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Opinion
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Friday, December 4,1992
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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
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