Page 2AThe Battalion/Monday L January 26, 1987
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Loren Steffy, Editor
Marybeth Rohsner, Managing Editor
Mike Sullivan, Opinion Page Editor
Jens Koepke, City Editor
Jeanne Isenberg, Sue Krenek, News Editors
Homer Jacobs, Sports Editor
Tom Ownbey, Photo Editor
Editorial Policy
The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspaper oper
ated as a community service to Texas A&M and Bryan-College Sta
tion.
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editorial
board or the author, and do not necessarily represent the opinions
of Texas A&M administrators, faculty or the Board of Regents.
The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper for students
in reporting, editing and photography classes within the Depart
ment of Journalism.
The Battalion is published Monday through Friday during
Texas A&M regular semesters, except for holiday and examination
periods.
Mail subscriptions are $17.44 per semester, $34.62 per school
year and $36.44 per full year. Advertising rates furnished on re
quest.
Our address: The Battalion, Department of Journalism, Texas
A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4 111.
Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battalion, De
partment of Journalism, Texas A&M University, College Station
TX 77843-4111.
Price of secrecy
Isn’t it about time Texas A&M realizes that as a public institution,
it has an obligation to release contract and hiring information to the
public? After all, Texans have a right to know where their tax dollars
are going, which is why the Texas Open Records Act exists.
Instead, the University has allowed itself to be sued twice in the
last month, and rather than release public information to the public,
it has decided to fight the public’s right to know in court.
USA Today filed suit Dec. 29 for the details of head coach Jackie
Sherrill’s salary package. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram filed suit
Jan. 13 seeking the results of an internal investigation of the football
program, and the Dallas Morning News filed an official request un
der the open records act for the same information.
The open records act states that the salary of public employees
and the results of completed investigations are open to public scru
tiny. President Frank Vandiver said in September that the internal
investigation of the football program for alleged violations of NCAA
rules was completed, although the results have not been made pub
lic.
Solicitors who refuse refus
can be difficult to deal wit
The irony of the lawsuits is that the public may end up funding
A&M’s fight to keep the information from being released to the pub
lic, unless the court battles are paid for by private donations to the
Athletic Department.
Regent William A. McKenziehas said that he thinks the media
are taking advantage of the open records law. But it is the University
that is using the law’s defects to keep information from the public.
Under the law, the University has been able to stall the release of the
information by ignoring the newspapers’ request. The release can be
further delayed by the court process.
Just when you
thought it was safe
to answer your
door again . . .
they’re back.
They arrive in
College Station
apartment com
plexes by the van
load chanting
‘Don’t take no for
an answer!’ Their
strategy is pre-
It’s not a pretty sight.
I had that experience EVERY night
last week. My apartment complex even
has a big sign right at the parking lot en
trance — NO SOLICITORS. Do these
words mean anything to the newspaper
salesmen of this town? Apparently not.
What will it take to get these people to
leave me alone?
Paula
Vogrin
But for all its clever stalling, A&M attorneys must realize that
compliance with the law is inevitable. The Texas Attorney General’s
Office has said that A&M must release the information.
planned, and their assault is merciless.
No mortal apartment dweller is safe
from . . . The Newspaper Subscription
Salesmen from Hell.
Nevertheless, as has been demonstrated so often in the past, the
University: is .determined to fight a no-win lawsuit, wasting money
that might otherwise be used more beneficially.
Why should the newspapers — or even the general public — be
interested in the internal goings on of a state university? Because, as
the open records act points out, government and government agen
cies are supposed to be the servant of the people, not the masters of
them. If the public is truly the master, it has a right to know what its
servant is up to.
How many times did this happen to
you last week? You’re sitting innocently
in your apartment, not bothering any
one, when there’s a knock at your door.
‘Ooh, company!’ you think and open the
door expecting a familiar face. But to
your horror, it’s one of Them. There
you are, trapped, helpless for ten min
utes while the creature expounds on the
benefits of subscribing to his newspaper
rather than the others.
