uary 20,1992
kins
[2-17.
i 82 yards in
1 the New Yon
ns had donethi
year Redskin,
oach, I'd do the
is said,
eat explosion,
had been hr
ins in training
ot overcome hi
rookies. "Hei
/. He's gotthai
is a darter."
.7-yard average
; 680 yards. He
ses.
nest once why
. to me, helping
Irvins said. "He
hen you get in
o help us win'
is. Being a rook
ing isolated."
XXVI will b« :
y in Minneapo-
Opinion
[Monday, January 20, 1992
The Battalion
Page 9
EDITORIALS
Watch that accent
Agency fights for different speech
acker
focus
i year
ARK, N.Y. (b
t Norwood h
>out Monday,
Stadium long
inch noise.
) ended last sea
7-yard field goal
won the Supei
i-winner from 41
uffalo Bills' 10-1
enver Broncos in
unpionship
orwood 4-for-‘
ff wins over the
e Kansas City
i as much confi
all season going
owl on Jan. 26
igton Redskins
sn't around to
Bills had a team
Im review of the
1 did some con
By the time the
ed in the locker
ad left,
s game, he pro
bothered by the
g to answer twol
questions about
year.
I this,” he said,
usiness. When it
rckle it up in a
t will have noth
As long as yon
aren't out there
ils and running
II field, the hype
,evy and special
e DeHaven
immending
to the media be-
awl. Judging by
re Monday, Nor-
vice to heart,
rim not to tall
ncentrate on the
d. “He's talked
t's the best
nead, not back,"
re of the big sh
ould have to
cause of his kid
id. "\ don't see
uld possibly
th him without
tion. And every
arises, that's
insisted all year
: the Super Bowl
Although he fin-
hitting a career-
his field goal at-
e hasn't chan;
'ork habits,
to make any
said two weeks
kicking the
o I'm not adjust
ing hard.”
r, the Bills'
; felt the Super
ear has colored
this year,
something went
gnified, both in-
part and pee
le saying things
;ner said. "Itbe-
i it should have
rhat happened in
st year.”
The Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission Friday took a necessary
step in curbing discrimination that is
likely to grow in coming years.
The commission sued a California
audio-visual equipment company say
ing it discriminated against an employ
ee not because of his race or religion,
but because of his accent. The action
sets the right tone for workers in the
future whose native language may not
be English.
The commission charged that Eiki
International Inc. violated a little-
known federal law when it dismissed
Indian-born Rambhai Patel in 1987
from his job as credit manager, alleged
ly because his accent wasn't good for
the company's image. Eiki International
has refused comment.
This isn't a case of whether Patel
could communicate with his fellow
workers. If his English skills were that
poor, the company shouldn't have
hired him in the first place. His skills
apparently were good enough to get
the job and hold it.
While the commission must continue
to fight discrimination in the broader
areas of race, gender and religion, it
cannot allow the smaller cases to fall
through the cracks.
EEOC Commissioner Joy Cherian
said the number of "accent firings"
probably will grow due to increased
immigration from non-Western coun
tries.
If companies are allowed to hire and
fire on the basis of unique accents, not
only immigrants are in danger.
Companies could use language as a
loophole to discriminate against any
one, including blacks and Hispanics.
EvenSoutherners might be in danger.
One "y'all" and you're out of a job.
The EEOC has set the proper prece
dent for future actions of this nature.
THE RECOPP
NEW JERSEY
David Duke
Former Klansman has right to run
David Duke, the former Ku Klux
Klan leader, must be allowed to run
for president in the upcoming pri
maries. Duke, like anyone else born in
this nation and over 35, has the right to
run for president, regardless of his
beliefs, and should not be hindered.
The Republicans do not want him to
run on their ticket because they say he
is not a Republican. Further, they
claim he does not represent the party's
ideologies or those of most
Republicans. There are others who feel
that Duke, because of his background,
should not be allowed to run for pres
ident. While Duke has not escaped his
past image as a racist Nazi, that is
unimportant. All Americans have the
right to express their beliefs, no matter
how far off they are from mainstream
thought. After all, this right is laid out
in the First Amendment.
