Page 2/The Battalion/Tuesday, February 23, 1987 Opinion Men should resist feminist amazon intimidationr’ In recent years, I h e w o m e n ’ s movement has de viated from ad dressing injustices to perpetrating in- justice against men. Armed with the vicious word “chauvinist,” these modern amazons h u n t d o w n a n y man who dares oppose them, even dless incursions, we will lose valuable in stitutions to the detriment of all. Brian Frederick in the most trivial matters. Recently their misplaced zeal led them to criticize Judge Kennedy’s nomination to the Supreme Court merely because he had belonged to two male-only clubs. That such idiocy is taken seriously is evidenced by the politicians who fall all over themselves to accomodate feminist demands. These demands threaten our freedom of association, but men seem so intimidated by the amazons that they now surrender their rights without a fight. But if no one will resist these nee- fake the case of the Boy Scouts of America. On Feb. 11, the executive board voted unanimously to admit women as leaders, reversing a 70-year policy of requiring male leaders in order to provide role models for the scouts. Supposedly, the board was not forced to make this change. As one board member said, “The board just felt it was time to change the policy.” It was time “to recognize the valuable leadership women can provide.” No doubt women will provide boys with invaluable exam ples of how to become men. Yet for the last several years, Boy Scouts has been involved in a lawsuit with Catherine Pollard of Milford, Conn., who wants to become a scout master. The Connecticut Supreme Court rejected her suit last July on the ground that a private organization can set its own requirements for its leaders. Pollard had been preparing another suit when the policy change was made. We Debate or game show? You have to ad mit, it was a good idea. Take a slew of presidential candi dates from both parties, gather them together and Robbyn Lister Guest Columnist let them debate over two evenings. Add a 500-campus audience linked by satel lite to watch the whole thing, invite stu dent leaders and student media rep resentatives from across the United States to participate, and you’ve got a success. At least, that’s the way it was sup posed to work. What really happened was another story. As part of The Battalion's effort to cover the debates, I went with two of my colleagues to the Southern Methodist University campus to watch the pro ceedings Thursday and Friday nights. Instead of being ushered into McFar- lin Auditorium, where the candidates were to debate and where we thought we were going to have the opportunity to question them, we found ourselves seated in another room with about six small TV monitors. Three or four tele vision cameras swept the room, and two chairs were set on a platform for the College Satellite Network Election ’88 hosts, Bob Ray Sanders and Cathy Cron kite. As we glanced around incredulously, one of the program’s crew members held up a sign that read, “APPLAUD,” and proceeded to tell the audience members, mostly students, to clap their hands whenever the sign was raised. She also instructed the audience that faster clapping would make more noise, some thing the show’s managers wanted. One of my colleagues compared this event to something that would occur on a “cheesy game show.” We decided to see how it would turn out, despite our misgivings. (Besides, we were trapped. We had to wait until after the debates were over to catch the buses back to the hotel.) Unfortunately, waiting to see if it would get any better didn’t do any good. The program seemed to be poorly orga nized, and neither Sanders nor Cron- kite appeared to know what was going on or what was coming up next. A typical dialogue was: “OK, now we’ll go to a commercial,” one host would say. The host would glance around the room for a couple of seconds. Then, ap parently hearing something from his ear microphone, he’d say, “What? We’re not going to a commercial? I thought we were going to a commercial. OK, then, let’s take a question from the floor.” Even better were the attempts to com municate with students telephoning questions to the program from around the nation. These conversations gener ally followed this pattern: “OK, we have a caller from Arizona. Go ahead, Arizona.” Seconds of silence. “Caller from Arizona? What’s your question?” “Caller ?Caller?Caller?” Both hosts made attempts at being entertaining and keeping the program moving, but they couldn’t get anything together, and neither looked profes sional as they tried. The debates themselves were more amusing then informative — the candi dates bickered back and forth, but rar ely offered insight into their campaign strategies. The Democrats took the stage Thurs day night. Among them, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, as usual, showed his great ora- torial style. Whether he has any sub stance to back it up remains a question. Massachusettes Gov. Michael Dukakis seemed to sidestep, showing only glimpses oF meahing behind his well- chosen, well-employed words. Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri was em phatic, especially in defense of his eco nomic plan, but the details of that plan somehow never came up. Tennessee Sen. Albert Gore Jr. was argumentative. Anything and every thing was targeted, possibly because he felt he had to show a tough Texan image to win approval from the South. Colorado Sen. Gary Hart was smiling and unflappable — somewhat surpris ing considering his poor showing in the New Hampshire primary, after lie said he would let the people decide whether he should run. And Illinois Sen. Paul Si mon of bow-tie fame was a no-show. About the only thing the candidates could agree on was that leadership in the White House was lacking. All the candidates made some comment about President Ronald Reagan. “Gratuitious Reagan bashing” was the term one friend used to describe it. But the Republican debates on Friday were no better. Watching this time at home instead of in the studio audience, we saw only two show up — Vice Presi dent George Bush and Rep. Jack Kemp of New York. Kansas Sen. Robert Dole and tele vision evangelist Pat Robertson pulled out of the debate — Dole calling it a rally for Bush’s supporters, Robertson to hold a rally of his own. That made it more a two-man talk than a debate. And the foes looked more like tiger cubs as they faced off — one with a few teeth, one without — than candidates for president of the United States. In fact, nearly everyone connected with the program seemed to regard it as a show, rather than a serious attempt at informing the public. And that’s a shame. It was a good idea. It just didn’t work. Robbyn L. Lister is a senior journalism major, news editor and assistant city editor for The Battalion. The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Sue Krenek, Editor Daniel A. LaBry, Managing Editor Mark Nair, Opinion Page Editor Amy Couvillon, City Editor Robbyn L. Lister and Becky Weisenfels, News Editors Loyd Brumfield, Sports Editor Sam B. Myers, Photo Editor Editorial Policy Tlie Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspa per operated as a community service to Texas A&M and Bryan-College Station. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editorial board or the author, and do not necessarily rep resent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, fac ulty or the Board of Regents. The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper for students in reporting, editing and photography classes within the Department 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 request. Our address: The Battalion, 230 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-1 111. Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battal ion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, Col lege Station TX 77843-4111. are to believe that her suit had no effect on the board’s decision, just as picketers had no effect on the decision of a cer tain convenience store to remove certain magazines from its shelves. Though all normal men enjoy and need the companionship of women, there are many relational benefits found only in male company. Just ask the boys at Deerfield Academy in Deer field, Mass. The Deerfield Academy is the last of New England’s big all-male prep schools. On Jan. 31, the school board voted to admit girls in 1989, capitulating to demographic shifts and popular no tions on the equality of the sexes. You would think that the boys would be delighted to see girls admitted. After all, high school boys think constantly about girls, and we know that boys can’t adapt socially without continuous fe male company. The boys, however, were less than de lighted. As the principal announced the decision, many hovs walked out in pro test, singing the school song and chant ing “Better dead than coed.” During the ten months in which the proposed change had been under discussion, the boys had repeatedly spoken out against it, but to no avail. Feminists would probably character ize these boys as vicious chauvinists. Webster's defines a chauvinist as “a per son unreasonably devoted to his own sex and contemptuous ol the opposite sex.” From the dictionary definition, it is clear that feminists misuse this term at least three-quarters of the time. But is it an appropriate label for the boys at Deerfield? According to the girls at nearby pri vate girls' schools who come to Deerfield for school parties, Deerfield is “one of the f unnest places to visit.” The\ lament that