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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 29, 1989)
The Battalion OPINION Wednesday, November 29,1989 Opinion Page Editor Juliette Rizzo 845-331 Mail Call Students should seek advising EDITOR: In response to Mr. Doolen’s editorial of November 28 on academic advising, I agree that no academic adviser should be allowed to counsel over 100 students (I believe the optimum number is around 30), but many of the problems with academic advising lies with the students. I urged a friend of mine to see an adviser about career planning only to find out she did not even know who her adviser was. Many students do not take time to seek advice, and they should. My department [agricultural engineering] eliminated most problems with advising apathetic or lazy students by blocking them from registration until they see an adviser. This semester I noticed the Department of Civil Engineering developed a similar policy. Maybe this should be a University policy. James Darrell McCauley ’90 Help from below EDITOR: WHOOP! to the workers of the Underground eating facility. I say this because of the incident that happened to me on Nov. 8 when 1 took off my Aggie senior ring and accidently left it on my food tray and it was disposed of as trash. After I realized what I had done—approximately three hours later — I called to inquire if one had been turned in or found. I spoke to a very sympathetic lady who informed me that no ring was found and that I should check back the following day. After I hung up the phone, I decided to go over to campus to check myself. Upon arrival, I spoke with a supervisor who informed me that many of the staff was already searching for my ring, and if needed, they would be willing to get a metal detector. After an hour of digging through trash and trays, my Aggie ring was found on the last tray inspected. My thanks goes out to all those workers who helped me and Were willing to put forth that extra effort and time to find my ring. It makes me proud to be an Aggie! Gig ‘Em! Chris Davis ’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 arid telephone number of the writer. . Future idea: close campus to traffic We have an excellent setting in which to attend classes. The walk to and from classes is generally pleasant, and the classes themselves are held in fine facilities. Occasionally, though, certain cam pus intersections become congested with the combined traffic of cars, shut tles, buses, bicyclists and pedestrians. Many of you may recall trying to get to class by working your way through the jam. It can be a mess. Car drivers try to get through and be yond it. Shuttle buses and shuttle drivers try to make the tight turn without hitting anyone, bicyclists try to weave around and between all the people and vehicles and pedes trians try to walk safely through. To complicate matters, al most everybody is in a hurry. It happens day in and day out. Uniform scheduling intensifies the congestion even more. Everybody is trying to get somewhere at the same time. Things can lull from 9:00 until 9:55 on a Monday morning. Then, suddenly, whole buildings empty almost completely, and this flood of students is met by just as many going to replace them. Cars and shuttles pass through as well. Two intersections in particular stand out. The biggie is located right in front of the Bus Stop Snack Bar. Large groups of people walking and biking to and from Blocker cross that intersection in thick masses several times daily. Meanwhile, cars, on-campus shuttles and shuttle buses move through the intersection. The other, less-congested intersec tion is located right in front of the Commons area. And other intersections around campus present similar prob lems. Now, I do not want to make too much of this; it really amounts to no more than a minor inconvenience. Still, the problem is significant. It presents a small safety hazard to ev eryone concerned. The fumes can be choking. And the daily congestion adds just a little extra stress and strain to thou sands of already-stressed lives. Granted, traffic congestion presents no emergency; we coulcf continue just like now. The problem has a partial solu tion, though, which deserves consideration. Traffic conges tion could be reduced by discouraging thruway traffic during class hours. The campus makes a convenient thruway. It interconnects Texas, Uni versity, Wellborn and Jersey/George Bush Drive. As A&M and College Sta tion continue growing progressively larger, the on-campus traffic conges tion seems likely to grow progressively worse. Improving the situation would not require armed guards or even one-armed gates. Just placing signs requesting that motorists avoid using congested areas of the A&M campus as thruways during primary