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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 12, 1989)
The Battalion OPINION Thi [Thi Thursday, October 12,1989 Opinion Page Editor Juliette Rizzo 845- No parking in handicap zones Affirmative action ensures equalit F Parking in a handicap zone is not only a breach of the law, it is also a callous and contemptible act. Illegally parking in a handicap zone at Texas A&M may result in a $50 fine and possi bly the towing of the vehicle. Offenders, however, should be treated much more severely. In response to the article by Scot Walker in the October 2 Battalion on affirmative action, my response is that affirmative action is right and is needed. It’s unfortunate that so many people misunderstand the concept and make assumptions about the purpose of such programs. George Wharton Guest Columnist Parking illegally in a handicap zone or blocking a designated handicap ramp should not pass unnoticed. Offenders should be reported immediately to the Department of Parking, Transit and Traffic Services. Handicap spaces should be reserved for those who truly need them. The Battalion Editorial Board The purpose of affirmative action is to take steps and develop programs that correct past and present discrimi natory practices. Affirmative action also insures compliance with the law and promotes equal opportunity. mg those illegal barriers that place some groups at a disadvantage and of ten deny them the opportunity to com pete. Ensuring that only job-related criteria is used as the qualifications for positions and active recruiting of mi norities is pursued are examples of af firmative action that result in equal op portunity for all groups. involves working with and providi assistance to the minority communiti to expand the pool of young people terested in higher education. In this gard, I believe the System’s effor must be directed toward encouragit all students to prepare for theirfutu; so they can actively participate in contribute to society. At present,o- reach efforts to motivate minoritysr ( dents to become educated areanim- gral part of System efforts recruiting, training, counseling,sd tours and summer enrichment expti ll By l OfT Mail Call Tax cut wrong EDITOR: The choice is clear. George Bush and the Republicans want a tax cut for the rich while the Democrats want to offer a break to all Americans regardless of income. George Bush is trying to get Congress to pass a tax cut on capital gains. He claims that the cut is needed to boost the economy. The theory is that with the money saved from taxes the rich people will have more money to invest in the economy. Who is Bush fooling? The rich will not invest. They will do the same thing that they did when Reagan cut their taxes. They will take over companies or spend the money on BMWs. The Democrats are proposing a real way of increasing investment and encouraging economic growth. The Democrats led by Lloyd Bentsen and the House leadership want to restore Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). IRAs would offer all Americans an opportunity to increase their savings by offering tax-free savings accounts up to $1,000 per year. Americans have one of the lowest savings rates of the industrialized nations and IRAs will help to change this. Savings are very important to the economy because increased savings gives banks more reserves which will allow them to make more loans leading to increased investment which will lead to strong economic growth. Furthermore, at a time when Bush tells us we do not have enough money to fight the war on drugs or offer federal aid to our public schools, he is offering the richest Americans a tax break. , It is time for Bush and the renegade House Democrats to get their priorities straight and stop the capital gains tax cut. J. Carlos Huerta ’90 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. Affirmative action should go beyond what is accomplished in the job market and reach out to improve the quality of life of all people in a social, economic and political sense. To limit affirmative action to the employment or educatio nal area is to ignore the reality that dis crimination affected and affects all as pects of some group’s lives. Affirmative action captures the spirit and intent of the civil rights laws and executive orders. It mandates that to achieve equal opportunity it is not enough to have, for example, color blind, sex-blind, or ethnic-blind em ployment practices. A lot of people also misunderstand the role the System Affirmative Action Office plays in an educational setting such as the Texas A&M University Sys tem. The System Affirmative Action Office investigates and resolves com plaints of discrimination, and