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Battalion steps backward
The irony of our current "student"
newspaper's ideology is not only
pathetic, it is embarrassing. Did you
notice the quotes around the word
student? Pretty clever, huh! Not really,
I got the idea from a recent Ellen Hobbs
column on the supposed abundance of
discrimination and lack of
multiculturalism at Texas A&M.
At one point in the article, she refers
to her comrades by trade as "the
'liberal' media." Considering the recent
bombardment of fundamentally liberal
(let's call a spade a spade) stories,
editorials and columns, I really don't
know how she shuns the label with a
straight face.
The following comments are
intended to call into question the
methods in which The Battalion works
as an entity and not to attack any one
individual.
The Battalion has been engaging in
its own form of discrimination lately by
filtering the news according to what it
decides are the most important issues,
stories, facts and opinions, and by
spotlighting the news as it meets their
agenda of liberal idealism. Apparently,
for The Batt, non-discriminatory action
and tolerance is a one-way street.
Let's look at a few examples of how
The Battalion has recently held their
liberal magnifying glass over issues
that they alone have consistently
judged to be of utmost importance and
newsworthiness.
First of all, it should be noted that
these are indeed issues and of
consequential importance, but as far as
how we as individuals or as a
University view them and choose to
address them, that is no concern of The
Battalion. Period.
Here is an incomplete list of topics
The Battalion is bent on enlightening
us on by a flickering liberalist's candle:
feminism, capital punishment,
discrimination, criminal rights, sexism,
tolerance and multiculturalism. Many
times the unnecesary liberal flavor of
The Battalion detracts from the many
things that it does so well.
Meg Greenfield, editorial page editor
of The Washington Post, has accurately
observed that "... the world according
to journalism is, on the contrary, a
surpassingly bleak place. A Martian
reading about it might in fact suppose
America to be composed entirely of
abused minorities living in squalid and
sadistically run state mental hospitals,
except for a small elite of venal
businessmen and county
commissioners who are profiting from
the unfortunates' misery."
April 8, 1991. The top-line story was
about the whopping 30 members of the
powerful Texans Against State Killing
who valiantly marched from Huntsville
to Austin in protest of the death
penalty. To put the icing on this cake,
when hundreds of people showed up
the following day at the Capitol
Building to protest the release of 85
convicted murderers, we didn't hear a
peep out of The Battalion — much less
a front page story.
On the very same front page, at the
bottom, in bold headline, our attention
was called to the late-breaking findings
of a priest's study on what the Bible
thinks about sodomy. (Seems a little
self-explanatory when you consider
what happened to the practice's
hometown of Sodom — guess that's
kind of why the press has dropped the
term, huh?) Really though. Battalion,
as if we really could not guess what
someone is going to say who was
invited by the GLSS. Thanks, though,
for trying to let us all attend the
meeting via journalistic affirmative
action.
Then, if we turn to page two and
look at the headlines there, we see
Hobbs' column on why A&M should
Patrick Dixon
Reader’s Opinion
be more multicultural and less
discriminatory — and appropriately so,
since she's an official member of our
local conscience for proper social
progress. Her April Fool's Day column,
which used outdated statistics and
irrelevant, antiquated comparisons,
was similarly a condemning and
cunning plea for the sodomite's agenda
of militant perversion.
A more accurate report, for example,
would have noted a $3.5 billion 1991
budget for AIDS research — more than
is given for the top 10 killers in the
United States combined. She could
have also offered that God, who she
claimed to hold certain views of her
own, offers a powerful and immediate
solution through the new life and
forgiveness that is found for anyone
through the saving grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ. (1 John 5:10-13).
Then from April 9 to April 12, we
received story after story with typical
one-sided reporting on why we should
adopt a new discrimination clause
designed to imply that A&M approves
of sodomy as a legitimate and
acceptable lifestyle and primarily to
give lawyers another foothold to sue
A&M in the almighty name of civil
justice a la Ted Kennedy.
Such condonement and civil action,
eventually in the form of quotas, etc.,
would only heighten tensions and
incidents. As President Mobley's
statement addressed, the real problem
is personal harassment and abuse of
anyone, which is only going to be
solved through new hearts, not new
words.