when girls are admitted to Deer field, the girls' schools will probablv no longer be invited. These do not sound like the remarks of girls abused b\ male chauvinism. Maybe the hoys have good tor opposing the new policy nothing to do with chauvinism have discovered the value of i 1 riendship, a camaraderiethatl rishes in the absence of women, are able to show enthusiasm tiiln w orrving about looking foolish id eves of girls, w hom thev feel would distrac tion to their studies. Asondaupenc* put it, “You get a lot more done will git Is." It would he unfait to blamefenij foi the changes at Deerfieli Boy Scouts. Yet they may bej lamed f or prejudicing ourswiij against beneficial male instiiuiiwui To making it nearly impossible fortheiiBf Tied m should bncJ^Kin sur\ n e. f- ree associations of menifel the same sex can and t ie lung part of our lives. I'eniuwMv( or labeling them all t hauvinistic,wouilBk)rd< pine us of t hem, thus robbing usofi®| perfi experiences and imperiling our!a on - ina * dom of assoc iation. ■ ‘’ 0 , in suie tha Brian Frederick is a senior/i/storuBxkicti Russian major and a columnistkw , NNt’UU HAVE TO PA/ THE ISRAELIS A- A- " HtA- WHAT'S THIS WOKP 7 "P>-R-t-B.-E~" bSbby? „ BURRIBAY? WELL, NEVER tAtNP- pDr.nia 1 ■es Ci i allav ili Ind. JWahei Tines n n|t simp TThe ciiiplex overbore fill ' Ker [The p d Goi ces’ re; J“Whei the late ’i ces ha iter i pact \v iGordo tan hi He recei Ang Ikon gi Jived ; 'Ybrk, wl ly proc Yprk, Gc herEu He ca Kpartmi as a disti es acti is encoi to|activel Rudy i ter arts Bone’s cl; really am. H< ig worl are wit Mail Call I’m sorry already! I am writing in response to the recent hysteria that has erupted over my article “Poverty: A Culture Shock.” I have infuriated and horrified many of you. I hope, after making some points, you will understand my position. If you read the article carefully, you noticed it was a spring break experience. That is, spring break 1987. It was an OBSERVATION — NOT RESEARCH — class assign ment. I could have easily written on the positive character istics of the Valley. But, those were not the instructions. I wrote with one audience — my professor — in mind and never planned to submit the article for publication. Right before the At Ease deadline, I got a call from a staff member. Short on material, he asked if At Ease could print my article. As a journalism major, I have written nu merous articles and had no recollection of the content. He needed an answer right away and read the article until I remembered which article it was. Still without recollection of the content, I trusted the staff’s judgement and said “yes.” As The Battalion editor said, “Had 1 seen it before publication, it would not have appeared.” Well had I seen it, it would not have appeared either! It was ridiculous for anyone to think the article could stand without editing. The article did not accurately reflect my views of the Valley. I was referring to Mexicans who were raised in Mexico and WAS IN NO WAY alluding to Americans of Mexican descent. My travel companion has also endured undeserved criticism. When the subject of pregnancy came up on the trip, she was describing a culture that cherishes children. When a young Mexican girl gets pregnant, the baby is ac cepted and welcome into the home. Abortion and adop tion are rarely alternatives. In conclusion, I apologize to all who wereolTeiided.| realize the article was unfit foi publication. It wasnetfll my intent to hurt anyone, and I hope we all can stopovel reacting. Jill Galarneau’88 College is just too hard EDITOR: Shaun M. Morrison raises a few interestingquestioiufl his letter of Feb. lb. .Should seniors really be b with finals, for can a test in one’s last semester reallyassff their accomplishments in college? For that matter,d( accurately reflect a student’s abilities and learning?;! over, is this valid when one considers that nearly391 students, all with different abilities and backgrounds, be evaluated on the basis of their answers on a particuw set of questions? What a burden it must seem—collegtl is just too hard. And what about all those nasty members of the Fawl Senate who actually want to have improved currier greater respect for faculty rank? Views like that just r^J of communism, heresy, and downright unamericaniii |l | don’t they? Gosh, with all these mean, nasty, uglythinpiq here it’s a wonder the students put up with it all. 1 they want? An education? Thomas K. Tsotsis graduate student Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The eiilonds serves the right to edit letters for style and length, but will make ever) t,, maintain the author's intent. Each letter must he signed and must incluitlktin sification, address and telephone number of the writer. 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