The Battalion
OPINION
Monday, April 16,1990
Students should get bigger say
in decisions about construction
Though it seems to have been
overshadowed lately in the media, there
is in fact a third parking garage going
up in what used to be the visitor parking
lot. Granted, parking on campus is a
very big problem, but I was very
dismayed the other day to see the piled
stumps of at least six large post oak trees
near the construction site.
How does the Board of Regents
justify this kind of destruction to that
lovely park area between the president’s
house and what used to be the visitor
parking area? Why was the same ef fort
not made to save those trees as was for
the Memorial Student Center trees? My
guess is that because they were out of
the way, little opposition was anticipated
and therefore no pretensions of
environmental concern were needed.
But it is not the fate of six trees that is
as disturbing as the fact that students
and faculty aren’t consulted about these
things; if they are, their views seem to
carry little weight. Our campus is in a
perpetual state of construction-induced
chaos in which nobody seems to know
what’s happening or what’s going to be
knocked down or put up next. All the
big decisions and grand schemes are
handed down from the Board of
Regents and neither the students nor
the faculty have much real input.
The Board of Regents run the Texas
A&M system with virtually no
accountabilty to those who are affected
Tim
Goodman
Reader’s Opinion
by their decisions. They build
monuments to their names all over
campus (i.e. William MacKenzie
Terminal, David Eller Building, etc.).
They increase A&M’s prestige by
building the best football, baseball or
basketball team money can buy, and by
wasting money on pet projects like box
seats in Kyle Field ($20 million), or the
proposed lowering of Welborn Road
($50 million). They are all appointed by
the governor, answerable only to him
and make all the future developmental
decisions about A&M, like buildings,
new campuses, new programs, etc.
It’s not necessarily that all the
decisions they make are bad, but they
are not always the decisions that we,
both students and faculty, would make;
and this is, after all, our University. For
example, a poll of A&M students and a
vote by the Faculty Senate supporting
the delay of the proposed expansion of
the MSC, but both were nevertheless
ignored. I also doubt very strongly that
anybody who lived and worked on this
campus would support the kind of
destruction of its green spaces that the
Board of Regents is currently
embracing. The site of the third parking
garage is a good example.
Construction is needed, but those of
us who have to live with the results
should have a say in how it is carried
out. Why not build parking into the
basements of some of the new
buildings? Also, we need a new library
to supplement Sterling C. Evans and a
College of Fine Arts far more than we
need another Events Center or to lower
Wellborn Road.
How can A&M reach the fabled
“world-class” status without its two
components, faculty and students,
taking an equal part in determining its
f uture. I think the only way this could
be achieved is by giving three seats each
on the Board of Regents to the students,
the faculty and the state.
The politics of power in Texas is such
that this column will be laughed at and
held up as an example of democratic
freedom of speech. But freedom of
speech is not the only requirement of
democracy; accountability is just as
important.
People have been lamenting for years
about the increasing level of political
apathy among college students in this
country. Well, when our universities
establish a precedent of political
impotence' it is no wonder we give up
on politics.
Tim Goodman is a senior history
major.
‘Official English’ legislation would
create unnecessary bureaucracy
Damon Arhos was kind enough to
rehash all of the simple-minded
arguments of the “of ficial English”
crowd in his column on March 27. I will
try and explain as briefly as I can why I
am opposed to making English the
“official language” of Texas or
anywhere else.
The first and most obvious reason is
that it is unnecessary. As Damon
demonstrates in the sarcastic
introduction to his column, English is
already the dominant language in our
society and is in no danger of being
replaced by any other language in the
foreseeable future.
But what if it was? Just for the sake of
Who would determine what
“official Englsh” is, anyway? I
suppose that we would have an
“official English” dictionary, but
who would decide which words
would be included? Just flipping
through my dictionary I found the
Spanish words “sombrero,”
“siesta,” “fiesta,” “vamos” and
“pihata.” Will these words be
allowed in the “official English”
dictionary?
argument, what if tomorrow someone
invented a new language that was a vast
improvement over English and one
morning everyone woke up and decided
to start speaking this new language? It’s
a wild hypothesis, I know, but what
right would the government have in
trying to make us continue to use
English and only English on all of our
government documents.
