Page 2/The Battalion/Tuesday, November 18, 1986
Opinion
Mergers ignore subtle benefits
You work your
fingers to the
bone, and what do
you get? Bony fin-'
gers, or so the old
sort-of song goes.
The implication is
that hard work
never bears any
fruit. The Texas
Select Committee
on Education is on
the brink of re
ducing state-funded higher education
to similar skeletal remains.
Larry Temple, the committee chair
man, has proposed merging six smaller
state universities in an attempt to “en
hance the delivery of academic pro
grams and provide for more effective
and efficient use of present and future
facilities.” Undoubtedly, saving the state
a few bucks is the desired result. It’s the
latest rage in the business world, why
not in academia? Merger mania has hit
Texas colleges.
Under the proposal. North Texas
State University and Texas Womah’s
University in Denton would be com
bined, the University of Houston-
Downtown would merge with Texas
Southern University, and Corpus
Christi State University and Texas A&I
University would become South Texas
State University.
The merger malarkey has been
tossed around for years. About a year
and a half ago, one University of Hous
ton professor even suggested that Texas
A&M annex UH, thereby cutting down
on operating costs and boosting aca
demic resources for UH while giving
A&M a foothold in Houston.
Such a merger assumes that the Ges
talt theory applies unconditionally to
academia. A larger, more diversified
university must be greater than the sum
of its smaller, more specialized parts.
But it depends on the definition of
greater. In education, bigger — and for
that matter cheaper — does not always
lead to better.
In an attempt to save a fast buck, the
state is on the verge
of shucking some of
the less tangible ben-
efits of smaller
schools. Before mak
ing the “Big Deci
sion” in favor of
Texas A&M, I con
sidered several
smaller state univer-
sities, including
North Texas State.
The smaller campus
seemed more per
sonal, the instruction more individually
focused.
In the end, I picked A&M for even
less tangible reasons. I grew up in Col
lege Station. I knew the school, the town
and the people. At the time, I hadn’t de
cided on a major. For me, where I went
was more important than why I went.
Many of Texas’ smaller universities
are recognized for quality, albeit special
ized, curriculum. East Texas State, for
example, is known for its drama pro
gram, UH-Downtown for serving
mostly part-time students and TSU for
being the pride of Houston blacks.
Which uncovers another short
sighted flaw in the committee’s proposal
— character. A school has a certain feel
to it, a personality, an identity that dis
tinguishes it from other colleges. True,
merged colleges could develop a new
identity, but it would be like the family
hardware store trying to retain that per
sonal touch after it’s sucked up by a
multi-national corpora
tion. The committee
may not understand
such aesthetic con
cerns, especially when
thinking in a dollar
mindframe, but it plays
an important role in se
lecting a place to con
tinue education.
The weakest link in
the proposal’s chain of
poorly planned provi
sions is graduate stud
ies. If the committee has its way, A&M
and the University of Texas would be
the only comprehensive graduate-re-
search institutions. The measure spells a
slow and painful demise for other state
universities. With faculty retention al
ready a problem, even at A&M and UT,
siphoning off graduate programs will
increase the migration of quality faculty
from the smaller schools. Few faculty
want to light at a school that has no pool
Loren
Steffy
Solution to teen pregnancies
is simple despite complaints
Let’s go over
this thing one
more time to make
certain I’m not
missing anything.
• We, as a so
ciety , are quite
concerned about
the rise in the
number of teen
age pregnancies.
Right? Right.
• Other than
the chastity belt, sterilization or doing
away with sex altogether, the contracep
tive is the best way to avoid pregnancy.
Right? Right.
• Parents and church groups, both
of whom say teen-age pregnancies are
one of the nation’s most pressing prob
lems, are all for handing out contracep
tives in school.
Lewis
Grizzard
Right? Of course not, you immoral,
heathen troublemaker.
Believe me, I’ve tried my best to un
derstand all this. Parents in New York
City became outraged when it was
learned schools were handing out con
traceptives to students as part of the
school health program.
