Page 2/The Battalion/Wednesday, April 30, 1986
On student values.
Opinion -m
A&M beats UT hands down
A featured arti
cle in the May is-
s u e of Texas
Monthly attempts
to answer the
question of which
school — Texas
A&M or the Uni-
vesity of Texas —
is better.
Since when did
Texas Monthly,
headquartered in Austin, think it could
objectively evaluate this Texas Cold War
that continually drives both universities?
Since when did this scandal-seeking
magazine think it could grade us be
yond the gridiron to the classroom envi
ronment?
But the question of academic superi
ority must be answered, Texas Monthly
says, because this is the post-oil era in
which Texas A&M and the University of
Texas will chart Texas’ future like Spin-
dletop dictated its past. Education is the
key to diversifying our economy, the
magazine says. Consequently, these two
universities, letting loose more than
1 70,()()() graduates between now and the
year 2000, will decide the state’s fate.
Both the Aggies and the other guys
flunked Texas Monthly's admission re-
quirement§. The magazine claims A&M
is too easy to get into — if Berkeley and
Princeton can be tougher, why can’t we?
It points out that provisional basic-
courses in the summer before the fresh
man year make admissions essentially
open-ended.
If.our enrollment was more limited,
Texas Monthly says, our schools’ names
would be sweetened with more prestige
and we’d produce a higher quality stu
dent — one who’s waited in shorter lines
and received more professional atten
tion. It sounds simple enough, but we
can’t ignore that our size is our strength.
We learn to think on a grander, more
diverse scale, and we’re forced to find
ourselves among the nameless mass of
students.
We give every high school senior a
fresh start and force them to face the
challenge of staying in school. We’re
churning out our 'Texas-size share of
state leaders, and incidentally, we’re
graduating a higher percentage of our
entering freshmen than any university
in the state.
Texas Monthly then looked into the
foundation of our college existence with
its graded sections on faculty, teaching
and curriculum. UT received a B plus,
C and C minus, respectively, while we
pulled in a C, C plus and an Incomplete.
Essentially this amounts to its conclu
sions that UT has a more nationally ac
claimed faculty, but UT’s professors
steer clear of students, opting to devote
themselves to research. Whereas A&M’s
profs place a higher value on under
graduates. We also try to catch UT in
quality graduate instruction.
If you are bothered by that Incom
plete we received on curriculum, Texas
Monthly says don’t be. We’re likely to
triumph over the Orangemen with the
broader, more liberal arts-oriented core
curriculum that’s in the works right
now. Texas Monthly thinks UT is too
big (48,000) and too bureaucratic to
comparably widen its required course
load, and it pats us on the back with an
overall C minus compared to a C for
UT.
The magazine claims it’s a surprise
A&M finally is getting its act together.
The conclusion is that the more liberal
arts-oriented we become, and the more
like UT we become, the better we’ll ulti
mately be.
As a liberal arts double major myself ,
I beg to differ. Sure my beliefs have
been questioned, my values re-exam
ined, and my mental gears have discov
ered they can think about the purpose
of life, death and mankind on any given
day. I’m solidly behind this core curric
ulum because every person needs to
exercise some of the same mental shifts
to live in this world.
However, A&M’s muscle can never lie
in its curriculum, but in the values we as
students bring to classes for debate and
a firmer foundation. We’re not showing
glimmers of greatness because, as T exas
Monthly noted, we’ve tenured a profes
sor who doesn’t believe in Ciod and mar
riage. We’re already great because we
have students who seek God’s will and
know truth lies in his word.
Universities historically have been the
breeding ground for evil anti irrational
thinking as much as they have fostered
brilliant and rational ideas. Just as Ox
ford and Cambridge housed Soviet
agents in the 1930s and the University
of Havana allowed the Communist
Party to flow er in its environs, soils
the University of Mexico City doesti
day. And just as Fidel Castro brougl
only broken values to the UniversiiJ
Havana in 1947 and soaked upii
available propaganda, so also studej |
today in both Central American
U.S. universities are in dangerofliei;
ing only one side that leans left.
