Tuesday, July 16,1991
Editorials
Editorials expressed in The Battalion are those of the editorial board and
do not necessarily represent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators,
faculty or the Board of Regents.
State should not cut A&M funding
The state legislature began the task of reducing state spend
ing by almost $5 billion Monday. Should the state government
choose to follow state Comptroller John Sharp's deficit reduction
plan, Texas universities and colleges could lose $622 million over
the next two years. Texas A&M's loss would account for almost
nine percent of that total.
Sharp's plan also calls for doubling resident tuition at state
universities, with 75 percent of the increase going to other state
agencies.
While Texas students could stand a tuition increase (tuition in
Texas is among the lowest in the nation), sending part of that in
crease to fund projects such as prisons and welfare is like Robin
Hood stealing trom the poor. Texas currently ranks last in state
appropriations per college student.
Texas colleges do more with less than almost any other
schools in the nation. But that does not mean they can stand the
drastic budget cuts Sharp has proposed. Fewer class sections,
less faculty, fewer books and shorter hours in an already inade
quate library mean inferior education.
The predicted increases required in food and housing could
also make education prohibitively expensive for some people.
And fewer college graduates means less tax revenue for the state
in the future.
In total, cuts in education account for 20 percent of the reduc
tions in Sharp's plan. It seems that every time the state needs
money, education is the first thing cut. It is time for state govern
ment to quit looking at education as an expense and see it as the
investment it is.
The Battalion Editorial Board
Mail Call
The Battalion ift interested in hearing from its readers and welcomes all 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. There is no guarantee
letters will appear. Letters may be brought to 216 Reed McDonald, sent to Campus
Mail Stop 1111 or can be faxed to 845-5408.
Juice too costly on campus
EDITOR:
Orange juice! All I want is some orange juice!
So I go to the new, world-class culinary extravaganza on campus. Hul
labaloo, and I figure, sure I can get some orange juice here. So I go to the
refrigerator section, and lo and behold, there is one world-class choice of
orange juice, in a covenient six-ounce container.
Now I am not an extremely large individual, 6'-3" and 190 lb., but I do
require more than a six-ounce serving of orange juice. I'm even going to go
out on a limb and say that most other people require more than six ounces.
Most people I know who chew tobacco can spit more than six-ounces.
But that's beside the point.
So I decide to take three. I figure that will fit inside a medium cup. So I
go to the register, and figure, not much, buck and a half at most. The total
came to $2.44. The person working the register was so suprised that she
had to ring it up again; she thought she had made a mistake. That must be
some orange juice if I can pay that much and still be sober afterwards.
So I decide to check out other local establishments around the area, just
to make sure that our prices are world class. 7-Eleven sells orange juice for
$.99 for 16 ounces. For the price I paid, I could almost get double at 7-
Eleven. But of course there is no price fixing on this world-class University
campus.
So, for you out there who want to watch what you drink, make sure
you watch the prices first, especially on this, ahem, world-class campus.
Richard Szecsy '91
Voice of support for TCA
EDITOR:
I want to voice my opinion that I am in favor of TCA Cable taking MTV
off my basic cable service. I have three children, and I am concerned about
the sexually graphic pictures portrayed on my TV screen.
Judy B. McDonald
L_
imon
The Battalion Page 5
Film reveals social problem
O B t' f l ti .. f 1 io i TTr-.-r-./-.-*'!'-! Til-. GO
ver the weekend, the
media have been quick to point out the
violence associated with the new movie
"Boyz In The Hood." Besides a word
that causes my spellchecker to have
fits, "Boyz" is about underclass life in
South Central Los Angeles. Many
critics have spoken out against the
violence shown in the movie and the
possible dangerous influences of the
film on young minds. However, I will
argue (with the help of an eminent
scholar, a young movie writer/director
and government statistics) in the
following passages that "Boyz In The
Hood" is a movie that should be seen
and talked about by our nation.
According to the film's writer and
director, John Singleton, the story
attempts to convey to the audience that
an alternative to gang membership and
violence exists in love and family life.
And while Singleton, in his early
twenties, is not exactly a social
scientist, he may have hit upon the
primary cause of gang violence: a
deprivation of certain aspects of family
life.
One scholar, who certainly would
carry the banner with Singleton for a
better family life among the underclass,
is eminent political scientist and
author, James Q. Wilson. Wilson, in a
recent presentation to American
Enterprise Institute, argued that the
primary cause of the social problems
we see today among the underclass is
the failure to socialize males into the
society.
Put another way, the lack of male
role models in many poverty-stricken
homes has left sons without guidance
on how to appropriately behave in the
Trey Jacobon
Columnist
world around them. Wilson suggests
that rather than be taught what is right
or wrong and how to behave by a
dominant male presence, the son is left
to develop on his own. The result is a
young man who utilizes his physical
strength, aggressiveness and available
technology to survive. This may be
evidenced by the rapid growth in
gangs, the young age of drug dealers
and the high number of gang-related
deaths and crime.
In effect, the young underclass men
of today have become what Wilson
considers "hunter-gatherers. " Related
to the economic responsibility
associated with this position is the lack
of concern for offspring by the male.
