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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 1987)
Page 2/The Battalion/Monday, February 23, 1987 The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Member of Texas Press Association Southwest (ournalism 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 Buttalion 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. 77ie Battalion is published Monday through Friday during T exas 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, T exas A&M University, College Station TX 77843-4111. Spare no students By taking group disciplinary action reminiscent of a sixth-grade physical education class against the residents of Walton Hall’s ramp E, the Texas A&M administration has revealed an interesting atti tude — when the going gets tough, administer punishment based on area of residence, throw out all concern of fairness and call the solu tion “creative.” Because some University officials say their attempts have failed to turn up the persons responsible for damage to a Walton Hall drinking fountain and other acts of vandalism, they kicked out all 32 of the ramp E residents Saturday. They said breaking up the ramp was the “creative” way to solve a problem that has cost A&M $718 in clean-up charges. The solution was creative — it created more problems than it solved. It also was expensive and unfair, and it reflects a complete lack of concern for dorm residents. In light the recent approval of a policy that will require students to sign dorm leases for at least two semesters to cut down on A&M’s expense for vacant dorms during spring semesters, the intelligence of the University’s solution is questionable. The housing department has created an instant revenue loss by vacating an entire ramp in mid-semester. Ron Sasse, despite being director of student affairs, said the ad ministration’s decision was just, explaining that “we’re just trying to solve problems.” With Sasse’s passive representation of student inter ests, it’s no wonder the administration got away with its grade-school “solution.” Understandably, at least half of the students from ramp E have decided to move off campus. The cost of refunding rent for students choosing to leave campus — $234.35 per student — will only add to the costs of the vandalism. Though University officials say the decision was made because nobody had come forward claiming responsibility for any of the damage, North Area Coordinator Jay Lemons stressed that the ac tion was not disciplinary. Lemons said that the action was taken because the University felt the environment wasn’t conducive to the student’s academic success, though residents claim 10 students living on ramp E had grade-point ratios of 3.0 or better. If this is A&M’s rationale for evicting the stu dents of ramp E, all dorm residents could be in danger of eviction. By their very nature, dorms are not conducive to academic success. If Lemons’ assertion is true, it seems that attrition would have been a much cheaper solution to the problem. Instead, the students who had nothing to do with the problems were forced from their homes in the middle of the semester and slapped with unexpected expenses if they chose to move off campus. We do not condone vandalism, but we do believe that at a univer sity with such extensive resouces there must have been a better way to deal with a problem affecting innocent and guilty alike. Perhaps University officials could have worked with the campus police and increased patroling of Walton Hall. Surely, the campus police could have stopped any vandalism while sparing the welfare of uninvolved students. But fairness is not a concern of the housing department. Instead, it sought — and got — a quick-fix to what it perceived to be a desper ate situation. It was willing to have the University pay any price to solve the troubles in Walton — even if the solution inevitably will cost A&M far more than the problem itself. We only can wonder what other examples of “creativity” the ad ministration has in store. If students are caught drawing on desks, will they have to clean all the desks in the room? Or will they simply be kept in from recess? Opinion MATERIAL IS ) ASP< SOVIET!/ © KMi-Spzncle: — /987 WHY, THIS MATERIAL IS -CHOKED - GASP-C ^GAG - ANTI - SOVIETy Literary Criticism, East and West Some call it entertainmen "L Unfortunately, I don’t have any thing as exciting as skydiving to write about this week. All I can of fer you is my Fri day night experi ence with McCaw Cablevision. Due to circumstances beyond my con trol, I was without Paula Vogrin a car that night, so I had a good excuse to stay home and study. Heaven knows it couldn’t hurt me. With three tests and a project due this week, it seemed to be the appropriate thing to do. So I got myself all set up. I spread my books out around me, made some mi crowave popcorn and poured a big glass of ice water. I got rolling and put in a good hour’s worth of bookwork. Then I got fidgety. You know how it is. You’re at home alone, studying dil igently, when all of a sudden the long arm of the TV reaches out and grabs you. There is no escape. I pulled the remote control out from under my books and pushed the but ton. “I’ll just see what’s on for a minu te,” I thought. But I was fooling myself. There would be no more studying for me that night — I had passed the point of no return and was glued to the TV for the rest of the evening. My 8 p.m. viewing selection was Mi ami Vice. I’ve never been a big Vice fan, but it was the lesser of the 20-odd evils on the other channels. I got more than I bargained for, too. The show is so good, they aired it twice Friday night — two solid hours of Crockett and Tubbs driv- to see what was on. I just missed the 10:30 p.m. listing, and had to watch the rest of the programming crawl by at a snail’s pace. I became so frustrated wait ing for 10:30 p.m. to roll around again I gave up and began switching channels. I put my remote control through a strenuous workout in my struggle to find something, anything, worth watch ing. I was lost in a vast wasteland of old, bad movies, Mary Tyler Moore reruns. Bon Jovi videos, detective show repeats, kick boxing and the scrambled signals of the movie channels. my trigger finger started itchingafiplyrr passed over a stupid-lookingi isnent about a C.B. enthusiast on ChanJL e and stopped just long enough on(» 1 nel 29 to see Bon Jovi in action Another stupid-looking movie; preacher’s daughter was onCharaitl I skipped Country Music Televisi | together. The search was still on. McNeil and Lehrer bored ni| Channel 2b, and Maude wasbeingti and abrasive on 25. I couldn't: heads or tails out of the program®” I tried HBO for a while. If you