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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 19, 1990)
The Battalion OPINION Thursday, July 19, 1990 my lips: no for Georgia Little Georgie Bush was 8 years old. His father walked into his bedroom with a stern look on his face. “Son,” he began, “I have a question to ask you, and I want you to tell the truth.” Little Georgie squirmed. He knew what the question was going to be. “Did you,” his father, Mr. Bush, began, “or did you NOT cut down my cherry tree.” Little Georgie’s heart pounded. His mind raced. Yeah, he’d cut down the stupid cherry tree. He’d gotten the new hatchet for his birthday, and he was looking for something to chop on and, well, the cherry tree was just sort of there. But what should he do? Should he tell the truth and hope his father wouldn’t punish him too severely, since he had acted like a man and owned up to his misdeeds. Or should he lie through his teeth? His father had often said to him, “Son, one day, you may grow up to be president of the United States.” If he were president, little Georgie reasoned, he would have to lie all the time. “Might as well get in some practice,” little Georgie said to himself. Then, he looked up at his dad and lied, “No, sir, I did NOT cut down the cherry tree.” It had come out so easily. This lying thing wasn’t all that difficult. “One day, I’ll make a great president,” little Georgie was thinking. But Mr. Bush wasn’t convinced. “Son,” he said, “you wouldn’t lie to me, would you?” “Who, me?” little Georgie asked back. His palms were sweating and he hoped his dad didn’t notice that. “Well, who do you think cut down my cherry tree?” Mr. Bush went on. Little Georgie’s creative juices began to flow. This had to be good. “Maybe the doggie did it,” he said. “Yeah, that’s it. The doggie has really sharp teeth and he probably just chewed right through the cherry tree.” Lewis Grizzard Syndicated Columnist “But we don’t have a doggie,” said Mr. Bush. “I should have thought of that,” little Georgie said to himself, searching for another lie. “Maybe it was a real estate developer,” he blurted out. “Yeah, that’s it. A real estate developer was driving down our street and saw the cherry tree and couldn’t resist chopping it down. They’ll probably start building condos in our front yard any day now.” “Georgie,” Mr. Bush said, “it’ll be at least 30 years before somebody comes up with the idea of condominiums. Didn’t I give you a hatchet for your birthday?” “Yes, you did, sir, but I lost it.” “You lost it?” “Yes, sir. Or maybe it was stolen. Yeah, that’s it. Somebody broke in my room and stole my hatchet.” “Then what’s that in the chair?” “My hatchet!” little Georgie exclaimed. “Can you believe somebody stole my hatchet and then brought it back?” “No, son,” answered Mr. Bush. “I can’t. Now, let me ask you one more time — did you'or did you NOT chop down my cherry tree?” “Read my lips, sir,” answered Little Georgie. “I did NOT chop down your cherry tree.” “Read mine,” said Mr. Bush. “Bend over.” After the spanking, Mr. Bush asked his son, “Do you promise never to lie again?” “Yes, sir,” said a tearful little Georgie, hiding the crossed fingers of his right hand behind his back. Despite his discomfort he could hear the strains of “Hall to the Chief” playing somewhere in the back of his mind. Copyright 1990, Cowles Syndicate, Inc. Mail Call Leasing of bookstore bad idea EDITOR: Aggies helping Aggies — what a concept! Until the sale of the MSG Bookstore, this concept was a guiding rule of business. The profits of the MSG Bookstore always have been touted as being re invested in the University. Now, the New York book mogul Barnes and Noble, which recently pur chased the MSG Bookstore, will eradicate that policy. Oh sure, they have pledged the same amounts to the various campus orga nizations that formerly have benefitted from the MSG Bookstore. And, out of the generosity of its heart, Barnes and Noble will even share some of the bookstore profits with the University. But what about us? What will happen to the thousands, yes thousands, of undergraduate and graduate students who are patrons of the MSG Bookstore? No longer will we be sure that Aggies will be helping Aggies. I assume that we will be sacrificed to the great god of greed who has possessed the souls of the current A&M administration. I am thankful that I will graduate soon in order to escape the clutches of the growing University. Christi Payne ’91 Have an opinion? Express it! 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. There is no guarantee that letters submitted will be printed. Each letter must be signed and must include the classification, address and telephone number of the writer. All letters may be brought to 216 Reed McDonald, or sent to Campus Mail Stop 1111. University systems ought to include students on their Boards of Regents The members of the Texas A&M University System are Corpus Christi State, Laredo State, Prairie View A&M, Tarleton State, Texas A&I, Texas A&M and Texas A&M at Galveston. All seven members are governed by the nine of (male, Caucasian, former C.T.) Ags on our Board of Regents. I love to brag on Aggies and Aggieland, but this aging Aggie autocracy (no offense guys) needs to tout a broader representation. Criticism of the current Board seems to eke out of the corners. Of course, little is public. No one, including myself, wishes