This also brings to mind the question
of who would determine what “official
Englsh” is, anyway? I suppose that we
would have an “official English”
dictionary, but who would decide which
words would be included and which
Mike
Thomas
Reader’s Opinion
would not? Just flipping through my
Webster’s Dictionary I found the
Spanish words “sombrero,” “siesta,”
“fiesta,” the verb “vamos” and even the
word “pihata” which uses a letter that
cannot be reproduced on many
typewriters. Will these words be allowed
in the “official English” dictionary?
We would no doubt have to create a
whole new level of government
bureaucracy to control which words are
“official” and which are not. Otherwise,
some bright legislator might try to add
the entire vocabulary of the Spanish
language to the “of ficial English”
dictionary and that would undermine
the main purpose of the “official
English” movement.
Once the “official English” dictionary
has been written the government will
have to print thousands of copies of it to
distribute to courthouses and
government offices all over the state to
ensure that some clerk somewhere
doesn’t accidently use an unofficial
word when typing up some government
correspondence. So much for all that
money that Damon thought we were
going to save by printing everything in
one language.
And speaking of saving money, how
are we going to be saving money to any
significant degree when the bilingual
portion or text of our government
documents is already printed on the
same page with the English text. You
can wipe out the non-English text but
you will still be stuck printing up the
same number of documents. It’s not like
we have one stack of papers in English
and another stack in Spanish.
If Damon is so concerned with saving
money at the government printing
office, why don’t we just pass a law that
states that all government documents
must be printed on paper that is no
larger than a 3 inch by 5 inch card.
Think of all the money we could sav^ on
paper and ink! And so what if some
people won’t be able to read it. Damon
doesn’t care about people who can’t
speak English so why should he care
about people with poor eyesight.
Damon thinks that everyone who
lives in the United States should learn to
speak English. I agree 100 percent and I
also think that everyone should learn
how to read, too, but I don’t think the
lack of either one of these skills should
keep someone from voting. The whole
idea behind a democracy is the active
participation by the citizens of Texas in
I agree that everyone in the
United States should learn to
speak English ... the lack of
this skill should keep someone
from voting. The whole idea
behind a democracy is the active
participation by the citizens in the
government process, and if that
means providing bilingual ballots
in Spanish in some areas and
Vietnamese in others, so be it.
the government process, and if that
means providing bilingual ballots in
Spanish in some areas and Vietnamese
in others, so be it. I think democracy is
well worth it.
Our language is like a living,
breathing organism: It is constantly
evolving and growing. Government
control of language is a scary thing. If
you don’t believe me, read George
Orwell’s “1984.” If the founding fathers
had declared the king’s English as the
official language of the United States, it
would have served only to stagnate the
language, and we would have still been
speaking the king’s English today.
Mike Thomas is a senior business
major.
t\
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Opinion Page Editor Ellen Hobbs 845-331;
Mail Call
Graduating senior airs suppressed opinions
EDITOR:
I have been relatively quiet since I first set foot on this campus as a student
in 1985. Now it is time for me to walk the stage and I must say I am proudio
be an Aggie; however, I would like to dispose of a few parting opinions on
some of the more well-trodden subjects of the past few years.
After five years there is no doubt in my mind Highway 6 runs both ways,
(I congratulate the Texas State Department of Highways and Public Trans
portation for this engineering marvel). Come on Ags, let’s give this a rest
Also, after five years I have yet to determine why a University noted forits
engineering college has what is probably the worst rain water drainage system
in the state. After two years of exhaustive study, it is plain to me that the gravy
at Sbisa Dining Hall possesses the same properties as many of the over-the-
counter laxatives available today. I was required to complete two years of for
eign language studies in high school to be eligible for college; therefore, ii
shouldn’t be asking too much to require foreign professors to complete at leasi
one semester covering phonetic pronunciation of English words. My solution
to the parking problem: I think I should be the only student allowed to part
on campus. This is probably not an original idea. My opinion on graduating
seniors being exempt from finals ... you can probably f igure that one out.Tra
ditions ... enjoy them.