Wilson's theory is given some
credence when one examines the
statistics on gangs in Texas. If you
didn't already know, gangs are not
located exclusively in Watts. Texas has
more than its share of gangs, too. The
state attorney general's office recently
issued a frightening report about gang
activity. Of the fifty largest cities in
Texas (yes, including Bryan-College
Station) an incredible 75% percent
reported gang activity. In the cities of
Abilene, Austin, Corpus Christi,
Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Harlingen
and Houston, an incredible 13,000
gang members are believed to operate,
selling drugs, fighting among each
other with guns and committing
assorted felonies.
But for our purposes here, only one
statistic is important: 80% of all gang
members report being raised in single
parent, presumably female-headed,
households. Alone, this fact calls for
additional research, but its implication
is that children raised without a father
or male role model may lack
socialization necessary to peacefully
survive in our culture.
Think about that idea for a second.
The concept, on one hand, gives us a
place to start in improving the lives of
our children. But by the same token, it
suggests that we will continue to see
wide-spread violence in poor
neighborhoods. Worse still, the notion
of inadequate male socialization points
to a possible cycle of degradation
among certain parts of our underclass
that we may not be able to stop. The
gang members and street hoodlums
today aren't likely to get religion and
take up the responsibility for their
children or their actions. Without a
break in the process, the following
generations of males could be even
worse off.
Nevertheless, if we could only find
someone or some group to
communicate with the gangs and
irresponsible parents, maybe we could
better the youngsters' everyday
existence, now. What is needed is a
message to the poor that will almost
certainly be heard; a message
triumphing the needs of the children
and the wonders of family life; a
message that stresses peace instead of
violence. If you think a movie reflecting
life as they may know it is the answer
then I've got a movie for you. Go see,
and talk about, "Boyz in The Hood."
Trey Jacobson is a graduate student in
public administration.
Aggie's death gets little attention
P
aul Broussard grew up
in a small town in Georgia. After high
school, he came to College Station to
attend Texas A&M. He graduated with
a finance degree in 1987 and moved to
Houston, where he got a job in a bank.
On the morning of July 4, Broussard
was beaten to death by 10 youths
wielding boards with nails protruding
from them. The suspects are current
and former students of McCullough
High School in The Woodlands.
If you haven't heard about this,
you're not alone. It took several days
for the story to make it into the
Houston papers, and then it didn't
make it to their front pages. A front
page story finally appeared in the
Houston Chronicle on Saturday, when
arrests were made.
Even less attention has been paid to
Broussard's death in our community,
where he lived, worked and studied for
over four years.
The reason for the silence seems to
be that Broussard was gay, and that the
boys who murdered him did it because
he was gay. And while police have
taken the proper steps to investigate
the crime as a murder, not enough
steps have been taken to deal with the
murder as a hate crime.
Police told the Chronicle on Friday
that there was no evidence for motive
in the murder and no evidence that it
was a crime of bias. Now here's a
description of what happened, as told
in Saturday's Chronicle:
Broussard and two companions were
walking to their car from Heaven, a gay-
nightclub, about 3 a.m. when two cars
pulled up ..., police said.
Someone asked them where the
Ellen Hobbs
Columnist
Heaven club was. When one of the trio
said they had just left the club ... they
were attacked with boards and a knife.
This looks to almost everyone but the
Houston Police Department like an
obvious incident of gay-bashing. (An
interesting sidenote on this is that the
HPD, not unlike the U.S. armed
services, is still hanging on to the
archaic notion that gays aren't real
people and have banned the
employment of homosexuals on the
police force.)
Fortunately, other members of the
community have recognized it as a hate
crime and have taken steps to condemn
it. For example:
□ Gay and lesbian community
members organized a "Take Back the
Streets" march to protest the murder
and to warn that anti-gay violence
won't be tolerated. And a coalition of
gay bar owners has offered a $2,000
reward for information leading to the
arrest and conviction of the attackers.
□ A group calling itself Concerned
Clergy and Laity has made a statement
condemning the crime and said,
"There is no justification, religious or
secular, for violence toward other
human beings based on race, gender,
creed, ethnic origin, sexual orientation
or physical or mental limitation."
□ Mayor Kathy Whitmire, State
Representative Debra Danburg and
three Houston City Council members
made statements calling for a united
response against hate crimes from the
community.
□ The Houston media, though a
little slow on the uptake, have given
the case a good bit of attention.
If you want to voice your concern
about bias crimes, one of the best
things to do is to add your name to the
list of people calling for state hate
crimes legislation (that, of course,
includes violent crimes committed
against people not only because they
are homosexual, but also because of
their race, religious and ethnic
backgrounds). Write, call or fax:
The Honorable Ann Richards
Governor of the State of Texas
State Capitol
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, TX 78711
Call toll-free: 1-800-252-9600
Fax number: 512-463-1849
Show that you, too, think that
people who kill innocent people
because of their backgrounds, their
religion or their selection of bed
partners need to be punished not only
for their crime, but for their destructive
hatred.
On April 21, 1992, Paul Broussard's
name will be called at Aggie Muster. If
there was a little less misguided hate
out there, there would be one less
name on the roll.
Ellen Hobbs is a senior journalism
major.