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Opinion
iesday, April 7, 1992
The Battalion
Page 9
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
The following opinions are a consensus of The Battalion opinion staff and senior editors.
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Swing the vote
Ballot bias crosses line of responsibility
Last week's elections provided the
Texas A&M student population with
some insight on the inner workings of
■■o “V" »he Student Senate. But not until
ckson needs tel reading t h e ballots could A&M
owingCoryaiij s t uc i en ts see how far the Senate
■ I Election Commission has slipped.
,rr,haste(«|- The commission presented
. j Iteditorialized information on the ballots
t | | about a referendum, an action that is
completely out of the bounds of
id Coryattisr|^ a ^ ess -
a] r Two referenda on last week s ballot
lys that come J| were biased in favor of the Senate's
ay in the lea: position. The Special Events Center
guys that llweferendum clearly presents this bias.
It states, "Our present coliseum, G.
Rollie White, was built in 1954. It
contains only 7,000 seats and is not
quipped to handle the entertainment
eeds of a major university. The
construction of a modern 12,500-seat
pedal Events Center would allow for
he presentation of rock concerts, ice
hows, and other special arena shows
swell as basketball games, graduation
eremonies and Muster."
The commission presented a rosy
picture of a desperately needed
addition to the campus. Voters who
ickson said
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first read of the Special Events Center
while polling were not given the down
sides of such a center, such as the
exorbitant cost and a serious question
of A&M's need for the complex.
The other referendum was tilted
much the same way.
"The Student Center Usage Fee is
currently $20/semester-$10/summer
session. The University Center has
expanded and costs have increased due
to both the additional space and
inflation. This fee has not increased
since 1986."
Again, there is no statement of the
opposing side of the issue, such as one
questioning the need for expansion.
There are solid arguments for and
against both issues.But the commission
forced only one opinion on voters.
Student Government and
specifically the Election Commission
should refrain from editorializing on
ballots.
Student Government has an
obligation to print objective ballots
which provide students with the
information they need to make an
intelligent decision about the issues
before them.
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Last week, a baby girl died in Fort
Lauderdale, Fla. She had been born 10
days earlier without a brain or skull.
Theresa Ann Campo Pearson was
born with only a partial brain stem,
which kept her heart and lungs
working. The best prognosis for the
child was for her to live two weeks.
Her parents made a difficult decision
they hoped would make something
good come from tragedy. They
attempted to have the child taken off
the minimal life support she had been
on since birth, so her organs could be
removed and stored for later donation.
Doctors warned that the needed and
potentially useful organs would
deteriorate with the rest of the child's
body if they waited to remove them
until she died naturally in the coming
weeks.
The parents felt their child was not
really alive, and were hoping to give
other children, and their families the
gift of life. While they had been robbed
of a child, the Pearson's wanted to
ensure others were not. The courts of
Florida, however, would not allow the
removal from life support on the basis
tha-t the child was breathing on her
own, and therefore alive.
When the child died, the only
organs that might have been useful
were her corneas. The rest had
deteriorated too much to be useful.
The Pearson's have said, though,
that they will continue their legal fight.
The courts of Florida, and other
states, should reconsider their stance in
rare instances such as this. Of course,
this case also raises an ugly specter:
people breeding deformed children to
be butchered and their parts sold. This
is not an option or what the Pearson's
are hoping to achieve. It is up to the
legislatures in each state to make sure
no one can use such a noble effort
solely for monetary gain.
When circumstances go out of
control and tragedies happen, such as
the one that struck the Pearson's, the
courts should show compassion and
look past the letter of the law. When
the body becomes merely a shell, with
no life or even a chance, the family
must be allowed to turn the death of a
child into a chance at life for someone
else.
By the numbers
Statistics show just what the statistician wants them to show
M ark Twain said there are
three kinds of lies: "Lies,
damned lies, and then there
are statistics." Guess what my
column is about?
I was going to write that column
about something serious, like life, but
an article in the
New York Times
Book Review
piqued my
thoughts toward
another direction.
The review in
question
concerned itself
with a book on
the battle of the
sexes. The book's
premise stated
that while some
authors use
statistics to
"prove" some huge disparities
between the male and female psyche,
the statistics were warped to get this
gap-
One study cited in the book
centered around reaction to a picture
of a man and woman embracing.
Men, it seems, are twice as likely as
women to view the photo negatively,
as somehow threatening. This
suggests a huge gap between men
and women in the intimacy
department. Before we get into
discussions comparing males to pigs
again, take note that the actual
numbers display a different
conclusion.
Just over 15 percent of the males in
the study and about 8 percent of the
women reacted to the photo
negatively. True, about twice as
many men as women found the
picture threatening, but these
numbers hardly indicate male
emotional problems of an epidemic
scale. The numbers, when seen in
their entirety, indicate quite the
opposite: the vast majority of men
and women have no problem with
intimacy or relationships. Now I
don't feel quite so out of plac& when I
don't act like a male pig.
We see and use statistics
constantly, especially in the media.
We are shown colorful pie and bar
charts of numbers on television and
inside the Batt. Clinton's doing well
by these numbers. Brown's up and
coming with other numbers. And we
believe them, because numbers can't
lie.
But the numbers do lie, as they did
in Twain's time, because we are
rarely shown all the numbers.