In Rhode Island, Georgia and
Florida, Duke is being kept off the bal
lot. The American Civil Liberties
Union has filed suit in federal court to
force state officials to keep Duke on
the ballot. For the ACLU, it is a ques
tion of constitutionality and fairness,
not of supporting his beliefs.
To refuse someone the right to run
for president because of their political
views is the ultimate hypocracy in the
land of free speech.
If his opinions really are outside
the mainstream of Republican and
American opinion, then there is noth
ing to fear of him winning the presi
dency. On the other hand, if Duke
really is in touch with the thoughts
and feelings of many, or even some,
Americans, then he must be consid
ered. It is not only unfair, but un-
American, not to hear the arguments
of a minority.
While we do not support
David Duke or his beliefs, we strongly
affirm his right to voice them. While
we do not support his bid for the
presidency, he must be allowed to run.
A cure for national malaise
History shows us no better time to live in US than at the present
Brian
Boney
is an
education
certification
student
An acute case of national malaise
has stricken the country, and it's
about time we snapped out of it.
Things have never been better.
No, this isn't the rantings of some
rosy-eyed optimist. As a journalist,
I've taken an oath to practice my cyni-
sism until 1 get it right. Watch future
opinion pages for editorials and
columns, by me and others, because
we plan to take many
to task for their deci
sions and actions. I
plan to hear from
many irate Aggies,
and others, whose
feathers we ruffled.
But before we begin tearing into
well-deserving targets. I've chosen to
start the semester on an upbeat note.
Never before in the history of the
Unites Stated of America has there
been a better time to live in this coun
try than right now. I started to think
about that over the Christmas break.
In fact, Christmas Day was the cata
lyst.
On that day, the flag of the Soviet
Union was lowered from the top of
the Kremlin and Mikhail Gorbachev
resigned.
The "Evil Empire," so aptly named
by Ronald Reagan, ceased to exist.
America emerged victorious from a
struggle few countries throughout
history have overcome or endured.
To boil it down into its basic element,
freedom triumphed over tyrrany. Our
way of life triumphed over their way
of life. We won. Our former enemies
are trying desperately to become
more like us, yet no one seemed to
notice.
We were too occupied with reces
sion, crime, unemployment, drug
abuse and other depressing news to
care.
My relatives were especially
gloomy. They pined for the good oT
days when they were young. (It's
interesting how older generations
glorify the past at the same time they
tell us young-uns how tough their
lives were.) They wondered where I'd
been when I claimed to prefer this
period in history.
Think about it. How many of us
would really prefer to live even 40
years ago? Let's look at 1952 and see
how great it really was.
War still raged in Korea. By the
time it ended a year later, more than
100,000 Americans lay dead. Polio ran
unchecked, killing thousands of chil
dren. The House Committee on Un-
American Activities was gaining
speed. This group of politicians, with
the blessing of the American people,
policed the thought of many of the
nation's most brilliant and creative
minds. Only 20 percent of high school
graduates had the opportunity to
attend college. And that's if you were
luck enough to be a white male.
Women essentially had only four
career choices:housewife, secretary.
nurse or teacher. If a women were
raped, it was her fault, and most fam
ilies would cast her out. Conventional
wisdom clearly pictured her as inferi
or to men. Her husband's word was
law.
Minorities were legally second-
class citizens. Forget about college,
unless you were one of an intensely
select few. Blacks had to use "col
ored" bathrooms, water fountains,
and other facilities. They were forced
to attend separate schools, almost all
of which were inferior. None sat at
the front of a bus.
Face it. All Americans are better off
now than they were just a few
decades ago, not just a select few. Of
course we haven't completely suc
ceeded in making a perfect country.
But we have tried.We still ahve
many more goals to accomplish. Our
government is bankrupt, our schools
don't compete with the rest of the
world, crime runs rampant, our envi-
ronrrient is polluted and AIDS
spreads at an alarming rate.