to find out his student ID is a lemon or all his university records have been lost in a mysterious mishap. Of course nothing like that would happen. On the other hand, our Board of Regents is influential and its members are financially endowed political activists — that is why Clements or White chose them for their posts. Anyone wishing to enter the realm of Republican or Democratic politics would have to be wary of criticizing individual regents. Well, enough said about our Board’s problems. (I want to get into politics some day.) Let’s focus on an at least partial solution: a student regent. The Legislative Study Group (LSG) here at A&M has researched this much more than I have. In fact, I have used their findings. First off, according to a poll to be released this Fall, 88.7 percent of the replying Aggies favored a non-voting advisory student regent on our Board of Regents. I believe that the phrase “no taxation without representation” is similar to “no tuition and fees” without representation (especially since most of the faculty and staff here consider us to be big boys and girls now, capable of rendering rational decisions). Although the questionnaire said “non-voting, advisory” student regent, a voting student regent is in order. If our representative on the board could vote, he or she would not likely be ignored. Retiring state Sen. Kent Caperton, with A&M Legislative Study Group’s advice, authored Senate Bill 712 in the 1989 legislative session. The bill would have provided an advisory student regent. The bill passed the senate by an overwhelming 23-7. Because the session was quickly coming to an end, the house suspended the posting rule so that the Committee on Higher Education could discuss the bill immediately. The committee did not have time to discuss the bill before that session came to a close. Otherwise, the bill might have passed the house as easily as it did the senate. To give student representation to the Board of Regents and insure that student concerns are heard, a bill similar to S.B. 712 should be proposed early in the next legislative session in January. Although a voting student regent may be an unrealistic request, this position should nonetheless be demanded (with an eye to compromise if necessary). The student regent should serve a one year term from Sept. 1 to Aug. 31 (as in S.B. 712). He or she should be a full-time student with at least sixty completed hours and at least a 3.0. (He or she has to be reasonably intelligent and industrious.) To insure a competent student regent, nominees should first be chosen via an application process to the student government of the respective system schools, or popular election by the student body in the absence of a student government in smaller schools. Because there are seven schools in our system, there would be seven student regent nominees. These , nominees would form the student regent committee from which the governor would choose the system’s student regent and ex officio chairmai of the student regent committee. The system’s student regent should not come from the same school for more than two years in a rowinsysten with more than one school. To provide even more representatr from the other schools, the student regent committee should meet at least couple times a year to inform the chairman/student regent of the concerns at their respective schools. The student regent’s tuition should be paid for by the system for that year: well as his or her travel expenses togel to the board meetings; and at A&M,! would suggest to the Ghairmanofthe Board of Regents, currently William! McKenzie, to assign the student reger: to the Planning and Building and/or Academic Campuses Committees. The other two standing committees the Executive and Service Units Committees, have less relevancy to student concerns. Rather than increasing the Boardsia to more than nine, one of the three White appointees could be replacedin 1991 by the student regent. You can play the fiddle for one of the three’s loss, or realize that they would probalf not be reappointed by Ann Richardsoi Clayton Williams anyway. Other ideas, of course, circulateto increase representation on the Board Another good idea is that of a faculty regent . Nominees would be appointed by the Faculty Senates of the schools, and then the governor would choosetl faculty regent from the nominees. In short, the university system governing boards need to be more representative boards and less of a political payoff for campaign contributions. If Ann Richards or Clayton William endorsed the student regent idea ata campaign rally at the Grove, I thinktli announcement would do wonders for their popularity with Aggies and students across the state. The only problem then would be getting the students to vote ... Jon Beeler is a junior nuclear engineering major. The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference Associated Collegiate Press The Battalion Editorial Board Monique Threadgill, Editor Melissa Naumann, Managing Editor Damon Arhos, Opinion Page Editor Holly Becka, City Editor Meg Reagan, Lisa Ann Robertson, News Editors Clay Rasmussen, Sports Editor Eric Roalson, Art Director Todd Stone, Lifestyles Editor Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-sup porting newspaper operated as a commu nity service to Texas A&M and Bryan- College Station. 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