the office is actively involved in eliminating dis criminatory practices and barriers that restrict equal educational access and employment opportunities. These ac tivities ensure equal opportunity. ences. Texas A&M University leadsil) The civil rights laws were passed to eradicate the lingering past patterns and practices of discrimination and to help correct the disparate behavior re sulting from the biased attitudes evi dent in the American work place. In implementing the spirit of these laws, programs of positive action on behalf of minority groups and women are warranted to redress the inequities that exist. Affirmative action is needed to achieve the transition to an equal op portunity environment. Within the past 20 years, I believe we have moved closer to achieving equal employment opportunity. The num bers show improvements for minorities and especially for women. The prin ciple that any person who is qualified should have the opportunity to com pete for a job has become widely ac cepted. state in the retention of minority so dents and A&M played a major role establishing minority outreach center across the state. Ulimately, howevei the measurement of the System’sst cess in this area must be the graduate rate for all students, including athlete and more needs to be done here. The A&M System has been r great deal of progress since the Affc mative Action Office was established!! the mid 1970s. However, we much to accomplish. We areinatrai sition period moving towards equaloy portunity. T he vehicle of affirmain; action is the best transportation m have to achieve the goal of an priate representation of minorities ait: females in all areas of the A&M Sit tern. However, not all groups have achieved their full civil rights. There fore, we must ensure that the doors of opportunity are open for everyone and that all have access to a quality educa tion, the key to success. Affirmative ac tion helps guarantee that the doors are open. This does not mean minorities or women will be placed ahead of more qualified individuals, as some always contend will happen with affirmative action. Each person must have the qualifications toperform the job. What we’re talking about is eliminat- It means, for example, providing training opportunities for those women and minorities who need it to become qualified for higher level posi tions. It requires recruitment using a variety of techniques to find qualified women and minorities to fill positions in the work force. Most importantly it It distresses me that there appear: be a growing and dangerously tolen acceptance of discriminatory behavim T here is an ongoing resistance to full integration of our society froi number of different groups andforn rious reasons. To combat this threat all of us we need to highlight thedivet sity of the many groups that compn* American culture and the contrib tions these groups have made tost' ciety. Equal opportunity doesn'tjn happen. It takes the active involvemet and support of faculty, staff andstii dents to ensure the A&M System is at equal opportunity institution. George Wharton is the Director Affirmative Action for the Ten A&M University System. ■ A Blac tor Corr nigh shoe norii W posit in J: Lee tour pron thes “1 find ferei said, thin! son, just r W By I Of 77 N; pres< versi Nath T1 creas ulty to en T1 Four unde don’i can cans Islan Students tell strange and silly Sbisa stories Thousands of students eat at Sbisa dining hall every day and enjoy it im mensely. The food is generally good and Sbisa should be commended for doing such a great job of serving so many people. Yet after talking to some students who frequent Sbisa, I discovered Sbisa isn’t the finest in culinary dining like I always thought it was. Some of the comments may be exaggerated or have little basis in truth, but most are hu morous, and none are fabricated. So read them, but do so with a grain of salt (no pun intended). Bill Petrie, self-proclaimed Sbisa au thority, said, “If Sbisa started serving Fruity Pebbles, A&M would well be on its way to becoming a world-class uni versity.’’There are problems, though, according to Petrie who said “the whipped-cream topping has a consis tency similar to window caulking, ex cept that it has the distinct chemical property of being more adhesive than superglue.” Tonya Yurgensen, who only occa sionally visits Sbisa, said “I like it when people take a cup and smush it in the whipped-cream jello topping and stick it to the bottom of the table. Sometimes it stays there for weeks.” Liz Tisch, Sbisa groupie, said “Every meal is a natural laxative for me. In Sbisa, you can always be guaranteed your food will be from one of three col ored food groups — green, orange or brown.” Petrie went on to