Page 2AThe Battalion/Monday, October 28, 1985
Opinion
From discrimination
to sexual exploitation
Living up to its reputation of sexual discrimination, Texas
A&M has moved on to bigger and.better things — sexual exploi
tation.
This exploitation is in the form of athletic hostesses — 50
sweet, young things who “escort” athletic recruits and their fam
ilies around the University and to football games. The hostesses
also eat pre-game meals with the recruits and often go out to
clubs with them afterwards.
The hostess program is part of the Student Government
Athletic Committee, and its purpose, according to Athletic De
partment representative Robert Crouch, is to allow “the women
an opportunity to help” Aggie sports.
Why do the hostesses have to be women? Men can answer
questions about the University and also provide entertaining
conversation.
Why don’t members of the MSC Hospitality Committee or
the Aggie Club provide this service for potential recruits? Does
A&M provide personal escorts for potential electrical engi
neering majors or potential professors? No.
Women are being exploited to lure young athletic recruits to
A&M. Anything for a winning football team . . .
Unfortunately, this hostess program is just another example
of the sexist, narrow-minded attitudes that prevail at A&M.
Not until University administrators and students regard all
people — regardless of sex, race or creed — as equal will this
University finally trudge forward into the 1980s.
The Battalion Editorial Board
MA&suues
HOUSTON POST
WORLD POPULATION
CONFERENCE
FAMILY ^
CONTRACEPTIVE
BIRTH CONTROL^
CIGARS
PLANNING U
SAMPLES ,
COUNSELING U
LITERATIM y
p
EDITOR:
[ Well, I\
for bustiiiy
another tit
llxits Ais:
something
vllvers tin<
starting to
dream up a
■Althoug
out what
around a |
parts, in a
played the
to proted t
to htii ass tl
their revol’
diiection it
of the “I’oli
IIaII sara
their action
Selves, mas
|nd ;t decrt
|Wa\ tog
William Gi
EDITOR'S
mhing to
from the jx
Congratulations, Margulies
Bring t
EDITOR:
Jimmy Margulies, the editorial cartoo
nist for The Houston Post whose work
frequently appears in The Battalion, has
been awarded the Global Media Award
in recognition of his cartoons promoting
population control. The award is spon
sored by the Washington-based Popula
tion Institute, a private organization con
cerned with global population issues.
gulies, whose cartoons are distributed by
L’niled Feature Syndicate, will lake a two-
week trip to China from Oct. SO to Nov.
15. Margulies will be accompanied by fel
low journalists presented the award in
other categories and members of Con
gress. An award ceremony will be held on
Nov. 5 in Peking, where a plaque will be
presented to award winners.
In recognition of his efforts. Mar-
Margu/ies’ work has been honored on
numerous occasions, including awards
from the National Newspaper Associ
lion, the Freedoms Foundation andlii
International Salon of Cartoons. Hisoi
toons have been featured on the "M*
Neil-Lehrer News Hour" on PBSanda^
peared in such publications as "Q
Slews 8c World Report," “The Wastaf
ton Post,’* “The New York Times,'as
the “National Review.”
Margu lies is a graduate of Carney
Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa..anl
has a degree in graphic design.
Faculty gets a charge out of new travel plan
■ :A> CUTS
bi.ii \ is no\
[lowed, lot
|| “LIHR
bin force n
Jht\ have I)
■ 'I he l eas
spilled tli in
books. \\ h«
^graduate st
oilier assoi
(pgrads. w
Fine, e\ce|
told drink
■student lou
T he American
Express Cor
porate Card —
don’t th i n k- of
leaving Texas
A&M without it.
Don’t you dare
pay for your busi
ness expenses any
other way.
The University
has made an
Loren Steffy
agreement with American Express
Travel Management Services and Exec
utive Travel, granting the companies al
most exclusive rights to travel accounts
for University-related business trips,
thus effectively eliminating competition.