So were the evangelists. “The work of
the devil!” they bellowed.
So why can’t I get it through my thick
head? If we really want to bring down
the number of teen-age pregnancies
making contraceptives easily accessible
to teen-agers is a great way to start.
The only possible reasoning for not
wanting to do this, as warped as it might
be, is that if we give teen-agers contra
ceptives then they will be likely to have
more sex since it would be safer.
Maybe so, but if we managed to stop
The Battalion
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Cathie Anderson, Editor
Kirsten Dietz, Managing Editor
Loren Steffy, Opinion Page Editor
Frank Smith, City Editor
Sue Krenek, News Editor
Ken Sury, Sports Editor
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the birth of just one unwanted infant,
we would have done the world a favor.
Parents and preachers need to admit
something to themselves so they can
deal with this matter in a much more
adult sort of way.
Sex ain’t going away. There wasn’t
any sex to speak of until some time after
1964, when I graduated from high
school, bvit then came the sexual revolu
tion and sex is here to stay.
Birds do it. Bees do it, and you can
tell a kid not to do it until you’re blue in
the face, which, in most instances, sim
ply will encourage the little darling’s de
sire to find out what all the fuss is about.
Here is a legitimate, workable solu
tion to the problem of teen-age preg
nancies.
1. Make certain every child knows
what makes babies, and teach them that
as early as possible to avoid any confu
sion. What’s the big secret here anyway?
2. Teach them that the majority
thinking is it’s not wise to start having
sex until they are older, but be intelli
gent enough to know that’s not going to
stop sex between teen-agers and so load
them up with all the contraceptives they
want.
So more teen-age sex, perhaps, but
fewer teen-age pregnancies.
What a great idea. Too bad I’ll proba
bly go to hell for thinking of it.
Copyright 1986, Cowles Syndicate
♦*
of smaller colleges:
of graduate students to use as teaching
and research assistants, especially when
tenure is heavily rooted in publication
and research, not teaching.
Temple’s claim that combined uni
versities would be more “efficient and
effective” assumes that students share
the same educational needs. Just as col
lege in general does not appeal to every
high school graduate, bigger schools are
not always seen as better by prospective
students. Some of the colleges the select
committee is considering for mergers —
for example, the poorly run TSU —cer
tainly need improvements. But fine tun
ing is more in order than restructuring.
If we decide that students would be
better off going to conglomerated uni
versities, why stop with the proposed
six? Baylor, Texas Christian University
and Southern Methodist University, all
being religious-oriented institutions,
could be merged into Texas Sout!;
Protestant University. A&M and! 1
being the only schools left with®
spectable faculty, curriculum andr
uate programs could form Texas
mogeneous University.
And why stop with four-yearsck
Community colleges across the j,.
could be merged into a huge da v
two-year schools, known as Texas; j
Chance Junior Colleges. it
• jj
If Texas is going to provide4:
fled education, it must provide<fo c
fled educational facilities. If stiij «
are going to work their academic^ it
to the bone, they want to get more: d
bony fingers for their labors. Then
state-funded education that treat n
programs equally, instead of fattr
some and slashing others totheb© jj
Loren Steffy is a senior joumalis: ^
jor and the Opinion Page ediloi
The Battalion.
Mail Call
Certain disappointment .
EDITOR: ||
What is going on?
