The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, February 17, 1992, Image 7

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    Opinion
)nday, February 17, 1992
The Battalion
Page 7
The Battalion Editorial Board
DOUGLAS PILS, Editor-in-Chief
The
Battalion
BRIDGET HARROW, Managing Editor
BRIAN BONEY, Opinion Editor
JASON MORRIS, Night News Editor
MORGAN JUDAY, Night News Editor
MACK HARRISON, City Editor
KARL STOLLEIS, Photo Editor
SCOTT WUDEL, Sports Editor
ROB NEWBERRY, Lifestyles Editor
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Minority money
Should the United States allow college
scholarships based on race?
RO
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Jeff
Bridget
Harrow
Jon
DeShazo
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y Baylor j
n Waco.
I Racism and
liscrimination.
two ugly issues
inost people try
jo avoid or
Overlook. Such is
|he case of a new
federal appeals
Kourt ruling in
Richmond Va, which states that
cholarships given to college students
ton the basis of their race is
nconstitutional.
The ruling, like many challenges to
verturn past affirmative action
ractices and civil right advancements,
akes a step in the wrong direction. It
ssumes that racial barriers in higher
ducation have been overcome. When
in reality, minorities, especially blacks
and Hispanics, continue to be under
represented or absent from America's
colleges and universities.
We do not have to look further than
the Texas A&M campus to verify this.
Blacks comprise almost 12 percent of
the Texas population, and Hispanics
comprise 25.5 percent. But both
minorities combined only represent
approximately 10 percent of the A&M
student body.
This is frightening considering
projections which show that by the
year 2055, blacks, Hispanics, Asian-
Americans, and Native Americans
combined will outnumber whites in
society. Minorities will be the majority.
If minorities are not'educated now, all
of America will suffer in the future.
Finally, we must eliminate the
misconception that minorities receive
scholarships solely because of their
skin color. Scholarships are earned
because of academic excellence, skin
color has always been secondary.
But let's not dilute the real reason
why a few scholarships are targeted
towards minorities. Inequality exists
and still persists in higher education.
We should not accept that low minority
representation on college campuses
means that not enough minorities are
qualified or want to attend institutes of
higher learning.
Whether racism, past discrimination
or insufficient funds is to blame for the
lack of minorities enrolled in college,
race-based scholarships is a solution, if
not only temporarily.
The old black spiritual which says
"We shall overcome," still does not
apply to A&M or many other
university and college campuses with
regards to minority representation.
Considering that over half of all
students enrolled in public schools are
minorities, higher education should
continue to target these groups and
promote their recruitment. Race-based
scholarships are not just correcting past
inequalities, but guaranteeing an
educated society in the future.
Harrow is the managing editor of
The Battalion and a senior
journalism major.
CON
The question of
discrimination and
racism in our
society has
reached a
crossroads lately.
The Bush
administration
and other
conservative
groups have challenged the present
definitions of affirmative action,
discrimination in the business arena
and entitlements. Now, race-based
scholarships to college students have
come under attack, and a new federal
appeals court ruling may mark the
beginning of a welcome end to federal
money awarded solely upon skin color.
The ruling itself has little impact in the
immediate future, but its implications
are clear.
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals
in Richmond, Virginia, handed down
the verdict. College scholarships given
out solely to right past discrimination
are unconstitutional except where
discrimination continues to be a
documented problem.
Hispanic student Dennis
Podberesky filed the case against the
University of Maryland. Podberesky
applied for the Benjamin Banneker
Scholarship, but was turned down
because the scholarship was reserved
for black students. The university
created the scholarships in 1969 after
federal officials informed the university ,
that its 99-percent white student body
was unconstitutional. University of
Maryland attorneys argued that since
the federal government still monitors
minority enrollment at the school,
racism remains a problem.
The ruling allows new challenges to
other race-based scholarships in at least
19 other states, especially those in
many state universities in the South.
The impediments to attending
college no longer lie in racial barriers,
but in economic barriers. The best use
for the scholarships tied to skin color is
to use the money to help the
economically disadvantaged get in and
stay in college. Poor students who now
receive the race-based scholarships will
be unaffected, since their economic
status will keep them eligible for need-
based help. Education is becoming
more expensive, and scholarships for
poorer students are becoming more
necessary. The diverted funds would
be given to those who really need
financial aid.
