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
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The following opinions are a consensus of The Battalion opinion staff and senior editors.
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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.
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For Cindy
Reports, statistics fail to show how rape destroys a woman's life
A man rapes a woman every six
minutes in this country. One
woman out of three will face a
sexual assault during her lifetime.
The statistics stagger the mind.
The sheer volume numbs our
empathy for the women who have
had their lives
ripped apart by
this brutality.
They become a
seemingly endless
series of numbers
and news items.
We close our
minds to the
violence, turning
to the next page
or flipping the
channels when
yet another rape
report bleeds into
our
consciousness. We throw the word
"rape" around as casually as we talk
about the weather.
But we cannot allow that to
happen. The pain these savage
attacks cause lingers for years,
spreading from the victim to those
who love and care for her. The hurt
shatters trust and self-esteem.
It happened to Cindy, a young
woman I loved as much as any young
man could.
Cindy studied dance and
advertising at Texas Christian
University. A native of Washington,
she ventured on her own to Texas, a
20-year-old who dealt with a
different climate and culture. Her
strength, intellect and beauty
overwhelmed me the second I met
her at a keg party thrown by mutual
friends. That party was her first social
event in almost two months.
Six weeks earlier her date drove
her to a rural part of Arlington,
pulled her from her seat, pinned her
to the hood of his car, tore the clothes
from her body, mashed his body on
top of hers, forced his penis into her
vagina and raped her.
The attack lasted for fewer than 30
minutes, but the rape lasted much
longer. Six months after our first
meeting, after we had grown very
close, she told me the co-worker she
thought was cute and funny raped
her. I still remember the numbing
sensation that hit me at that moment.
But it answered many questions.
Cindy never would go with me to
a secluded, romantic spot I know of
close to TCU. She always seemed to
prefer places with many people and
lots of activity. When we would sit in
her dorm room, always with the door
partially ajar, it would take her a long
while to eventually sit close to me.
Holding her in my arms consumed
enormous amounts of time, for she
never seemed to relax as they closed
around her body. A surprise kiss
would result in an automatic, startled
attempt for distance.
The night she told me of her rape,
she also told me of how she expected
a man to attack her if she left herself
alone with him. She told me how she
expected me to consider her as
damaged goods and to walk away.
At that moment I told her how much
I loved her.
She accepted my offer and allowed
me to sit through special counseling
sessions with her, which focused as
much on loved ones as they did on
the rape victims. The session did not
concentrate on forcing the women to
relive the nights of their attacks.
Cindy never told me the details of her
rape. Instead, the sessions focused on
facing the emotions these women had
to contend with every day. The
feelings of the others were eerily
similar to the feelings Cindy
described.
They all felt like they had been
treated like some sexual plaything, a
living tool to help their attackers
ejaculate. Many felt like animals, as if
they had played the role of a mate for
a stud horse. They wondered what
they had done to deserve their
victimization. They wondered what
they had done to trigger the animal in
their attackers. Amazingly they
considered the attack their fault. Of
course, they would say the blame did
not rest with them. But when the
counselor pushed them further, the
truth of their feelings came out.
For Cindy, the sessions would
have to come to an end. She suffered
from fatigue, a side effect of the many
sleepless nights she spent reliving the
attack. She couldn't concentrate on
her studies to keep her grades from
plummeting. The stress of the attack
made all the nagging problems
college student face — money, time,
relationships, classes — into
monstrous burdens she couldn't
overcome. She decided to leave TCU
to return home. She needed to start
over.
I shared her last night in Texas. We
tried to make every minute count,
knowing we would never see each
other again. But when she left the
next morning, a large part of my soul
went with her.
I can only hope she has since
subdued the demons that so tortured
her. She deserves the best that life can
offer. Her rapist has taken that from
her, though. He stole what should
have been the best time of her life and
left her with a mountain of pain.
So when you next hear casual
boasts of "doin' that bitch"'or of
"giving her what she really wants,"
don't let the scum get away with it.
Let it know how it might feel to be
molested, to be used as a pleasure
toy.
Do it for all the women who have
been raped. Do it for Cindy.
Boney is a senior
education certification major
Med School full
of gay harassment
It was with great interest that I read Ms. Sinclair-James'
article on violence against homosexuals. As a lesbian, I have
a vested interest: at no point in my life would I like to be
physically assaulted or further harassed because of my
sexuality. Sounds reasonable, doesn't it? Unfortunately, it is
a continuing possibility. The harassment has taken many
forms: from classmates felling homophobic jokes to giving
out awards for the most anti-gay people in my medical
school class to very explicit homophobic comments
incorporated into the class notes. These are just a few of the
incidents I have personally encountered.
It is reprehensible at this professional level that
professionalism does not prevail. In this kind of atmosphere,
it is no wonder that many medical students claim that they
know no gay and lesbian people (ergo: they do not exist in
their sphere). Who would want to be so vulnerable in such a
hostile environment?
Ms. James, in her article, alluded to the many supposed
moral and biblical injunctions that are used to justify
violence and harassment against homosexuals. Thfs is a very
provocative line of reasoning. For myself, those questions
have been answered. Loving a woman is the most natural
thing for me, and statistically, loving a person of the same
sex is a norm for 1 in 10 people. It is unfortunate that I and
the vast majority of homosexuals live in a society that is both
oppressive and demeaning to their personhood. I think that
it does not necessarily take a pro-homosexual stance to
support human rights: i.e. to respect a person's right not to
be physically or verbally assaulted and harassed.
I again commend Ms. Sinclair-James on her timely article
and her stance on human rights.
Salma S. Khan
Medical student
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