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Page 2/The Battalion/Friday, May 2, 1986
The buck revisited
The Texas A&M Board of Regents’ feeble attempt to pass
the divestment buck has been passed right back.
The regents refused to meet with Students Against Apart
heid to discuss the University’s holdings in companies that do
business with South Africa, claiming that the board doesn’t
make investments based on moral decisions. The regents claim
such decisions are up to the Texas Legislature.
“That’s a ridiculous argument,” says Rep. Wilhelmina Delco,
chairwoman of the Committee on Higher Education. “I would
certainly hope they’d have some moral sense of integrity in their
investments.”
Delco pointed out that governing bodies of institutions
should be conscious of their investments’ implications.
Board Secretary Bill Presenel says the board has a responsi
bility to maximize its investments.
But if done without moral cosideration, the University could
invest in prostitution rings, pornography and drug trafficking
— all of which could be profitable investments.
The regents’ last-ditch effort to skirt the divestment issue
has failed. The Legislature is not going to answer for the board’s
attempt to shirk its responsibility.
Texas A&M has almost $3 million invested in companies
that deal with the racist government in South Africa.
The board seems more concerned with monetary returns on
the University’s investments than with the fact that those invest
ments support • an administration that violates basic human
rights.
The buck that the regents tried to pass to the Legislature has
wound up back in their laps. It’s time for the board to assume
the responsibility for their “immoral” monetary decisions.
The Battalion Editorial Board
Ford’s ethical antics
overshadow Deaver’s
It is early morn
ing and the Secret
Service detail for
former presidents
is assembling in an
undisclosed Wash-
ington location.
The supervisor
steps forward,
clipboard in hand,
and calls out some
names: “You
agents will be traveling with former
President Gerald Ford. You will go to
Vail, Aspen, Palm Beach, Palm Springs
and Saratoga Springs, N.Y., where Mr.
Ford will address the annual convention
of periodontists and play in their golf
tournament. First-class accommodation
all the way, as usual.”
Then the supervisor looks at his clip
board and calls out three more names:
“You three will be traveling with former
President Carter. You will go by Trail-
ways bus from Plains, Ga., to the South
Bronx. There, Mr. Carter Will help re
habilitate some slum housing and make
a speech to a group of orphans. As
usual, some of you will sleep on the
floor in the slum housing while others
will be housed at an Eight Days Motel in
Hoboken, N.J. Any questions?”
Yes. Did anything like this ever hap
pen? Answer: Not that I know. But
given the way Ford and Carter have
conducted themselves since leaving of
fice, I can not be far off. Aside from
writing books and making an occasional
speech, Carter —the liberal — has con
ducted his retirement conservatively.
Like most of his predecessors, he has
shunned commercialization of the presi
dency. Not so, Ford. The longtime legis
lative conservative has virtually fran
chised the Oval Office. In retirement,
he has become a multimillionaire.
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Michelle Powe, Editor
Kay Mallett, Managing Editor
Loren Steffy, Opinion Page Editor
Jerry Oslin, City Editor
Cathie Anderson, News Editor
Travis Tingle, Sports Editor
Editorial Policy
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resent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, faculty
oi the Board of Regents.
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w ithin the Department of Journalism.
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When it comes to money, Ford’s gov
ernment career was mere prelude to
what followed. The man, whose various
government pensions and allowances
earn him $417,000 a year, nevertheless
makes speeches, works as a consultant
and will write a letter to an official (such
as Transportation Secretary Elizabeth
Dole) on behalf of a firm (such as Flying
Tiger Line) that paid him a fee
($100,000) to consult on momentous is
sues like U.S. landing rights and why a
competitor (Nippon Cargo Airlines)
should not get them. He may even do
bar mitzvahs.
He does do corporate boards. He sits
on several for fees as high as $30,000 a
year. He earns consulting fees of as
much as $100,000 a year. He is available
as a speaker, but his fee can be a rather
steep $20,000. For firms like American
Express he is both a consultant and a
member of the board (Do you know me?
I used to be president).
Ford’s spokesmen point out that the
former president also raises vast
amounts of money for charities (true)
and that his flourishing business career
is yet another expression of his conser
vative ethic. The man believes in busi
ness, free enterprise and all of that. His
defenders say he is only practicing what
he always believed. His retirement is
vindication of his politics.
Maybe. But there is also no question
that Ford is selling the presidency and
that until he did it, no one even at
tempted such a thing. In fact, the mod
ern ethic for the presidential retirement
probably was set by Harry S. Truman,
no man of independent means. In his
memoirs, he wrote that he rejected all
commercial offers after leaving the
White House: “I could never lend my
self to any transaction, however respect
able, that would commercialize on the
prestige and dignity of the office of the
presidency.”
Truman seems hopelessly quaint
now. All Ford does is “commercialize on
the prestige and dignity of the office of
the presidency,” and he does it to a fair
amount of boardroom applause and
precious little opprobrium. He is the
darling of the executive suite, the den
izen of the ninth hole, of first-class
plane trips and exclusive airport
lounges — the presidential version of
Joe Louis who ended his days a greeter
for Las Vegas hotels.
With Ford blazing the way, it’s almost
silly to raise an objection to Michael
Deaver who was, after all, a mere presi
dential assistant. The same goes with all
the other former White House aides
who, little by little, sell what the public
once gave them. What they all need to
do is assemble in my imaginary Secret
Service squad room and see the contrast
between Jerry Ford and Jimmy Carter.
It’s the difference between right and
wrong.