We need to reconsider the
conditions under which money is
awarded to students. We should also
reconsider the role mere race plays in
society's decisions. Scholarships
earmarked to help a student of a
certain race are unconstitutional and
inconsistent with the ideals of equality
and the reality of today's society.
DeShazo is a sophomore
electrical engineering major.
MARINES
<g?W2. -me pecffjp
new
3 LIVING STANDARDS
Violence permeates society
Peaceful childhood memories shattered by reality of today's crime
I n the past, we have been largely
insulated from the realities of
violence and crime outside of this
sanctuary we call
Aggieland. Of
course, we see
the news reports
when a
particularly
onerous crime
has been
perpetrated.
Disbelief,
frustration and
anger are
perhaps the
feelings that
most of us
shared when we
saw the videotaped shooting of
Constable Darrell Lunsford as he
conducted what he must have thought
a routine traffic stop, or when we
heard of the senseless, barbaric raping
and beating of the woman jogging in
New York's Central Park a while back.
However, the impact of events such as
these is diminished by the distance of
the places where they occur; they
seem abstract to us instead of close up
and real. And as time passes, people
forget, as if a dark and ominous cloud
had briefly obscured the sun, but had
in time passed on.
In the place that I did most of my
growing up, a placid northwest
suburb of Houston, things once were
as they are here. I remember hearing
about dangerous schools, street gangs
and murders, but they always
happened to some other person in
some other place; these concerns were
not a part of my world then, as they
are not a part of ours now. In the four
years since I left that largely tranquil
neighborhood, it seems as if hell has
descended upon the place.
A student at my old high school
walked home from school recently
and was accosted by a person who,
having ascertained that the student
was not a member of any gang,
demanded the L. A. Raiders jacket he
wore. The student was shot for his
refusal to relinquish the jacket. A
black teenager was found dead,
hanging in a tree. At first, it was
thought a suicide, but his death is now
being investigated as a homicide, and
the rumor is that he was hung because
he actually dared to date a white girl.
Gangs roam the halls of the school
and criminals prey on the
subdivisions with growing and
alarming frequency. The residents of
one neighborhood are fed up with the
depredations of one man who robs
them on their own streets and breaks
into their homes. Many of the
residents recognize this man from his
frequent visits and the word is that
they are buying firearms and
threatening to shoot him the next time
they see him.
When I found out about the things
that have been happening in my old
hometown, things that four years ago
only happened on television, it was
personal. Violence and crime were no
longer distant in my mind because
these things were occurring in a
familiar context, in a way that allowed
me to relate to them as never before.
"Yeah mom, cut off the crusts on
my sandwiches, oh and by the way.
I'm taking the pistol to school today if
you don't mind."
At this point, some of you may be
sympathetic. Some of you are seeing
the same phenomenon taking place in
your old hometowns. And perhaps
some of you think I've been whining
because you grew up in a place where
crime was already a constant reality.
There is a point to this tale. The time is
coming when almost all of us will see
in the places we live the sorts of
tragedies that now seem to exist only
on a TV screen. Most of us will leave
this place at some time in the future,
and it is the reality of this
degenerating society that will greet us.
And, like my old neighborhood which
was once a haven, Aggieland too will
eventually come to know the full
extent of crime. In fact, this process
has already begun. The bicyclist who
was the intended victim of a recent
drive-by shooting, not in Houston or
Los Angeles, but here in good old
College Station, would most likely
agree.
I have no explanation for why
crime, and especially violent crime,
continues to spread and to occur so
much more often. It is probable that
one reason is our growing inability or
unwillingness to effectively deter
criminals. Some inmates say that they
prefer penitentiary life to that on the
outside; three hot meals a day, a place
to sleep at night, televisions,
weightlifting sets and few
responsibilities. On the outside, they
would have to look for work, pay the
rent and live from hand to mouth.
What does such a person have to lose
from robbing a convenience store or
killing an innocent bystander in a
drive-by shooting?
