Page 2/The Battalion/Friday, September 6, 1985
OPINION
-
Drinking age hike
just buck passing
Texas has been embroiled in controversy over the drinking
age for years. The increase from 18 to 19 four years ago sparked
legislative debate and grumbles from the public — especially
high school students. However, it helped solve some of the alco
hol-related problems on high school campuses.
But now Texas is increasing the legal drinking age again,
and the results can’t be justified as they were in 1981. The na
tional government is using federal highway funds to blackmail
state legislatures into raising the legal age nationwide by 1986.
The new minimum age is supposed to decrease the number
of alcohol-related automobile accidents. But a closer examina
tion of statistics shows that the 19 to 21 age group is merely be
ing used as scapegoats in an ever-increasing national problem.
The U.S. Department of Commerce says the 18 to 20 group
is involved in fewer (7 percent) alcohol-related accidents than
the 21 to 24 group (11 percent).
A drinking age increase is supposed to reduce alcohol con
sumption by youth and thus reduce drunken driving. As a re
sult, drinking-related highway deaths are supposed to decrease.
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
found that if young adults are prohibited from drinking legally,
they will drink illegally, consuming more alcohol in less safe set
tings. They are likely to drive more and experience more inju
ries.
Death rates for 18- to 20-year-olds in states with a minimum
age of 21 have gone up since the law was instated.
Drunken driving and the fatalities related to it are a prob
lem. But increasing the drinking age could have a more detri
mental effect. In areas such as Bryan-College Station, raising the
drinking age means less income for the community and fewer
jobs for college students.
If drunken driving is going to be curbed, it must be done by
stricter enforcement of existing laws, not by pushing the prob
lem off on young people.
The Battalion Editorial Board
Mail Call
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 author's intent. Each letter must
be signed and must include the address and telephone number of the writer.
Welcome from Jackie
EDITOR:
With fall approaching, and the new
school year already here, let me be
among the first to welcome all students
to Texas A&M.
A group of you are arriving on the
campus for the first time while many of
you are returning to continue your
studies. To the freshmen, I want to be
one of the first to congratulate you on
the choice of such an excellent academic
institution. All of us in the athletic depa-
r iment consider it a great privilege to
be associated with a university that
prides itself on such fine academic and
athletic standards.
We want you to know that we appre
ciate your great support for our athletic
program. In fact, a national survey re
cently concluded that Texas A&M was
second in the nation in 1984 in student
football tickets sold for home football
games. We appreciate this kind of sup
port.
When you look at everything in
volved, it is doubtful to me that any uni
versity in this nation has a student body
that has taken such an active role in sup
porting their school. It is something that
no one in the athletic department takes
lightly; rather, we feel it is something to
be proud of and to boast about.
Again, welcome to the campus, we
are glad you are here. See you at the
games.
Jackie Sherrill
Head Football Coach
and Athletic Director
Clearing the record
EDITOR:
I am writing concerning the article
printed in your back-to-school issue of
September 2 on the Placement Center.
While we certainly appreciate the pub
licity, and the information in the article
was generally correct, there were some
items that were inaccurate and need to
be corrected.
1. The article states that our alumni
service provides registrants with lists of
upcoming interviews. This is not the
case. We have an alumni service which
includes resume referrals and an
alumni job bulletin, but alumnni do not
generally take part in on-campus inter
views. A few alumni who remain in town
are granted limited access to intervews
for only one semester after graduation.
They must discuss their situation with a
WE'RE LOSING
altitude.
I» s DUMP SOME
^BALLAST///
8 years after Biko’s death
apartheid still unchecked
Karl
Pallmeyer
member of our professional staff, and
the points they have remaining at grad
uation have nothing to do with their eli
gibility for Placement Center services.
2. The article states that we have em
ployment opportunities posted in bind
ers in our library. So far so good. These
postings are for student information,
and students apply directly to the em
ployer. The article states that the em
ployer may come to campus to interview
if sufficient applications are received.
This is not the case.
3. Major firms spend a large amount
of money on their college recruiting
programs in order to assure themselves
access to the most qualified student ap
plicants. That sounds a little different
than “The large firms come here ready
to spend big bucks,” which was a quote
in the article. I might have said it that
way, but I sure hope not!
