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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 22, 1988)
Page 2/The Battalion/Wednesday, June 22, 1988 Opinion I^IOW needs to nullify Knepper’s nasty knock Cc As the Vice President of the A&M Chapter of the National Or ganization for Women, I was in terested in Hous ton Astro’s pitcher Bob Knepper’s re cent comments concerning women in general and NOW specif- Jill Webb ically. He said that Pam Postema should not be allowed to umpire because she is a women, and that women should not have authority over men. NOW, gave a less than memorable i'e- sponse to Knepper when she said, “He obviously doesn’t know many members of NOW. We are made up of all types.” And then she said that she sure wasn’t a lesbian, that she had been married for almost 50 years. Feminists have been ac cused of being lesbians for as long as there have been feminists. Yard’s re marks were very defensive, and it would have been better to unify NOW mem bers rather than using her marriage as an excuse to defend her beliefs. As long as people like Knepper can use the les bian remark to scare and divide femi nists, it will continue to be used as a weapon. Later in a Sports Illustrated interview he said, “NOW is such a blowhard orga nization. They are a bunch of lesbians. Their focus has nothing to do with women’s rights. It had everything to do with women wanting to be men.” NOW supports the right for consent ing adults to choose each other for a partner. I do not think that is anything to be ashamed of. Frankly, it is just no one’s business how two adults love each other. He later apologized for the remarks saying they were “careless and insensiti ve.” Yes, to put it mildly, they were care less and insensitive. I need to say First of all, that this column is my opinion only. I do not speak for any part of NOW nor any other member of NOW. Molly Yard, the National President of When enemies of equality call femi nists lesbians, they are just attacking a minority within the group to try and make the whole group look bad. It is us ing a stereotype to trivilize the impor tant issues NOW deals with. NOW edu cates people about sexual harassment, rape, domestic violence, birth control, Why the giant stink over Knepper’s remarks? June 10-17 — the week in re view: • A U.S. dis trict court, for the first time, finds a tobacco company partly responsible for the death of a smoker. thal of the Year award and sent him a leather muzzle. Those kind of actions would tend to lend credence to those who agree with Knepper about women’s place in society. Instead of sticking out their tongues and slinging mud at Knepper, NOW could have used this opportunity to im prove their image and educate the pub lic about their organization. • White House chief of staff How ard Baker resigns. Anthony Wilson • The U.S. trade deficit shrank to its lowest level in three years. And people^have seemingly forgotten who made the comments. It was a bal lplayer, folks, not George Bush. • The FBI announces that it is inves- * 1 lit: A'JDJL dlllltAUllUCJO 1.1 Id L 1L 13 lllVCS- iting several top Pentagon officials pected of fraud. Athletes certainly have a responsibil ity to children to be good role models. That would include displaying good sportsmanship and not becoming in volved with drugs and alcohol. These are all big news stories. But, for some strange reason, they were overshadowed by a flip comment a base ball player made about the sexual pref erences of members of a feminist orga nization. Houston Astros pitcher Bob Knepper opened his mouth and inserted his cleated foot for the second time this year when he referred to members of the National Organization of Women as “a bunch of lesbians” and “blowhards.” In March, Knepper said he was against women being umpires because he didn’t think God intended for women to have authority over men. Knepper later apologized for his NOW remarks saying that even though he jokingly made the comments during an early morning interview, he shouldn’t have said it. Undoubtedly, Knepper’s comments were sexist and probably shouldn’t have exited his mouth whether he believes them or not. But judging from the reaction to Knepper’s remarks, people are taking this issue much too seriously. For good ness sakes, it’s not like the man shot the pope, spit a loogie on Nancy Reagan and claimed to see Elvis Krogering for red creme soda in Kalamazoo. NOW has especially gone overboard with its reaction. NOW’s Houston chap ter nominated Knepper for a Neander- The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Member of Texas Press Association Sout hwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Richard Williams, Editor Sue Krenek, Managing Editor Mark Nair, Opinion Page Editor Curtis Culberson, City Editor Becky Weisenfels, Cindy Milton, News Editors Anthony Wilson, Sports Editor Jay Janner, Art Director abortion, pornography and the Equal Rights Amendment. And NOW has task forces that lobby politicians on the local, state and national level to made sure these issues are not ignored. willy nilly. If there is one group that has taken action to help the needs of the family, both before it was popular to do so, and today, it is feminists. NOW defines a feminist as “a) a per son who believes that women should have political, economic, and social rights equal to those of men. b) one who believes the implementation of feminist principles will create a more humane type of political power.” A feminist can be anyone. Our goals are the same. 1 don’t believe any group should domi nate another. I think sexism, like rac ism, is institutionalized. I do not under stand how people, especially in this community, could fail to see the blatant sexism around us. When Knepper said that we were just women wanting to be men, he brought up an interesting point. If he means that we are women who want the same rights, respect, opportunities, power, responsibilities and choices that men have, then well, yes, we would like to be like men. If he means that we want to behave like a stereotypical “macho” male who is irresponsible, uncaring, to tally lacking in social conscience and who is extremely aggressive, then no, we do not want any part of that. In fact, woman who are feminists celebrate their womanhood. They do not reject it. Some people think feminists»;| eryone to be the same. Actually,if posite is true. If everyone were I be themselves, people could becoc dividuals; there would be moree ion and more creative ideas. Hit! nist philosophy allows all peopktJ and achieve, unencumbered bys