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Monday, April 27, 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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Desegregation
Should federal government opt out
of enforcing equal education?
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The Supreme
Court of the
United States
Monday moved
to end federally
supervised
school
desegregation in
Topeka, Kan.,
subject of the landmark Brown vs.
Board of Education case almost 40
years ago.
It overturned a federal appeals
court ruling ordering the Topeka
school district to correct imbalances in
the racial distribution of students in
its schools. In so doing, the Supreme
Court staved off the likelihood of
forced busing and frustrated the
designs of civil rights attorneys who
would push the courts into the role of
arbiters of social issues as well as legal
ones.
Those lawyers cited the fact that
four of the city's 26 elementary
schools enrolled half of Topeka's
black students and argued that such
statistics supported a mandate for
governmental action.
However, the
original Brown vs.
Board of
Education ruling
held only that
segregation of
students as a
matter of law or
policy was
unconstitutional as
a violation of the
equal protection
clause of the 14th Amendment. The
clause states that no state shall "deny
to any person within its jurisdiction
the equal protection of the laws."
"Separate but equal" facilities were
neither equal nor justifiable, and the
1954 Brown ruling was a great victory
in ending that indignity.
Nevertheless, that decision was
designed to bring an end to legal
segregation and not segregation
incidental to demographic and social
conditions. When, years ago, black
students were shut out of nearby
schools reserved for whites and forced
to travel to distant all-black ones, the
Supreme Court had a constitutional
responsibility to end that legal
injustice. It did just that.
It would be unreasonable for us
now to expect the judiciary to take
responsibility for inequities that are
not a result of legal injustice but rather
of existing social and economic
standards.
Besides, the government has
already shown us its ineptness when
it enters the arena of social reform and
welfare.
Extrapolating the Brown ruling to
include a legal obligation to "correct"
unequal distribution of students
would have been the wrong move for
other reasons.
Moving students around to schools
away from their homes and neighbors
is wrong in any situation, whether to
separate whites and blacks or to put
them together. No student should be
discriminated against on the basis of
race or color, no matter what that race
or color may be.
No student should be bused across
town to pay the debts of social
inequity incurred by adults.
Discrimination involves making
distinctions among people and
treating them differently because of
those differences. It is always wrong.
And if we are ever to see a truly
colorblind society we must first have a
colorblind government. And that's
just the way it is.
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In 1954, the
Supreme Court
ruled that the
separation of
grade school
children "from
others of similar
age and
qualifications
solely because of their race generates a
feeling of inferiority as to their status in
the community that may affect their
hearts and minds in a way unlikely
ever to be undone."
That decision, known as Brown vs.
Board of Education, became the basis
for federal intervention into public
schools in order to eliminate legalized
discrimination and segregation based
on the "separate but equal" spirit of an
earlier, racist, "Jim Crow" era.
Last week, a conservative Supreme
Court overturned a lower court order
that Topeka, Kan., the city at the heart
of the original debate, take further
actions to end racial imbalances within
the school district. This ruling ends the
38-year-old federal control of the
Topeka school district which resulted
from the 1954
Brown decision.
Returning to
the battleground
of Topeka offers
an ironic, if not
tragic,
opportunity to
end federal
intervention in
public schooling
and, in effect, to
end federal attempts to bring about a
more egalitarian country.
Chief Justice William Rehnquist,
speaking in the majority opinion on the
decision to halt the process of
desegregation in Topeka, stated that
"federal supervision of local school
systems was intended as a temporary
measure and were not intended to
operate into perpetuity."
However, this decision establishes
an ominous precedent that allows
other school districts to chip away at
measures aimed at protecting the
integrity of our public schools whose
mission is to provide equal access to
educational opportunities for all
students.
When students in inner city schools
suffer from inadequate facilities, out
dated texts and teaching methods, and
often times apathetic, unconcerned and
hopeless faculty members, the
"temporary measures" of the federal
government sorely lack in their
attempts to provide an equal education
for all.
When an equal education yields
new standards of mediocrity in order
to comply with a federal numbers
game, the "temporary measures" of
Chief Justice Rehnquist rob our
children of a good education and rob
this country of a future.
Yes, the original intent of the Brown
decision was noble in its goal to
provide an equal education for all.
Yes, the measures of the federal
government have proven inadequate in
their efforts to find a workable
solution.
But, the original goal of an equal
education for all need not be
abandoned though current methods
fail. Rather, the federal government
should focus its efforts on investing in
the future through correcting unequal
school districts by building new
schools in minority areas, by funding
all schools equally regardless of
location and by recruiting able, excited
and innovative teachers for all schools,
not simply the separate but unequal
"white bread" schools that can afford
them.
£
Loughman is a senior
journalism major
Feducia is a senior
English and history major
Quit whining
about rape
You women just don't realize how
good you have it. Patricia Ireland, Jan
Parshell and followers, you just aren't
seeing the big picture.
Thousands of men are constantly
attempting to buy you dinner, get you
drunk and have sex with you. It just
doesn't get any better than this. If you
ever take 30 minutes out of your busy
schedule, you'll find that sex is rather
enjoyable.
Your breasts can cause us to buy
ou rocks worth a year's supply of
eer, yet you still continue to bitch.
How can you ask for anything more?
So get off of your soapbox and start
enjoying life.
Dimitri Filippov
Class of '94
Ags don't care
about integrity
This goes out to all the Ags out
there that have a crazy notion that
Texas A&M University is all about
integrity, fairness, and good people.
Well to educate these misguided
people, "I gotta little story for ya
Ags!"
