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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 2, 1986)
1 he Battalion/Wednesday, April 2, 1986 > Considerate cuts ! !)<■ Senate Labor and Human Resources last week rejected 1 M sident Reagan’s proposal to cut student aid for fiscal 1987 ,i i instead voted to increase spending on higher education by -! billion. Students are painfully aware that they must tighten dn ii belts, but the Senate bill not only makes more sense, it makes sue king in our f inancial guts a little easier. President Reagan had proposed a $2 billion cut in student mus and loans by academic 1987-88. fhe Senate bill, however, it aids the Higher Education Act of 1965 through fiscal 1991, ’ > i t jecting Reagan’s student aid cutbacks. i he Senate bill would make several changes in the existing law including: - • Requiring a C average to be eligible for financial aid after t lie sophomore year. • Restr icting Pell Grants to students from families whose a m hia 1 income is less than $30,000 after taxes. lint the new bill also enables students to borrow more from du Guaranteed Student Loan and National Direct Student I . .a programs. However, interest rates will be higher on these a The bill also creates a program that offers grants to stu- I; ni who do community service in exchange for financial aid — ih interesting idea that’s certainly better than no financial aid at Reagan's plan advocated increasing interest rates on loans, il >and< >ning the current policy of the government paying the in- (a t st on GSLs while the student is still in school. He also urged families to devote more of their income to funding higher edu- cation. I he Senate bill, however, places the burden of redistribut- mg financial aid money on the government, not on the individ ual students and their families. Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), chairman of the committee, <1 <>1 the Reagan proposal, “There is only so much blood you • > take out of these stones,” in reference to the Reagan propo- v flu full Senate should consider this when it votes on the bill. Students aren’t so naive that they don’t understand the need to ( u( back on expenditures during hard times. But when we’re l< ilmg with something as important as higher education, we n■ ed i< find the most feasible way to make those cuts as painless and harmless as possible. The Battalion Editorial Board Furidamentalists give \ggieism bad name Glenn Murtha Are vou un-Ag- gie t u ml ament al- Manv religions exist th roughout the world —( hris- i ia n it\, | udaism, {slam, lliuduism, u (Id h ism, Ta oism and Shinto to name only a few. Difleient degrees >1 adherence (all within each religion—- i 111 idam< in alists who believe in a strict, .i< al inua pi elation o( religious doc- i ii u< ■. and t hose* who are more moderate i lilx ial and leave interpretation of . i i j > t ui i tot he- individual. i an i disc uss religion without ■: a m; Aggic’istn, the “true” reli- ••lom Mam similarities exist between \ ■ /.* i•* *isie and ot her religions. There are ! ! n ! n m ■ nta 1 ist Vggies and more mod- ale and liberal Aggies, like other reli- I h h religion oi lers a code, or Mjnuu that one should follow. Each h is a place to worship. a I undamc-ntalists believe in the i ! mte rpretation ol Aggie scripture, n )t ure cam he found in this nice l i and-ligures hook that all ca- I' i I ia simian are reejuired to learn. < >i hei more moderate Aggies pick up .deeic-ism through other means — The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Mi-inbei of 1'oxas Press Association Souihvesi JournaUsin Conference Ttie Battalion Editorial Board Michelle 1\me. Editor K;i\ Mallett, Muhtiging Editor .( n en Stef I \, Opinion Page Editor jeri v bslin. Oily Editor Cathie Anderson. News Editors i i avis l ingle. Sports Editor Editorial Policy •: ;s ./ non ititilh. ■>cH-su/Jfjoitin/ l rnc\\sfJii- i « ./ is .t t omn:nnit\ service to Texas A MM and Hi i t i -( >ll< tn • Station • •/ , / , < ssc</ in I It* liattalioti ate those of the A/: , / <d t In ant hoi. and do not necessatih rep- lotnons ol l exus AXM adininistratots. faculty ■" lU Kcfroui . j -c ■' .list * st M rs as a lahoi atot \ newspaper for n/'otnin:. idititm and photogtapfw classes i11 •' l) f>ai uuent of (. oiiitnunit ations. In" i national is entitled exclusively to the . (let toe. ol all news dispatches ciedited to it. ■ 'hit tii >n ol all othei matter herein re- /. ir tit'at is published Monday through Friday I i . \ .v M n pdai semestei s. ext ept for holiday ■ n jiei ukIs Mail subscriptions ar e $16.75 > • per school year and $55 per full \<l\, a tisneg i ates Ini nishetl on i ec/uest. - Hit Hattahon. 