As all this suggests, the Placement
Center has a wide variety of services,
and attempts to assist students as well as
alumni in their job search. To find out
what service is best for you, and the ex
act mechanics of how it all works, I
would suggest that you attend one of
Our orientation sessions advertised in
The Battalion.
Judith L. Vulliet
Assistant Director
Texas A&M Career Planning
and Placement Center
Unfair coverage
EDITOR:
After reading the two articles on
Sept. 3 and 4 on the anti-pornography
rally and the gay protest to the Texas
Sodomy Law, I thought the coverage
was typical anti-Falwell.
First of all, the anti-pornography
rally was headed by the National Feder
ation for Decency (NED), not Jerry Fal-
well (as the article implies). There were
many other speakers other than Falwell.
Rather than focus on what these speak
ers said, and their cause, which I believe
is worthy (hopefully you agree), over
half the article dwells on Falwell and
South Africa.
Instead of quoting anything the
speakers said; the article dwells on Fal
well calling Bishop Tutu a “phony” and
angry reactions to that by anti-Falwell
protesters. Nowhere in this article was a
quote, from any of the other 5 speakers, v
on what this rally hoped to accomplish,
On the other side of the coin is the
“Gays Angry” article on Sept. 4. Com-
It was eight
years ago today
that Stephen Biko
was taken to a po
lice station for in
terrogation and
beaten. Six days
later he died.
Unfortunately,
few Americans
know who Biko
was. Few Ameri-
cans know the circumstances under
which Biko was killed.
Stephen Biko was a black man who
wrote about the unfair way blacks were
being treated. That was nothing new,
blacks have been writing about black
problems for hundreds of years.
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote “Uncle
Tom’s Cabin” in 1852, d uring a time
when blacks were held in slavery. Ralph
Ellison wrote “Invisible Man” in 1952,
during a time when blacks were legally
free but were not able to fully enjoy
their freedom. Gwendolyn Brooks
wrote “The Chicago Defender Sends a
Man to Little Rock” in 1960, shortly af
ter Little Rock had been the scene of a
famous battle over whether blacks
should be allowed to go to school with
whites.
Stowe, Ellison and Brooks were not
killed because of their writings. Biko
was. Stowe, Ellison and Brooks lived in
America. Biko lived in South Africa.
Biko was more than a just a writer, he
was a leader. He formed the South Afri
can Students Organization and several
other groups that were interested in ob
taining civil rights for blacks. In 1972
Biko wrote several articles for a book,
Student Perspectives on South Africa,
that promoted the idea of equal rights
for blacks. The articles and the book, al
though banned in South Africa, gained
support throughout the world in the
struggle to end apartheid.
Apartheid is a South African word
meaning “apartness.” It describes the
government’s policy of strict racial seg
regation and discrimination against the
native blacks in South Africa.
Apartheid means that blacks can own
land and live only in certain areas.
Apartheid means that blacks can only go
to certain beaches, swim in certain
pools, sit on certain benches, ride on
certain buses, eat in certain restaurants,
go to certain theaters, hold certain jobs
and attend certain schools. Apartheid
means that blacks can’t be paid the same
amount of money as whites for equal
work. Apartheid means that
blacks can’t hold political meetings.
Apartheid means blacks can’t run for
office. Apartheid means that blacks
can’t vote.
Biko fought long and hard against
apartheid. He became a “banned” per
son. He could not speak to more than
one person at a time, could not leave his
home in King William’s Town, could
not be quoted or photographed and was
kept under constant surveillance by the
Security Police, South Africa’s version
of the Gestapo.
In 1976 Biko came to testify in a trial
in which nine black leaders were
charged with “subversion by intent.”
The Supreme Court of South Africa
wanted to prove that the idea of equal
rights was dangerous to the safety of the
public. The court, merely a tool of the
government, declared that the nine
black leaders were guilty and sentenced
them to five years of imprisonment.
The court’s ruling also made it a crime
for any black to speak out against white
rule.