I started school here in 1983, stayed for three semesters and just start?: | j
back after going to junior college f< >r t hi ee semestei s i his is not the same «
school that it was when I left. j
I went home one weekend and explained to a friend of mine about all 1:11
great traditions we have here. He had heard some good things about Texi ;
A&M and was interested in coming to visit. I told him that the best way to
find how it really felt to be an Aggie was to go to Silver T aps and yell praa (
He was especially impressed with my description of Silver Taps. The feel: ; 1
of belonging I got made me decide to return here rather than go to the 5
University of Texas at Arlington. Ip
My friend is in a fraternity at Texas Tech, but after he heard aboutSik *
Taps, he said he wished he had come here. We decided that the difference
between Tech and A&M was the unity that the Aggies have. At Tech, the
loyalties are to fraternities, and there is nothing to pull them together. I i
explained that the Corps of Cadets, while no longer the majority, still
represents the way the majority of students feel about A&M, and that s
students can look at the Corps as representative of Aggie spirit. a
Of course, while I was telling him this, I was thinking about the A&Mu v
I remembered from my first time here. I was not thinking about the preser. f
where hardly anyone says “howdy,” where students fight at yell practicear: 11
where no one comes to Silver Taps (Yes, I thought I had a good reasonto T"
miss Silver Taps, but on thinking about it I can’t remember what it couldh; ’
been). Maybe I need to call my friend and tell him to stay home. Afteralll T
told him, he is sure to be disappointed.
Lee Ann Rucker ’87
What about the Indians?
EDITOR:
The great state of Texas is in its last quarter in celebrating its
sesquicentennial year. No doubt, we will have some valuable memoriesfrorj |
these events.
To the Alabama-Coushatta tribes in Livingston, this year is shapingup il
be a banner year. First, the tribes had to initiate litigation against the state
government, who insisted that the Alabama-Coushatta were no longerati
Indian tribe.
The federal ruling favored the tribes, but the state comptroller mustMh
an upper hand. The comptroller refuses to release funds that belongtotlit:
Indians. Then the comptroller decided he would jump on the bandwagon
the tribes’ effort for federal restoration. He decided that when the Indian:
were federally recognized, they would bring “BINGO” to their reservation ’
and make tons of money, leaving the poor little treasury out in the cold.l'
knows better what the Indians want than the Indians themselves? I
Now the Indians have to improvise with the wicked hand of Sen. Phil
Gramm. Whether the Alabama-Coushatta tribes are federally recognized
which means that the tribal land (reservation) will be protected by thefederj
government, the tribe’s main objective, apparently rests on the desk of Sea |
Gramm.
The Alabama-Coushatta tribes have been part of Texas since beforeii
became a republic and state. The American people value the inscriptionol |
the Statue of Liberty that reads: “Give me your tired, your poor, yourweaa I
. .” But what about the Alabama-Coushattas, part of the first Americans?^
we willing to welcome all immigrants and illegal aliens and permit them to |
stay, while we allow our first Americans — the Indians, the Alabama-
Coushattas — to continue to struggle indefinitely?
Carol Battise
Alabama-Coushatta Indian
Reagan would never mislead us
EDITOR:
Politics and diplomacy are for governments. At least that is what
President Reagan told us when he issued the executive order requiringall
U.S. citizens to leave Libya. Private citizens had no right to interfere withfjB
foreign policy, in this case aiding the Libyan economy in the face of U.S.
economic sanctions.
Yet for quite some time there have been private U.S. citizens interferini I)
in a drastic way with another sovereign nation. By any standard of hypocn:
the president is long overdue to issue an executive order requiring these
Americans to cease their political interference.
Current foreign policy dictates that the United States is not at war with !?
Nicaragua. Yet this foreign policy is being abrogated by a few U.S. citizens
who are waging war and dying.
The president soon will order all Americans out of Nicaragua for severs
reasons. The first is that, like all conservatives, his palms do not sweat when ?
he hears the word “communism.”
The second reason is that these Contra supporters are dragging the WI
closer to the conflict, and Reagan shares America’s current sentiments
against another Vietnam in Central America.
The third reason is that the president believes individual Americans
should not interfere with U.S. foreign policy. That is, unless these America 11 B
are carrying out some unofficial foreign policy designed to prod the
American people into accepting a full blown war.
But Reagan would never do that. He would never mislead us. Thatisk
most important reason why he will issue the order. I just cannot understand
what is taking him so long.
Dean M. Jen ’87
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