The Battalion's view on this issue has
been made overwhelmingly clear. The
Battalion's Life Style insert during the
GLSS awareness week was evidence
enough. It, too, was designed to make
us all think that sodomy should just be
viewed as a normal practice. Is it
possible that The Battalion's
environment is the sheltered one?
Finally, the Battalion's recent advice
to Mobley concerning the
discrimination policy is an outrage.
Their little suggestion was titled "Texas
A&M takes a step backward" and
accredited to The Battalion Editorial
Board. These editorial statements come
across as some form of consensus
student viewpoint or what it should be.
The mere thought by The Battalion that
we students don't have the correct
ideology and somehow are never going
to notice clumsy, overt journalistic
ploys to consistently have their social
agenda pushed on us is insulting and
way out of line from any resemblance
of journalistic ethics. Our student
newspaper should refrain from acting
as some ordained gatekeeper of
information and simply report the
news in a neutral manner and strive for
at least some degree of balance among
its columnists and cartoonists.
Cal Thomas, a columnist for the Los
Angeles Times, has recently
summarized this crisis from a national
perspective most succinctly:
"Why do so many Americans
distrust the press? It is because they
perceive, correctly I think, that most
journalists are not only marching to a
different ideological drummer, they're
marching in a different parade — one
headed in the opposite direction from
where a majority of Americans think
this country should go."
Patrick Dixon is a graduate student in
the MBA program.
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Timm Doolen,
Editor
Todd Stone, Managing Editor
Krista Umscheid,
Opinion Page Editor
Sean Frerking, City Editor
Jennifer Jeffus,
Gallic Wilcher,
News Editors
Jayme Blaschke, Sports Editor
Richard James, Art Director
Rob Newberry,
Lifestyles Editor
Editorial Policy
The Battalion is a non-profit, self-sup
porting newspaper operated as a community
service to Texas A&M and Bryan-College
Station.
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are
those of the editorial board or the author,
and do not necessarily represent the opin
ions of Texas A&M administrators, faculty
or the Board of Regents.
The Battalion is published daily, except
Saturday, Sunday, holidays, exam periods,
and when school is not in session during fall
and spring semesters; publication is Tuesday
through Friday during the summer session.
Mail subscriptions are $20 per semester,
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quest: 845-2696.
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Donald, Texas A&M University, College Sta
tion, TX 77843-1111.
Second class postage paid at College Sta
tion, TX 77843.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas
A&M University, College Station TX 77843-
4111.
B I" The Battalion Wednesday, May 1,1991
University needs emphasis
on learning instead of grades
Terribly optimistic as it may sound.
I'll be graduating next December. As
you might well imagine, I couldn't be
happier. Perhaps the only people who
relish this fact with more joy than I,
however, are my parents.
For the first time during my stay at
Texas A&M, the first question they ask
when they see me is, "When exactly
are you going to graduate?" My answer
always seems to elicit a speedy "Are
you sure?"
These questions are a relief after four
years of "How are your grades?"
It is entirely too ubiquitous a concept
that this question is a conversation
starter.
Well, as Homey the Clown would
say, 1 don't think so.
For some reason, grades never
seemed terribly important to me. For
some silly, unsubstantiated reason.
I've always tried to learn something
first, and check on my grades later.
Texas A&M, I know from experi
ence, and perhaps every other institu
tion of higher learning in the nation,
obviously does not agree.
It is difficult to pinpoint the culprit in
this educational dilemma. Are students
to blame for asking professors ques
tions pertaining only to test material?
What incentive do they have to look
further? In many classes at A&M,
none.
A recent review session in a litera
ture class of mine yielded every possi
ble query on test format. From scantron
sizes to essay questions, we discussed
the hell out of that test.
Greg Mt.Joy
Columnist
Finally, the professor demanded
questions of substance, some that actu
ally pertained to the ideas contained in
the books we read.
He was answered with confused
looks and a bad joke.
He and I were helpless. In an educa
tional system geared toward nothing
more than As and Bs, why learn more
than the University says you have to?
Two hundred essay tests, ones that
required an understanding of concepts
and ideas authors slaved to present to
readers, could never be graded in time,
he said.
As a result, tests measuring our abil
ity to memorize obscure and often triv
ial characters and places are thrown at
us periodically.