Biko had been arrested by the Secu
rity Police on several occasions. He was
usually made the scapegoat whenever
there was a riot involving blacks but
because he was so popular with the
blacks he was never imprisoned for
very long. After Biko’s testimony at
the trial had reached the outside
world, many countries began to put
pressure on the South African gov
ernment to end apartheid. The South
African government thought Biko
was becoming too powerful and de
cided to stop him.
On Aug. 18, 1977, Biko was ar
rested for breaking his banning order
when he was found outside of King
William’s Town. On Sept. 6 he was
taken to Room 619 of the police sta
tion in Port Elizabeth. His hands and
legs were chained to a grille and he
was “interrogated” for 22 hours. Dur
ing the “interrogation” he was beaten
and tortured until he lapsed into a
coma. Biko died six days later.
More than 20,000 people attended
the funeral of Stephen Biko. Around
the world millions of people mourned
the death of this great man. Although
Biko never advocated violence, his
death triggered some of the bloodiest
riots South Africa had ever seen. Biko
was not the first man to die because of
apartheid. Nor was he the last.
In the past year alone over 600
blacks in South Africa have been
killed. As you are reading this article
it is likely that another man is being
beaten or killed simply because he is
black and wants to be treated like any
other man.
The plight of Stephen Biko and
other South Africans has affected
people across the world. There are
many organizations in the United
States dedicated to stopping apart
heid. This week, eight years after Bi
ko’s death. Students Against Apart
heid has become a recognized student
organization at Texas A&M.
Our country was founded on the
idea that all men are created equal. In
South Africa all men are not being
treated as equals. It is our duty as
freedom-loving Americans to stop
apartheid. W’e have the power — eco
nomic power — to stop apartheid. Be
cause South Africa is one of the
world’s richest sources of gold and di
amonds we have been somewhat re
luctant to wield that power. But there
are things that are more important
than gold and diamonds: freedom
and human life.
Karl Pallmeyer is a senior journa
lism major and a columnist for The
Battalion.
Mail Call
plete coverage is given to the gays, who
had less than half as many protesters as
did the NED. Their cause was fully ex
plained and numerous quotations given
by the leaders and speakers.
Nobody was interviewed who op
posed the gays and wanted to uphold
the Texas Sodomy Law.
Then, there is Don Eastman, pastor
of a large gay church in Dallas, who says
in the article “tradition is wrong — let’s
change tradition.” Each year at his
church, a “Holy Ghost” convention is
held, where gay “delegates” meet. Upon
entering, each delegate is given two
“boy” magazines and a list of gay bars.
How credible is a man such as this?
In contrasting these two articles, one
can see the apparent belittlement of the
anti-pornography cause and the sympa
thetic treatment given to gay protestors.
Hopefully, The Battalion will give more
fair treatment to a cause such as this in
the future.
Michael Long
Graduate Student M.E
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Rhonda Snider, Editor
Michelle Powe, Managing Editor
John Hallett, Kay Mallett, News Editors
Loren Steffy, Opinion Page Editor
Karen Bloch, City Editor
Travis Tingle, Sports Editor
The Battalion Staff
Assistant City Editors
Kirsten Dietz, Jerry Oslin
Assistant News Editors
Cathie Anderson, Jan Perry
Assistant Sports Editor
Charean Williams
Entertainment Editors
Cathy Riely, Walter Smith
Sta/if Writers ....Tamara Bell, MegCadigan,
Ed Cassavoy, Ann Cervenka,
Michael Crawford, Cindy Gay,
Doug Hall, Paul Herndon,
Tammy Kirk, Jens Koepke,
Trent Leopold, Mary McWhorter,
June Pang, Trida Parker,
Lynn Rae Povec, Marybeth Rohsner,
Gigi Shamsy, Kenneth Sury
Copy Editors Mike Davis, Rebecca Adair,
Wendy Johnson
Make-up Editor Sarah Oates
Co/umnists....Camille Brown, Marcy Basile,
John Hallett, Karl Pallmeyer
Photo Editor ! Wayne Grabein
Photographers Greg Bailey,
Anthony Casper, Frank Hada,
Kyle Hawkins, Jaime Lopez
Michael Sanchez
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