Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 23, 1989)
The Battalion OPINION MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 1989 Cuts in funding will hurt Texas The proposed Texas state budget for 1990-91, if approved by the Texas Legislature, would cut funding designated for Texas A&M University’s faculty salaries by more than $40 million from current levels. The proposed budget contains similar spending reductions for many other state universities. T he quality of higher education in Texas is vital to our state’s continued well-being. By spending the money necessary to attract top professors and researchers to our state universities, we not only will increase the quality of higher education in Texas, but continue to attract projects such as the superconducting super collider. If we are to receive the economic benefits of quality educational facilities and federal projects such as the super collider, the Texas Legislature must vote against any budget that would decrease cur rent levels of university funding. The Battalion Editorial Board Mail Call Parking lots intended for students EDITOR: I am writing in protest to whomever decides where to put people who visit for conferences — specifically, where they park. As a student who pays for the privilege of parking a half-mile from my first class, I find it annoying that the whole north stadium parking lot was put aside for these visitors and blocked off to students when less than one quarter of it was being used. That meant the south lot and the places by the railroad tracks were left to the hundreds of lowly peons like me who don’t like walking in the rain from the fish lot. Since many of the people in the conference were being driven to Rudder Tower by their f riends anyway (one of w hom nearly ran me over), I should think they could park in some remote lot such as the fish lot and be driven by shuttle buses to Rudder Tower, thereby sparing us some pain. Milli Pope ’91 Christian duties know no boundaries EDITOR: I am responding to Ms. Warren’s letter, appearing in the Jan. 1 7 issue of The Battalion. It is apparent that Ms. Warren is not a Christian. She, like many others, fails to see Texas A&M University as anything but an institution for learning and a haven for social fraternities. Students can discuss their secular, late-night endeavors and even prof essors can digress from a lecture to talk about one of their speeding tickets. But for a professor simply to share his faith with students is strictly taboo. What any Christian professor hopes to accomplish in the classroom is what any devoted Christian does in his or her work environment, in the church, or anywhere: to spread the Gospel. Some of us witness by words, others by action. But we do so regardless of our environment, regardless of our opposition. Atheists and agnostics are not compelled to share their belief s because w'hat they have to say contains no promise or hope for mankind. They cannot relate a personal experience that changed their lives and gave them a whole new' outlook. Christians have a purpose—to fulfill God’s purpose — when they share their faith. There is no reason anyone should feel imposed upon, because they are not being forced to do or think anything they don’t already do or think. That is the decision of the individual. Witnessing in the classroom is just like witnessing anywhere else: it is as much to exercise our f reedom of speech as our f reedom of religion. You can ignore it, challenge it, even be offended by it, but your right to speak out in class or in a forum or in a letter to The Battalion is as equal as a Christian’s right to spread the Word in the classroom. Brian Butler ’90 Recognizing King not too much to ask EDITOR: This letter is in response to the Joe Dan Shelton’s Jan. 18 letter. First of all, I am glad you recognize that racism exists, and, specifically, that it exists on the Texas A&M University campus in the form of institutionalized racism. However, I disagree with the statement that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. does not deserve a national holiday. Dr. King did more for the human race (black, w'hite, Hispanic, women, etc.) than any other person. It is because of him and others like him that there is a rise of blacks and other minorities to high positions in industry and government, a burgeoning black middle class and a black man who ran for President. These examples don’t even begin to scratch the surface of what Dr. King did. I don’t believe anyone wants to shut down the whole country for Dr. King. However, it is a small thing to ask people to recognize and accept one day as a remembrance to a man who gave his life to try to achieve Constitutional civil rights. Martin Luther King Jr. day is not just a black day but an American day. Felicia G. James 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 he 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 Becky Weisenfels, Editor Leslie Guy, Managing Editor Dean Sueltenfuss, Opinion Page Editor Anthony Wilson, Gity Editor Scot Walker, Wire Editor Drew Leder, News Editor Doug Walker, Sports Editor Jay Janner, Art Director Mary-Lynne Rice, Entertainment Edi tor Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspa per operated as a communitv service to Texas A&M and Brvan-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 tear and $36.44 per full vear. 