Page 2/The Battalion/Friday, November 6, 1987
Press rights don’
Amendment I:
Congress shall
make no law ....
abridging the
freedom of
speech, or of the
press; or of the
right of the people
to peaceably as
semble, and to pe
tition the Govern
ment for a redress
of grievances.
The Constitution of the United States
was signed 200 years ago, guaranteeing
freedom of expression to all Americans.
Well, maybe most Americans. It seems
we haven’t yet decided whether high
school students should be included in
this guarantee along with the rest of us.
In the next few months, the U.S. Su
preme Court will rule on a case that will
answer the question for us, or at least set
a precedent for future use. The case is
the first of its kind — the first the court
has heard on the free-speech rights of
high school journalists.
The case involves a Missouri high
school newspaper, Spectrum, and a man
who is supposedly of higher authority.
It involves several journalism students
at Hazelwood East High School who
wanted to publish objective and useful
information on teen-age pregnancy and
divorce, and their principal, who took it
upon himself to deem the newspaper’s
Sondra Pickard
content inappropriate. All said, the case
is a clash between freedom of the press
and direct censorship, and its outcome
could have a dramatic impact on high
school — and possibly college — news
papers across the country.
The Hazelwood journalism students
wanted their newspaper to have some
meaning. One student who was involved
said the staff wanted to write about per
tinent social issues instead of the most
valuable football player or what was new
at the snack bar. They wanted to make a
difference, and for that I think they de
serve to be commended, not censored.
The students and Principal Robert E.
Reynolds disagreed on two articles, one
dealing with personal accounts of three
pregnant Hazelwood students and the
other on the impact of divorce on a stu
dent at the school. All of those involved
consented to the interviews, although
fictitious names were used in the arti
cles. For reasons of his own, Reynolds
ordered the stories killed and, because it
was too late to restructure the paper, the
remaining stories on the two-page
spread — which concerned teen mar
riage, juvenile delinquency and run
aways — were also deleted.
A landmark 1969 Supreme Court
ruling says high school students do not
“shed their constitutional rights to free
dom of speech or expression at the
schoolhouse gate.” There’s a striking
similarity between the two cases. But the
‘Leading indicator’
just sold his stock
OK, you can
come out now. It’s
over. The decline
in the stock mar
ket has bottomed
out. I expect stock
prices to start ris
ing right about
now and keep on
going right
through
Christmas and be- Dona | d Kau ,
yond. No, I don t
have inside information, but I have a
foolproof way to tell.
I just sold all my stock.
I am what is known on the Street as a
leading indicator with legs, one of those
economic weather vanes stock brokers
use to predict market trends. I’m right
up there with consumer spending, in
terest rates, trade balances and the ex
pression on Henry Kaufman’s face.
Whatever I do with my stocks, the mar
ket does the opposite. As soon as I liqui
dated my holdings this week, the word
went out to stock brokerages across the
nation: “It’s OK to buy again; the lox
has sold out.”
I don’t know how I got so notorious. I
only got into the market as a kind of ex
periment. I had made a handsome
profit on an old investment and decided
to invest all of it in the stock market to
see if I could make it into a fortune and
retire to the writing of bad novels. For
the longest time it looked as though I
could. My stocks kept going up. It
wasn’t a fortune, mind you, but it was a
very pretty penny. I even started think
ing about buying a three-piece suit.
Then came the recent slide. I sat
there and watched the value of my port
folio slide day after day, sometimes up a
little, then down a lot again. I kept say
ing to myself: “Now is no time to lose
your nerve. You should have sold two
weeks ago but, not having done it, it’s
better to hang in. After all, the market is
probably at its bottom.” I’d say that and
the market would go down again.
Then I thought of those monkeys on
the Pacific islands, the ones they capture
by putting a nut in a narrow-necked
gourd tied to a tree. The monkey comes
along and slips his hand into the gourd
and tries to grab the nut. With his fist
clenched around the nut, however, he
can’t get his hand out. But he’s too
greedy to let go of the nut, so he sits
there, holding on tightly to the nut,
hoping something good will happen,
until they come and collect him. It oc
curred to me that my postion in the
stock market was much like that of the
monkey. That’s when 1 got out.
I called my broker and, in a calm
voice, said; “Sell! Sell! For God’s sake,
sell!”
“You realize that you’re selling at the
very bottom of the market, don’t you?”
he said.
“Not until I sell, it isn’t the bottom. If
I keep my stocks it’ll go down some
more. Sell.”
“Can’t you hold on a little while
longer? It’s going up any day now.”
