2
Opinion
Tuesday, December 4, 1990
The Battalion
Opinion Page Editor
Jennifer Jeffus
845-331
Women must fight to overcome sex discrimination
1 hree women at Texas
A&M have begun a campaign to
make students realize that women
are discriminated against in
advertising. Unfortunately, their
message seems to have been met
with resounding non-response.
1 saw one of the fliers distributed
by the group, which calls itself
Members for Ending
Discrimination in Advertising, and
it was quite disturbing. But it hasn’t
surprised me that there has been
little evidence that their ad, which
ran in The Battalion on Nov. 19,
and fliers have made any
impression on the student body.
There’s a reason for that. It’s
that women on this campus, like
many women in the United States,
have decided they aren’t victims of
Ellen
Hobbs
Columnist
discrimination anymore. The
attitude of many women seems to
be that discrimination doesn’t exist
for them in this day and age. They
separate themselves from
feminism and say their fights for
jobs and promotions don’t have
anything to do with women’s
rights, just their own talents, job
skills and drive to achieve.
Me
any college women
believe the job market won’t be
any different for them than it will
University shuttles end
parking complications
yls a faculty member who was
offered a reserved parking space, 1
want to respond to a complaint
about the campus parking
situation which has been
mentioned repeatedly on this
opinion page: that parking lots
reserved for faculty often stand
only three-quarters full while
students sit in their cars waiting for
spaces to clear in the student lots.
My response is simply this —the
vast majority of students and
faculty should stop driving to
campus and start riding Texas
A&M’s shuttles.
The usual complaint is that
riding shuttles is frightfully
inconvenient.
But if the alternative involves
waiting in long lines to get into a
parking lot, or having to go to
campus much earlier than you
would like to, 1 fail to see that the
bus is inconvenient.
In my own case, I find I save
time riding the bus. From my
apartment in Bryan, it takes about
12 minutes to drive to campus,
whereas it takes about 20 minutes
to get to campus by bus — five
minutes walking to the bus stop
and 15 on the bus.
But for those 15 minutes on the
bus, I am getting work done:
reading, writing or editing while my
friendly bus driver does the driving.
So the extra eight rpinutes
actually constitutes a gain of four
minutes in work time.
Gary
Varner
Reader’s Opinion
The only respect in which the
shuttle system is genuinely
inconvenient is that buses do not
run on weekends, but this could be
corrected easily and efficiently.
Although ridership undoubtedly
would be low, by making routes
like Reveille and Center Pole run
only once per hour on the
weekend, one bus could cover as
many as four routes.
Center Pole and Reveille are
combined into a single half-hour
run after 6:1$ p.fh. on weekdays.
If it were changed and these
routes ran every hour on the
weekends, one bus could cover
Reveille and Center Pole in one
half hour and one or two other
routes in the second half hour.
The shuttle system runs to
within a half mile of the vast
majority of homes and apartments
in Bryan-College Station, meaning
the majority of students and
faculty members could save
money and time and could lighten
the load on the environment by
riding the shuttle.
So although most faculty do not
need reserved parking spaces,
students should stop complaining
about the time they spend waiting
for parking spaces.
R,
We
Jding the bus also saves
money and is environmentally
sound.
Although the reserved faculty
parking space I was offered would
have cost no more than a two-
semester bus pass, 1 will save
about $72 on gas in the course of
the school year by saving 30 miles
per week at current gas prices.
Riding the bus also reduces
wear and tear on my truck, and it
lightens the load I place on our
common natural resources.
e all should support the
Gniversity’s progressive attempt to
develop public transportation
rather than encouraging use of
personal cars.
If everyone who lives within a
half mile of an A&M bus stop
would ride the bus instead of
driving, the University’s parking
problems would be solved.
Instead of just refusing to build
more parking lots, we probably
could afford to tear a few out.
Gaiy Varner is a visiting
assistant professor of philosophy
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Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Lisa Ann Robertson,
Editor
Kathy Cox, Managing Editor
J ennifer J effus,
Opinion Page Editor
Chris Vaughn, City Editor
Keith Sartin,
Richard Tijerina,
News Editors
Alan Lehmann, Sports Editor
Fredrick D. Joe, Art Director
Kristin North,
Lifestyles Editor
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for their male colleagues. They
don’t seem to think there’ll be a
problem getting jobs that pay
them the same salary as men for
the same work.
But statistics show otherwise.
According to the 1980 CJ.S.
Census, working women — on the
average — earn 60 cents to every
dollar men make in the same job.
For women in professional jobs,
the average is slightly higher — 63
cents.
Sure, a decade has passed
since those numbers were
collected. It might very well be that
when the results of the 1990
Census are tabulated, those
averages could be higher.
