Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 29, 1988)
Page 2AThe Battalion/Tuesday, March 29, 1988 This vote’s for you Once more, it is Student Government election time, and once more, we at The Battalion are offering our annual endorsement for student body president. After interviewing all the candidates — all two of them — and evaluating the credentials they offered, we have decided to endorse Mr. Jay Hays for student body president. Mr. Hays demonstrated knowledge of Student Government goings-on and outlined interesting plans for his administration. Although both candidates have been in Student Government for quite a while, we are confident that Mr. Hays is the candidate qualified for the many pressing demands of the president’s job. Of course, this is merely the opinion of the editorial board, and we encourage you to listen to the candidates for yourselves. There is no way that we can attempt in an editorial to describe the platforms and goals of the candidates. You, as voters, will have to hear them for yourselves and then make a responsible choice. The Battalion Editorial Board Mail Call To cheat or not to cheat EDITOR: This letter acic’-'esses a classify ?d ad tl at v/a ■ : r> The Battalion o> ' March 24. The ad was in the “Wanted secfict.' of e classified:' - said, I “Urgently Need Ghostwriter for four page Philosophy Paper Can . X X- XXX-XXXX after 6:00 p.m. $$$” (I have changed the original ad by replacing the phone number with X’s.) The question that arises in my mind is one of ethical obligations The Battalion has to the University. Should a university newspaper publish advertisements that condone students to cheat? By permitting the printing of this advertisement The Battalion is condoning plagerism by the students of Texas A&M. In the recent past, The Battalion has had multi-part stories on cheating, and the Student Government organized the “Cheating Awareness Week.” In addition to these recent events, The Aggie Code of Honor states, “Aggies do not lie cheat or steal, nor tolerate those that do.” I realize the advertisements are done by a private company, but shouldn’t the student-run Battalion Editorial Board monitor the ads that appear in the student-run newspaper? As a student of Texas A&M, I question the sincerity of The Battalion reporting, when contradictions such as these arise. The Battalion should establish a position and follow it in all areas of its publication. Timothy King ’90 One more time, just for grins: The student editorial board o/The Battalion is completely separate from the professional advertising staff, which determines what ads will be accepted for publication. We can’t influence their advertising decisions, and they can’t influence our reporting. Those wno wait may wait too late EDITOR: This letter is in response to the article entitled “Where is the racism in professional baseball” in the March 24 issue. After reading the article, I must compliment Mr. Dowdy on his knowledge of sports history. Yet, with his examples to support his belief that blacks may not be very good team managers because of their “lack of experience” and in time, blacks would be given the opportunity to manage a team when they (blacks) become more marketable in the “Applicant Pool,” Mr. Dowdy revealed the reason why Mr. Jesse Jackson took the actions that he did. You see, Mr. Dowdy, good things do not always come to those who wait because those who wait, may wait too late. It is time for a change Mr. Dowdy, and we (blacks) cannot sit back and let time alter the social beliefs of others or to provide limiting opportunities that are only offered to keep us quiet. All I am saying, Mr. Dowdy, is that if your do not like what is going on and you want to change it, then you must speak or you will not be heard. Marggie N. Bass ’89 We are all going down together EDITOR: I find it rather disturbing that the majority of the student body is so apathetic to the world around them. I’m referring mainly to the people who think the apartheid shack is an eyesore. Next time you’re outside, look beyond your cellophane bubble. Do you see the billboards? Do you see the telephone lines? Our whole “civilization” is an eyesore. And as we squander our limited natural resources on frivolous tokens of the American way, we shall respond to the consequences with hindsight. If this student body is the representation of what we have in store for the future, we might as well pass our lease on this planet to the next organism that crawls out of the primordial slime. Just call me Gasandra, because the truth is always what we wish it to be. We are all going down together. Yodellayheehoo. Andrew Migliore ’88 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. 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 Jay Janner, Photo Editor Editorial Policy The 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 77843-4 111. Opinion POSTAL RATES Stamps 2Sf MAR6UU£S f 'rim waaaim Snow, rain, heat 40^ Gloom of night YSt Swift completion of their appointed rounds3 Lies, disinformation and untruths On a campus h as ours, the id open ex- >f opinion Ken Hendrickson ? h'fhly valued Gwst Columnist pr:v:!eHge. As my portant as such freedom is, funda mental as is the right to self-expression, nonetheless the demagogic, the demon strably untrue, the deceitful must not be allowed to enter unchallenged the realm of rational political discussion. In one sense, I write this column with great hesitation. Brian Frederick, merely by his access to print, stands vic toriously over the opening of any debate with him. Through his column he sets the tone and agenda of discussion and therefore forces what should be rea soned and reasonable political analysis to mire itself in untruths, manipulated statistics and slanderous racist drivel. To begin, Frederick’s column on South Africa (March 22, 1988) is full of innaccuracies and half-truths. Racial strife is not rampant in Nigeria. Factio nal in-fighting and political pluralism exists, violence accompanies some of it, but o say that “racial strife” is “ram pant” is ridiculous. Ethnicity is not “ra ce,” nor is political affiliation or reli gious preference. To assert otherwise is not to state reasonable opinion but to propagate racist untruths. Black Africans do not “flock to South Africa to find a better life.” South Africa has since 1948 followed policies specif ically designed to eliminate black cit izenship in that country. It has forcibly established the Bantustans, designated areas of black “independence,” and forcibly removed black South Africans to them. These areas, representing the least developed and least desirable agri cultural districts in the country, are de clared independent black