But the power to change the will
soon be in our hands. Our generation
will make the decision's. We will have
control. It will be our turn at the
wheel.
We are better educated, less racis-
tand more concerned with improving
the world than any generation before
us. And those generations accom
plished a great deal.
That's why I sleep well at night.
Letters to the Editor
[0*S
r center
Regent's comments
anger professor
What are we to make of the recent comments of
Mr. Ross Margraves, Chair of Texas A&M's
Board of Regents? As quoted both on KBTX-TV
on the evening of January 13, 1992 and in the
Eagle. Mr. Margraves told the Faculty Senate on
January 13 that the Board would not tolerate sex
ual harassment in the Corps of Cadets(the law
gives them little option in that regard), but then
added "We're not going to tolerate people out
here taking shots at it(the Corps) just to tear it
down."
What does this mean? Does this mean that Mr.
Margraves and the Board have no tolerance for
those in the community who believe that the right
of free speech is one of the most sacred missions
of a university and is at the core of a viable and
healthy democratic society. Does this mean that
Mr .Margraves and the Board have no tolerance
for debate and open discussion of perceived
problems in a public institution? Does it mean
that Mr. Margraves and the Board have no use for
the First Amendment and, following in the tradi
tion of totalitarian dictatorships, would prefer to
scrap a liberal constitutional tradition and fashion
a new order, replete with arbitrary and capricious
punishment for those whom the central authority
deem incorrigible? Does it mean that Mr.
Margraves and the Board still believe that a club
born in the tradition of the late 19th century south
is beyond open discussion, constructive criticism,
and the inevitable force of progress?
It seems incredibly ironic that as the popula
tions of East Europe and the former Soviet Union
strive for the fruits of freedom that we take for
granted in the West-first and foremost, free
speech and free press guaranteed in the Bill of
Rights, the bicentennial of which we have just cel
ebrated- the Chair of Texas a&M's Board of
Regents seems impelled by some outdated
instinct to equate debate and criticism with an
intolerable practice requiring in response threats
and intimidation.
Mr. Margrave's comments, as quoted, do little to
represent the integrity of Texas A&M, suggest an
insensitivity to the values of liberal education,
reveal a certain lack of vision on the part of the
Board of Regents, and expose all too vividly the
worst instincts of some who appear to cling to the
traditions of a bygone era. These representations,
insensitivities, and instinctual reactions are of lit
tle value any longer at Texas A&M, but unfortu
nately even in their marginal existence remain
too present and too active for the institutions own
good!
John D. Robertson
Professor of Political Science
Student sees how
racism endures
Can it be only eight years until the 21st
Century? This week I witnessed an event that
sent me back at least 30 years into the past. One
afternoon a young black man knocked on my
door and explained the all-purpose cleaner he
was selling. About halfway through his speech, a
police car drove into view. The salesman was
very personable and tried to sell the cleaner by
involving me in conversation. He mentioned that
one of my neighbors probably called the police
because said neighbor had yelled about his preju
dice against blacks and threatened to call the
police. I didn't know what to say about this, but
the cleaner salesman just blew it off and said he
had a permit so it really didn't matter.
1 didn't buy the cleaner, but the young
man did his job well. About five minutes later,
my roommate looked out the window and saw
two police cars in front of our house. They had
stopped the salesman and were making sure he
was legitimate. He handled the situation well and
ended with a smile and a handshake. I just want
ed to salute him for his aplomb. Please wake up
America! Racism is alive and kicking.
Lisa Coston
Class of '94
Have an opinion?
Express it!
The Battalion is interest in hearing
from its readers.
All letters to the editor are welcome.
Letters must be signed and include
clasification, address and daytime
phone number for verification purposes.
Anonymous letter will not be published
The battallion reserves the right to
edit all letter for length, style and accu
racy. There is no guarantee letters will
appear.
Letters may be brought to 013 Reed
McDonald, sent to Campus Mail Stop
1111 or can be faxed to 845-5408.