There is nothing more annoying than
having a newspaper salesman barge into
your apartment as you’re taking the first
bite of dinner. It is not humanly possible
to get rid of these people in less than
five minutes. They refuse to let you re
fuse them. You can tell them you al
ready subscribe to their paper, but then
they want a 1,000 word essay on what
you like and dislike about it. You can’t
get them out of the door before your
dinner undergoes a hard freeze.
Si
II you think it does any goodnu
them you already subscribe to Texas
paper, you’re wrong. They’ll try! tw^ts.'
vince you to drop that subscripn . J
begin taking their paper. If ihitk JH
I ll< \ II t I \ I < ’ | M l si I.K If \ . HI I" - IWI (
to their paper in addition to Mi
you’re already receiving. Once!
paid to receive a newspaper, thtitl
sales pitch that will convince rat
continue and stait another. 1
subscription because I like the dan u
not because I want to see whoa fim ai
me out of it.
pleach
samlt.
Kill
Friday, after the last salesman:
week was turned away, I startedU ll< l
ing a few ways to keep these guytfl
darkening my doorstep ever a$
may be too late to put any of mys
tions into action this semester,
you’re interested, keep them in
for next semester.
Now I realize these guys are only try
ing to make an honest living, but if I
really wanted a subscription to their pa
per, I’d tell them the minute they ar
rived at my door.
• If you suspect a newspii
salesman is knocking on yourdtc
all costs, don’t open it. Just ptf
you’re not home. It doesn’t man
there is noise in your apartmeni
the stereo or TV). Simply ignofl
Truth: is it an outdated concept?
fact
that someone is banging
door. Sooner or later, they’ll
leave.
In May, 1960,
the Soviets
downed a U.S. spy
plane over Central
Russia. Thinking
the pilot, Francis
Gary Powers, was
dead, President
Dwight D. Eisen
hower authorized
NASA to say that
one of its civilian
weather planes
Richard
Cohen
was missing. Only after the Soviets an
nounced that Powers was a captive and
had confessed to piloting a spy plane
did Ike ’fess up. Yes, the U-2 was a spy
plane. And, yes, the government had
lied.
The incident is worth recalling be
cause the revelation that the govern
ment had lied was as much a shock as
the news of the spy flights. It was “the
first time many (Americans) learned
their leaders did not always tell the
truth,” Michael R. Beschloss wrote in his
history of the incident. Up to then, a lie
uttered by a public official was consid
ered a grave matter.
No more. Now, some public officials
seem to think lying is just part of their
job. A perfect example is Robert C. Mc-
Farlane, the president’s former na
tional-security adviser. Through per
sons who speak for him, he admits he
helped concoct a false chronology of the
Iran arms sale to make it seem that Pres
ident Reagan was unaware of the first
shipment. Later, having raised his right
hand to take an oath before a congres
sional committee, he ’fessed up: The
president had indeed authorized the
first shipment.
Around the time the Iran story was
breaking, McFarlane denied at least
twice on television that he had taken a
Bible inscribed by the president and a
cake baked into the shape of a key with
him on a trip to Tehran. As I recall, he
stared his interviewers in the eye and
said, “You know me better than that.”
Well, we do now. We are reliably in
formed that both reports are true.
There was a Bible; there was a cake, al
though they may have been brought by
Lt. Col. Oliver North, who accompanied
McFarlane to Tehran on the same
plane.
As for the president, he too has
played cute with the truth. Asked re
peatedly at a press conference whether
a third country — Israel — was involved
in shipping arms to Iran, he always said
no. Since we now know the president
authorized the shipments, we can rule
out the possibility that he was ignorant
of the facts. With his Bible in Iran, the
president presumably felt free to say
what was convenient.
More and more, government officials
seem to have adopted a lawyer’s cutesy
distinction between lying and perjury.
The first is permitted, indeed some
times required; the latter, of course,
runs the risk of prison. So, it is all right
to lie to the people through the press,
but not under oath to Congress. That’s
serious stuff.