class hours (say, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.) could reduce congestion considerably. Certainly, such repression could not be absolute. It would have to allow staff members to pass to and from staff lots, shuttle buses and on-campus shuttles to complete their routes, maintenance vehicltes to travel around campus and other vehicles having urgent purposes to accomplish those purposes. Yet, it still could reduce campus traffic enough to make a difference. Several benefits might result. Inhaling auto exhaust fumes would be less of a pedestrian problem than now. Ev erybody passing through the congested intersections would be a little safer. The trip to and from class would be a little more peaceful for everyone concerned. The costs would fall upon those who currently pass through these congested areas while using the campus as a thruway; they would be requested to drive elsewhere during class hours. Steps already have been taken to reduce thruway use of the campus. Most significantly, the mall located adjacent to the Chemistry Building occupies the space where Spence Street once ran. Construction around campus also has had the effect of slowing and diverting auto traffic. Yet traffic congestion remains a problem in certain places at certain times. Taking steps to discourage thruway use of these congested areas could make the campus atmo sphere more pleasant for students during the trip to and from class. Jim Hayes is a senior economics major and a columnist for The Battalion. Food for more than thought My body and I had a long talk the other morning. First, my heart asked, “What’s that you’re drinking?” “Coffee,” I said, adding, with some degree of pride, “but it’s decaffeinated. Caffeine is bad for me, so I’ve cut it out.” “Uh-oh,” said my heart. “What do you mean?” I asked. “You haven’t heard,” replied my heart. “A new study has indicated de caffeinated coffee is made from beans that can cause bad cholesterol.” 1 already had cut down on eggs to help reduce my cholesterol count. Now I’m told decaffeinated coffee, which I thought was good for me, picks up where the eggs leave off. “One other thing,” said my heart, “you know how you often get up in the middle of the night and go downstairs and eat some raw zucchini?” “Raw vegetables are good for me,” I said. Lewis Grizzard Syndicated Columnist “That may very well be,” said my heart, “but another new study says get ting up suddenly in the middle of the night can cause a heart attack.” My blood joined in. “You’re not actually going to eat that cinnamon roll, are you?” “I love cinnamon rolls,” I answered. “What’s wrong with a cinnamon roll?” “Sugar,” said my blood. “Eat too much sugar and we’ll have to deal with hypoglycemia.” “Dang right,” said my pancreas. “B^t I drink diet soft drinks, to cut down on my sugar intake,” I said. “Yeah,” my blood said. “You and all those dead laboratory rats.” After that, I made a few decisions. I decided I wouldn’t drink any sort of coffee anymore. I’d eat cereals made only of oat bran, I’d cut out all sugars — both real and artificial — and I would never, under any circumstances, get up at midnight, which could cause me to have a heart attack. (If my house catches on fire, at mid night, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.) I went to the refrigerator, pulled out a non-alcoholic beer and had myself a good cry. Copyright 1989, Cowles Syndicate, Inc. Former governors foreign government We have this former governor prob lem and the floor is open for sugges tions on what we should do about it. They’ve been an embarrassment for some time (not as embarrassing as when they were in office, of course) but now they’re getting to be a real hazard. The worst case, obviously, is the for mer governor who is now governor, and right there you see the problem — they keep running for things and sometimes we forget how bad they were and actually re-elect them. What I say is, why make a mistake we’ve made before when we have an opportunity to make a brand new mistake? Two formers now gearing up to run again, Dolph Briscoe, the pet rock of governors, the man who wasn’t there, and Mark White, the state weather vane, the man who kept his ear to the ground and his finger in the wind while bending with the flow. Hell of a posture. White, perhaps the most assiduous follower of popular opinion politics has ever produced, is running on grounds that he’s a proven “leader.” No fudge. Briscoe is supposedly considering run ning for Senate, apparently on the grounds that most people know his name. The other two formers, John Connally and Preston Smith, are both in bankruptcy or they’d probably be running for something too. It’s almost enough to make you grateful for the oil crash. Well, what to do? Pass a law? One that says once