Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 4, 1985)
Page 2/The Battalion/Thursday, April 4, 1985 OPINION No school Friday Gov. Mark White has given most of us a long Easter weekend this year. He signed legislation Wednesday which declared Friday an of ficial holiday. Because school will not be in session, there will no Battalion pub- ished Friday. Have a good holiday. If you’re going out of town, drive carefully. The Battalion Editorial Board An open letter to A&M student body An open letter t o the st u dent body: Two days ago I became an‘in- Reader’s Forum volved participant Reader’s Forum in the GSS open Reader’s Forum forum held out- — side Rudder. Let me state at this point that I am a straight, married mother of two. I also consider myself fairly open minded when it comes to most issues. 1 asked several rather severe ques tions which addressed my concerns as a parent and received prompt, clear an swers from several GSS members. After a short period of time, I found myself involved in an extremely heated dis- cussion with members of the Corps, sev eral f raternity members and other stu dents. liy and large, these people gave me a chance to speak my mind whether or not they agreed with my views. Only one person was threatening me and I had a feeling that had not a GSS mem ber stepped in, the rest of the mob would have allowed this poor excuse for a man to beat me to a pulp. ft was during this discussion that I suddenly found a microphone from a TV station shoved in my face. Finding myself on the news at 5 p.m., 6 p.m., 10 p.m. and 6:45 a.m. the next day sur prised me. Especially when what was broadcast was only one-third of a sen tence that, had the whole sentence been broadcast would have meant something entirely dif ferent. As a result of this, the last twelve hours of my life have been a living hell! My husband was confronted all day at his place of employment. No one asked what my whole statement was. They au tomatically assumed they heard the whole thing. Reactions were very strong. Later in the day, I attempted to at tend an afternoon class. I never made it. 1 was accosted numerous times on my way to class by very angry students who LETTERS: Isn’t intolerance, hate a sin, too? EDITOR: This letter is in reference to the gay rights issue and Christian involvement, fhe fact civil rights and not religion is the issue has not stopped some of A&M’s “christians” from voicing their beliefs. I suppose it shouldn’t in our society, but the “Christian” arguments I have heard are a voice that is illogical, dis criminating, hateful and unfortunately common. It not only angers, but nau- siates me to hear “christians” damning others to hell with quote upon quote from the Bible, screaming about Chris tian morality while quoting Jewish law. In their search for the literal interpreta tion of the Bible they have found words and lost its essence — Love. It sickens me to see people discriminated against in the name of Jesus Christ, who pre ached of an unconditional love and as sociated with outcasts of society; beg gars, criminals and prostitutes alike. Do these “christians” feel that they are God’s select? Would Jesus have con demned Buddha or Gandhi because of their religion despite their goodness? “Why, then, do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the log in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3) The gay people whom I have come to know are good, kind and loving. I ask you, is hate a lesser sin than any other? Lionel Cantu recognized me. It surprised me to find the number of students who watch the local news. It surprised me even more to discover that vigilante justice roams the pavement of TAMU. No one gave me a chance. I was screamed at, fingers and fists were waved in my face and a few people threatened me. Rather than try to walk more than half the campus and take what I felt was a major risk to my health, I left the campus. But it didn’t stop there. It continued in town at the bank, the grocery store and my chil dren’s school. I never realized that supposedly intel ligent, fair-minded, educated people could try, convict and sentence someone without benefit of hearing the other side. The reactions to my partial quote both scare and anger me. In my opin ion, the GSS is no longer the issue. My issue has become one of unfair condem nation and unjust persecution. I would welcome the chance to clarify myself to anyone who would listen openly. However, when I am jumped on and threatened as I have been, trying to speak to these individuals is like rea soning with a dead man — it gets you nowhere. Everyone has a right to their own opinion. You do not have the right to tell someone else what his or her opin ion is until you have all the facts. If you recognize me on campus or in town and you want the truth, then ask me nicely and I will be more than happy to clarify the misquote. If you have already cred ited me with what amounts to a lie, then leave me alone, if that is what you choose to believe. It saddens me to think that a school I have loved and supported for the better part of my 30 years can be so unjustly cruel and vicious. I love TAMU more than I could pos sibly explain, but in the last day many of my “fellow ags” have made it awfully hard. Thank you. Battalion, for giving me this chance to tell my side of the story. Nancy Harvey, Class of ’87 Poem about moslems insulting to some EDITOR: We resent and deplore the type of ir responsible journalism