Classroom discussions, as well as
lectures, concerned themselves almost
entirely with the same ideas and con
cepts a smaller class would have been
tested on.
Students might have learned some
thing from these, had they been pro
vided any incentive to care. Many did
not care.
Needless to say, attendance in this
class suffered a drastic downswing af
ter the first exam. Were it not for roll
sheets and threats of lowered grades
for low attendance, the room might
well have been empty all semester.
My chemistry class exhibits a similar
lack of substance. During a guest lec
ture recently, students stopped trying
to figure out how to arrange hydrogen
atoms in 3,3 demethyl hexane (don't
fret, liberal arts majors, that term isn't
necessary to the story) when they find
out questions on the final will only ask
about the carbon atoms.
Teachers at A&M seem to all be
trapped. Budget cuts lead to large
classes. Large classes lead to inane,
unsubstantive tests. I know-I've taken
dozens of them.
Teachers are forced to issue home
work, and hold pointless quizzes that
kindergarten students could ace, just to
get someone to show up.
Exactly how big an achievement is
this? Corps cadets sleep, frat rats and
S.B.s bitch about tickets daddy is going
to be mad about paying, and an occa
sional Battalion gets read-education in
action.
Meanwhile, President Bush issues an
education agenda everyone knows is
vague and directionless. A Texas
school finance law is passed after miss
ing more deadlines than I have, and
still has no real financial backing. Texas
A&M suffers severe budget cuts, yet
pulls together enough money to build a
multi-million dollar basketball complex
for our oh-so-deserving team. Some
said UNLV could compete in the NBA.
The Aggies should be so lucky at the
YMCA. At least we have our priorities
straight.
Greg Mt.Joy is a senior Journalism
major.
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Mail Call
The Battalion is interested in hearing from its readers and welcomes ail letters to the editor.
Please include name, classification, address and phone number on all 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.
Apartments offer alternative No one person forms tradition
EDITOR:
As president of the student-run University Apartment
Council of Texas Aggies (UCTA), I feel it is my duty to
bring your attention to some important facts concerning
the University-owned Brazos Duplexes. Although resi
dents were served the "eviction" notice on April 1, they
have until Aug. 31 to seek alternative accommodations.
One thing the notice failed to state was the possibility
of students acquiring alternative accommodations in the
remaining University Owned Apartments (651 units). This
may have been due to the fact that it was a generic letter to
both student and non-student residents in these duplexes.
Having talked with Mr. John Sodolak, Manager of the
University Owned Apartments, I was assured that the stu
dents of the Brazos Duplexes who choose to apply for al
ternative housing with the University Owned Apartments
will be accommodated over the next five months on a high
priority basis. Some students have already chosen to do
this. I suggest that other interested students do the same.
Graduate and Married Student Housing continues to be
a problem at this University. With a waiting list of over 800
applications for such housing (approximately a 1-1V2 year
wait), the predicament continues to grow as the University
strives to increase its graduate population. As students, we
must share the blame for this predicament. If you do not
speak out, you cannot be heard.
Sandra Burke
President, UACTA
EDITOR:
Who decides when and what traditions should be es
tablished or destroyed at Texas A&M University? I think
that an Aggie tradition can come from anywhere or anyone
as long as it is accepted by the many individuals who form
the spirit of Aggieland. *
However, if a belief is important enough to be titled a
tradition, it is something that one person alone could never
destroy.
When I discovered that the 12th Man Kickoff Team
might be substituted with a one-man pacifier, I was upset.
This tradition was one of the first that I was introduced to
upon coming to A&M, and I have learned to love it.
When I first saw the 12th Man Team hit the field, I felt a
surge of pride knowing that those guys were a special part
of our team.
They were the guys who played on a different field
than the other players. Their field laid somewhere between
astroturf and the stands where I was. They were a connect
ing link.
Now, this link is in danger of being cut. Who is it who
thinks that this Aggie tradition is a pawn that can be put
into a box and placed on a shelf to be forgotten?
If New Year's Day 1922 happens to find its way into the
90's whoever this is better be careful. Because the next time
he takes a desparate look into the stands, there might not
be any Fightin' Texas Aggie 12th Man.
Brad Wayne Porter '94