We endorse the man, not his picture
T
J- h
he Battalion Editorial
Board takes seriously its responsibility
to inform the student body about
campus issues.
In Tuesday's Batt, we inserted a
Voters' Guide. Wednesday we
endorsed Stephen Ruth for Student
Body President. We also outlined our
reasons for recommending him to you,
the readers.
What we did not do is explain how
we, a staff of 10 students, arrived at our
decision. We owe you an explanation.
When we compiled the Voters'
Guide, we called the candidates for
Student Body President, Senior and
Junior Yell Leaders, Off-Campus
Aggies President and Class Council
Presidents.
We asked them to turn in written
platforms limited to 150 words for the
Student Body President and Yell
Leaders, and 75 words for the others.
We also took pictures of these
candidates. Candidates for the other
offices were listed in the Guide, but
space restraints kept us from accepting
their platforms.
At this point, we were in the same
boat as most of our readers. We knew
only as much about the candidates as
they put in their written platforms.
So we invited the three Student Body
Presidential candidates in for separate
interviews. And they talked, for over
five hours. We asked questions that we
as students wanted answered.
After listening to them and debating
their strengths and weaknesses among
ourselves for even longer, we decided
to endorse Stephen Ruth.
We think his experience, his ideas
about campus unity and his personal
integrity best represent the wants and
needs of Texas A&M students.
The candidates' platforms are very
similar and few differences in their
personalities are apparent on paper.
The difference is in their pictures. Ruth
is black.
We received a disturbing letter
today. Jerry Johnson, Class of '94,
asked if we knew something about the
candidates that he didn't, so we
decided to use this column to clarify
how we reached our endorsement
decision.
But Johnson went on to write that by
picking Ruth we could "soothe our
social conscience, be politically correct
and come out with a competent
student body president."
We were shocked not at the critique
of us; we were shocked at his final
comment:
"If a silent racist majority does not
build a coalition to beat Ruth, then The
Battalion couldn't have asked for an
easier election to come out shining."
I've got news for you, Jerry. No
matter who wins the election, each
candidate expressed the need for
increased multiculturalism on campus.
In our interviews, Ruth, Charles
Phipps and Scott Hantman (both of
whom are white), all addressed the
need to better educate students about
other cultures.
I honestly hope Jerry takes the time
to educate himself about other
cultures. I also hope he takes the time
to talk with the candidates. That way
he won't make an uneducated decision
based upon what he sees in a picture.
Lisa Ann Robertson is a senior
journalism major.
/WBE \p » CHOP IT OP
vr wvu.
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All the advantages women enjoy
EDITOR:
I am writing in response to Tim Truesdale's March 25
column.
Truesdale, your attempt to procure solutions to the un
dermining of feminism fails to embrace the full implica
tions of capitalism: Your light-hearted and jocular analog
ies of furniture polish-producing women undercut the
seriousness of the problem.
Really, Truesdale, "all the advantages women enjoy." I
suppose you mean the bountiful advantages women enjoy
in regard to our rape laws. Yeah, right.
Likewise, you fail to see the full implications of the
body. It is not that the man's body is any less beautiful, as
you so aptly observe from a man's perspective, but the fe
male body has served as a source of power and big money
for corporations run by men and women alike.
Naomi Campbell and Christi Brinkley certainly are
beautiful women, but what have their bodies done for the
progress of women's equality? They are simply tools to
perpetuate corporate control over our perception of the
body and its role in a capitalist economy.
Playboy is the epitome of this: Man should be free to
reap the harvest of the female plenty. Where would alco
hol commercials be without the golden Aphrodite holding
a beer as water dapples her succulent skin?
The next time you approach feminism as an ideolgy,
Truesdale, I hope you will examine the full implicatons of
capitalism.
While the body is the most exquisite possession of hu
man beings, one must be aware of its role in a corporate-
controlled society. Kevin Cole'91
Symbol of oppression
Norplant has appeal
as incentive, penalty
N.
orplant, the best
thing to come along in contraceptive
options since the Pill, is becoming a
symbol of oppression for the very
women who should be liberated by it.
Norplant is a contraceptive implant
— women who use it undergo an
operation in which six matchstick-size
tubes are implanted in their arms that
suppress ovulation for up to five years.
Norplant is more effective, more
convenient and — in the long run —
less expensive than the Pill.
However, the approval of Norplant
by the Food and Drug Administration
has marked not only the advent of a
new age of contraception, but also the
advent of a new form of control over
women's bodies.
