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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 1991)
2 Opinion Wednesday, February 13, 1991 The Battalion Opinion Page Editor Jennifer Jeffus 845-3314 Homosexual rights Faculty Senate rejects proposal against gays I t seems that once each semester, a letter or column about homosexual rights appears on the Opinion Page. It, without fail, brings an onslaught of response mail. In one corner we normally have the Bible-brandishing homosexual bashers. In the other comer are the gay-rights supporters armed with such taunts as "everyone is closed minded but us." My intention certainly is not to spark one of these queer debates. I am just praising a recent decision by our Faculty Senate which left intact a provision that sexual preference is an example of discrimination that should be abolished regarding faculty matters. The Senate voted 44-18 to leave the homosexual anti-discrimination statement in the University's new Statement on Academic Freedom, Responsibility and Tenure (SAFRT). The statement directly affects the Matt McBumett Columnist "I am saying that if we discriminate against homosexuals, we would lose many qualified employees in all branches of the work force.” hiring, firing and tenure decisions made by the University. It now awaits only President Mobley's go-ahead and then it becomes policy. The scary fact of the matter is that many faculty members opposed the policy. A petition bearing the signatures of 66 faculty members and more than 100 "local residents" was cited as evidence the Senate should remove the homosexual statement. One of the petition's signatories, Carl Gabbard, a professor of health and physical education, was quoted in the Feb. 12 edition of the Houston Chronicle as saying, "We want to show that many don't share the liberal social attitude common on campuses. We are by no means saying homosexuals should be discriminated against, but we also don't think we should be in the forefront of universities who've made these unnecessary statements." M, lybe the common liberal social attitude should not be prevalent, but common sense should. If Gabbard's is the prevailing attitude of those opposing the anti-homosexual discrimination statement, then it seems these are the faculty members holding our University back. The Chronicle also quoted philosophy professor and faculty adviser for A&M's Gay and Lesbian Student Services, Larry Hickman, as saying this revision would bring A&M into "parity with other major universities." The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force reported that more than 200 universities nationwide have changed their policies accordingly. The University's support of the homosexual revision, therefore, serves only to keep the school up to date, not put A&M in the forefront of some liberal assault on our country's colleges. It is an unfortunate truism that these "unnecessary statements" must be made, otherwise sexual preference discrimination could occur. This is not to say that it would continued unchecked, but it would happen. We have seen too many examples of this in the past. The plight of African Americans is a perfect example. Though discrimination remains, blacks have the law on their side. With homosexuals, discrimination always will be present. But if A&M policy forbids this discrimination, homosexuals will at least have a leg to stand on in battles concerning unfair treatment. The petition stated that "those who violate or encourage violation of state criminal codes should not be given special privileges or recognition." The problem here seems to be the criminal codes, not the SAFRT. We have heard enough about sodomy laws and the moral aspects of homosexuality. I am saying if we discriminate against homosexuals, we would lose many qualified employees in all branches of the work force. I applaud the stance the Faculty Senate has taken, and I hope this attitude filters into other parts of society. Matt McBumett is a senior electrical engineering major. MARQUES <S>mi tub peow NEW JEP4^ The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Lisa Ann Robertson, Editor Kathy Cox, Managing Editor Jennifer Jeffus, Opinion Page Editor Chris Vaughn, City Editor Keith Sartin, Richard Tijerina, News Editors Alan Lehmann, Sports Editor Fredrick D. Joe, Art Director Kristin North, Life Style 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. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editorial board or the au thor, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, faculty or the Board of Regents. The Battalion is published daily, except Saturday, Sunday, holidays, exam peri ods, and when school is not in session dur ing fall and spring semesters; publication is Tuesday through Friday during the summer session. Newsroom: 845-3313. Mail subscriptions are $20 per semes ter, $40 per school year and $50 per full year: 845-2611. Advertising rates fur nished on request: 845-2696. Our address: The Battalion, 230 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, Col lege Station, TX 77843-1111. Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, College Station TX 77843-4111. Mail Call Hie Battalion is interested in hearing from its readers and welcomes all letters to the editor. Piease include name, classification, address and phone num ber on ail letters. The editor reserves the right to edit letters for style and length. Because of limited space, shorter letters have a better chance of appearing. There is. however, no guarantee letters will appear. Letters may be brought to 216 Reed McDonald or sent to Campus Mail Stop 1111. War supporters criticize Batt EDITOR: Since the beginning of the gulf war, I have seen nothing but anti-war pictures, editorial cartoons and editorials in The Battalion. This has irritated me since I feel a wide ma jority of students at Texas A&M support the President's policy in the gulf. I have been waiting to see equal amounts of support for the troops in the pictures and articles in The Batt. I am still waiting. There are flags and banners supporting the troops hanging on Hart Hall and many other dorms every day. Unfortunately, The Battalion doesn't seem to have any room to print these scenes. On my way to class Tuesday, I saw five war protesters in front of the Military Sciences Building. Somehow, I was sure The Battalion would put a picture of these people in the next day's paper, and I got very angry about it. The sad thing is, I was right. The Battalion staff has been using the paper to de nounce the war effort rather than to report on the news and happenings on campus. This is plain old bad journalism. It discredits The Battal ion, its staff and advisers, and the Department of Journa lism as a whole. Why must I put up with this? I would like to be able to think of the campus newspaper as a credible source of in formation, but right now, I can't. Come on guys, let's see some flags! who are causing trouble at recent peace events. One confused individual showed up at the above-men tioned peace meeting holding a pro-war sign, yelling "Bomb Iraq," and a half-dozen other radicals (calling them selves, of all things, the Young Conservatives of Texas) ag gressively disrupted the Jan. 15 peace march. The Battalion's Jan. 18 editorial urging non-violence should have been specifically directed at these militant ex tremists. These extremists showed up at another group's march and interrupted speakers, shoved each other to fake and create controversy and threatened violence. The Battalion must report accurately all sides of the cur rently divided public opinion about the United States' war against the Iraqi people. More importantly, of course, is for the United States to immediately stop its cruel, unprovoked and expensive bombing of the innocent citizens of Iraq, which goes be yond the United Nations goal of forcing Iraq out of Kuwait. The United States also must bring its troops home and leave it to Iraq's neighbors to endure a bloody land battle with Iraq if they so choose. Michael C. Worsham graduate student accompanied by 14 signatures Tom Lenahan '90 Accompanied by 83 signatures. Peace activists criticize coverage EDITOR: Peace activists are disturbed by the war coverage in The Battalion. The Battalion covered the Jan. 15 peace march of more than 100 people. Then, the Jan. 16 and 17 editions of The Battalion listed both the People For Peace In The Middle East meeting held on Jan. 17; the same day. The Battalion ran a story on page one titled "A&M students side with Bush in Iraqi attack." This is inaccurate reporting and rather confusing since The Battalion had editorialized against the United States' use of force. Another disturbing aspect of The Battalion's coverage is not recognizing that it is the radical pro-war extremists Editor's Note: The Battalion has made every effort to be even-handed in reporting student reactions to the war. To prove this, we have chronicled three single-spaced pages of all our local coverage for this semester. We did not, however, include Associated Press stories when making our list. The Battalion has published stories and pictures about flag-decorated dorms, yellow-ribboned cars, sign-carrying protesters and peace-loving marchers throughout the pa per. We find it unfortunate that our college-educated read ers do not understand that we assign stories on the basis of their news values, not on the basis of our editorial posi tions. This means if a student group organizes a rally and another group protests that rally, the news is the con frontation. As editor of The Battalion, I encourage all students to write to us or come by the newsroom if you do not under stand our policies. I will be glad to talk with you and ex plain how our newspaper works. Informed readers might not like our stories, but they can appreciate our efforts to provide balanced coverage of what is certainly the biggest story of our college careers. — Lisa Robertson A ( Ecc put gen inte By Two T< majors pn Universit) journalisn Emmar Andrew JV economics Paribus, ir generated interest. 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