For a long time I thought this too.
This "well known fact" is what
attracted me to Texas A&M. Making
the A&M Women's Varsity Soccer
Team clinched my decision. This fact
turned into a myth Wednesday night
when I found out that the A&M
athletic department is actually full of
hard-hearted businessmen interested
only in a profit. Wednesday night
Lynn Hickey told the A&M Women's
Varsity Soccer Team that they would
no longer be able to compete at the
NCAA level. Among other excuses,
the team was told that they were an
insult to the school because they did
not "look" as good as the other teams.
The meager $12,500 budget that A&M
allots the Women's Varsity Soccer
Team, compared to approximately
$200,00 allotted to the basketball
team, goes towards uniforms, travel
expenses and the coaches' salary.
Although the team was willing to
continue with the small budget, the
administrators felt it best to drop the
team to club status and divert the
funds to other women's sports like
basketball.
I do not understand how the team,
with their 11-6-2 record, including
their win over West Point in
Washington D.C., could possibly be
an insult to A&M. If anything the
team make up for the other
unsuccessful programs at A&M.
Allowing the soccer team to continue
with their varsity status would also
set A&M apart from other Texas
schools who do not offer soccer at this
level. This in turn would keep
talented soccer players in Texas who
otherwise would be forced to go out
of state to play. Soccer is the fastest
growing sport in America, and with
America hosting the!994 World Cup
A&M will surely regret their decision.
When I entered this school I Was
told, "Once an Ag, always an Ag!" I
must have misunderstood. They must
have said, "Once an Ag, play the 'little
business game' or leave." That also
reminds me of another catchy phrase
heard so often at A&M,"Highway six
runs both ways!" I just hope that
Lynn Hickey, and John David Crow,
realize the quality people they are
losing. If these individuals along with
every Ag on the face of this Earth
wish to support losing athletic
programs in their snazzy outfits
rather than a winning soccer team,
then the athletic department upholds
nothing that A&M stands for.
Anna Whitehead
Class of'95
Soccer team
needs support
All right Ags, I've finally had
enough! I think it's time the student
body became aware of the politics that
goes on behind the doors of the Texas
A&M Athletic Office.
Many people do not realize this,
but A&M does have a Women's
Varsity Soccer Team. This mass
ignorance of the soccer program is
caused mainly by the athletic
director's failure to support the team
financially. They back their decision
with the argument that the team does
not bring in any money for the school.
We would like to know how we are
expected to bring in money when the
board fails to provide any advertising
for us and they make us play our
home games on a field miles from
campus. Another of their "reasons" is
that the men's soccer team is club, and
therefore the women's should also be
a club team. We think that is a
blatantly sexist fallacy. With that
logic, A&M should have a women's
football team. The board believes
these reasons are sufficient enough to
cut the program after the '92 season,
and this letter is written to let the
board know that the team is not going
down without a fight.
The team had a winning season last
fall, including a defeat of West Point.
The team is highly talented and has
the potential of becoming nationally
ranked if it received more support
from the school.
On a more personal basis, we
would like to make the Athletic Board
of Directors aware of the dreams they
are shattering with the termination of
the soccer program. Ever since we
were little, we dreamed of playing
NCAA soccer, not club, but with the
program eliminated, our dreams are
shot down. Telling us we can play
club soccer is like telling the football
players that they can play intramural
flag-football.
If you agree with us, and would
like to see the team kept on with
Varsity status, we ask you to write to
the Athletic Director John David
Crow in support of the team. Let's
join together Ags and fight for the
team and give A&M another winning
program. Any support would be
appreciated. Look for the schedule of
games next fall.
Casey Hamre
Class of'95
accompanied by two other signatures
Follow Christ
for the truth
"The truth can be your best friend
or your worst enemy." I have found
this statement to be so true. Most of
my life. I've avoided the truth of Jesus
Christ and of His Love.
I lived in my own ways, seeking
what I thought was best. I was
brought into misery as I sought what I
thought what I wanted. 1 found that
the void in man's life will never be
fulfilled until you come to grips with
the salvation of Jesus Christ. It was a
very hard lesson to learn because I
came to nearly destroying myself. I'm
sharing these things because like
Michael Sullivan and many others, we
have found that the truth is in Jesus
Christ. It has been a fulfilling,
purposeful and challenging life.
Several students have written some
words against Mr. Sullivan's article
and are thus fulfilling Scripture.
Paul writes in II Timothy 4:3-4
"For a time will come when men will
not put up with sound doctrine.
Instead, to suit their own desires, they
will gather around them a great
number of teachers to say what their
itching ears want to hear." (Case in
Point: Homosexual leaders saying
God approves of their blatant and
unnatural sin) "They will turn their
ears away from truth and turn aside
to myths."
Just like in Jesus' day, they rejected
Him and crucified Him because they
rejected truth. Jesus said, "I am the
Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No
one comes to the Father except
through me." John 14:6. Again,
"Whoever believes in the Son has
eternal life, but whoever rejects the
Son will not see life, for God's wrath
remains on him." John 3:36.
Know that Jesus loves you, so do I
and I am praying that students here at
Texas A&M University will come to
know the truth of God's one and only
Son, Jesus Christ. Will truth be your
best friend?
Erik Swindlehurst
Class ‘92
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from its readers. All letters to the editor
are welcome.
Letters must be signed and must
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published.
The Battalion reserves the right to
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accuracy. There is no guarantee that
letters will appear.
Letters may be brought to 013 Reed
McDonald, sent to Campus Mail Stop
1111 or can be faxed to 845-2647.