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.
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(USPS 045 360)
Member of
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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.
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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