216 Reed McDonald vr \XM I'niveisitv. College Station. TX / - j >. >>i.rge paid at College Station. TX 77843. > , \ , ■ a / l R: 'staid adfhess changes to The Battal ia '!e !:■ e,l \/< Donald. I ex.is \X \I 1 niy ersity. College Fish Camp, freshman orientation, etc. I don’t consider myself an Aggie funda mentalist — I consider myself irreli gious. I first encountered Aggie fundamen talism at a home football game my freshman year. The game was nearing completion and we were about to lose (the old days). When we lose (are out- scored), we’re supposed to stay for yell practice after the game. (Let’s hope that’s one tradition that’s dead.) Some more moderate Aggies opted to leave: before yell practice. (I stayed - I was a good Ag back then). This really angered an Aggie fundamentalist. He ranted and raved and said all kinds of nasty things. (If you want unity among the student body, this isn’t the way to achieve it). The other Ags just ignored him and went about their business — they left. Oh by the way, one can’t be a true Ag gie fundamentalist without wearing a uniform. But don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t mean that all Ags who wear uni forms are Aggie fundamentalists. One of my more recent encounters with an Aggie fundamentalist was at the A&M-Texas game. This nice Longhorn guy and some more moderate Ags were engaged in a friendly game of teasing when this high-and-mighty Aggie fun damentalist had to stick his nose in and start rattling on about how the Aggies were going to beat the pants off of UT, and how anyone who could believe in any religion but Aggieism, the “true” re ligion, just wasn’t a good person and was doomed to whatever. It’s guys like these Aggie fundamentalists who give Aggi eism a bad name. Followers of other religions worship in churches, temples, and the like. We Aggies worship in a place called Kyle Field. People of other faiths sing hymns. We chant yells. Others kneel in pews. We stand on benches. Like any other religion, those who practice in moderation are fine. But ex tremists who try to impose their beliefs on others are not fine. Aggie fundamentalists have this com mandment that they swear by. It goes something like this: “Highway 6 runs both ways.” This means that if you don’t like something about A&M, that’s too bad, you’re a bad Ag and you don’t be long here. I don’t hear as much of this anymore. I guess all of we non-fundamentalist Ags just got tired of listening to it. Glenn Murtha is a senior political sci ence major and a columnist for The Battalion. Opinion United Feature Syndlctlt MARQUES ©l<786 HClWN m "NO,WEINBERGER.,,YOU TELL THEM DRUG TESTING IS MANDATORY FOR FEDERAL WORKERS, Might makes right, not wisdom lbs bi Moammar Kha- d a f y wears makeup. He dresses up like a woman. He wears high-heel shoes, goes into the de sert to talk to him self, has drawn a line across part of the sea, daring anyone to cross it. Richard Cohen when it was attacked. In a court, there .would be no question about who was right and who was wrong. But wisdom is a different matter than legality, espe cially when legality is beside the point anyway. The United States is pushing Libya around not because it has the right to do so, but because it has the power. As usual, might makes right. He calls it the line of death. We crossed it. We’ll show him who’s crazy. A miniature war followed. It is the sort of thing the United States is getting very good at. You bring an enormous amount of force to bear against a min iscule target. It worked in Grenada and, in a strictly military sense, it will proba bly work in Libya. Like the Britain of old, we now fight wars that are barely worth plaques on the damp walls of country churches. But what is the purpose of the U.S. action? That it tainted Moammar the Mad and he responded is beyond ques tion. We left the keys in the car and waited for some kid to come along. But now what? The Gulf of Sidra is on the way to nowhere. There was no urgency in opening it and, besides, we have been there time and time again in the last sev eral years. No one questions that it is in ternational waters anymore than any one questions that, in a showdown, the United States has the guns to win. there have i<> be men who lookatl hail Gorbachev A team of CIA shrinks says Khadafy is crazy. And so, apparently, he is. But worse than that, he is mad — maybe criminally insane. His, though, is not a cunning evil. Instead, it is a crude one, evidenced in the blood-spattered walls of international airports and the bot- hched attempts to invade neighboring countries. Ruler of a sandbox, he holds a press conference from a tractor seat and then, like Zeke of Arabia, throws his John Deere into gear and furrows his way into the desert. Both the tractor and its driver could use an oil change. Khadafy drew a line in the water and called it the line of death. But his real line of death is behind him — some army officer who. Finally, resolves to end Libya’s agony. Some have tried in the past and others will undoubtedly in the future, but there is little chance that they can act now. Any conspirator would seem to be an American accom plice. For the moment at least, the United States turned the difficult into the impossible. blood for the sake of spilling bid Maybe. It could be that his humiliacj will hasten his end, or it could betha will embolden him. If Khadafy is as ml as he is supposed to be, there is sim® no predicting what he will do. BESSA Area In a sense, though, Khadafy is Mies ar least of it. It is the Soviets we should*’ an d thinkinu about. Somewhere in Moscufr*!,? 