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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 4, 1992)
ember 4,1 Opinion 'Ut 0 xico Friday, December 4,1992 /\ WOP^ R£\MARM£ D CHRISTMAS SpdTXSaft<* by^ ^ m IIM ri 1 ■ -J'-'"-) Atom ' Z ^- 4. (COVERNOR AMI PlCMARP^ 0VJ4W5 »PRESS — Canoncte •7 seconds lei I point gua:, 3 seconds Mexico score: 116 points as d seven :o (2-0) rail was making ew Mexico:. 10 rebound: >ints. ies' final lea: from thetopj ip 69-67. lexis lisfired ona> eft, butja id and the Ag ards, who ha; )als in the set' rs in front. Ei ico's defensi 10-foot jumpe Steve Logar d hit a pain; eft. the buzzer fa 6-22 last yea; >y 22 points ed by as mud e Lobos ran ie first half, st lead at 4341 on a backdo?|p| nd had a 5M [wards hit a ;f t on the shit At a time when the school fi- lancing problem stands stagnant as isual and higher education funding aces serious threats. Gov. Ann Richards has seen fit to pay $150,000 o Bob Hope's production company. Phis is money that comes from the of :ommerce department — our tax noney. Richards' appearance in the Bob ope Christmas special is in itself )erfectly fine. However, using state unds to do so is outrageous. Officials in the commerce depart- nent offer the weak argument that Richards' appearance will bring in :ourist dollars through the showcas- Editorials Abusing tax dollars Governor lacks fiscal responsibility ing of Texas. The special is being filmed in San Antonio, so Texas ex posure is almost guaranteed. It is more likely that Gov. Richards views this opportunity as an excellent career move at a time when her name is mentioned along with Mario Cuomo's in regards to the 1996 presidential bid. Granted, Richards does have a silver tongue and great Texas wit, and her appearance should bring positive exposure to our state. But, as Gov. Richards herself might say, "This move was lower than a snake's belly in the rut of a wagon wheel." A new library A&M addresses campus needs As Texas A&M expands across the tracks to west campus, the Uni versity has recognized the need for more available library space. In Oc tober, the University oegan con struction of a library to serve west campus. When the College of Business moves to its new location on west campus, one fourth of the students will attend class on west campus. They will need easy access to re- earch materials, and they will need study space. The University seems to have done a good job designing the li brary to meet these needs. Besides banning an abundance of study ar eas, the planners included access to databases and many books. The University seems to have learned from the good and bad points of Sterling C. Evans Library and plans to build a different sort of facility. However, in the hurry to build and stock the new library, officials should not short students on the main campus in order to supply stu dents on tne west campus. The Uni versity should not send books from the ailing Evans Library to the new facility. Instead, the University should strive to improve the Evans Library at the same time it develops the new one. Atomic anniversary Nuclear energy turns 50 fB "The Italian navigator has land ed in the New World." "How were the natives?" "Very friendly." Such was the code related from a raquetball court at the University of Chicago to a anhattan Project colleague at Har vard University. A group of 42 sci entists unleashed nuclear power 50 years ago this week. Toasting Ital ian wine in paper cups, these re searchers harnessed the means to eate and destroy. Today, nuclear power has created the opportunity to fuel entire cities and power the world. Yesterday, .8 .m- i Club nuclear bombs desecrated entire cities — and still threaten to do so. While we recognize the great possibilities for discovery unlocked by nuclear potential, we must also remember the thousands who died when exposed to that deadly poten tial. As we celebrate the achieve ments of Enrico Fermi and the other government scientists who raced against the atomic threats in Ger many and Japan, we needn't forget the awful danger released by this discovery and must endeavor to employ it responsibly. Editor's Note d The Battalion has received a great deal of mail over the past two weeks, and with only five more days of publication to go, further submissions to Mail Call are extremely unlikely to get space on the page. We appreciate the variety of letters we have received this semester and look forward to reading your submissions again this spring. Editorials appearing in The Battalion reflect the views of the opinion page staff and editor in chief only. They do nol represent, in any way, the opinions of reporters, staff, or editors of other sections of the newspaper. Columns, guest columns, and Mail Call items express the opinions of fhe authors oniy. The Battalion encourages letters to the editor and will print as many as space aHows in the Mail Call section. Letters must be 300 words or less and include the author’s name. We reserve the right to edit letters for length, style, and accuracy. Letters should be addressed to: The Battalion • Mail Can 013 Reed McDonald /Mail stop 1111 Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843 The Battalion Page 5 More comments on Rep. Wilson, cartoon •I have been keeping up lately in The Battalion with the SAE party -Bat talion cartoon - Rep. Wilson controver sy and decided to attend Monday night's open forum with Wilson and other speakers to hear Wilson's views firsthand. First, I thought that the Black Awareness Committee put together a well-organized event and also showed great initiative in bringing such impor tant guests as Mr. Wilson and the youth minister for the Nation of Islam, Quanell X. Unfortunately, this is where the good stops. I found Quanell X to be an extremely energetic and enthusiastic speaker with no point to make except to vent his anger at whites, whom he said were taught to "get up from all fours" and walk upright by black Africans. When he wasn't using "humor" to mock whites, Wilson stated that if peo ple wanted to engage in racist behavior then they should do it in the privacy of their own home and not on public school property. Correct me if I'm wrong, Wilson, but I thought that the alleged racist SAE behavior was at the SAE house on their own, not school property. Wilson also offended me by threat ening, again, to "shut this sucker (school) down," and then insinuating that the Corps of Cadets was a racist organization. While racists do exist in the Corps and in fraternities, it is unjust to gener alize in such a way. I am not a member of