But it’s not likely to change that
much. Between 1970 and 1980,
when the women’s movement in
the United States was in full swing,
the average woman’s salary
increased only two cents to every
dollar made by men. That means if
the increase from ! 980 to 1990 is
seven times higher than the
increase from 1970 to 1980,
women still will average less than
three-fourths of the average salary
men make for the same work.
And those professional women
who are making 63 cents to every
dollar now? In 1970, they were
making 64 cents.
Women today are victims of
discrimination, in their search for
jobs, in their paychecks and in
their education. But the biggest
enemies women have today are
themselves, because of their self-
perpetuated ignorance and denit
of oppression in our society. houj
www- I Airlines
Mr omen must realize the, Empire J
still have to fight for their rights, f ro m ere
and they have to stand up and a whelmed
the way they are portrayed in surging l
advertising, as well as in movies llt “i \
on T.V. and in magazines, is unfa; n banki
They’ve got to fight the portrayal; J ton, Dei
women as objects and in 11 The film
Co
sterotypical roles because that organize
portrayal affects the perception: in I9f
women as a whole by our societf, Texas a
But if women can’t face upto l airline h
the fact that they are victims of
discrimination, the fight won’t
begin and they won’t ever real
considered equal.
Ellen Hobbs is a senior
journalism major.
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t-sip behavior was offensive
EDITOR:
Upon attending the Texas A&M vs. t.u. game, I realize
how much I appreciate A&M and how many millions of dol
lars you’d have to pay me to go to t.u.
About 10 of my fellow Ags and myself left College Station
and arrived in Austin in time for yell practice.
We promptly were greeted at the capital with rotten eggs
thrown at us, along with someone standing in the middle of
yell holding up the Longhorn sign. If it had not been for seve
ral CTs that said killing him was *bad bull,” then he would
have been flattened.
We attended Saturday’s game, and afterward were ridi
culed and shoved as we left. Both young and old t-sips
shoved us, saying, “Beat the hell outta A&M.”
Losing by one point is hardly a whipping, and the game
proved how much spirit A&M has since we went for the win
rather than take the certain tie.
Texas certainly is a university with no class! Go Miami!
Beat the Hell Outta t.u.l
Andy Smith ’93
AUS"
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Soldiers request letters
EDITOR:
Howdy Ags! I am the adjutant of the 27th Combat Engi
neer Battalion (Airborne) from Ft. Bragg, N.C. My unit was
the first non-divisional combat engineer battalion to deploy
Aug. 23 on Operation Desert Shield. Currently, there is no ro
tation policy for our return to the United States. We hope we
return by June.
We are located in the middle of the desert. We are proud
of our lineage and colors and are proud to represent the
United States during this time of need.
Two months before we were sent to Saudi Arabia, we just
had returned from a 100-day deployment in the Honduras.
Many soldiers have been away from their families,
friends and loved ones for the majority of this year. It has
been, and will continue to be, the love and devotion of those
same people that encourage our soldiers to do their best in all
they set out to do.
Soldiers within the unit receive a letter or two a week —
some addressed “to any soldier.” These warm and thoughtful
letters do much for our soldiers stuck in such an austere envi
ronment.
I would like to extend sincere holiday greetings to Texas
A&M students and citizens of College Station. We are going
to be away from our homes during Christmas and for many
days thereafter. I’m enclosing our unit’s address. We would
welcome any letters your readers wish to send our soldiers.
Kenny Crawford ’85
1LT(P) Kenny Crawford
Attn: Tiger Soldier
27th Engineer Battalion (CbLAbn)
20th Engr Bde
APO, N.Y. 09657
Longhorns have no class
sa»
was
EDITOR:
I never realized how obnoxious t.u. fans are until
them in action at Saturday’s game in Memorial Stadium.
As an incoming freshman, throughout the semester
amazed at how eve?yone at A&M truly hated t.u., but 1 didn>
understand why.
I always thought A&M and t.u. were almost identical uni
versifies; and at one time, I even considered attending Uj
Mow I’m embarrassed I applied after what I witnessed in Aus
tin this weekend.
The yells and gestures for each team are fine —it’s ail p
of the rivalry. But when their student body throws chunks oi
ice at our band — that’s when a good rivaliy becomes a bitte
hate. 1 was proud of the way the band did nothing to retaliate,
After the game, t.u. again showed their “true colors" t?
harrassing yell leaders and the A&M student body. If A&fl
had won, I am certain that the Ags would have shown mot!
class and respect for the other team.
Ultimately, I hated for A&M to lose the game; but it madt
me realize what little class t.u. has and how lucky I am to in
a “good ol’ Ag.”
Lee Briggs ’94
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