5 . i | v ill tx . . . Basir and see him the■ m j sls Reagan administration officials oA ar j n g saw Jimmy Carter. They will talkalAt tes weakness, lack of resolve, a weaknessAig be the PR gambit and, manifestly, anA ess f ( sion ol Soviet power and prestigeA e f r Sy> over the world. The same rollconsenff lives call with chest-swelling pride-E^ ^ Grenada, Afghanistan, Nicaragmasfcharle now a willingness to contest Angsi-l can be cited in the Kremlin as evtal of Soviet weakness and lack of resfa* Somewhere along the line, the RusiAeYHI backbone will stiffen and it Hill morning again in Minsk. This is alia gerous game we play. | As this is written, the U.S. fleetsitsl tride the so-called line of death sorti saying, “Come on, make myday."Fni time to time, Libya tries and moKi|)of International law stands solidly be hind the United States. The U.S. fleet was in undisputed international waters And so we are stuck with Khadafy. What will he do? Surely, CIA analysts have made their predictions but their guess is as good as yours. No one knows. Maybe he has been chastised and will become a more prudent leader. Maybe. Or maybe he is enraged and will spill byans die as a result. We have legality our side, morality, too, and — moreicl portant — the power to back themtofl up. But if in the end, an unchaste* Khadafy still rules in Tripoli and IA is brought closer to a resurgent Son Union, then the world will know son thing about the United States, it If power in abundance. What it lads i wisdom. ^ e ’ V c Richard Cohen is a columnist for Washington Post Writers Group. Mail Call :hu 2. ^ny < Way off base EDITOR: Loren Steffy’s lead column Mar. 25 on the Contra/Sandanista debate was way off base. T he crucial issue in the whole matter boils down to this: In 1984 who was elected to set the course of U.S. foreign policy — Ronald Regan or Tip O’Neill? The bottom line is that neither O’Neill nor any other member of Congress has the constitutional or the popular mandate to obstruct the foreign policy initiatives of the president of the United States. The checks-and-balances line of argument does not really pertain to matters of foreign policy. The bulky 535- man free-for-all which governs our policy on domestic matters is a sure recipe for disaster in the international arena. One can tolerate the inefficiency of government by committee on the domestic level as simply a cost of democracy. For international affairs however, such indecision seriously weakens U.S. influence abroad. Making matters worse is the fact that this indecision is interpreted as weakness or a lack of will by our foes. And by retracting our influence we create a vacuum which the Soviet Union and its allies are more than happy to fill. On the issue of Sandinista, rule in Nicaragua, the ideal of objectivity is difficult to justify. We are dealing with an ideology, Communism, that has no moral qualms. It’s an ideology where genocide is an acceptable means to carry out one’s policy objectives. The track record of Communism is simply too cluttered with corpses and broken lives to give it the benefit of the doubt. Mark Howell Graduate Student Melanie Zentgraf, now a captain in the Air Force,didIWith not sue to be in the Aggie Band. In fact, she nevereven| sought membership. One of the privileges of being in the Corps ol Cadetsisl wearing the uniform. And by the way, the “standardmiltl tary band” uniform Glenn Murtha mentioned is official! |* <>t ™ , that of the Corps. It’s a uniform not anyone can wear, true. HETTY Not because we are exclusive, but because one has to earn | qq^ the right to wear it. Just as one would earn the right to * wear authentic Aggie Football jersey or Singing Cadets jacket. Our uniform is one we are proud of. The effortrel quired to be a member of the Corps and the Aggie Band iQf (and any extracurricular activity) is more than thatoftht average college student. ILSL El Handing out uniforms to anyone wanting to honks Irly horn or march Kyle Field at halftime would demean tlit uniform’s image. Being in the Corps takes determination stamina and discipline. Discipline enough to make I'lEEPlI WN A Uniform one of the privileges through three hours of drill each day for the Band—of' : j^JT ten in the scorching heat of their drill field. | Moreover, the exacting discipline of the Aggie Banifl what separates us from the “M.O.B.” (Rice’s band) andl university show bands of other schools. It is the basisoj most all A&M’s traditions — such as our standing Man and the attendance of Silver Taps. It is what distinl guishes all Aggies as Aggies, no matter what uniform "J wear. In conclusion, Murtha, "as a civilian student, is welconitj to join the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band anytime he |)leases| He’ll be expected to do nothing more than what even! other freshman before him has done— including thi| women—that is, JOIN THE CORPS. Jeff Brady ’86 Commanding Officer — Company D-l Yori R. Escalante Corps Public Relations Officer EDITOR: Once again, an ill-informed radical-change advocate has shot off his pen in the pages of The Battalion. First the facts: Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The edit 11 ' rial stafi reserves the right to edit letters for style and length but ^ make every effort to maintain the author’s intent. Each letter must^ signed and must include the address and telephone number of the wriiet'