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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1985)
Page 2/The Battalion/Monday, January 21, 1985 OPINION Students have right to go to safe school The Supreme Court, in a 6 to 3 ruling, last Tuesday said teachers and other school officials don’t have to meet the police standard of “probable cause” or obtain a warrant before search ing students. Opponents of the ruling say students’ Fourth Amendments rights must be protected. Obviously the ruling discriminates against the trouble makers, but what about the rights of the well-behaved students and school administrators? The ruling did not strip students of all their rights. Instead, the Court said school officials can conduct “reasonable” searches of students for drugs or other contraband. Without set guidelines the “reasonable” standard will probably be abused, but it is a step in the right direction. As cases come up, guidelines and standards will be set. One guideline which would probably work more effectively and discourage abuse of this ruling would be to allow only a few experienced administrators to conduct searches. These few ad ministrators could show more consistency and fairness in decid ing when searches are really needed. Guidelines are needed to avoid situations like the recent one where a teacher ordered a classroom full of chilren strip- searched because money was found missing. A school is a place for learning, not for violence or drugs. The fact that we need such a ruling to protect the rights of the majority of people in our schools is a sad statement about our school system. The attitude of students that it is normal to bring weapons and contraband to school is absurd. Last year in a Houston public high school a student shot his teacher because the teacher “gave” him a F. Some schools Fight a daily war to keep drugs and weapons out of their buildings. A recent survey done by the National Association of Secondary School Principals showed that 85 percent of school searches in volve drugs and weapons. The Supreme Court ruling should give schools a little more ammunition, because if they lose the war, society will pay the consequences with a generation that not only missed out on an education, but accepts violence as the norm. Learning needs to take its rightful place as top priority in schools. The Battalion Editorial Board ‘Offensive’ rafings are state of mind Loren Steffy America has be come obsessed with the word “of fensive.” Groups like the Citizens for Decency are campaigning against pornogra phy, calling it, among other things, offensive. A few years ago, violence on tele vision was a pri- mary concern. Recently, the PG-13 rat ing was tacked on certain films to protect younger movie goers from scenes of sex and violence which might corrupt their impressionable little minds. With all the fanaticism surrounding the suppression of offensiveness, some thing genuinely beneficial was bound to be smothered beneath the blanket of “social decency.” CBS and NBC have rejected a com mercial by the American Cancer Society because it is too graphic. The advertise ment depicts a human fetus puffing on a cigarette. The fetus, actually a plastic puppet, takes a long drag on his little cancer stick just as a narrator asks “Would you give a cigarette to your un born child?” Obviously, the point of the commercial is that pregnant women who smoke endanger the life of their unborn child as well as their own. The Cancer Society is trying to reach the expectant mothers of America and get them to think, and hopefully, act re sponsibly in caring for their children. Perhaps the commercial is a little graphic, but then so are birth defects, which can result from smoking during pregnancy. Perhaps the reason the ad may seem so “offensive” is because it hits close to home. When Dirty Harry splatters the brains and entrails of thugs against LETTER: white walls, the audience cheers. At the end of “Sudden Impact,” when Harry needs an even bigger gun to make even larger portions of organic strawberry marmalade, the spectators are ecstatic. When Eddie Murphy pumps his antago nist full of holes and the audience gets to see five minutes of slow-motion blood spurting, painful expressions and a cat- sup-smeared tumble down the stairs, the onlookers roar. And when the audi ence has to see a simulated human fetus suck on a cigarette, they scream “offen sive, startling, inappropriate.” Even the ad which depicts happy-go- lucky teenagers hopping in a car and turning into skeletons while a narrator says “Drinking and driving can KILL a friendship” didn’t create the uproar that the Cancer Society’s commercial has. The fetus scenes in the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey,” which has been aired on television several times, never caused so much as a whisper. Now a commer cial which uses an almost identical fetus- puppet is branded “far'too graphic for presentation on CBS.” The networks argue that the com mercial could show up without warning and thus might startle some people. Good. The ad presents a startling mes sage, it’s not supposed to make people - happy and cheerful. NBC said the com mercial “might be offensive to some people.” Too bad. Birth defects and women smoking during pregnancy can not be ignored. Ironically, our society advocates en tertainment depicting exploding heads, people ripping their own faces off and humans being blown to Chicken Mc- Nuggets in slow motion, but we find a public service announcement aimed at preserving the quality of life offensive. Loren Steffy is a sophomore journa lism major and weekly columnist for The Battalion. Gays shouldn’t be accepted as normal EDITOR: My letter concerns Mr. Loren Stef- fy’s article regarding the recent activities of the Ku Klux Klan. Mr. Steffy asks, “After gays become accepted by