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. ROSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battal ion. 216 Reed McDonald. Texas A&M Unjversitv. Col lege Station TX 77843-4 111. Alamot dents t bling J throng In tf lion stz suppor Saturd of thos crease AAAM “Help ytna get back on your feet ?! What do we look like- The Federal Government? Goodbye Ron, we’ll miss you The gents P poned; of Cade ' Aftei center, I was 12 years old when Ronald Rea gan began his first term as president of the United States. I remember the 1980 presidential election — parts of it at least. Mainly, I remember seeing Jimmy Garter on tele vision shortly after he realized that he had lost the election. He was under standably upset, but he was very gra cious in losing. His wife was upset also. If I emember correctly, she was crying as Garter gave his “I’m sure sorry I lost, but gosh Ronnie, I’m awfully happy for you” speec’.i. the secret formula and presto! Ourti lion dollar national debt will magicaj disappear. Dean Sueltenfuss Opinion Page Editor But people won’t remember theCi for his money-management ski! T hey’ll remember him for the role played in helping to protect out naturJ resources. Although Gongress managed to keep us out of many direct conflicts, they couldn’t seem to say no to Big Ron and his dream to help the “freedom fight ers” in Central America. People didn’t feel sorry for Carter for very long. After all, Carter had been kind of a wimp. He let the Iranians push us around, he let OPEC push us around, and he “gave” away the Panama Canal. Who was going to feel sorry for a loser like him? Some people might say that we shouldn’t have been spending millions of dollars to support the “freedom fighters” when we had plenty of prob lems right here at home. To these peo ple I’d like to say the following: You make me sick. Big Ron realized that all those I protecting the environment were sill There was just no need for most ! them. The Environmental Protect] Agency was wasting the taxpaye: money by trying to keep factories fro dumping toxic sludge into creeks d rivers. contrac sible sil work w Master The Tyler, - decisioi voiced fatt Ad plannir ling. B< posed ! recreat quadra and tw< Othe Park ar The imately structei house : offices DeC Board So Reagan slashed the EPA’s bud?| and tried to get rid of those nasty laws What the nation needed was some new' blood. We needed a leader who would take charge. We needed a presi dent who wouldn’t let the U.S. of A. get pushed around. We needed a guy who’d get out there and kick some butt. Do you honestly think we’re sup posed to spend our money on our own people? Are you so naive that you be lieve our government should be spend ing all its time and efforts to help U.S. citizens? And we got him. Yep, we elected the roughest, toughest, meanest hombre this side of the Potomac — Big Ron. That’s right, The Gipper himself. And, by golly, he did what we wanted him to do. He went out there and kicked some butt. Remember when the Com munists were trying to build an airfield at Grenada? What did Big Ron do? Did he try to negotiate? Did he go com plaining to the United Nations like some little crybaby? If you do then I feel sorry for you. I guess you just can’t see that it’s our duty as the most powerful country on Earth to decide what is right and to impose our wishes on other people. I guess you just can’t see that we have the responsi bility to enforce our wishes by dropping a bomb or staging an invasion every once in a while. Big Ron also recognized how imp tant the position of secretary of thei rior was, so he appointed a concernai competent nature lover named Jan Watt to the position. As secretary ofii interior, Watt was responsible for haw ling all federally-owned land. Wattreif ized that federal land was being usedl such frivolous purposes as nations parks and national forests. It was clei to Watt that this federal land wouk much more valuable if it was leased! oil, timber and mining companies. But the Gipper could see these things. He had vision. There is no doubt that Watt was: great secretary of the interior, butdit to some controversial statements k made, he was forced to leave his pos tion. (Evidently Watt had an aversion! minorities and The Beach Boys.) He also had a natural talent for ma naging money. Hell no. He sent our boys down there and we kicked some butt. It was Reagan who ushered in a new age of prosperity for the United States. He got our economy going again — he put us hack on our feet. He used the same strategy on Libya when they started acting up. But hey, it’s not our fault we had to bomb the Li byans. They should have known better than to mess with us in the first [dace. Some of you may be wondering how he did this. Well, it was simple — bril liant in fact. And if some innocent Libyan citizens died in the process, that was just too had. They shouldn’t have messed with The Gipper. Big Ron spent more money than we had. A lot more. And he spent it on things such as tanks, missiles and jet planes. This, in turn, created jobs for American people. (Somebody had to build all of this stuff, right?) Big Ron, however, soon foundasut, able replacement named Donald Hodt Model was not only a nature lover wit was concerned with protecting the enw ronment; he was a level-headed prd- lem solver as well. When he was askft what should be done about ozone deplfj tion in the atmosphere and the increat ing number of skin cancers it wascaf ing, Model announced that peopl' should wear hats and start using moil sunscreen. The man was a genius. Big Ron would have kicked a lot more butts, too, if it weren’t for those liberal pansies in Congress who were always trying to hack down from our enemies. So we had all of these people working at factories that were cranking out weapons left and right. Then what hap pened? We’re going to miss people like I now' that Ronnie has left. But most off we’re going to miss Big Ron himselj Things just won’t he the same withoij him around here. Heck, if it weren’t for those pantywastes, we’d probably be fighting the Commies in Central America, Af ghanistan, and a dozen other places right now. But alas, our Constitution is not a perfect document, and the presi dent does not have unlimited power. So for now I ll have to settle for writing and going to classes instead of blow ing away Commies in a jungle somewhere. Boom! Instant prosperity. Some of you cynics are probably asking yourselves, “But what happens when we have to pay back the billions of dollars w'e’ve borrowed from foreign in vestors?” Now w'e’re going to be a kinder, gel tier nation. No more air raids on Libra no more strip-mining on federal land no more butt-kicking invasions of Grp nada, no more voodoo economics,! more arms deals with Iran. We’re gonna miss ya\ Big Guy. Well, I’m really not sure. But I’m cer tain that Big Ron had it planned all along. Now he’ll just tell President Bush Dean Sueltenfuss is a junior joufl’i lism major and opinion page editor ft The Battalion.