The Battalion
OPINION
2
The Battalion
ST/
Monday, April 10,1989
*
Mail Call
Don’t trust the University
EDITOR:
I am writing to warn all students and staff not to
trust a verbal contract with the University. How often
have I heard to always put agreements in writing and
how foolish I was to think that I could trust the school to
find all contracts binding.
In the middle of the semester I was lucky enough to
get a space in the new parking garage. And even though
the space is not convenient to my southside dorm, I
needed thd*space for next year since I am moving off
campus. I was specifically told that once I bought a
space in the garage I was guaranteed a space every
semester until I gave it up.
For this I paid my $40 and began walking the long
trek across campus daily.
Then tragedy struck. I was innocently calling the
garage office to ask about parking sticker fee options if
I wanted to reserve my space again and was told that
since I am changing my status from on-campus student
to off-campus student I am no longer guaranteed a
space; back to a waiting list.
Both clerks I talked to insist that this is a new policy
despite their supervisor’s protests that the garage has
always operated this way.
In fact, one clerk readily admits telling me that I was
guaranteed my space.
Since this contract was made between me and the
parking administration via their employee, and since
money (my money) changed hands, I see no excuse for
breaking the contract. I am appalled not only by the
supervisor’s unwillingness to admit and amend the
problem, but by his lack of concern over the ethics of
breaking this contract.
Ann Marie Cotman ’91
Corps center needed
EDITOR:
I strongly disagree with the opinon of Mr. Monroe in
his April 4 letter regarding the proposed Corps center.
He mentions that the center will take away precious
green space on campus. If Mr. Monroe is so concerned
with losing park area, why didn’t he mention any of the
other buildings that are being built on campus.
The fact is that the proposed area is used
predominately by the Corps anyway. I have never seen
civilian students utilizing this space before.
The remark about our former students finding
something better on which to spend is uncalled for. Most
“old Ags” are former cadets, and there currently is no
place dedicated to their experience here.
The center will also be utilized by Corps staff members
who now have no place to work and meet, aside from the
guard room and their individual rooms (both of which are
hardly suited to running the largest cadet unit in the
country).
Regarding the subject of partial treatment of cadets, I
regret to inform you that cadets pay the same fees, eat the
same food, use the same parking and go the same classes as
civilian students. The only difference is that I wear a
uniform to class.
Lastly “if the needs of the many outweigh the needs of
the few,” why do we have handicapped facilities on
campus?
Matthew Kirk ’91
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.
Anybody can fill
Geraldo’s shoes
Years ago, I might have believed a
talk show host had to be knowledgeable,
bright, charming, and witty. But Ger-
aldo Rivera has graphically demon
strated that anyone, even those with a
seriously deficient IQ, can master the
art of talk shows.
All they have to be able to do is make
an ass of themselves in front of millions
of people on nationwide television. I’m
pretty sure I could do that.
I really have a hard time understand
ing Mr. Rivera’s popularity. He has be
come our nation’s village idiot, the man
we love to hate. Yet people continue to
tune in faithfully every day.
Apparently, the only person who
doesn’t know that Geraldo is the laugh
ing stock of the nation is Geraldo him
self. The Geraldo Rivera show is like
Candid Camera on a grand scale, and
Geraldo is the unsuspecting victim. 1
keep wondering when Alan Flint is
going to show up.
The network executives are in a con
ference room somewhere saying:
“Just keep telling him he’s a serious
journalist — he’ll never know the differ
ence.” They know if they can keep him
baited for the next couple of years, they
may set a record for the longest-run
ning practical joke ever played.
Smile Geraldo — you’re on Candid
Camera.
What frightens me is that there may
be more than just a few people who take
this man seriously. Ma and Pa middle-
America may not understand that this
program is deceptively contrived hu
mor. They think Geraldo is credible.
They think he’s believable. Some may
even idolize him.
Pass the alka-seltzer please.
For such a little man, he sure belittles
a lot of people. I suspect he might hu
miliate and degrade his own mother on
national television if it improved his rat
ings. In fact, I really hate to compare
what he does with reputable talk-show
hosts like Phil Donahue and Oprah
Winfrey. What Geraldo does is more
like what Morton Downey Jr. does, un
der the guise of serious journalism.
Except that Morton isn’t pretentious.
He is an offensive idiot who thinks en
tertainment is a barroom brawl, and he
knows it. He plays on these qualities and
is subsequently paid handsomely for it.
Some of you out there may be saying:
“Stephanie, you seem to have inti
mate knowledge of the Geraldo Rivera
show. If the guy makes you ill, why do
you continue to watch him?”
That’s a fair question. One that I have
Stephanie
Stribling
Columnist
asked myself on more than one occa
sion. Let’s just put it this way:
Why do people rubberneck at the
scene of an accident?
It’s for the same reason that I con
tinue to watch his show. Geraldo is sim
ply an accident waiting to happen. I'm
just there to see a little carnage. So far,
the man himself has been the only car
nage. I’m just sorry I didn’t get to throw
that chair.