types and the limitations of i minds like Knepper’s. B We had to fight to get women in the schocl, the corps and the band. They threw women, literally, out of bonfire when the women were not performing their traditional roles. At the Quack Shack, women’s health care was as signed to a pediatrician. There is still much to be done. Many of the people who are against feminisism know nothing about it; their views are based on stereotypes. They throw around a words like “anti-family” “Feminist” is not a bad word. If you believe in equality, that isn’t anything to be ashamed of. Feminism does not make a woman into a man. It broadens the world for women by increasing their choices and potential for their lives. For men and women it cuts through the games we seem to play with each other. We can care for and relate to each other based on our real needs as human be ings, not on our expectations of how we should act based on what society dic tates. If Knepper did anything,hesi by his sexist attitude about womej thority that there is still a need[o| eating and changing people's! about what women can do. Hesl in his remarks about NOWmemte ing lesbians, that women ares fined by their sexuality (he i reotype about our intellegencet sex partners). He showedil statement that NOW membenj women wanting to be men, tl ganization must continue to tigiiii myths and get our peaceful, quJ sage out more clearly. Finally, lii!| ogy showed that feminists haved difference because womeiuf longer stand by helplessly and< themselves be slandered. The T I hoi and I 1 statewide [drug and | rest of th< The su I Texas A I sources I survey a suitable < | commissi Howex I collecting Dyer, re; | and the : tor. The data to t interpret complete The T I initial r< Fredlunc TCADA the data Jill Webb is a senior secondan - tion major and columnist forM: talion. year. The ; phone si The ph | adult p< U00K, 'Nfc SU&PTW. TOBACCO COWPAKteS KJR'WWCNMG VCJUk. U3NG6- WE SUBATUt DVSTIUEFS FOR. MAWM&'/OUKUiSA- WE 5UtD THE SCHOOL sysraA FOR EEAWVU6 YOO VGUORANT- 1 DON'T THINK YOU'VE &V&!UN<EN FESTONStetUT/ fCRAOUR DALE agents i group th violence ers in N< No. 2 However, the public is wrong to put athletes in the position of being socially conscious opinion leaders. That should be the responsibility of community and industry leaders, not men who make a living playing a game that requires wear ing double-knit polyester, accurate spit ting of tobacco juice and grabbing them selves in inappropriate places in front of large crowds. gangs. Richai in chargi hoi, Too in Dalla: will woi around gun flo only to plied to New Yoi Since been at |cated in traced t< area for j Texas | a valid buy uni with It’s strange, for instance, that Knep per has seemingly caught more flack for his comments than Jesse Jackson did in 1984 when he referred to New York City as “Hymietown.” Jackson was running for president at the time. Now if we want to criticize rac ist, sexist or otherwise inappropriate comments, it seems only appropriate that we scrutinize presidential candi dates more closely than we do left- handed curveball pitchers. Hmmmm. Seems kind of curious that we are now expecting baseball players to be the upholders of social consciousness instead of civil rights leaders who are running for the country’s highest office. Now if Jackson really wants to get the public to listen to his views and stances on the issues, the Houston Astros could use a slick-fielding shortstop. Anthony Wilson is a senior journalism major and sports editor for The Battal- Mail Call What a screw up EDITOR: I really appreciate Mr. Mahinda Karunaratne for his article on THE WORTHLESS ELI PROGRAM. The ELI program is not only a pain in the neck of International stu dents but also a psychological torture that demotivates the students. As pointed out by Mr. Mahinda the courses offered are grossly inadequate to improve any student with a TOEFL score over 550; further improvement in their capabilities can only be developed by the exposure to American uni versity environment. A good example for this my own case. I was forced to take “Oral Skills” and “Grammar” classes because I did not score the required grade in ELPE. At the same time I was a teaching assistant for a lab in which I had to teach for six hours. Because of my place ment in “Oral Skills” class I suspected myself that I may not be able to communicate well with my students. On the contrary, most of my students found my class to be very in teresting, were very happy to attend. Finally at the end of the semester they told me that I was one the very few good TAs they had ever encountered in TAMU! There is one more situation where I saw that the ELI is a big humbug: it is my pre-qualifying exam for Ph.D. In this exam I had an English section in which I had to write an essay for about 40 minutes. Because of my placement in “Grammar” class I was sure I wouldn’t be able do well in English section. On the contrary, to my delight 1 wasitf that I did very well in that exam and was not asked toiaif any technical writing courses, which are generally takenR many graduate students (both American and Internationi students). The reason why I gave these examples is to showltij the whole process of ELPE/ELI is not hing but a wayofsu] vival for some people. The evaluation process andt course contents are grossly inadequate to do anytlii good for paying $550 for two courses. Probably thisiswlj Americans call a “RIP OFF.” I am sure that most of the international student M feel the same and is very unhappy about the ELI. I; quest fellow international students to raise their veil (rather than their pen) on this issue. T his letter rnayn make much impact among the university policy matf but at least will give a hint to them that the whole ELlii| big “SCREW UP” and requires to be scrapped orelsed quires drastic changes to be more realistic. I once again commend Mr. Mahanda for voicingJ the issue. 12.26 3.39 2.04 2.02 1.58 1.51 1.18 1.17 1.15 1.11 1.11 1.09 1.09 1.09 1.04 1.03 1.01 1.01 1.01 1.01 .95 .95 .93 .92 .92 .91 .90 .90 B. Ram Prasad grad student Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial sin, serves the right to edit letters for style and length, hut will make ever) ejjt maintain the author’s intent. Each letter must be signed and must include lit sification, address and telephone number of the writer. Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspa- g er operated as a community service to Texas A&M and ryan-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. 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