That brings me to Texas Mom
last category: atmosphere. UT gets
and we take home only a B minus,It
cause the article's author claims our
dent body lacks diversity. As 1 setjl
we re all individually different.
Granted, we don't have what la 011 .
Monthh calls the UT air of sophistitjI
ion or its underground bustlingku|
“hustlers and freaks. Buttheanidl
adds that UT is fractured and studi
must identify with a f raternity or oi
nization to feel they belong.
When the education experienceol
tends beyond the classroom, Aggies
more able — because of our base ofom
ness and f riendliness — to discusstsliti
we differ and learn more in theproctstl
Cynthia Gay is a junior journalism m
jor and a columnist for The Battalion
United Feature Syndicate
MAR6UHES
©K?86 HOU^TOtJ Pt^r
U.S. did what had to be done;
strike nothing to be proud of
I remember a
picture — an offi
cial White House
photo taken in
1975 during the
Ford administra
tion. It showed
Gerald Ford,
Henry Kissinger,
Donald Rumsfeld
and two other offi
cials, dressed in
formal wear, exulting in news they had
received about the U.S. attempt to res
cue sailors from the Mayaguez, a ship
captured by Communist Cambodians.
The rescue operation, as it turned out,
was something of a botch.
Hard to tell, though, from that pic
ture. Kissinger is leaning back in a
broad smile; Rumsfield is beside himself
with laughter; Ford, holding a pipe, is
gesturing and laughing: and Robert Mc-
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resent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, faculty
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Farlane, then a staff member of the Na
tional Security Council, obviously think
ing the matter funny is — pictures do
not lie — smiling weakly. Since then he
has learned to control himself.
But not the Reagan administration.
For more than a week, it has been play
ing out its own version of that night. In
exquisite bad taste, it has shown the
same capacity to celebrate the odious.
White House Chief of Staff Donald Re
gan (the little brain that could) had a
joke to tell last week. He said a friend
had suggested new lyrics for the Marine
Hymn: “From the Halls of Montezuma
to what’s left of Tripoli.” It is reported
that no one laughed.
As for the Defense Department, it has
almost daily released information cele
brating the Libya strike. Unmentioned
in all the hurrays for this or that techni
cal feat,' is the fact that civilians were
killed, that one F-lll did not return,
and that two American pilots were
killed.
Americans have been treated to war
as a televised video game. On the TV
screen, we zoomed in on the coast and
then swung towards the barracks where
Moammar Khadafy is said to live. We
passed it once, and then doubled back at
something like nine miles a second and
— there! — released our bombs. In the
corner of the screen, we could see nine
little bombs, just like in the video games,
and then — Kerpow! — we were told
they hit. The president says we may
have to play again.
And so we may. It may be our only re
course — something we have to do be
cause we can think of nothing else to do,
nothing that will work. There is no
sense of obligation in some of the
statements coming from the administra
tion — no sense that we are into some
thing where the end is unknown. Al
ready, hostages have been murdered in
Lebanon; a U.S diplomat shot in Khar
toum; and the United States is being
seen by the Arab world as a colonialist-
Zionist caricature. In attempting to con
trol events, we just may have lost control
of them. This is the way it is sometimes.
Official Washington seems to have
little appreciation of this. When it is not
busy celebrating a military victory over a
sandbox nation ruled by a kook in a
doorman’s uniform, it is thinking of
ways to compound the problem by
showing contempt for history. House
and Senate Republicans, led by Majority
Leader Robert J. Dole, have introduced
legislation that would give the president
an even freer hand to respond to terror
ist attacks. In an unintended assessment
of their own worth, these Republicans
would no longer require the president
to consult with Congress before sending
U.S troops into a hostile situation.
But if the strike against Libya proves
anything, it is how much the president
ought to consult with Congress. With
every day, the second-guessers are
looking better and wiser. If ever there
was a time to ensure the maximum par
ticipation of people with wisdom, expe
rience and a different point of view, it is
now. Instead, some members of Con
gress can hardly wait to give the presi
dent carte blanche, and some journalists
seem to equate reflection and dissent
with cowardice and virtual treason.
