Opinion ^/ednesday, April 1,1992 The Battalion Page 11 The Battalion Editorial Board DOUGLAS PILS, Editor in Chief 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 t diplomats, ■e the vote, We, Libya waspJ gners from le, sin g fears tha! as hostages! nt said noneck •\ mericans in E aving trouble" The following opinions are a consensus of The Battalion opinion staff and senior editors. :: is are schedule 115, but will* ya surrender ought by Fri] United States; fulfill all tli! solution. Mo te ceremony I reds of Mis ' II and theKj ■ntion as a can 1 raped theba! Desert Storm: and hatches? Albert L. IwaysbeprcJ r, read thefos *d the ship's! cad a benedid uled down I sounded, an(i| ir lowa-classj ts. alizej DOl' Dirty campaigning Soiled student elections require clean-up j u _ attention to ft: ?cord of comp Kalb County urban area!* s that the cot have been fu /, about 60 p r's 77,000 pub ire black, attend schfl ■ black. schools ?d by law ut til black pare any sign rts began. ;ed 6 percent ent popular ;t decade, ,l " ilies moved it lounty, tur chers ore for ■rves (A p ) o. and K 115 re " t )ility ofe|; and gasc -base rmottlnf itsui & they call^ >rnent issian 3m ' U! viously 1 ] 1 ilin exf 1 gg est ,‘ nn and Haborat 10 ; jgn enCP :ssia. the P 1 nnounc; i Sakhal'® 1 they of tl 1611 jan ef 1 ^ Recent stunts pulled by members of the Texas A&M Student Government serve as blatant examples of what is wrong in politics today. Like a minor-league version of the state Legislature, some of the "leaders" in our student government are doing their best to mislead voters before the election in order to protect their political reputations and get elected. One sickening last-minute stunt is the letter distributed Tuesday night to some of the Corps dorms on campus. The document, bearing the signatures of Ty Clevenger, 1990-91 student body president, and Trent Kelly, senior yell leader, contains misleading statements as well as blatant falsehoods. Although the letter claims intimate knowledge of the inner workings of The Battalion, it does not display any knowledge of how the newspaper is presently managed. The letter also implies that The Battalion misled its readers by allowing a columnist to report on a story and also by withholding a story. The jury may still be out on whether The Battalion has presented a fair and unbiased view of the student election, but one must realize that as a news- source we are limited by the amount of information we can gather and when we receive it. Cooperation from within Student Government is necessary to ensure the proper and timely dissemination of information, in regards to Student Government. Given fKe Election Commission's reluctance to disclose campaign violations, this cooperation was not apparent. This a glaring example of the stubbornness and bickering that keeps student voters in the dark. Only at the urging of Student Body President Steven Ruth did the commission release the information. Although candidates in all races have committed a number of campaign violations. Election Commissioner James Phipps wanted to withhold the list of violators until after the election. When asked why he wanted to wait so long, Phipps said, "To be honest, because that's the way I want to do it." Voters should stop and consider an important fact: the current and future student leaders of Texas A&M (and other universities) are most likely to be the future leaders in public office. This is not the sort of conduct citizens of the United States should expect of public officials. We recognize the inherent honesty and caring exhibited by most of the members of Student Government. This editorial is a call to these people to help rid Student Government and the elections of such childish and unprofessional behavior. Every candidate obviously takes the elections seriously. Once each person is in office, the influence they might impart on policy at Texas A&M will be important, as well as far reaching. Voters should ask themselves if the candidates will continue questionable practices should they be elected. If candidates feel they have a responsibility to their constituents, then they should start by conducting a campaign free from mud-slinging, dirty tricks and llth-hour politics. The bottom line is that these election stunts add up to a very serious matter. The voters need the information to make well-informed decisions. Student Government owes it to the students and themselves to clean themselves up from within. This is a lesson to be learned now and carried into the future, as the gravity of the situation continues as we grow older and more responsible in our actions. Slapped wrist Tyson sentence insults rape victims Last Friday, Judge Patricia Gifford sentenced an unrepentant Mike Tyson to three, 10-year sentences for one charge of rape and two charges of criminal deviate conduct for his rape of an 18-year old Miss Black America contestant. Gifford suspended four years from each count and ordered each of the terms to be served concurrently, bringing Tyson's total sentence to a paltry six years. This conviction sends a pathetic message about the seriousness of date-rape as a prosecutable crime in today's justice system. Though the perception of rape as a violent crime is slowly changing and the possibility of securing a conviction is increasing, many people still maintain the opinion that a woman has asked to be violated by a stranger or even a friend, a position that is perhaps summed up best by Tyson himself. “I didn't rape anyone. I didn't hurt anyone — no black eyes, no broken ribs," Tyson said. "When I'm in the fing, I break their ribs. I break their jaws. To me that's hurting someone." To Desiree Lynn Washington, the woman he raped, Tyson hurt someone. The Tyson conviction demonstrates that date rape is in fact a serious offense and cannot go unpunished. In a world where high-profile offenders often escape penalty or punishment, neither the money of heavyweight boxing, nor the skill of a high-powered attorney could refute Tyson's conviction or reduce his sentence further. But the six-year total sentence, with a possible early release for parole, is a greater crime against women as a whole. Hopefully, such a high-profile conviction will make it easier for date rape survivors to come forward. The sentence, however, could make many women wonder why they should bother. Ironically, on the same day that the Tyson decision was handed down, a man was sentenced in Bryan for 16 years for the acquaintance rape of a Texas A&M student. That length of sentence is much more appropriate for the crime. When one in three women can expect to be sexually assaulted in their lifetimes and when one in 10 rapes is actually reported, these convictions are somewhat hopeful. Until we treat rape as seriously as armed robbery and other violent crimes, women will continue to be targets for attack. Ttfort’r UT0T TKO a Marsulies