“I don’t care,” I told him. “It’s ruining
my life. I can’t sleep, I can’t eat, the
other day I found myself staring out of
my office window, looking at the
ground.”
“I hadn’t realized you were taking it
this hard,” he said. “But why? You
haven’t got that much invested.”
“So OK, it was a basement window.
The principle is the same. The other
day when that Miami investor shot those
two stockbrokers, then himself, the only
thing that occurred to me was that he
probably killed himself out of shyness.
He didn’t want the embarrassment of
being voted a medal by his fellow inves
tors. Is that sick or what? I’m losing it, I
tell you.”
“OK, I’ll sell the stock,” my broker
said. And he did.
I should have gotten out last summer,
of course; I should have read the signs.
Donald Trump says he got out, so does
Carl Icahn and T. Boone Pickens. Frank
Sinatra says he got out.
Apparently I and a couple of close
friends were the only ones who stayed
in. No wonder the market seemed
shaky.
They say that old Joe Kennedy, the
patriarch of the political Kennedys, got
out of the market in August of 1929,
two months before the crash. Legend
has it that the urge to take his profits
struck him while getting his shoes
shined. He overhead two bootblacks dis
cussing their investments and how well
they were doing. Kennedy later said
that if the market was being fueled by
the enthusiasm of bootblacks and others
of equal sophistication, he knew it was
time to leave it.
Similarly, I should have known that I
shouldn’t be in the market when I real
ized that it was attracting people like
me.
No more. I leave the market poorer
in wordly goods, richer in experience —
but I leave. Goodbye.
Let the rally begin.
Copyright 1987, Tribune Media Services, Inc.
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Sondra Pickard, Editor
John Jarvis, Managing Editor
Sue Krenek, Opinion Page Editor
Rodney Rather, City Editor
Robbyn Lister, News Editor
Loyd Brumfield, Sports Editor
Tracy Staton, 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
Texai 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, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M
University, College Station, TX 77843-4111.
Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battalion, 216
Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, College Station TX
77843-4111.
Opinion
t stop at the school dooiSf
district judge who first ruled on the Ha
zelwood case said high school newspa-
papers are part of the school curric
ulum, not a public forum protected by
the First Amendment. He said the pre
vious case dealt with symbolic speech —
wearing black armbands as silent protest
against the Vietnam War —and was not
a school-sponsored event or activity as is
a newspapaper.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Ap
peals heard the Hazelwood case and re
versed the lower court’s decision by a 2-
1 vote. “Because it was intended to be
and operated as a conduit for student
viewpoint,” the ruling said, the newspa
per was a public forum. The school dis
trict then appealed to the Supreme
Court.
Leslie Edwards, the attorney for the
students, says, “The court has to think
that there is a higher social value that
would be destroyed by not applying the
First Amendment, tnat would justify
limiting school board control.
“Otherwise, it would be teaching kids
that the First Amendment doesn’t apply
if you’re a member of a certain group,
such as under the age of 18 — that it
doesn’t apply equally to all citizens of the
United States.”
The court has yet to decide its case,
but whether in high school, college, or
the real world, so to speak, the First
Amendment should and traditionally
has applied equally to all people —black,
white, young or old. Just because high
school students are considered under
age by the state doesn’t mean their ideas
should be caged up until they grow up.
High school administrations and
school boards across the country await
the Supreme Court’s decision, as do
those at the college level. A decision has
already been made in regard to the col
lege-level press — censorship by faculty
or administrators is illegal — and most
will realize this. But the word is out, and
if the court should rule in favor of the
Hazelwood principal, many a college
administrator might also feel he or she
can practice censorship in similar col
lege cases.
What’s more dangerous? A few
brightly-written, informative articles on
real-life, everyday high school prob
lems, or an attitude that tells studi
it’s right to suppress ideas or infer
tion?
As a Miami Herald editor pm
“One of the most important activitit
the student press. That press is an;
ward, not-quite-mature creature,
the teen-agers themselves. But, also
them, it deserves our complete ai
tion, plenty of growing room anc
much confidence and trust as possiH
I chose not to take advantage of
journalism classes offered at myl
school, but I read the newspaper
giously and would hate to think this
might affect its future content. Wii
the First Amendment and all item
this column might have been read
changed by an A&M faculty membd
administrator. Without freedom!
speech. The Battalion might not
The thought of it outrages me, and
school students, who are only a
years younger than 1, probably feel
different.
Lab
By
Reveil
attends
Danna,
triever, i
her own
safely.