society, who will be next on the Klan’s list?” I do not agree with the Klan’s methods or philosophy. However, Mr. Steffy seems to think that our society will accept ho mosexuals and their abnormal lifestyle in the very near future. I would hate to see the day Americans view homosexuality as an ordinary con- donable lifestyle. Yes Mr. Steffy, it is true that “all men are created equal,” but that doesn’t mean that they can’t be come warped as time goes on. Eddie Klein Class of ’88 1 Texans their herii dents an< hat pnd< 5()th birt ion, it see A&M par I tennia 1 cel "We’re jomethinf oi lasting Ramson, i iy’s plann Jralion. Samsor iccur in ■he fall o tentative ays he i | jponse lit “tors, suit | |fficials. Some ti Some congressmen do better otter losing A Spain’s rt jluis Cos modern The sympi • As; [he futm ■urrent ti Staying on as rainmaker By ART BUCHWALD Columnist for The Los Angeles Times Syndicate I still have friends who owe me a few fa- Well, everyone seems to be back in town, not only the winners, but the los ers in last November’s election. The vic tors have taken their seats in the House and Senate, and the losers have taken theirs in one of Washington’s 100,000 prestigious law firms. Ex-Congressman Turtleback is one of the losers, if you call making $350,000 a year with Tort &: Tort a losing proposi tion. “I thought you’d go back to Wistful County after you lost your seat,” I said. “You ever been in Wistful County?” Turtleback asked me. “Can’t say that I have,” I admitted. “All I know about it is what you said on the floor of the House — that it was America’s biblical Garden of Eden.” “I’m not on the floor anymore, and Wistful County is the pits. I’m not just saying that because I lost the election af ter serving the people there for 20 years. It was the pits when I first came to Congress, and it’s the pits now.” “Did you ever practice law before you got elected to public office?” “No, and I don’t intend to practice it now. I’m going to be the rainmaker at Tort & Tort.” “What’s a rainmaker?” “The fellow that makes it rain new business on the firm because of the peo ple he knows. I may be out of office but “Then you’re going to be an influ ence peddler.” “Never. My job is to provide advice and consent to the private sector which can’t operate under the oppressive laws passed by a vindictive anti-business Con gress,” he said. “Clients will come to me, not because of the influence I still wield, but because of my expertise in getting around the overbearing rules and regu lations I demanded when I served the people.” “I can see where Tort 8c Tort would want you to be a partner in their firm,” I said. “Will you also provide lobbying services?” “You can’t be a rainmaker in Wash ington if you are not willing to stand up for the things your clients believe in. The reason ex-congressmen and ex-sen ators are in demand by Washington law firms is that we have access to our for mer colleagues on the floor, not to men tion the use of the congressional dining rooms and the gym. It’s amazing how much law you can practice when you’re doing Jane Fonda exercises with the chairman of a House or Senate commit potential source of funds for thee lure political campaigns.” “What about the administra How do they look on you?” “Kindly. If you were a former Re: lican congressman, they want tom up to you for losing your election, if you were a former Democratic gressman, they are so delightedthai are no longer in opposition thattli go overboard to show they don’t grudges.” “You can’t say Washington do take care of its own.” “Had I known then what 1 know I would have lost an election 10't ago,” he said. | WA! ton Hilt check n scuffed “Lik explaint pete wit Satu swarm ei Lone St Bush an The Canavai sold at Bush's t Bus M.D.Ai The phone rang and TurtleL picked it up. “Willy, how are you? are things at Wistful Tools? . don’t say? The Navy refuses to psM for the Snail Darter tool kit?.,.H.v| claim you overcharged them by lion? No problem, Willy, we’ll not* I get your money, but we’ll getanapH| f rom the Pentagon.” Turtleback hit: I fort 8c fort timer on his desk and ti if said, “Tell me a story.” tee. “And they don’t treat you any differ ently because you are no longer a mem ber of Congress?” “They treat you better, because now that you’re with a big law firm you are a After 20 minutes he hungup* winked at me. Then he broke into sot | “I’m singing in the rain, singingint rain. What a glorious feeling dadt.t da da.” CBS EVENING GOOD NEWS WTU JESSE HELMS qmi U CTUTNIA -.GEE, I WISH V0U FOLKS WOULDN’T USE THE PHRASE, "STAR wars: The Battalion US PS 045 360 I Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Brigid Brockman, Editor Shelley Hoekstra, Managing Editor Ed Cassavoy, City Editor Kellie Dworaczyk, News Editor Michelle Powe, Editorial Page Editor Travis Tingle, Sports Editor The Battalion Staff Assistant City Editors Kari Fluegel, Rhonda Sind? Assistant News Editors Tammy Bell, Cami Brown, John Halid* Assistant Sports Editor Charean William Staff Writers Cathie Anders* Brandon Berry, Dainah Bullad Tony Cornett, Michael Crawfori Kirsten Dietz, Patti Film Patrice Koranek, Trent Leopoli Karla Martin, SarahOal« Tricia Parker, Lynn RaePotd Make-up Ed i t or Karen Bled Columnists Kevin Inda, Loren Steffi Editorial Cartoonist Mike Lai* Sports Cartoonist DaleSmii! Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspifi operated as a community service to Texas A&M andBrj# College Station. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of theft torial Board or the author, and do not nccessuiil) represrf the opinions of 'Texas A&M administrators, faculty orik Board of Regents. The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper students in reporting, editing and photography das# within the Department of Communications. 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