n t "’ close to the hunk ol fascism. Iff 0 ™ 11 ' cepted, it would put control of^ all wages, not just those of secreia and truck drivers — in the hands olfl government, taking it from theaey tne free market, and resulting inchati Now, don’t get me wrong. I'mt member of the Phil Gramm Memoii Society for the Protection of the Fill MARKET and Rich Peoples’" don’t think the free market is thetx and end all of the economy. I simpld I lieve the free market is a good place I start, a place to work from. ! The \ 7 ale secretaries, however,wn | bypass it altogether. Bob McGlohon is a weekly colmi 9 for The Battalion. LETTERS: Where else but Texas A&M? If you don’t think Texas A&M is a very unique institution, think again. Where else could you pay over a mil lion dollars for a football coach who produces a worse record than his much lower paid predecessor? Where else could you find the world’s largest bonfire and have signs in every cafeteria on campus stating to use one napkin and save a tree? W r here else could you find two weeks given to pre-registering 35,000 people for a regular semester and only five hours to registering 15,000 people for a summer semester? tire semester studying the need for change machines and propose locating them all in the Corps area which serv ices less than 10 percent of the student population? Where else could you find thousands of students turning out to protect “sacred grass” and not bat an eye when a “sacred tree” is destroyed for an egotis tical monument? No where but TAMU, a very “uni que” place to be. John Kubenka Class of ’83 Don’t bargain with Ags over turning off bonfire Where else could you find a million dollars spent on a clock that does not keep accurate time? Where else could you find people putting forth great effort to keep a gay organization from being officially rec ognized and then say women can’t be in the band because the band members must sleep together in order to be good? Where else could an institution’s leader say letting women into a band will hurt our national defense during the time a woman is running for vice president of the United States? Where else could you find fraternity hazing acceptable under the label of “motivational exercise”? EDITOR: To K. Mathei and K. Wilks: Where do you get off trying to “barg ain” with Aggies in this way. I don’t know if you have some strange passion for trees or if you think one (a tree) should be mailed to each poor family in Texas so they can heat their houses and apartments. I can’t understand why you think you are going to stop the Bonfire by show ing your childish disrespect for a war memorial. Where else could you find fraternities and sororities not officially recognized at the same time the area’s largest fra ternity and sorority lives on campus? Where else could you find hundreds of students tramping through campus fountains on cold, windy days? Where else could you find a student “service” committee spending one en- One other thing, this memorial, it seems to me, should be respected by all Americans since the Aggies it represents were killed fighting for the United States and Americans like you and me. That makes the grass yours to respect even if you are not an Aggie. So pull your head out and think about what you say the next time you write a letter! Bryan Jones Class of ’87 The Battalion (ISPS 045 360 Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference In memoriam Bill Robinson, 1962-1984, Editor The Battalion Staff Assistant City Editors, Melissa Adair, MichellePo»( Assistant News Editors. Rhonda Snider, Kellie Dworaczyk, La® Assistant Sports Editor. Entertainment Editor. Travis Tin^ Bill Hi# Assistant Entertainment Editor.. Angel Stote Senior Reporter RooinBlad Staff Writers...Tammy Bell, Shawn Behltn. j Cami Brown, Dena Brown, Dainah B»l j Leigh-Ellen Clark, Tony Cornel 1 Patricia Flint,Kari Fluegd Bob McGlohon, Karla Martin, SarahOaif* Jan Perry, Lynn Rae Povec, James l Editorial Cartoonist Mikelam Make-up Editor JohnHalleii Copy Writers...Karen Bloch, CathyBenneil Copy Editors Kathy Breard, Kaye Pahmew Cyndy Davis, Patriciatt Photographers Frank Irwin, David Leyendecto Peter Rocha, Mike Sandifl , Dean Sail* Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting neMpF operated as a community service to Texas /UV® Bryan-Collegc Station. Opinions expressed in The Battalion arc those lit 1 Editorial Board or the author, and do not iicccssaril)r? resent the opinions of Texas A&M administratonjaw 1 or the Board of Regents. The Battalion also serves as a lalx>nitory neWspptlH students in reporting, editing and pliolographv cits* within the Department of Communications. Letters Policy Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 no™«j length. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit le® for style and length but will make every effort w IMW 08 the author's intent. Each letter must be signed attdmt include the address and telephone number of the utile The Battalion is published Monday through W during Texas A&M regular semesters, except for hM and examination periods. Mail subscriptions art fit ' per semester, $33.25 per school year and (35 per V year. Advertising rates furnished on request. Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed McDow Building, Texas A&M University, College Station- 77843. Editorial staff phone number: vertising: (409) 845-2611. Second class postage paid at College Station, TX77S6 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The ha- 1 ion, Texas A&M University, College Station, To* 77843