The new program offers every fac
ulty and staff member an American Ex
press Corporate Card on which to put
all travel expenses. American Express
has agreed to waive the annual charge
card fee because of this special
agreement.
The card may appear to be a free gift
from A&M, but faculty cardholders are
still responsible for paying all charges
-on their American Express bill, travel
expenses or not. And while faculty
members are shelling out the money for
their trip and waiting for the University
to reimburse them, A&M is drawing in
terest on the travel money.
Travel advances will continue to be
offered for people who are ineligible for
the American Express Card.
The new travel arrangement is optio
nal. Faculty members can use their own
travel agent and method of payment for
business expenses, but if their favorite
travel agent gets a ticket at a higher rate
than Executive Travel offers, the faculty
members must pay the difference be
tween the two out of their own pockets.
The new agreement is supposed to
guarantee the lowest air fare and hotel
rates.
What A&M doesn't tell travelers is
that to get the lowest possible rates
through any travel agent, reservations
should be made 30 days in advance. If a
reservation is made less than 30 days in
advance, the ticket price is the going
rate at the time the reservation is made.
If reservations were made 30 days in
advance, the American Express bill
could arrive before the trip is taken.
The University can’t reimburse anyone
until a travel voucher is filed, which can
be done only after the trip is completed.
When the University bureaucracy is
running well — which is as frequent as
Satan feeling a cold draft — travelers
can be reimbursed in about three weeks.
Meanwhile, the American Express
bill is due. Faculty members must either
pay the hill — business expenses and all
— or face the outrageous interest rale,
which the faculty member, not the Uni
versity, will have to pay.
If the new plan so obviously harms
the faculty and staff, why did the Uni
versity sign the agreement? The answer
is money.
If the University pays out travel ad
vances. it loses interest on that money.
But if expenses are charged on an
American Express card, the University
can keep its money in the bank an extra
month or two and draw interest on it.
The new travel agreement is “the re
sult of a thorough study of University
travel,” according to a memo circulated
by the Office of the Vice President for
Fiscal Affairs. Obviously the “thorough
study” failed to consider that the faculty
and staff would be paying the price so
the University could make some extra
money on interest.
1 Tsing ill'
the profits
[here wouli
leneeded
It doesn’t seem to bother ALUcaP 1 * 1
dais that faculty «*■*« «■
drawing interest on the money ii® : cs ' )U '
don’t have while they await reimiHmj
ment. Basically, die University is uli
interest money away from itsempi j
and keeping it for itself. The new a
assumes faculty members haveil
money to lay out in advance for ikl
business trips. Of course, many fel
whic h is why travel advancesexisi-l
did.
When times get tough, it’s ni«i
know you can count on your enira
to make them tougher. Therereil
no such thing as a free lunch-orml
card. The moral should be clear:ll
ware of universities bearing free Aim
can Express cards.
Loren Steffy is a junior joumlisui
jor and the Opinion Page Editu?
The Battalion.
If you've seen one prince, you've seen 'em all
Everyone in
Washington is
talking about the
visit of Prince
Charles and Prin
cess Di in Novem
ber. Most people
are behaving like
idiots trying to
wangle an invita
tion to one of the
glittery affairs. I’m
Art Buchwald
happy to report my wife and I couldn’t
care less.
“I never was big for royalty,” I said to
her as we roasted potatoes in the fire
place.
“Me neither. If you’ve seen one
Prince of Wales you’ve seen them all.”
“The thing to do is not answer the
phone for the next two weeks. Then if
Buckingham Palace calls we can always
say we were out.”
“Suppose they deliver the invitation
by hand. I saw a wigged footman in the
neighborhood yesterday. He was only
two blocks away.”
“Don’t open the door. Once royalty
serves you with an invitation you have to
g°-” ,
“I don’t know why the girls who pa
tronize my beauty parlor are making
such a fuss,” my wife said. “After all the
prince and princess are just like any
young married couple having marital
trouble.”