'*1 got
May 24
Guide D
says Lau
more el<
jor from
intereste
but I w;
could ha
ineon th
a dog.
Last yi
cane an<
Sondra Pickard is a senior jourwk
major and editor o/The Battalion,
ANt>tvn\\E
74
t»*KnAENT~
'♦mHAeounHEEiHm.
senstwiny of a'nnjnut- respnt mm
■mt NMtON’S T0? UW-ENTOWSMENt
OFFICER, RE’S CDFRENTiy UNt>ER
IWESnGMlOKB/A GFWb OUftf, ASPEOMl
PROSECUTOR m> A SENATE SUBCOMMITTEE
ITOR A COUDRFUU N?RPy OF WlEGEb
SLEN3HESS- ANt> AOHOU&R HE'S THE
COUNTWS CHIEF lANYER, HtS REAWM6
OF 1HE CONSTtTUnON IS SO EtZARRE AS
TO RENPER OS FROTEOVONS tAEMtINGLESS*
campus
the texti
the angl
eluding t
“I stii
things,”
tell Dam
ton, I ha
right sigi
Dann;
jumps o
“Dam
plains.
Eye Dog
training
Dog gui
dogs lik(
Grym
from tl
Blind at
of the <
making
“I pic
Blind be
trained
dogs th
sonal-ty
cause t
check o
she says
The :
dogs wh
she says
are giv<
trained
month.
WHAT
ER-0H- LET HWA PICK
SUPREtAE COURT JUSHCEST
Mail Call
Support your beliefs
EDITOR:
A lack of reason seems to be prevalent in the news
media, a neglect of proper support for conclusions and an
incomplete line of questioning. The Battalion is
promulgating such “journalism” as evinced by Brian
Frederick’s recent editorial on Robert Bork. Writers must
do more than opine. I read editorials for their analysis and
discussions, not for their testimonials and gushing
exclamations.
Brian’s emphasis on destruction of an unbiased,
conservative (tradition-preserving) Supreme Court does
not relate to his apotheosizing Bork. He spews forth these
praises of Bork as if they were self-evident, needing no
support. He discounts anything that the “lynch mob” had
to say about Bork’s judiciary tendencies by ad hominem
argument: Brian never discusses or refutes what Biden
and Kennedy said but concludes that these men can say
nothing that is true because their intent is not honorable
but is to use “the Court as a tool for remolding society.”
Where is the definition of issues? the issuing of argument
and proofs?
In another instance of insubstantial writing, he says
that judges should not interpret but obey the written law
and the original intent. Why? Why is original intent so
good? No, he never supports this argument but only
vituperates the voices of change as if change is unnatural
or undemocratic. What does change represent, Brian?
Certainly he does not hold that change is intrinsically
wrong or evil. Yet he never argues, just states, his opinions
— as if we were a thoroughly embracing audience, swept
along by his opinons and “flourish of eloquence.”
I must concede to space and greatly simplify the
argument, but perhaps I can point out that he needs toasl
further questions. What the authors intended may not be
what we want or need. Besides, how can we really know
what their intentions were? Are our laws so dependent on
people’s intentions that we are here for their sakes? If the
authors of the Constitution intended for rigorous
observance of their intentions — thus making for a static,
unchanging government — why would they have
constructed a political framework that allows for ordered
revolution and change through voting?
Our society is too caught up in what the artist
intended, the writer intended, the law intended, the
criminal intended, the president intended, God intended,
Too many people argue with only pfoof of intention. In
freshman writing courses, students are taught to recognize
and avoid such argument, the intentional fallacy.
If writers are limited by space, they should learn
economy and foces. Writers such as Brian are given a
column; they shouldn’t waste it by simply crying out their
unsubstantiated opinions.
Gary Beason
graduate student
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.
BLOOM COUNTY
locffl sceNe (d/rm
OPUS / PIP SCMTBOPy
pemMeep id wpe h/s
5Cd5 pepiAceMeNT ?.?
ill OLLIE FUttr 'EKE
BLOOPY WELL EXCfTEl? /
'WOT A NEW CAREER /
SO LETS 6ET POWNTO
SOME SERIOUS
by Berke Breathtf
Fm..HeP£'s we sceue:
"smve is on we floor, a
J6f\L0US 0IRLFRI6NP HAS JUST
cut his eeos off with a
carrot peeieR.::
/
Up
Z.W6N OPUS WALKS IN
ANP SAYS SOMBTHING
WISTFULLY
POIGNANT. '
\
•Full
•30 [
(excl
•We
jewe