exhibited in an article appearing in the “At Ease” sec tion of Battalion on March 29. The article and the so-called “poem,” supposedly an account of the experi ences of a teenager in a moslem coun try, is an insult to the character and dig nity of moslems, especially moslem women. What was printed was neither a factual representation of events nor an artistic expression of creative thinking — only a set of short-sighted inf erences. Let us assume her experience is genu ine. Can general conclusions be made about the religion that one-fourth of humanity adheres to, based on the ob servations of a sixteen-year-old girl stay- ing in a distant country for four months? Can we assume that Chris tianity is symbolized by Jim Jones and the incident in Guyana? Or that Chris tian values can be seen in the growing statistics of teenage pregnancies, drug addictions and child molestations in this country? Anyone receiving the treatment given in the article and the accompanying piece would be astonished and out raged. Astonished at the insolence of people who make such derogatory re marks and those who print them. Were such offensive remarks made about the Jews or Christians, one can be sure that STAT Awa ByLESLI Ref Texas stereotypes widely held “Flouride af teeth.” “We wa sciousness.” “Hui be improved.” not enough.” What soundec arena at the star ally Political Av Wednesday at th< Center. Amnesty Int< peace, the Stu legislative Study Advocate, Aggi< Drivers, Safewati the Brazos Va League were am which participate Most of tht agreed that the a sored by Political idea for Texas Ai Martha Bebis, the Safewater Ft litical Awareness thing for student them to the vari they may encou Exposure now c head start, she sa Three A&M There’s nothing like a bunch of misdi- reeled insults at Ian Perry Texas to make my “ usual lily-white neck flaming red. And I’m not your slap-’em-on-the- back-cigar-chom ping-good-’ol-boy Texan. But even the most tolerant peo ple — like me — have a breaking point. I was, and am, determined never to Fit that stereotype of the Texan. How ever, my many “foreign” roommates over the past four years have broken my willpower many a time. They ganged up on me. They criticized everything from Texas terrain to Texas people. Unfortu nately, most of what they said was true. But who can take all that criticism in one heap? ' Two of my roommates were genuine foreigners. One was South African, the other a German who was raised in En gland. But they were undivided in their hatred of Texas and Texans. The South African’s opinions proba bly should be disqualif ied because of her background. She’s a pretty mixed-up person. As an Indian living in the ra cially upset South Africa, she was caught in the middle of everything. She wasn’t considered white, nor was she consid ered black. To compensate for her South African non-personhood, she flashed her daddy’s money everywhere. She fit the stereotype of the Texan she so hated. She denounced everything Texan. She hated our beaches — not as clean as Sun City’s. She hated our cities — not enough shopping facilities. She hated the people — too power hungry. Noth ing was as good as South Africa. She was really giving me a complex, so I developed a “Texas — love it or leave it” attitude with her. This only confirmed her opinion that Texans are rednecks. The other genuine foreigner — the German — was a pseudo-communist/so- cialist. She even subscribed to “Moscow Today.” Although a self-proclaimed so cialist, I think she was just a throwback to the 60s. Her problem was that her ultra-lib eral opinions didn’t jive with my typical Texan’s conservative views. More than once we “debated” politics. My political opinions confirmed her belief that all Texans are just backwards buffoons. Two of my other foreign roommates were from Florida and New York. The Florida girl believes Texas is a cultural and social pit. The night life just wasn’t to her liking. Of course she went out of her way to seek out the slea ziest honky-tonks in every backwoods town. The kind of clubs no Texan with any sense for self-preservation would dream of entering. Now she thinks all Texans carry broken beer bottles around with them as fashion accesso ries. The New Yorker was the other ex treme of the Floridian. She wanted to be a Texan. So, she took her banker-dad dy’s gold card to Saks Fifth Avenue and bought out their western-wear depart ment. She came back with the tighest Gloria Vanderbilt jeans, the pointiest- toed lizard skin boots, and the broadest beaver-fur cowboy hat available. She was The Urban Cowgirl. Now, she’s back in New York sptaL- ing Texan with a Yankee aaeiu, mat ing everyone think Texans are rollingk dough and driving Cadillacs with steer horns on the hood. Her image of Texas j is tarnishing everyone’s good repuia- tion. But, of all my anti-Texas roommates, the most vocal one is f rom Colorado. As a ski-resort groupie, she’s beenev posed to the “elite" group of beautiful Texans, the ones who wear Gucd par kas and use $500 skis and falldownal over the slopes. She thinks we're al brash and rowdy, and like to flaunt our oil dollars. Her biggest complaint about Texans is that we can’t ski. But she hater all weekend skiers. She’s into the spit for the “art.” All these foreigners who come to Texas for four years to attend college- I don’t know why since Texas issudu bad place to live — go back to their home states and countries and bad- mouth Texas and exaggerate their ex periences to their