Why have we allowed prison to
become a place that criminals actually
desire to be?
The judge who ruled that Texas
prisons were overcrowded should be
thrown into one of them. Any on-
campus student who has lived tripled-
up in a small dorm room has paid to
live in more crowded conditions than
are allowed to exist in our jails.
In any case, whether we leave
Aggieland or whether we stay, we will
all soon have to consider the
increasing possibility each day that we
will meet someone who means us
harm, or who may be willing to kill us
for a wallet, a purse or just a thrill.
How will we react to these threats to
our safety? Some of us will wait for
the government to do something and
in the meantime, hope for the best. My
advice, however, is to buy a gun and
learn how to use it. Learn gun safety
and learn to secure firearms from
inquisitive children. More armed
homes translate to more dead
criminals. Events seem to indicate that
this may soon be the only deterrence
there is.
Loughman is a senior
journalism major.
Andro's remarks
draw criticism
Reading Anthony Andro's remarks on
watching the Olympics, my first thought was that
he must be joking. One must look long for so
many ridiculous remarks in one article.
Andro claims that the Summer Olympics are
much more entertaining than the Winter
Olympics. He finds watching speed skaters
skating around in circles very boring. I suppose
running around in circles is that much more
exciting.
It is sad that Andro has not yet grasped the
excitement of slalom and giant slalom. The reason
they are hitting poles, Andro, is that they are
trying to ski as straight as possible down the
course to pick up speed. These events are real nail
biters, with an added plus for people with
Andro's attention soan: You onlv have to watch
the first 15 skiers in the second run. No skier
skiing after that will affect the top positions.
I admit Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards adds color
to the sport of ski jumping. It would also be fun to
put Pee Wee Herman as a noseguard for the
Redskins. However, I believe both of them would
be better off leaving it to the real pros.
My greatest fear is that CBS will devote too
much time to figure skating and bobsledding.
Granted it should be covered, but not to the extent
that feel like vomiting after you've seen figure
skaters day in and day out, form the time the
flame was lit until it was extinguished. Please
CBS, distribute your coverage to all events, not
just the ones you believe the U.S. has a good shot
shot of winning a medal in!
Jan Tore Kilec '93
A&M needs reform
While I'm here at A&M watching R.A.P.
(Republican Administrative Programs) rapidly
change our world vision, reading the Battalion,
and thanking others for identifying all of the
problems surrounding my life; I curse the sciences
which promise complexity, and hope that
someone else will solve my problems for me.
Perhaps it will motivate me to learn something
else on my own. It takes an educator who has
some vague interest in ME and not my daddy's
money (there "ain’t none") to motivate me to do
homework. I cannot do it while some researcher
with a long "rap" sheet of qualifications allows a
graduate student to teach the very subject I once
dreamed about. It had to be my own fault for
studying six hours a night (no it's the $,$$$,$$$'s,
the $,$$$,$$$'5 the $,$$$,$$$'s). Does anyone else
care or dare to call out for change. I can't put my
hand in the cookie jar until my own grades
improve.
This was a composite of the Aggie student.
Any questions?
Eric A. Negron
Graduate student
Profs deserve break
How many times have you been sitting in class
with about 5 or 6 minutes left in class, when the
class, collectively decides that it is time for class to
end. Unfortunately Ags, this occurrence happens
everyday. Put yourself in the professor's shoes. If
you were lecturing on a topic and the students
started packing up their books and made all kinds
of noises, how would you feel? Probably not very
good, yet we (Aggies unite together) put our
professors through this almost everyday. Now
with the 20 minutes in-between classes, there is no
reason to have to leave class early. Remember
your old teachers saying in high school, "The bell
doesn't dismiss you, I do ." Let's give them the
respect and attention they deserve.
Kevin Gonzalez '94
■hiaye m QpjniQP? Express jtl
The Battalion is interested in hearing from its readers. All
letters to the editor are welcome.
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Anonymous letters will not be published. .
The Battalion reserves the right to edit all letters for length,
style and accuracy. There is no guarantee that letters will appear.
Letters may be brought to <313 Reed McDonald, sent to
Campus Mail Stop 1111 or can be faxed to 845-5408.