So what is the point of all this you ask? Simple. Nothing in this world is
perfect, including this University, but what remains to be seen is that weal-
tend one of the finest schools in this country. Things aren’t really all that bad,
Lane Griffin ‘90
Alma mater insignificant in bid for governor
EDITOR:
What’s all this talk about Clayton Williams being an Aggie? It str ikes ureas
funny that every day, at least one Williams supporter makes it a pointtotell
me that “Clayton is a good of Ag.” This may very well be true, but isn't italso
true that if Clayton is an Aggie and is such a man of truth, integrity and lead
ership, then I shouldn’t have to be reminded of it every day? 1 would thint
that through what he says and what he does I should be able Figure out
whether I wanted to vote for him.
It seems ironic that every one has to show me that he’s a “good ol’An
when it seems like Clayton should be the one telling me with what hesaysand
what he does. For example, Ross Perot is a man who does not have supporters
that come to me every day and tell me that he is from Texas and is a “goodol
boy.” But I know that Perot is a good man. He uses his power and influenceto
promote change. In my home town of Dallas, Perot often advises the dt)
council on his views and tells them the side of an issue that might otherwise be
unnoticed. Perot is also the man who was largely responsible for the Texas
legislature passing the “no pass, no play” bill.
Perot promotes change and from what I see of him, he is a man of integ
rity and passion. In a sense, isn’t Perot an Aggie? He may not have attended
A&M (and no one says that automatically makes you an Aggie) but he stands
for the ideal of being an Aggie. I realize Perot is not running for governor, bul
my point is that no one has ever had to give me an excuse to believe in and
support his ideas. Through what he does, and not through the fact that I have
some historical link to the man, 1 respect and support Ross Perot.
In the fall 1988 presidential election, Yale University overwhelming!'
voted for Michael Dukakis. George Bush, who ironically is a Yale graduatt,
found little to no support on his “home” campus. Not only did the Yale stu
dent body fail to vote for an alumnus, they voted for Michael Dukakis, a Har
vard graduate. The Yale/Harvard rivalry is one of the oldest and fiercest ri
valries in the country, but when it came down to supporting a man they
believed in, the students at Yale ignored all the immature, childish rhetoric.
Let us forget what school Clayton Williams attended and look at what he
has done and can do for the state of Texas. If Williams does stand for the ide
als of being an Aggie, then his actions will show it and no one need remind me
of it.
Steve O’Brien ’92
Cartoons ‘refreshingly funny’
EDITOR:
With reference to the letters critical of Don Atkinson and his “Adventures
in Cartooning” (like Pablo Pissanetzky’s of April 12). It is time someone
showed some suppport in favor of Atkinson. The comic sti ip attempts to write
on issues of interest to everyone, and some jokes end up being at the expense
of others.
The two-percenters, those in favor of tradition, the drinking habits of the
fraternities, phrases such as “Highway 6 runs both ways” need not be con
verted into major issues for disagreements among ourselves; they needn’t be
taken any more seriously than the treatment they have received in the comic
strip. His jokes are neither offensive nor inappropriate in their role in a col
lege newspaper. What really counts is that most of us enjoy his refreshingly
funny ideas.
So let our senses of humor prevail and may “Adventures in Cartooning’
boldly go where no Ag has gone before.
Shahriar Khan
Graduate student
Have an opinion? Express it!
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial staff resemes the right to edit lelltn
for style and length, hilt will make every effort to maintain the author's intent. There is no guarantee tbt
letters submitted will be printed. Each letter must be signed and must include the classification, address mill
telephone number of the writer. All letters may be brought to 216 Reed McDonald, or sent to Campus Mail
Stop 1111.
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Managing Editor
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News Editors
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Mary-Lynne Rice,
Lifestyles Editor
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Adventures In Cartooning
by Don Atkinson Jr
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