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
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NEW JEP4^
The Battalion
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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
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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
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ods, and when school is not in session dur
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is Tuesday through Friday during the
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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
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