Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 17, 1992)
riday, April 1/; Opinion riday, April 17, 1992 The Battalion Page 7 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 The following opinions are a consensus of The Battalion opinion staff and senior editors. WHICH CfMSORSHlP SHOUtD THE BUSH ADMIN/STIWAl Have ehcaced im ? " TW. A. Bad timing Registration limit hurts, surprises students nookFest 1% i is $10 and® olachesgoklj ■ at 272-3732 I cross Texasrcj ?nt will bmiir Jte that incMs tate. Orgaiw avel at theiroml ►40 entry fee nil ccess, andotlie CC hotline ail o-ed Volleylal! , May 3 in April 29, 1 lyers, three met ■ First and sec- 117)883-60690! I The Texas A&M Academic Operations Committee recently put into effect a bill which greatly changes the University policy on telephone registration procedures. The committee, composed of University officials, including the associate deans of each college on campus, approved a 16-hour registration limit for all undergraduate students effective Fall 1992. ' ■ The resolution was decided upon by the University administration earlier this semester, but was not revealed to students until about a week ago, when registration began. Most students are finding out about the new rule while they are attempting to register for their fall classes on the telephone. Because of this, many students are being forced to re-arrange their previously planned schedules at the last minute. The 16-hour registration limit is pecially unfair to seniors who plan to graduate in December because it will prevent many who had planned to take 17 or 18 hours in the fall from finishing out their degree plans on Schedule. Furthermore, the only way for these students to get around the registration rule is by asking the deans of their respective colleges to handle their situations on a case-by-case basis. Students will be allowed to add more hours to their schedules during the summer open registration only if they meet the requirement of a 3.0 GPR or better. College deans are to base their decisions on students' past academic performances. If a student has previously handled more than 16 hours successfully, he or she is more likely to be granted permission to bypass the registration limit. This qualification works in favor of some students, but it unfairly discriminates against those who do not have precedents upon which to plead their cases. The 16-hour registration limit may have been created with good intentions in mind, but the way in which the administration handled informing A&M students left much to be desired. In the long run, the administration's decision sacrifices students' right of choice in the future of their educations at Texas A&M. The University should reconsider the negative effects their rule will have on the student body and on the campus in general. READ nr LIPS, No choice Publish censored birth control information The Bush administration has ordered an entire chapter containing birth control information removed from a Blue Cross-Blue Shield health care book currently being sent to federal employees. By taking this step, the administration has created a dangerous precedent whereby the government is allowed to censor information it deems "inappropriate," effectively taking away the individual's right to choose whether to i read or ignore the contraception OclCil chapter. The chapter addresses issues which have become extremely important in a world where AIDS and teen pregnancy grow increasingly prevalent as each year passes. It does not advocate abortion or promiscuous sex, but uterine theM endorses abstinence as the best method coachingcollf bf birth control. What it does offer is jent the paslll valuable information on how a person , where he l«i .who is involved in sexual relations can sponsoring the y of sports and fry to (azz will n at 10 a.m. on a year im. nxious ton see that the to 'It's a team will els to the Fim pregnancy. "I interpreted it as how to talk with your teen-agers about safe sex and that's an issue that's going to be sensitive," said Marilyn Quintal, a Blue protect themselves from contracting and wonll* disease or avoid an unwanted 0. said he halt would coatli he believed le is simile teams, ■> do the sa* sful,"head(t ? the team. :her." he likes the :he majors] Antonio, mi Runnin' Rel is in LasVeji is very port we 1 we weresK had a great I he sai ; briefly rf Wednesd: an headed muting collf ration fori Cross official. Traditionally, it has been left up to the parents to teach their children about sex, but even in the home, the topic has been avoided. As a result, many parents don't take the opportunity to talk to their children about sex. They're too embarrassed, and that's sad. Books such as the one distributed by Blue Cross-Blue Shield may be the only exposure adolescents have to health care information. Schools have repeatedly shied away from providing students with information on contraception, preferring to leave the job to parents. The government's decision to pull the chapter on birth control is not only wrong, it is irresponsible. "We didn't want to offend anybody," said Curt Smith who made the decision to have the chapter removed. Saving lives is more important than the risk of offending people. Sure, a few people may take offense to a chapter on birth control in a federally funded booklet. But they have the freedom to choose not to read the chapter. No one is forcing it down their throats. Good Friday Administration should excuse students on this religious holiday 1 didn't know quite what to discuss this week, seeing that spring is here and my creative senses as well as my academic senses seem to be taking siestas more often nowadays. So, once again I had everyone I knew trying to find a topic of discussion to carry me through another Friday column. Unfortunately, no one I asked came up with anything I found good enough for The Battalion's illustrious readers, so I was on my own. When Wednesday morning came (my column is due Wednesday afternoon at two), I seriously began to fret. It was 8 a.m., my statistics professor was making no sense to me, and I didn't have a column topic. I could see the end of the world closing in fast. Then, all of a sudden a gust of wind flung open the door, the room grew dark and quiet, and a beam of light shone down on me and a voice said, "Perseverance." (Ok, ok - so all of that really didn't happen, but for me finding a column topic is almost a religious experience. You should be happy; for such an imaginative description to occur my creative senses must have awakened for a slight second.) It all began to become clear. My long awaited topic was sitting underneath my nose all of the time. Every day, about eight times a day, I sit and count how many weeks we have left of class and how many tests, papers, columns, etc. I have left to do. Don't get me wrong, I love this university and I love my work (I am not going to lie and say 1 love my classes), but sometimes I just get a tad bit tired. Spring is upon us, classes are slowly but surely