Not only that, it’s always nice to see
someone more ignorant than yourselfin
action. For instance,Geraldo did a spe
cial on Charles Manson that was a real
gem. He tried to match wits with a mass
murderer, and found himself losing the
set. It was painfully obvious to everyone
watching that Manson had outsmarted
him.
So what does Mr. Finesse himself do?
He calls Manson a lying-scumhall-devil-
incarnate. Whoa Geraldo, that’ll really
get him talking.
Not too long ago, Geraldo did a spe
cial on satanism in America. He tried to
convince us that there has been an ex
plosion of satanic worship in the United
States.
Well Geraldo, if there wasn’t an ex
plosion there sure is now. Geraldo is the
only person I know that can make a sub
ject as perverse as satan worship look at
tractive.
He begins the program by saying:
“Parents, if you have small children
watching . . . for God’s sake get them
out! It is critical that they be spared the
horror, lurid sex, and perversions that
we are about to present.”
Hey, if I were a kid, that would sure
scare me right out of the room — right
out of the room in time to get some pop
corn and make myself comfortable.
I think we should make it a moral im
perative to get this man off the air. Be
fore long, he’ll have us hiding from the
martians.
We should put him in a position that
he’s qualifed for — selling encyclope
dias.
Stephanie Stribling is a senior jour
nalism major and a columnist for The
Battalion.
Being a columnist can drive a person batty
It dawned on me one hectic day last
week that I’m in either the wrong line of
work or the wrong city. Maybe both.
On the one hand, I had been listening
to a black radio talk show, during which
dozens of angry callers were comparing
me unfavorably with the former
Klansman who had been elected as a
state legislator in Louisiana.
That’s because I had written a few
columns about black radio talk shows
that permit callers to go unchallenged
when they make what to me sound like
hate-filled, racial observations or bizarre
and paranoid statements that they pre
sent as fact.
Because Chicago was in a bitter may-
oral campaign, in which race was the
overriding element, the tempers of the
callers seemed to be bubbling over.
At the same time, my office phone
hardly stopped ringing. The remarks of
Mike
Royko
Columnist
one woman summed up what the many
others said. Her voice almost choking
with fury, she said: “You know what you
are? You’re a nigger-loving, bastard lib
eral.” She elaborated, but it isn’t printa
ble.
She and others who shared her disap
proval were angry because that day’s
column was sympathetic to a black
postal worker who had been forced to
flee from a white neighborhood on the
South Side by a stick-wielding thug.
So many people called to express that
opinion, I barely had time to field calls
from others with a different point of
view. They were the blacks who couldn’t
get through to the radio show, so they
called direct to let me know that I was a
no-good white racist.
Having written a column for more
than 25 years, I’ve become accustomed
to abuse. It’s almost impossible to write
anything without making someone an
gry. If I ever simply wrote that it was a
nice day, I’m sure someone would call to
say: “Maybe it was nice for you, but it
was a lousy day for me. Who are you to
speak for others?” Or maybe: “Listen,
we all know it’s a nice day, so why bore
us with the obvious?”
And I’ve developed a thick hide. Or
so I thought. But last week, I would
have needed skin that was bone-deep. It
was a first for me: being simultaneously
called a white racist and a nigger-loving
liberal.
In a way, it was educational, showing
that to many people there are no in-be
tweens, no gray areas. For them, life is
in black and white.
But I really don’t need any more edu
cation on that point. Since 1983, when
Harold Washington broke the white
grip on City Hall, the majority of whites
have voted for white candidates, and
virtually all blacks have voted for other
blacks. Brotherly love in this town
means the affection that exists between
two guys who have the same parents.
Some candidates and a few dewy-
eyed preachers talk longingly of reach
ing out and bringing this city together.
It’s become a local cliche.
I’m more realistic. Like Harold Wash
ington, I’d be satisfied if Chicagoans
could just say “Hey, we’re all here,
whether we like it or not, so why don’t
we just make the best of it and show a
little restraint and not do or say any
thing goofy.”
That’s basically what I was trying to
say in the columns that inspired such
contrasting reactions. Actually, the reac
tions were the same. Both groups were
telling me the same thing:
“You’re either with us or you’re
against as.” Even organizations that call
themselves independent take the posi
tion: “If you don’t agree with everything
we say, you are not an independent.”
More and more, I’m convinced that
the best way to remain sane in this city,
and maybe the entire country, is to find
a quiet little nook, earn your living in a
quiet way, tend your garden, keep an
unlisted phone number, don’t watch TV
news or read newspapers, and lookout
the peephole before opening the door.
So I’m going to start looking. And
when I find it, it’s just a matter of per
suading my wife that we can make some
lovely decorative touches to a cave and
there is much to be said for life as her
mits. And bats should be no problem.
I’ve become familiar with so much that
is batty.
Copyright 1989, Tribune Media Services, Inc.
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, City Editor
Scot Walker, Wire Editor
Drew Leder, News Editor
Doug Walker, Sports Editor
Jay Janner, Art Director
Mary-Lynne Rice, Entertainment Edi-
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kgeStadonTT0784^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Tuesday, April
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By Melissa Naum;
REPORTER
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STAFF WRITER
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