Election years flood us with
numbers. The latest poll results are
everywhere, and Clinton (or whoever
is the political flavor of the week) is
edging out Brown (or whoever is the
political underdog/outsider of the
week) in New York (or whatever the
state of the week). Clinton may be
ahead of Brown, but NOT A (none of
the above) usually beats them both.
The ugly truth is not necessary,
especially if it forces the republic to
think. The statistics are presented to
sway the hearts and minds of the
populace, to help the Remocrats or
Depublicans stay in power for
another few years. Rational thought
about what the numbers mean could
be disastrous. We might find
ourselves resorting to debate about,
perish the thought, issues. Far better
to keep the proletariat minds on the
persons with whom Clinton (or Bush,
if you've been keeping up with the
Clinton campaign) has had an
extramarital liaison.
So I don't keep harping on politics.
I'll note here that advertising twists
statistical "facts" around whenever
expedient. Buick ran some ads a few
months ago comparing its new
Roadmaster to a Lincoln Town Car.
The Buick compared engines by
stating its V-8 has 5.7 liters of
displacement, while the Lincoln's V-8
measures only 4.6 liters. Buick
conveniently failed to mention that
the Lincoln engine is completely new
and has more horsepower and a
bigger engine than the larger Buick
engine. But bigger is better, of course.
Like Twain said, "First get your
facts straight. Then you can twist
them all you want." Or something
like that.
Why do the powers that be use
these tactics on the general
population? The numbers game
works. Few people are willing to
search for the real truth about a
presidential candidate. The
information is readily available, but
the search would require treacherous
endeavors like reading. And so an
elect few of us will dig through the
numbers and enlighten ourselves,
and the rest will go on being led like
proverbial lambs, to be spoon fed the
desires of the powers that be.
Nothing will change until the
proletariat gets smarter.
Hmm. The powers that be have
nothing to worry about. Pardon my
optimism.
DeShazo is a junior electrical
engineering major
No government
abortion funding
We are writing this letter in response to The
Battalion's editorial "Correct Reversal" in the
March 25 newspaper. We have one question to
ask: "Why is it that the very people who say
government should stay out of abortion are the
same ones who want the government to pay for
hem?"
Bill Pilkington
Class of '94
Dave Pilkington
Class of'95
Editor's note.The Battalion has never supported nor
posed government-funded abortion.
Battalion unfairly
attacks Clevenger
The cartoon that depicted Ty Clevenger was in
ad taste. Whoever was involved in this should
talk one-on-one with Ty Clevenger. This
complicates matters more, not helps them.
Some of the articles in the newspaper support
hings that are truly not accepted by most of the
society as a whole. The articles also condemn
those who are trying to put a stop to this
nonsense and make Texas A&M a better place for
the students.
There are some articles that are good in The
Battalion, but there are some that advocate and
support issues that are immoral and unsociable
by society.
What has happened to Aggie values and
traditions?
Paul Bruce
Class of'93
Aggie pride fails
some yell leaders
It appears ironic how every day, the local
community proudly boasts about the true spirit
and high integrity of Texas A&M as well as how
world class and diverse this university claims to
be. Yet, on the same breath, such individuals have
the audacity to downgrade and insult a fellow
Aggie in his moment of victory as one of
Aggieland's 1992-1993 senior yell leaders. As
maturing adults, preparing for real-world
endeavors, one would not expect to encounter the
behavior of immature, haphazard adolescents.
However, in the hours following the election
results, I am willing to overturn this assumption.
Of course, no one in their right mind enjoys
defeat, especially after long hours of hard work.
But voicing rude and degrading remarks
toward a re-elected official and his friends is not
exactly a reasonable and valid action - not by true
world-class Aggies, if such individuals exist. For
the past two years I've dwelled within this
community. I have constantly heard the same
rhetoric about Aggies helping other Aggies and
the strong compassion present within the hearts
and minds of this heavily-bonded student body.
Yet, I find this difficult to comprehend when I
hear racially-oriented insults and any other
demeaning comments toward someone who is
supposedly one in the same with all.
To be world class material means to be
universal; accepting the ideas and beliefs of all
and extending one's reach to all (the Corps,
fraternities, non-regs, faculty, minorities, etc.)
who function and contribute in the progression of
this institution. If we wish to call our home, Texas
A&M, such a title, we need to first ask ourselves if
we, as individuals, alone are world class.
Vincent Aguilar
Class of '94
Stop graffiti
on campus
On the morning of Wednesday, April 1, I was
leaving Legett Hall to go to breakfast. The minute
I get outside, what do I see? Chalk graffiti all over
the sidewalk and front steps of Legett. It was
apparently someone's 21st birthday and her
friends decided to surprise her. This is all well
and good, but as a resident, I do not appreciate
this one bit. I believe that other ways can be found
that would not deface the outside of a building on
campus (not to mention the oldest one).
No, this is not the only time someone was
written on sidewalks. But this is definitely the
worst I have seen, and since I do live in Legett, it
is like it was done to my home. This not only
angers me, but makes me wonder about how
much pride these people have in Texas A&M.
How does this kind of behavior portray us to
visitors of the campus?
Come on Aggies. Let's show a little pride in the
appearance of our campus. A lot a work goes into
keeping it clean. Let's not trash it with chalk
graffiti.
One more question: are you going to clean up
the mess you made?
Donna L. Prewitt
Class of '95
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