Of course, there are times when a
government official has to lie. Then na
tional security adviser John Poindexter
is sometimes criticized for denying, on
the eve of the Grenada invasion, that
such an operation was under way. It’s
hard to know what else he could have
done. And as for Eisenhower, his decep
tion was aimed at the Russians, who
were about to meet with him in Geneva.
He was trying to protect that summit
meeting.
But the casualness to recent lying
takes my breath away. Where once lies
were extraordinary events and excused
only for the highest reasons of state,
they are now uttered for sheer conve
nience sake, often to avoid embarrass
ment. McFarlane’s statements and ac
tions fall into that category. Often they
are excused under the rubric of “pro
tecting the presidency,” a verbose, high
falutin’ phrase that comes down to pro
tecting a particular president from the
wrath of the people.
In present-day Washington it seems
almost quaint to lament how frequently
lies are told. But honesty is a virtue for
its own sake and lying is a symptom that
something is awfully wrong. Very often,
the lies stem from one big lie, such as
the president’s insistence that he would
not bargain for hostages. And the subse
quent lies are really efforts to maintain
or implement policies that lack public
approval and not, as is often claimed, to
ensure national security. It is not just
the lies that are insupportable; it is the
policy itself.
That is the nub of the Iran affair.
The president was doing something he
said he would not. . . and was doing it se-
cretly because he knew Americans
would be opposed. From that epic de
ception stemmed all the others. They
differ in purpose and consequence from
the lie Ike told about the U-2 affair. He
was cheating on the Russians. The Rea
gan administration officials are cheating
•Affix a picture of a newf
salesman being attacked by avicioii
to your door. A color photograph
work even better.
•Along those same lines, younj
post a quarantine sign and inclui
name of the most hideous illnesi
can think of. A note that the I*
highly contagious would empl 1
your point.
• If you’re hard-hearted ands
possess an ounce of compassion,
the door, say ‘1 don’t want yourne' 1 ]
per. Leave me alone!’ and slamth( j
in the solicitor’s face. A little harsh
haps, but it works well.
•If you’re cruel, try this one h
the guy on, tell him you think youC
be interested but you’re not sure,
him tell you EVERYTHING abo«
paper, then say ‘Nah, I guess IV
not interested,’ and shut the door
Copyright 1986, Washington Post Writers Group
Mail Call
They're art
EDITOR:
Finally, something to spark a little imagination on campus! Although A&M’s art exhibit department frequently
brings inspiring art exhibits, too often students never see them. The new sculptures on campus can be seen by
everybody.
Modern art stimulates imagination and creativity. It would be fantastic to have a little original thinking stirred at
A&M.
Elizabeth Harwell ’88
They're not art
EDITOR:
The pieces set up around the Academic Building are nice. They provide a great change in scenery on campus. It is
not until someone calls these things “art” that I get angry. They are quaint and they are novel, but they are not art!
If you are interested in seeing some real art, I strongly suggest you run over to Rudder Exhibit Hall to see the
exhibit set up there.
Andrew J. Gardner ’89
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit letters for style and length, but will make every effort to maintain
the author’s intent. Each letter must be signed and must include the classification, address and telephone number of the writer.
• If you have a neighbor yoih
like, tell the solicitor that that neif
was just telling you how much he
to subscribe to whatever newspapo
selling.
•Divert the attention away •i
yourself. I did this to my roomn#
semester when a magazine sales#
gan to harass me. Say, ‘Oh I thiol
want to talk to the person who
here.’ Then call your roommate^
door and make your exit by sajfe
was just leaving.’ It’ll work ever]
Keep in mind that these suggo-
are useful in battling more thanjui
newspaper subscription salesman 1
a little imagination and modift J;
they can be used to combat maf
salesmen, kids selling ugly knick-kf;
for school fundraisers, and
pointed missionaries trying to cof ;
you to their religion.
Paula Vogrin is a senior jou0
major and a columnist for The B*