nations. With no means of supporting themselves and their families, the inhabitants of such “countries” are by design forced to seek employment in South Africa on racist, South African terms. By the wranglings of bureaucratic boundary generations they find themselves “foreigners” in their own country and as such, subject to curtailments of their basic rights. T he fact is that many of the “homelands” created by the government but not yet “independent” are fighting their exclu sion from the country. Apartheid has not “largely perished”. While it is true that such trivial resric- tions such as park bench discrimination and separate water fountains have dis appeared, this in fact represents a streamlining, not dismantling, of racist government. Job reservation for whites has been lifted because there are simply not enough whites to fill the positions of South Africa’s industry. Even so, blacks allowed to train and work above the unskilled or menial level are subject to the same pay as all other unskilled la bourers and are categorically preluded from any participation in management. As for the passes, which used to restrict movement and employment, these have been replaced by race identity cards. T he voting rights of Indians and so- called Coloureds represent only the faintest reflection of the full political rights those groups once possessed in South Africa’s Cape Province. Dilution of representation and separate and sub jugated access to parliament make In dian and Coloured participation in South African government a pathetic sham. Finally, the ANC is not “communist infiltrated”. The U.S, Department of State estimates that less than half of the ANC’s National Executive Council has any connection whatsoever with the South African Communist Party. The State Deparment, based upon black opinion with South Africa and the Ban tustans, finds no reason to believe that any ANC-sponsored post-apartheid government would suffer communist domination. Nelson Mandela himself is an anti-communist. But more than a simple exposure of Frederick’s blatant inaccuracies, this col umn must address the even greater tra gedy represented by Brian Frederick and those like him. In all Ins assertions on the nature of black South Africans, Frederick reveals an unquestioning ac ceptance of the propaganda spread by the South African government itself. Racist sociologists such as the academi cally rejected Pierre van de Berghe, in deed the South African Department of Information, describe the South Afri can situation nearly verbatim in the same terms as does Frederick’s column. Is this coincidence? Through his writing Frederick has given credence to the mis information of a government that dur ing both World Wars harbored individ uals and groups working towards the realization of the most repugnant of Central Power and Axis Power ideals and goals. It is a government that allows the active, legitimated political partici pation of groups organized upon noth ing less than the “philosophical” foun dations of Nazism. It is a government that illegally traffics in nuclear and non nuclear weapons technologies and thereby threatens world peace. It is a government that supports terrorism and political assassination against its po litical opponents. It is a government that daily kills, wounds and arrests its citi-. zens, both black and white, who dare to speak out against it. South Africa as it exists today is a racist, hate-founded po lice state and offers nothing of re deeming value to the world or its own citizens. South Af rica is the subject of sanction and isolation from the entire world community. Conservative western lead ers such as Britain’s Margaret Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan, along with leaders of more liberal views, agree that racist oppresion in South Africa must end. There is no question of the reprehensible nature of South Africa HO cused police man ii downt sity of to autl Ste\ had b dent. “At Baugh he Ha nal wa orney :apt.J Bau :ounts police empt )ny co :ount jury- Mo( Baugh he inc him to Unh Some? rested . g Per |owed b and its policies. Yet thisisthego ment whose viewpoint Frederick by allowing such unsubstantiated raiKe to masquerade as opinion,' lta j 0 Battalion have so blithely and nan swallowed. T his is the hatred andp they have supported. Finally, we the public niustcoi what we expect from our news In an open society, we should deir: that freedom of expression docs find itself replaced by the freedot propagate lies, to mislead andtoac cate the criminal. We should implements of the public voice respa I hie for the rights and freedoms cietv extends them, just asitisni l ight of individual Americans to harm to one another, neither is ita tected right of our own journalists opinion-makers to do maliciousoi ligent harm through the irrespon: abuse of their right to he hear lo this end, I suggest The Bali print a retraction of those assertioi Frederick’s opinion column thatm; proved to he false. 1 he right toopinj does not confer the right to uni Additionally, I challenge BrianFn ick to produce the sources fromw he wrote his column and to de them and the conclusions he drew! them in an open and public forum myself. Finally, for having abused^ right of access to a free media, fori flagrant disregard shown for public sibilities and the truth by the publish of the Brian F rederick columnofkfc 22, I propose that both Frederick! the editorial staff who publi umn resign from their positionsai elude in their written resignations]! lie apologies. T he time has come to face clown! untruths and mis representations off as are represented by Brian Fred! and his writing. We cannot allow the! semination of hate propaganda to|i tect itsell in the name of freedom of* pression. Students and faculty ofTtt A&M, all readers of The Battalion,! the lies for what they are andletretf prevail. Ken Hendrickson is a graduate std in history studying South Afrial black resistance movements. His coin! has been accepted as a statementofj sition by the Nicaraguan Students'^ ciation, the African Students’ AsM don. Students Against A par them Puerto Rican Students' Association) General Union of Palestine Studo and the Arab Student Association. Editor’s note: The opinions of coU ists and guest columnists expressed' T he Battalion’s editorial pagearem opinions only. These opinions do 1 necessarily reflect the opinions ofi The Battalion editorial board, Id A&M University administrators, hei or the Board of Regents. This inM lion is printed every day in theedm policy at the bottom of this pageow Battalion. BLOOM COUNTY by Berke Breathy r Q(//Cf/e / TM H6R6 / me aliens BROUGHT m BACK/ New ANP (MPROVeP/ md TNATtT fL OR PUP i MSS yf ■? YOU