we’ve gotten up the en ergy to kick you out once, you can't come back to haunt us anymore? Make prior service as governor a bar to cit izenship, like conviction of a felony? Looking on the bright side, Dolph Briscoe was a restful governor. Aside from his tendency to appoint dead people to boards and commissions where they did little harm, he did noth ing because he was never there. Cone and forgotten, that was Briscoe. For those who think the best govern ment is the least government, Brisco’s your man — can’t get less government than he gave. (In fact, I suspect history will judge Briscoe’s governorship quite harshly. He was in office for six years when the state had money rolling in without even raising taxes. That’s when we could have taken the California route, built a great university system, first-rate public education, improved social services, diversified the economy — and all without an income tax. In stead, Briscoe provided no leadership, the state did even less than usual ex cept for what it says it does, which is build more roads, and now we’re Mis sissippi with good highways.) At least White had enough sense to follow Ross Perot on education. He did help to reform public schools — just not far enough. The poor man was ac tually beaten by the teachers, who didn’t have enough sense to know he was on their side — that and no-pass, no-play and the oil crash. What an irony for a complete politician, to be beaten for the best things he ever did and something he had nothing to do with. Well, no one ever said it was an easy game. The high point for amusement in White’s term was the time a primary opponent accused him of being a nerd, on account of his picture in his high school annual has nothing under it. Just “Mark White.” Not even on the AN1> “THOU SH/tiT NOT Bl/ltp BONFIRE, Fob, SUCH 15 THE WORK OF THE t>£VIL Z) The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Scot O.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 liryan-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 lege Station TX 77843-4 111. prom poster committee. Or in il French Club. Nada. Zip. The Ore Nerditude Crisis enlivened an wise dull week. Well, we could continue in ili happy pursuit of rememberinggove nors we are better off without, buttk we wouldn’t have time for ForeignPo icy Horrors. It’s still in short storiesc the back pages (“Khmer fake Tow' but the Khmer Rouge, the insane,set ocidal communists who killed i of their own people when they ruls Cambodia earlier this decade, arew ning again — with American suppor, Did you see the film “The Killin Fields?” Yeah, the same guys. With backing them. Our tax dollars. Og diplomatic policy. Our State Depac ment. W’e have backed some truly dt plorable dictators from SomozatoDi valier to Marcos to the Shah ofk but this is the first time we’ve eve backed Maoist-Stalinist killer-con® nists who slaughter their own peo believe we are looking at a new lov Some people think America waste sponsible for bringing the Khirl Rouge to power the first time- ] certainly undermined the Cambodtj government by Nixon’s secret bonfcl (isn’t that insane — “secret bonibir;| — it was not a secret from theCarakl dians). If we bear any responsibilityrf their coming to power once, itisnij than we should have on our recordati nation. But to let it happen again- encourage it to happen again. Thatl beyond any hope of forgiveness. Eve:| The Kissengeresque rationale k| hind this insanity is that Americaistl posed to anything the North Vietnar. ese do, whether it’s right or noil they’re for it, we’re against it. Atn intelligent policy, eh? Makes us tk pawns. The Khmer Rouge were so badji Vietnamese invaded Cambodia tof rid of them (you thought North Vie; namese communists were bad? Ikj Khmer Rouge are so bad even J North Vietnamese can’t take thes The Vietnamese are regarded aslik ators in Cambodia. They finally Id earlier this year after a couple yearsd occupation, leaving a puppet regime | place. So of course we’re opposed the puppet regime because the Non| Vietnamese set it up. So we supportikj opposition to the puppet regime. Guess who? Tire Khmer Rouge part of an opposition coalition thati(j eludes Prince Sihanouk, who has bee on everybody’s side over the years,aij some small democratic elements—b-| the Khmer Rouge is the only part? the coalition that has weapons and; army. It’s the Khmer Rouge nowfigti] ing the government left by the Nortf Vietnamese and winning. Andit’stk Khmer Rouge that will take over, our backing. Why should the Camboc ans, a lovely people who have nevt done us any harm, have to endu: mass killings a second timejustbecaif we got beat by the Vietnamese in awi we had no business fighting and# real sore losers. <j 0 V ...the board ap resehTj is iuftnMep OF Some (KGAHtiATlOMAL CHANGES AT