friends and neigh bors. My reactions to their various attitude problems have mislabeled me as a red neck and have put the burden of fault on my shoulders. I am, along with ever] other Texan, responsible in partforthe misconceptions of Texans that are float ing around the world. And the tall tales these “foreigners' are generating — coupled with tele vision’s views of what Texas is supposed to be —just accentuate the misconcep tions about Texas and Texans. Jan Perry is a senior journalism major and a copy editor for The Battalion. The Battalion would have never dared to print them. But when it comes to moslems, stanefards change and any thing is permissible, presumably be cause those who have the audacity to in sult other people’s values consider thenselves “civilized” and the rest of the world “uncivilized.” This self-centered, egotistic mentality is at the root of the problem, and will not be corrected un less and until people bury their preju dices and write responsibly. Saeid and Elaheh Minaei EDITOR’S NOTE: At Ease published the poem “Kabul, 1974” because of its literary merit as judged by the English Honor Society — it was the winner of the 1985 Texas A&M Writing Contest. This contest could not have been cov ered accurately without printing the winner and the views presented in it, and the related article, by author Therese Norris in no way reflect the views of the At Ease staff. C.S. city council race non-partisan EDITOR: Last time, I heard the city council races in College Station were non-parti san. Evidently I was misinformed judging from Aggie GOP’s actions of the last week. Their table at Political Awareness Day looked like a site for a Mike Hachtman pep rally, in addition to the candidate’s own table. Also, and even more disgra ceful, when Hachtman spoke to their organization Tuesday night, one of his opponents, Terri Tongco, was also pre sent and was refused the opportunity to speak. Conversely, Aggie Democrats on March 28 invited all three candidates, Tongco, Hachtman and Roy Hann, to speak and answer questions from the group. The Democratic group declined to make an endorsement in the non partisan race and allowed each candi date to speak equally. Ask Mike, I’m sure he’d agree. The meeting was even rescheduled to accomodate Hachtman’s schedule. I hope that the students at A&M will vote for the most qualified, and not most partisan, candidate in this important, yet non-partisan race. Derek Blakeley Argument for gay rights ‘a sham’ EDITOR: The gays are charlatans as “rights” ac tivists. The essence of the civil/worker/ women rights movements is totally dif ferent from the gay’s struggle. Progres sives smash genetic/class prejucice to ob tain representational rights of nativity and gain compensatory rights in enter prises. But promoting willful, changea ble, disease-ridden behavior is a sham. The gays should go fly their banner with drunks, drug addicts and prosti tutes. Long live true freedom. Frank Jowdy The Battalion USPS 045 360 Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Bt igid Brockman, Editor Shelley Hoekstra, Managing Editor Kellie Dworaczyk, News Editor Michelle Powe, Editorial Page Editor Rhonda Snider, City Editor Travis Tingle, Sports Editor The Battalion Staff Assistant City Editors Dainah Bullard, Kari Fluegel, Assistant News Editors Cami Brown, John Hallett, Kay Mailed Assistant Sports Editor ........ Charean Williams Entertainment Editors Shawn Behlen, I.eigh-Ellefi Clark Staf f Writers Rebecca Adair, Cathie Anderson, Marcy Basile, Tamara Bell, Brandon Berry, Jeff Brady, Ann Cervenka, Michael Crawford, Mary Cox, Kirsten Dietz, CindyGay, i Pete Herndon, Trent Leopold, Sarah Oates, Jerry Oslin, June Pang, TriciaParker, Cathy Riely, Marybeth Rohsner, Walter Smith Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, sell-supporting newspaper operated as a community service to Texas A&M ;ind Bryan-College Station. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the Editorial Board or the author, and do nut necessarily rep resent the opinions of 1 exas A&M administrators, facuitjf if or the Board of Regents. The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper for students in reporting, editing and photography elms within the Department of Communications. Letters Policy Letters to the Editor should not exceed 30(1 words in length. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit letters . for style and length hut will make every effort to maintain the author's intent. Eac h letter must be signed and must include the address and telephone number of the writer. The Battalion is published Monday through Frida) ■ during Texas A&M regular semesters, except for holidaf and examination periods. Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester, $33.25 per school year and $35 per full year. Advertising rates furnished on request. Our address: The Battalion. 210 Retd McDonald- Building, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77343. Editorial stall phone number: (409) 845'2(i$l). Ad vertising: (409) 845-2611. Second class postage paid at (ollege Station, j'X 77811 POSl MASTER: Send address changes to fhe Battal ion, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.7)848 Vote A PORT ARTI van is taking T the world, beam hind the Iron C The van is a wheels belongiii international si ated by the L speaks in 38 lar wide, primarily V P****J**5*S*3 favi $ 3 Chicke • Cream 1 •Your Cl • Texas T WEST1 STE 1701 ! Next to ^^^•TnnnrT