War is ugly and the celebration of it
nearly as ugly. The raid on Libya may
have been necessary but it is not a cause
for celebration, a reason to ignore his
tory or a rationale for squelching crit
icism. The United States did what it
thought it had to do —just as it did in
1975 when 41 U.S. servicemen died at
tempting to rescue 39 captured seamen
who may already have been freed. That
incident should serve as a reminder.
The first laugh is easy. T he last one is
best.
Richard Cohen is a columnist for the
Washington Post Writers Group.
Richard
Cohen
//
Mail Call
Home is where the heart is
EDITOR:
In the article I read in The Battalion on Thursday entitled “Khadafvno!
evil at heart” the author, Derek Bercher, claims that Khadafy is not an evil
man because he adopted a 15-month-old orphan. I agree that it was too bad
the young child was killed in the attack, but if Khadafy is such a great guy,
why didn’t he move his family away from his known home? Khadafy knew
from earlier warnings that the United States would eventually strike back,
and he personally moved away from the house to protect himself, but left his
family in the house that he was afraid to stay in himself .
Yeah, Khadafy has a heart and must be a great guy. It seems that this man
with the great big heart seems more concerned with his own well-being than
that of his 15-nionth-old daughter.
Maybe now that one of his own family has been killed needlessly he will
know how his terrorist-attack victims families feel. I doubt the loss of his
daughter will in any way bother this man with the big heart. I believe
Khadafy is a man with no morals or a sense of right and wrong. As far as Ira
concerned we should BEAT THE HELL OUT OF KHADAFY.
Doug Stephenson
Mopeds to motorcycles
EDITOR:
This letter is for all those moped owners to be on the watch for the ever-
alert Univeristy police and their brave officers. You see, for your mopedtobf
considered a moped it as to be of 50 c.c.’s or less, and it must have one speed
only.
You may think your moped qualifies, but wait! You’d better watch your
speedometer. If it says your moped can run above 30 mph, it is considereda |
motorcyle. Yes, your little moped! So you must have a motorcycle license,
written and driving test. You must also have insurance, because you may
crunch another vehicle badly. I would also advise you to check your turn
signals and light bulbs, we want your moped to be in top shape for the tough
University police inspection.
Finally, I would recommend you double check all your movements while |
you are driving. Remember, somebody is watching you.
Aldo C. Lopez
Class of ’86
Oil industries funding terrorism?
EDITOR:
As one more concerned American, I find it necessary to address some
distastef ul questions regarding our true role in the Libyan terrorist activities
which led to the military action taken against that country.
Much has been reported about the rights and wrongs of such an action.
Yet, little has been said about the role which some of our American oil
companies have played prior to our military action, and continues today,
apparently with this administration’s blessing.
Several weeks ago it was reported that President Reagan ordered all
Americans out of Libya. Why, then, were certain American oil firms, which j
reportedly provide as much as 75 percent of Moammar Khadafy’s revenue, j
granted exemption to that order? It is certainly apparent that the billionsof
dollars in revenue generated from our American oil interests in Libya is not
being used to improve the standard of living for the people, but instead, to
purchase the very arms used to carry out its leaders’ terrorist designs against
innocent people.
It appears to me that far too many loyal Americans, most of whom I am
certain were in favor of dealing strongly with this “Madman of the Middle
East,” are overlooking some important alternatives to our relatively
inef fective military action.
One of the hardest things to accept is knowing that these same firms
continue to line the pockets of a government that almost certainly w ill usethis
revenue to carry out further terrorist assaults against civilians and
particularly against our fine young men and women to whom we have
entrusted the defense of our nation.
Perhaps a much closer look at all of our corporate business venturesisin
order. Not necessarily by our government, but by we, the consumers,
stockholders and citizenry, for we are the ones unknowingly being made
partners to the financing of such governments.
J.R. Nardi
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