Richard Cohen is a columnist for the
Washington Post Writers Group.
Richard
Cohen
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The accident at
the Chernobyl nu
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in the Soviet
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the worst nuclear
disaster in history.
It .is not just a na
tional crisis; it is an
international cri
sis. Clouds of ra
dioactive fallout
The Soviet Union has the fastest
growing nuclear power industry in the
world. Yet it appears that nuclear safety
may not be the top priority in the build
ing of Soviet nuclear reactors. The
Chernobyl plant apparently doesn’t
have a steel-reinforced concrete con
tainment structure.
Michelle
Powe
can’t be stopped by border patrols.
The Soviets further endangered the
people of other nations by not immedi
ately announcing the disaster. The acci
dent wasn’t even discovered until radia
tion was detected on a Swedish worker
going to work at nuclear power plant
north of Stockholm, Sweden. Secrecy, as
evidenced by this latest crisis, has no
place in the nuclear power game.
The rest of the world has a right to
know — a need to know — how a disas
ter of this magnitude could have hap
pened, and how it could have been
avoided. We need to know exactly what
the magnitude of the disaster is — how
many people have died? Are the Soviet
claims of two deaths accurate, or are the
western claims of 2,000 closer to the
truth? How many people — in and out
side the Soviet Union — have been per
manently harmed? Will future genera
tions be affected?"'
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Michelle Powe is a senior journal!!
major and editor for The Battalion.
Mail Call
Huge
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Suburban preparation
EDITOR:
In Cynthia Gay’s column “On student values, A&M
beats UT hands down” she claims that Texas A&M is
better than the University of Texas when education
extends beyond the classroom. Having been conferred a
liberal arts degree from UT as well as seeing an
engineering degree on the horizon from A&M, I feel
compelled to share my modest opinion.
I realize that going from a liberal arts education to an
engineering education is like comparing pomegranates to
paraquat, especially when they involve two different
universities. Yet, I think that I have had broad enough
exposure that I have a good grasp of what each university
is all about.
There is no question in my mind that A&M is friendlier
than UT. Smiles and salutations fill any walk across
campus. This friendliness, however, does not extend to the
realm of thought. Ideas that are even a wee bit liberal are
many times rejected before they can be completely
expressed.
In The Battalion time and time again we see the
expression “Highway 6 runs both ways”. This trite myopic
remark has no place in any university (I never came across
anything about Interstate 35 during my days at The Daily
Texan). The fact that this intellectual atrocity appears time
and time again is evidence enough that Gay’s statement “..
. Aggies are more able — because of our base of oneness
and friendliness — to discuss where we differ and learn
more in the process” is patently false.
Gay maternally warns us that there is a danger in
hearing only one side that leans left. How true! There is,
however, an equal danger in hearing only one side that
leans right.
UT, because of its west mall and general global
consciousness, prepares the student for the world. A&M,
because of its trade embargo on free thought, prepares the
student for the suburbs.
Michael Bolton
Hgn lease
■llgible for I
faculty members who helped them achieve their current
status. It would take very little effort to visit their officeor
leave a note in a mailbox and express gratitude.
Similarly, if it can be done in a professional manner,
why not inform professors who were a hindrance or
general disappointment of this fact? Perhaps it would
enlighten them to problems with their teaching approach |l-F9-6
or cause them to re-examine their attitudes about their
positions.
Rick Slavens ’86
Ken Stavinoha ’86
Engineering Technology
A
401
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Ring dance disaster
EDITOR:
For that special professor
EDITOR.
Texas A&M is a university filled with proud traditions.
As graduation approaches, it is a time to look back and
reflect upon the college experience.
It seems as though everyone has had at least one
professor w ho has really influenced their lives. Perhaps, in
some small way, we can return the favor. In a time of
budget cutbacks and salary freezes, many faculty members
find themselves in a frustrating environment.
I hink ofwhat a positive effect it would have for the
graduatingseniors to convey their appreciation to those
I have a definition for you. SENIOR RING DANCE:
the totally perfect ending to an absolutely peachy Four, five
or six years at the illustriously world-class Texas A&M
University — or is it?
Energy conservation is a swell idea, but I think 85
degrees was a tad warm for a formal dance, i.e., thousands
of tuxedos and dresses with petticoats playing human
pinball on a broom-closet-size dance floor. The only resort
to the heat was a nice stroll outside, if you can call
wrenching your high heels out of the cracks on the second
floor walk from Rudder to the Memorial Student Center a
stroll. Was the Hilton booked solid after Senior Dinner??
At least they could have served alcohol at the Hilton and I
wouldn’t have noticed how much fun I wasn’t having.
Photos? With the extensive professional equipment my
five-year-old niece could’ve taken sharper pictures with
adequate lighting —but wait — is it black on black or black
is back? My date and I both have dark hair, but our
pictures have these two shiny faces fading into black
oblivion. Of course, his black tux adequately enhanced the
beautiful black background.
Who made that larger-than-King Kong size ring? 1
have a senior ring on my right hand, as do most seniors;
we know what they look like. Thank God for that since you
couldn’t see mine in our pictures.
All this, and less, for the nominal fee of $35 fora
Senior Ring Dance ticket — which wasn’t asked for once
during the entire evening and no senior identification was
asked for upon purchase of the ticket.
I’m truly sorry I turned down the invitation to “Senior’
Ring dance as a freshman — maybe my expectations this
year would have been proportional to the amount of fun 1
had.
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Dawn Miller ’86
Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 words in length. Th
editorial staff reserves the right to edit letters for style and length but«
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