the Corps; I am proudly a member of a fraternity and also a proud Aggie. What "gentle men" such as Ron Wilson and Quanell X said Monday night should offend all Aggies. I for one do not appreciate my school of fellow Aggies being threat ened or slandered. J.D. Poole Class of'93 •Without question, racism exists at Texas A&M University. Any number of instances can be cited to support this accusation. However, the recent edito rial cartoon attacking Rep. Ron Wilson is not necessarily one of those in stances. Yes, Wilson was depicted as a black dog. But that is the only "evidence" that has been offered to support the claim of racism. Could it not be argued that the artist used black ink because black ink would make the dog stand out more on the white newsprint? And since the depiction of Wilson was the intent of the artist, wouldn't the artist want the reader to focus on the dog? I will admit that I have not contact ed the artist in question to ask him or her about the intent of the cartoon or of the black ink. It may very well be that the intent was racially motivated. But until someone does interview the artist, peo ple should not be so quick to assume his or her motives. The use of this cartoon to support the claim of racism at Texas A&M only serves to trivialize the issue. When fighting a legitimate problem, legiti mate evidence should be cited. Steven Murray Graduate Student •If Rep. Wilson voiced his concern for a discrimination-free campus, maybe he should start with a discrimi nation-free forum. Cory Horan Class of'96 •In all of my years here at Texas A&M I have on numerous occasions been inspired/incensed to write in to Mail Call regarding one subject or an other. Never, however, have I written a let ter until now. All of the misinformation and emo tion that as been generated from the Sigma Alpha Epsilon incident has led to the most recent thorn in the side of A&M — Rep. Ron Wilson. With as much objectivity as possible, I find it difficult not to realize that Wil son is a fool and a master of propagan da. His racist entourage ceremoniously delivers itself onto our campus and in turn requests so much security that you would think any black man who dare show his face in public here runs- the risk of being shot. I guess the icing on the cake was a quote from Wilson printed in Tues day's Battalion. "If Prairie View A&M students had painted their faces white and other stu dents shot them with fake Uzis, the punishment would have been a lot more harsh ... The Corps would have been down there in 10 minutes." I know Representative Wilson is en joying all this free press, but come on! /. Stephen Irwin Class of '91 Ending racism up to individuals To any blacks who think all whites are out to get you, and that you de serve special treatment because of your color, well I'm not going to tell you that you're wrong, but you might find this out in time. To any whites who say a black who expresses his problems just turns ev erything into a racist thing. I'm not go ing to tell you that you're wrong either. You might have to figure this out your selves. To any folks who think Asians are only out to break your curves, steal your jobs and wreck your cars. To anyone who thinks all Mexicans do is steal and siesta. To anybody who thinks like this, and to anyone else who just wants to listen, I have this to say: Except for some extreme cases, I don't think there is any racism going on here at A&M. At least not any racism out of hate. Patterns like these only emerge out of misunderstanding. This misunderstanding is in turn out of ignorance — both incidental and inten tional — of one another. No, this isn't racism, but there is definitely something else going on here. When a black guy can't come on television without being ridiculed for that which makes him black; when an Asian girl can't be paged at Kyle Field without eliciting murmurs and laugh ter from the crowd over her name; when too many people are running around on their defensive little tip-toes wondering whether or not they're be ing PC, there is definitely something not good going on here, and it has to stop. That Multicultural 101 thing can't stop it. The Black Awareness Commit tee can't do it. The Committee for the Awareness of Mexican-American Cul ture can't either. And Ron Wilson sure isn't helping things. None of these gets to the heart of the problem: a fundamental resistance to tear down the barriers inherent to mis understanding and ignorance. What does get to it? I don't know. But I do know that we cannot successfully ap proach it as a collective. This thing has to be gotten rid of on an individual lev el. One-to-one, race-to-race with a handshake. Starting with you. Edward J. Lopez Class of '91 Foreign student comments ignorant This is in response to the bigoted and ignorant letter by Chris Cisneros (Battalion Nov. 25). I say bigoted be cause in response to Shamin Ahmed's letter protesting the Evans Library's decision to discontinue buying the Bangladesh Observer, Cisneros gratu itously attacks students of other Asian countries too. It is not clear to me how these coun tries are involved in this issue at all. And is it just a coincidence that Cis neros forgot to mention European, countries from where we have students too? I say ignorant because Cisneros seems to think that people from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are so rich that they can afford to come to the United States to study; therefore, they should not complain about buying a newspaper. When was the last time Cisneros peeped into the world beyond Texas (where he can trace his roots back 200 years)? He might just notice that Third World countries are not exactly rolling in money. Many students who come from there work very hard to find some form of financial support here awarded on the basis of merit and not financial need. I'm one of them. Did Cisneros know that the Univer sity can employ an international stu dent only if no eligible U.S. citizen has applied for that job? Did he know that international stu dents who do manage to pay their fees from personal funds pay more than 4 and a half times what he does? There's no charity in either case, and contrary to what he thinks, we neither expect charity nor get it. So he need not lose sleep over what he thinks is precious Texas money being spent on Asian students instead of his friends from San Antonio who couldn't afford to come to A&M. We do, however, expect not to be needlessly insulted by poorly informed people. Prashant L. Hangal Graduate student THAT'6 AM- I CAtf Do Vod... OF C0OG.&E j AMlAO \S OPTIONAL