drawing to a close, and we as students often find it hard to pay attention in class; much less attend class. We sit and dream about all the great things going on outside: the beautiful trees, the magnificent weather and the sweet sounding chirping birds. But, nonetheless, we are forced to sit in our classes and wonder how our geology professor can find excitement and laughter in the Precambrian geologic time period. Why do we persist, you ask? We've learned the art of perseverance. "Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. . . Great works are performed, not by strength, but perseverance." -Samuel Johnson We often think it's our strength that gets us through the final months of school, but instead it's our strong will to persevere: to persist in an idea, purpose or task, despite obstacles. Our tasks can come in many different forms: religious growth, graduation from school, development of a successful and satisfying career, etc. But unfortunately, so do our obstacles: roommates from hell, boring professors, social and academic deficiencies, etc. (and those are just the obstacles for graduation.) It's just important for us to realize no matter how difficult the obstacle, only our strong will to accomplish our goals and tasks will see us through. Therefore, if you have a roommate that snores, and drives you absolutely batty, just remember that summer is right around the corner and restrain yourself from causing serious bodily harm for just a couple of more weeks ... If you have a professor that just makes your blood boil by giving you senseless assignments that have nothing to do with life (of course, all of my professors are exempt from such a description), remember these folks give us our grades, so kiss up just a bit longer. We can make it to the end of the year with smiling faces if we just realize our goals and go after them. For the rest of the semester. I'm taking each day one day at a time; heck, I only have 14 class days, one column, one test, one essay and three finals left. Important note: TANYA'S PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT Before I end my column for the week, I wanted to get serious for a moment and point out to all of you who have forgotten, this is Good Friday and once again our state's universities have neglected to observe this holiday, obviously forgetting the importance. Good Friday is the day that Christian religions celebrate the anniversary of Jesus' death on the Cross and if that's not an important day of celebration. I'm not sure what is. I ask all administrators to reconsider the importance of the day and the event and re-evaluate their stance on holiday procedures. Williams is a sophomore journalism major Mail Call the helm. impress^ accept that) ad any' . > a master of celientjudj! like Vt n and 1 for the Red- acca. with a voice nk he swal- rad an enor- jame of has- dally Ne» God-awful Personal views pervade course Last fall, I took Naval Science 304 "Evolution of Warfare" taught by Major Chad Lienau. After breezing through the first of four textbooks Major Lienau decided they were all too boring. From then on, class consisted of impromptu speeches concerning the major's personal views on the military. The course grade was based on two tests and a five minute group speech on a one page article of our choice. Since we weren't learning the assigned material the major held "review" sessions three days prior to each test. In these sessions, he would dictate the test (with correct answers) to us so we could memorize them in numerical order. Since that wasn't enough to ensure we would pass, he made the tests multiple choice with often only one possible solution. Added to this were up to 10 points of extra credit based on knowledge given to us during class. One such question asked for the name of a character in a dirty poem told to us in class one day. Even to a very liberal and sympathetic student attempting to memorize, for a test, a long and complex poem of debauchery and offensive smut is a hard pill to swallow. When this and other such questions as "who is Florida State's main rival in football" are the deciding factors on major exams I began asking myself, is this why I come to school at Texas A&M? I paid $600 as a non-resident for that class and received close to no mentionable knowledge. Even though I received an "A" in the course (as did everybody else as far as I know) I had hoped that A&M and the Marine Corps educational standards would be higher. Jay Palmos Class of'92 Student Government will work to improve In the last few months there has been a considerable amount of negativism directed towards Student Governemnt, particularly towards the Senate. In the past. Senators have been charged with neglecting the views of their constituents and voting only on their personal opinions. The Student Senate has also been accused of doing nothing for the students and being caught up in their own importance. I will not dwell on whether these accusations are deserved or not, just as we should we should not dwell on the past. What has happened is done and gone, and we cannot change it. However, looking at the mistakes of the past we can correct problems for the future. This past week the newly elected Senators met for the first time and elected three of their seven officers: Speaker, Speaker Pro Tempore, and Rules and Regulations Chair. Just as a new group comes in, so do new ideas and attitudes. These are attitudes and ideas that recognize the problems of the past and are ones that are eager and willing to do what it takes to solve them. Each Senator will be required to participate in the new Senator/Constituent Enhancement Program. This requires every Senator to meet periodically with the various leadership within his or her respective constituency throughout each semester. This gives the Senator a channel through which to work in order to find out how the constituents feel on different issues. It also provides a means for Senators to hear complaints and new ideas that should be addressed. This is a starting place and will provide the Senators a base form with which to work. The leadership within the Senate as well as the Senators themselves realize the problems of the past and undertand that they must be corrected. The new ideas and attitudes are what will make a difference in the upcoming year. The Senate recognizes the challenge that lies ahead and is prepared to do whatever it takes to meet the challenge. Brian Walker Speaker of the Senate Have an opinion? Express it! The Battalion is interested in hearing from its readers. All letters are welcome. Letters must be signed and must include classification, address and a daytime phone number for verification purposes. They should be 250 words or less. Anonymous letters will not be published. The Battalion reserves the right to edit all letters for length, style and accuracy. There is no guarantee the letters will appear. Letters may be brought to 013 Reed McDonald, sent to Campus Mail Stop 1111 or can be faxed to 845-2647.