The Battalion
OPINION 2J
Friday, January 19,1990
Research on animals
needed for medicine
Putting an end to scientific research con
ducted on animals threatens the lives of humans
more than AIDS or cancer.
Without the use of animals, important medi
cal research would come to a screeching halt.
Organ transplants, the creation of vaccines
against diphtheria, tetanus, polio and hepatitis,
and the discovery of insulin are a few examples
that have resulted from animal studies.
Researchers are working to develop a vaccine
for chicken pox, and they also are hopeful that
AIDS research done on chimpanzees will prove
valuable.
Other research includes work related to drug
addiction, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, emo
tional disorders and heart disease. The list goes
on and on.
Some people supporting the animal rights
movement hope to abolish animal research com
pletely. They believe scientists can do adequate
research by using computers and cell cultures.
But they must realize that these methods cannot
produce the information obtained from re
search.
Humane animal studies need to continue.
Without this type of research, scientists will have
no way to find cures for the diseases and illnesses
that plague our world.
The Battalion Editorial Board
Lunch breaks hinder
Pavilion operations
The first floor of the Pavilion, except for the
snack bar, completely stops operations from
noon to 1 p.m. so employees can eat lunch, but
students needing to register or pick up fee slips
are unable to get help during this time.
Even though there are signs to inform stu
dents of the lunch breaks, they are not men
tioned in the Directory of Classes, and it is espe
cially inconvenient because the cashiers’ windows
close at 3 p.m.
Some students need to take care of registra
tion matters, payments, etc. during this hour.
Unfortunately, these students are out of luck.
Staggered lunch breaks would be more prac
tical. The line would move more slowly since a
smaller staff would be working for two or three
hours, but it would be better than not moving at
all.
The Battalion Editorial Board
Phone registration
deserves commendation
“Welcome to the Texas A&M Student Infor
mation System. Enter an action code ... now.”
Texas A&M’s telephone registration system,
since it began three years ago, has proven to be a
boon to students, faculty and staff despite irritat
ing busy signals and recordings.
The system not only has eliminated many
registration lines and much paperwork, but also
has made adding and dropping classes quick and
efficient.
Students should appreciate the system, a lux
ury that few universities have, and A&M should
be commended for the improvements it has
made in the system.
Thank you for reading the Texas A&M Bat
talion. Goodbye.
The Battalion Editorial Board
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Scot Walker, Editor
Monique Threadgill,
Managing Editor
Ellen Hobbs, Opinion Page Editor
Melissa Naumann, City Editor
Cindy McMillian, Lisa Robertson,
News Editors
Richard Tijerina, Sports Editor
Fredrick D. Joe, Art Director
Mary-Lynne Rice, Lifestyles Editor
Editorial Policy
The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting
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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 represent the opinions of
Texas A&M administrators, faculty or the
Board of Regents.
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ncvyrcN
Professor X should learn
to stand up for his opinion
Back in December, the opinion page
editor and I decided that it was time to
expand the breadth of opinions ex
pressed on Page 2 to include people be
sides students. It made a lot of sense, be
cause we have about 70,000 potential
readers every day and only 40,000 of
those are students.
We decided to hire a couple of new
columnists to represent the faculty, the
staff, the administrators and other non
students. We placed an advertisement
on the page: “Faculty members wanted
to write columns.” And then one day I
got a very interesting letter from a pro
fessor explaining why there was no way
in creation that any professor would
ever write a column for The Batt. Here
are the highlights of the letter, in italics,
along with my comments:
Dear Editor: I noticed your ads for a
professor who would write a column for
The Batt. While I applaud your efforts
to engage faculty participation, I doubt
that you received much of a response.
That’s Mistake Number 1. We’ve got
ten a good response, and the applicants
cover the whole spectrum. Some seem
like they would be great, others appear
completely unqualified. That’s generally
the response to any job opening.
There are a number of reasons why
productive professors who really have
something to say about TAMU (not the
good of boys who will tell you about
“world class ” when we are not ranked in
the top 40 in the nation) would shy away
from publishing anything in The Batt. I
would write a column describing these
reasons if you would like.
The Batt. Sounds fishy to me; must be a
catch.
If you do (print the column), then
you have to agree not to publish my
name, not to give it to the administra
tion, regents, or anyone, and not to edit
the letter.
Hold the phone, here’s the catch.
This person wants the opportunity to
slander, slam and slime the powers-that-
be, but isn’t man (or woman) enough to
sign his/her name. What a gutless pig.
This is not because I’m gutless, but
becaiise those of us on the faculty with a
future realize the type of response we
would receive from the administration
and especially the regents if we wrote
If everybody with
something intelligent to say
spoke out, there is no way
that the regents or
administrators could fire
everyone. To do so would
be to commit suicide. All
the good people would
leave and go to places
where their opinions would
be respected, and we’d be
left with the drones and the
dregs, and the school
would be dead in the
But who is to blame? The admin/stra i
tion? The regents?
No, the blame falls on all those people
who want to say something but don’t be
cause they fear the consequences. Ifev-;
erybody with something intelligent to
Say spok,e out, there is no way that the
regents or administrators could fireev- :
eryone. To do so would be to commit
suicide. All the good people would leave
and go to places where their opinions
would be respected, and we’d be left
with the drones and the dregs, and the
school would be dead in the water. Dis
agreement is what academics is all
about, so if you have something to say
you should say it.
I can imagine Professor X saying,
“You’re idealistic because you’re just a
kid and a student. Wait until you havea
REAL JOB in the REAL WORLD, and
then you’ll understand that you can’t al
ways stand up for what you believe.”
That’s bull. Anyone can stand up for
something, as long as he is willing to ac
cept the consequences.
water.
Wait a minute. This person says no
prof will write for The Batt, and then
turns around and offers to write for
anything that they could construe as
“not on the team. ”
The letter was signed “Professor X.”
The thing that really bothered me
about the letter was that this professor
felt that expressing an honest opinion
was sufficient to cause him/her grief
with his/her superiors. Maybe that
wouldn’t have happened, but Professor
X certainly believed it would, and there
fore was afraid to speak out. This is sup
posed to be a university, an institution
of higher learning, where intelligent
people come to be further enlightened.
Instead, for this person and maybe oth
ers, it’s a place of oppression and
censorship.
What a downer.
And I’m really sick of hearing thal
line about the real world. It’s just an ex
cuse for people who have already sold
out their own ideals. Everyone has the
same choices. You can speak out and try
to get something changed, and maybe
risk your job. Or you can keep quiet, lei
things stay the way they are, bitch about
it in private and be unhappy. Or you
can leave. That’s pretty simple, isn’t it:
It all comes down to what is important
to you.
If you choose to keep quiet out of
fear, then that just encourages your boss
to try to intimidate you again in the fu
ture to keep you quiet. So you brought
this situation upon yourself, Professor
X. You, and people like you, chose to be
intimidated, and if you don’t like it, then
you should try to find the backbone to
work to change it. If you can’t, then you
are letting someone else determine the
course of your life, so you should justl
shut up and wallow in the misery andf
oppression that you allow to be heapedl
upon yourself.
Scot Walker is a senior journalism,
major and editor of The Battalion.
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