squint your eyes, you can watch the movie on Channel 14 (but it’s necessary to mute the volume to alleviate the earsplitting beeping noises), and switch to Channel 18 every few seconds to hear what’s going on. I watched Wild Cats for five minutes, but the strain on my remote control finger was too much. I opted for other programming. and color bars decorated thescrwKj 1 ,. Channel 23. I skipped the sera® Disney Channel and watched theSj ish station for a few minutes. Ash' could make out, it was a shod some tough female prison inmatei were trying to force Milk Dudsdom throat of the cell weakling. I flippt | Channel 19, Black EntertainmentI vision, watched ah ^ deos and went on. mg expensive cars, wearing expensive suits and solving bizarre crimes. I watched for a happy ending, or even one that made sense, but, true to form, the Vice left me hanging- I watched the local news at 10 o’clock and counted the mistakes the anchors made. It was a slow night — there were only five errors. The weekend crews are always better for foul-ups, bleeps and blunders anyway. After the news, I turned to the Channel 31 station guide I started with Channel 36, MTV, and decided to work my way down from there. I was wondering who 1 would see first: Bon Jovi, Phil Collins, ■■■■■■ Madonna or Journey. Not surprisingly, I was accosted by the head-tossing members of Bon Jovi sing ing their latest teen anthem. Click, next channel. At Channel 35, I was greeted by Paul and Jan Crouch, the TV evangelist and his wife who reign supreme as the reli gious personalities with the worst taste in clothing. Paul’s toupee clashes with Jan’s pink-tinted hair, and everything clashes with the lace, bows, beads, fur and sequins that decorate every article of clothing in Jan’s wardrobe. What a fashion disaster. Channels 34 and 33 didn’t have much to offer. Bon Jovi tossed their heads at me from 34, and Magnum P.I. was try ing to corral a psycho transvestite who was killing TV celebrities on 33. I passed on both. ESPN featured kick boxing and track and field events from somewhere, and I watched those until * De • Ev 1C I skipped Chanm and 15 (there’s i anything goinj there), and nixed to watch Clan ( Cave Bear on HB( ■■■■■■ toed an old Ridi Pryor Hick on (k 13, an overplayed Phil CollinsvidflI C c 1 1, the Burns and Allen Show on Police Story on 10. I paused to wall news on Channel 9, passed upClt 8 and the Weather Channel, Channel 6 right in time for Bon i again. | Channels 5 and 4 were off if I, Sherlock Holmes was solving erk® black and white on Channel 3, Cl/ 2 offered a Carol Burnett Show ^ and Channel 1, the Discovery CW was airing a Soviet art documental' rated in Russian. By this time it was almost 1 aJ 1 gave up and went to bed. I thud next time I stay home on a Frida)’® to study, I’ll go to the library.Thei® time soaps are better there anyway Paula Vogrin is a senior jourfi major and a columnist for The' Disgusting? EDITOR: I agree with Paula Vogrin’s general attitudes toward racial violence, but I think she needs to face the facts and not be ashamed of any race. I’m sorry that seeing the facts “struck you hard.” It’s too bad you weren’t aware that racial relations and equality have not been perfected and prejudice and violence are still existent. You were disgusted at the events in Cummings? I was also, but at ALL the people involved. What do you think the marchers expected? Those people marched with “pro-black” signs into a southern white-majority populated area. What do you think their intentions were? Don’t you know that Americans are too free- spirited to have attitudes pounded into them? Stirring trouble is not the best way to promote ideas nor peace. What do you think would happen if you got some people together (white majority) and walked into Harlem? Do you think black people are any less prejudiced than white or other people? Your own racial prejudice, or categorization, is evident when you admit you are “ashamed of your race.” Don’t be ashamed of a race or disapprove of individual actions. Understand that attitudes are hard to change in a short time. You say you went to parties, restaurants and movies “together.” Did you ever date any blacks? Just because you didn’t experience any racial violence doesn’t make me believe everyone lacked prejudice. Mail Call For several years while I attended a Houston public junior high school, students as well as teachers rarely socialized outside their race, and qualified “majority” students were denied entry into accelerated courses due to quotas, even though “minorities” were making F’s. I think no one should be given unfair advantages or disadvantages. Ambition and perspiration is what made America come so far. My parents, who came here with $50, proved that responsible, motivated people can do well, even if they are not accepted at first. So what do you mean by the “United States taking a giant step backward,” the immature Klan-bashing marchers, or the hypocrite marchers provoking violence? Paul Svacina ’87 High praise EDITOR: The Texas A&M Singing Cadets are to be commended. Not only did the Singing Cadets spread their joyful message in a concert on Feb. 12, they did it as a benefit to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. These young men, under the direction of Robert Boone, shared their unparalleled talent and donated the door proceeds to fight musular dystrophy. The concert was dedicated to Jason Boles, a senior psychology major at A&M, who has muscular dystrophy. Once again, a very special thank you to each and every one of the Singing Cadets, and especially their outstandi leader, Boone. Aggies, you should be proud! Nettie Helmick, District Director Altered states EDITOR. Vi iv In In response to Brian Koontz’s Farmers Write/column on financial aid, I would like to make a few comments. First, Ko# you question the Legislature’s authority to “deform the Texas Constitution according to their whims.” Any realistic look at Te^ | history will reveal the Texas Constitution is already deformeda c | has been subject to many whims in its long history. Youruseof “suddenly” in this context seems inappropriate. In addition, you fail to mention where the funds willcomet f subsidize “education for all.” In a time of huge deficits, like mos> who complain of financial aid policy, you failed to answer this issue. Finally, the next time you write an article, I suggest you avoid numerous question marks and parenthetic quips. David V. Wilson ’90 Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial stuff mid I right to edit letters for style and length, but will make every effort to maintain the auth 1 I tent. Each letter must be signed and must include the classification, address and tdf ™ number of the writer.