say, “The food is usually greasy, but sometimes the food just isn’t quite greasy enough. That’s why when I go to the hamburger line, I ask for a grease-burger with an extra ladle of grease poured on top. Timm Doolen Assistant Opinion Page Editor “Also, the gelatin occasionally ap pears in ‘unnatural’ colors and flavors.” Dwight Jones, gelatin and spud ex pert, said “The jello is sometimes not coagulated 100 percent and tends to be slimy like lukewarm sludge. The wedge-cut fries are skanky when served regularly, but when kept under a heat lamp in the vegetable tray, they taste like the sole of an old shoe.” Staton Shed said, “I hate the fact that the vanilla ice cream out of the ma chines has absolutely no flavor what soever. Except occasionally it tastes like rat poison. “And their whipped butter that fills a whole tray is probably made from one stick of margarine that has been whipped to 50 times the original size. Also, the orange juice tastes like te quila, but unfortunately with no alco holic effect.” Randall Roth, Sbisa connoisseur, said the orange juice is either too strong or too weak. “It’ll either eat away the lining of your-stomach or taste like watered-down juice that your mom tried to stretch out until the end of the week,” he said. Roth also said the stewed tomatoes looked like fetuses. “I also don’t like it when they take old broccoli, mix it with cheese and call it something else. They’n. trying to fool us,” he said Don Kopf, Sbisa expert, complained that the bananas are either green and crunchy or brown and taste like pud ding. “The blackened catfish looks like a big, fried slug,” he said. I also uncovered what I like to call the “French fry fiasco.” Sbisa serves different fries on different days of the week (e.g. tater tots on Tuesday and wedge-cut fries on Wednesday) as indi cated by the marquee above the fried spuds section. Yet sometimes Sbisa is inconsistent with their usual pattern, which causes unimaginable havoc to some Sbisa-goers. Jason Druebert, distressed diner, said, “They’re supposed to have ‘tater tot Tuesday,’ but when I went to Sbisa this Tuesday, they were serving curly fries. I was confused and didn’t know what to do, so I went to my Thursday classes instead of my Tuesday classes. Luckily they were the same classes — this time — but who knows what might happen if they serve wedge-cut fries on a Tuesday or Thursday and I have a test! “Once on a Thursday, they were serving the regular shoestring fries for lunch. I went home and took a nap be tween lunch and dinner, and went back to find them serving straight-cut fries! I’d thought I’d slept for 24 hours and missed all my Friday classes!” Jay Burchfield concurred with Druebert’s findings. “When I walk into Sbisa and they’re serving the wrong, type of fries, it takes my mind and body quite awhile to recover from the sud den disorientation. And after the initial shock. I find it has lasting effects on my biological clock. preffi I had a female friend whose menstrual cycle was thrown off when Sbisa served tater tots on a Satur day,” he said Druebert said, “I just want to know why they switch fries on certain days and who is responsible. Is it somebody at the Food Services level or does the change come from ‘higher up’ in the University?” The “French fry fiasco” and the other comments are ail interesting, but some questions remain unanswered • Why does every entree taste exafi tly the same? • Why do pimentos sneak into even vegetable — corn, beans, spinach,etc! • What were those cereal items looked like a cross between and dog biscuits? • Why does the cordon bleu loa like a giant fried hamster? • Why do Sbisa workers have ft | dress up in those silly costumes once( month? (It doesn’t make the foodta* better.) • What is the coating on the puif ding made out of? • Why do they always cover k meat with sauce, noodles or botl (What are they trying to hide?) • What exactly is a bagelwich? 1 • Which meat is the generic turkev /pork/chicken cutlet made from? j • What does the word cutlet mean® • When will the fresh-baked cookis return? We may never know the answers! these perplexing questions. If you have a humorous conjpW please write to The Battalion, ai maybe I can compile another list I strange and silly Sbisa stories, ’j Timm Doolen is a junior compn* science major and assistant opir* page editor for The Battalion. The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Scot Walker, Editor Wade See, Managing Editor Juliette Rizzo, Opinion Page Editor Fiona Soltes, City Editor Ellen Hobbs, Chuck Squatriglia, News Editors Tom Kehoe, Sports Editor Jay Janner, Art Director Dean Sueltenfuss, Lifestyles 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- letie Station TX 77843-41fU. MAW £>1^ Hcwrai