“How do you know they’re having
marital problems?”
“I read in People magazine that
Charles and Di aren’t getting along. She
keeps going out until 4 in the morning
and he keeps falling off his horse. They
say that Di has fired all of Charles’ ser
vants as well as his private secretary.”
“That’s what you call tough love,” I
said.
“What makes it even worse is Di has
cut off the prince’s contact with all his
friends from his bachelor days and will
not allow him to see any of his old girlf
riends.”
“Why would a wife do that?”
“She’s very headstrong. She’s not the
shy virgin we saw being married on TV
by Barbara Walters.”
“You never know what is going on be
hind closed doors.”
“It wasn’t behind closed doors. It was
in Vanity Fair.”
“What did they say about the prince
besides the fact he keeps falling off his
horse?”
“He’s lonely
and bored. The
reason is that his
“T he National Enquirer said that al
though you can’t talk you can stare at
them,” my wife said,
“Why do people kill logo to that kind
of bash?”
“I guess it’s just to say they’ve been
there.”
“Are you sorry you weren’t invited?”
I asked her.
“Of course not. What woman wants to
go to the trouble of buying a brand new
evening gown and silver shoes just to
meet the next King of England, when
she can stay home in her bathrobe and
watch ‘Dynasty’ on TV?”
“ That is exactly the way I feel. Let
other people fight for two chairs at J.C.
Penney’s. I’d rather have two seats to a
Redskins game. Did the mail come to
day?” 1 asked.
“Yes, it’s over there.”
“Anything in it?”
11\ ‘
“Not really.
I peeked out the window. “Maybe the
British Embassy doesn’t know where we
live.”
Art Buchwald is a columnist for the
Los Angeles Times Syndicate.
mother won’t give
him anything to
do. Queen Eliza
beth is keeping a
tight rein on the
throne. The
Prince has no du
ties and seems to
be out of it.”
“I’m glad we’re
not going toany of
the; parties be
cause we wouldn't
have anything to
discuss with him,”
I said.
“You’re not
supposed to talk
to royalty unless
they talk to you
"first,” she told me.
“Where did you
hear that?”
“I read it in
Miss Manners."
“Well, if you
can’t talk to them,
what’s the big deal
about getting in
vited to a party?”
M/xRSDUBS
V N fohOGT Liratcmki DrXrr-
QffSS HOUSTON POST
Untied Fee lure Syndic* te
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
Member of,
Texas Press Association
Southwest)out nalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Rhonda Snider, Editor
Michele Powe, Managing Editor
Loren Steffy, Opinion Page Editor
Karen Bloch, City Editor
John Hallett, Kay Mallett,/VeKsfdiioj
Travis Tingle, Sports Editor
The Battalion Staff
Assistant City Editors KirstenI
JentOil
Assistant Sews Editors Cathie Anders 4 !
Assistant Sports Er/ifor....ChareanWilfc 3 |
Entertainment Editors -T
Cathy Riely, Walter Sr-I
Staf f Writers Tamara Bell,Jay Blindenr*|
Meg Cadigan, EdCassT
Mary Cox, CindiT
Doug Hall, PaulHernd j
Wendy Johnson, Tammj'lq
Jens Koepke,TrentLeop 1 -
Mary McWhorter,Junefe
Tricia Parker, BrianPeais ;
Marybeth Rohsner, F rank Sr-
Kenneth Sury, Scott Sutk^
Copy Editors Rebecca Ad*
Mike Davis, Sarah Of®
Brad#
Make-up Editor EdCassf' 1
Communists Cami Brown,John#
Karl PallnK'
Art Dir ector WayneCia^
Photographers GrcgB#
Anthony Casper, FranW
laime Lopez, [olintf 1
Michael
Editorial Policy
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resent the opinions ot TexaS A&M Mlmitiiutimf’
or the Hoard ot Regents.
I he Battalion also serves as a laboratorynnWI^
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within the Depat intent ol Communiatkms.
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