Less than one month after the drug
was approved by the FDA, a California
judge sentenced a woman convicted of
child abuse to be implanted with
Norplant for three years after serving a
short jail term as a condition of her
parole.
It can be argued that there is little
difference between the use of Norplant
in the California case and "chemical
castration," which has been advocated
for men who have been convicted of
sex-related crimes. However, the
legislated use of Norplant has not
stopped merely at its use in child-abuse
cases.
The Kansas legislature has been
considering a proposal that would pay
$500 to women on welfare who are
voluntarily implanted with the drug.
The women also would be given an
additional $50 per year and free
checkups to make sure the drug is still
working.
Civil rights activists say the bill says
there are certain segments of the
population — especially impoverished
minority group members — that the
population at large would rather not
allow to reproduce. Opponents also
argue that many women might take
part in this program merely because
they need the money, not necessarily
because this long-term form of
contraception is appropriate for them.
Other groups, including the National
Organization for Women and Planned
Parenthood of Kansas, say the bill has
its redeeming qualities; but their fear
that the bill could lead to less meritable
measures is real.
Kerry Patrick, the Republican
representative that introduced the bill
Ellen Hobbs
Columnist
to the Kansas legislature, told reporters
he plans to introduce a proposal that
would require women convicted of
cocaine or heroin trafficking or
possession to be implanted with the
drug for at least a year. Patrick says the
measure would help prevent the birth
of drug-addicted babies.
The idea of putting a lock on the
reproductive systems of women who
have committed crimes not related in
any way to sex or child abuse should be
enough to show that legislative use of
Norplant is on its way to abuse.
Already an editorial in the Philadelphia
Inquirer has suggested long-term
female welfare recipients be required to
be implanted with the drug. The paper
apologized after receiving negative
publicity.
The attempt by government to
control social problems by controlling
the population's collective uterus is a
blatant display of sexism. And the
people should nip it in the bud.
It's nice that women on welfare
would have a chance for free
contraceptives. But at the cost of
women's privacy and their control over
what they can do with their own
bodies, it's not worth it.
Norplant should be used in the most
effective way possible: Out of the
hands of legislators.
Women's organizations should begin
a campaign to get funding to help poor
women get access to the contraceptive,
and that might very well include grants
from the government. But giving
judges and legislatures the ability to
pick and choose who is implanted with
the drug and why is only opening up a
door to abuse and government-
sanctioned oppression of women.
Feeding kids on welfare and caring
for addicted babies is something a lot of
people might not want to pay for;
however, coercing women with
Norplant is just another kind of drug
abuse that needs to be stopped.
Ellen Hobbs is a senior journalism
major.
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
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4111.
Bush deserves less criticism
Andy Yung's column bashing George
Bush on the grounds that he hasn't done
much for education, civil rights, the war on
drugs or the national debt is exactly why
these problems remain. Continually, peo
ple lay the problems of the nation on the
President. Let's remember just how much
power and time this one man really has.
Yung feels Bush has done a poor job with
education. I agree, the current system
needs improvement. But even if George
picked God as Secretary of Education, little
would change. Most of our educational sys
tems are run and controlled by state and lo
cal governments. Let's cuss them, then
maybe something will change.
As for the Civil Rights Bill, I'm a minority
and I disagreed with it. Forcing businesses
to hire "token" minority men and women
only would raise resentment from the white
part of society now under reverse discrimi
nation. This resentment would further di
Jose Rodriguez
Reader’s Opinion
vide already tense racial factions. Bush
knew this bill wasn't going to help anything
or anyone.
I feel Bush has done remarkably well
against drugs. He's created numerous task
forces and has used the CIA, FBI and U.S.
military to try to put an end to the madness.
Drug use, sales and smuggling all have de
creased in the past few years according to
such pessimistic magazines as Time and
Newsweek.
Blaming the national debt on Bush practi
cally has become a national pastime. Get
original Yung. Bush has little control over
national spending. He draws up a budget.
sends it to Congress and catches hell when
there's a national debt. Remember, Con'
gress writes the checks. Bush just suggests
what to spend on.
Maybe if congressmen were willing to
take some political risk and drop or reform
the hundreds of worthless programs that
waste billions each year, we might not have
a debt. But why should they change any
thing when they can just sit there and let
people like Yung put all the blame on one
man, our popularly elected President?
If we want to change the world, we
should start with the population, our local
and state governments and our elected rep
resentatives who reside in the most power
ful branch of our government, the Con
gress. "Bush Bashing" will not change or
help anything.
Jose Rodriguez is a senior mechanical engi
neering major.