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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 24, 1993)
Wednesday, March 24,1993 The Battalion Page 9 099! . 'e ind ten- and ifter re ous ie Me I i s of n k a ich es- m- ;a ;e Ik t ch /or. _ s ^Ise ;ies lust Al exi ns, :es- de Is- any :he =ed nd •ice jly »ur : or nat 3X1 ke ill- 3 k- es or, Open letter criticizes A&M name changes Editor's Note: The following is an open letter to the president of the Abi lene A&M Mother's Club, Ann Hewett. Dear Ann: On Friday, March 5, the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents vot ed to change the names or Corpus Christi State University, Texas A&I In ternational University and Laredo State University to Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi, Texas A&M University- Kingsville and Texas A&M International University respectively. This was done because of threats to cut Texas A&M University's state fund ing and because a name change rider was attached to the appropriations bill. The Regents were forced to succumb to legislative pressure and agreed to the above-mentioned name changes. These name changes are set to go into effect Sept. 1; however, students at the other universities are requesting that they be allowed to order an "Aggie Senior Ring". Also, it is highly probable that the other University's diplomas will closely resemble the current Texas A&M Diploma. You realize the number of hours and the dedication it takes to earn a degree from Texas A&M University. By spread ing the Texas A&M name throughout the state, the value of a Texas A&M de gree is being abated. As an Aggie par ent, you have sacrificed to send your son or daughter to Texas A&M for the bene fits of an "Aggie education." Encourage your members, family, and friends to write as many legislators as possible. By doing so, we can voice our dissatisfaction with this legislative pressure on the system Regents. In addition to our campaign against this issue, students and former students of Texas A&I and Corpus Christi State are beginning their own initiative to fight the name changes. They feel their Universities have their own identities and reputations, just as we do. This is a very important issue to the students of Texas A&M University. On Wednesday, March 10, the Student Sen ate of Texas A&M University passed a resolution expressing their opposition to the name changes. Our university name and reputation have been earned by our more than 175,000 former students. This legislative extortion has essentially stripped Texas A&M of the prestige both former stu dents and current students have worked hard to establish and maintain. You may hear, "This is a done deal," and this may be true. But, we have got to take a stand or outside groups will be able to force their views on the Universi ty and the System in the future. Your ef forts, along with ours, can make a differ ence. Let's muster our troops and fight this battle just as Aggies always have! Gig 'em, Michael Mason Brian Walker Class of '94 Accompanied hy four signatures Smoking lights fire under reader letters • I have smoked two cigarettes in my life. I didn't like it at all, and smoking cigarettes is bad for your health. Those are two important reasons for me not to engage in cigarette smoking. I made my own decision for my own life and health. But trying to ban smokers from all public places, seems to me a behavior of intolerance. It is dictating what others can and cannot do from a narrow-mind ed selfish point of view. In a small sur vey, it appeared that most of the people who are now obsessively occupied with banning smokers out of public places have had trouble quitting their un healthy smoking habits. Psychologically it is important for them not to be con fronted with the memory of the emo tional and physical reaction to the nico tine addiction. Cognitive dissonance re duction might be the mechanism that is involved here. Of course there are exceptions. Peo ple who are allergic or have breathing problems, have a very legitimate reason for keeping smokers away from theiV en vironment. Naturally I hope that these people and the "intolerant" non-smokers also voluntarily use their car as little as possi ble by car pooling. And I hope they do not light candles or a fire in the house just for romantic reasons. Or for the same reason do not travel by airplane to their holiday destination or use jet skies for fun or recreation. I wonder how many anti-smokers are clean of doing any of these things. Let us make a comparison of two of the behaviors discussed. A smoker who smokes 20 cigarettes a day is smoking for an average of two hours and 20 min utes. Let us say he does this in a small room of 400 square feet. He might have a better chance to stay alive then if some one was in the same room with a car with a running engine for just 20 min utes. I am sure and hope that many readers will say that it is an unreasonable com parison. But why is that? Because their car pollution is indirect and just kills our environment in the future? Because it is assumed that car pollution causes green house effect, but it is not yet 100 percent proven. Or because they feel that they need the car to make a living. Then think about the fact that the smoker might need smoking to make his life just a little bit more attractive to him self. Try to look at his habit from his point of view. I am sure he is not smok ing to make your environment smell bad just as you are not driving your car to create the greenhouse effect. We very easily judge other people's behavior from our own perspectives. Probably as long as the behavior we re ject is in no way related to our own level of well being, we feel we have the right to do so. Therefore I ask the person who is free from polluting our world to cast the first stone at the smokers. We do not need to pollute our world. But we do so at our own convenience, because we want to earn money, to take a holiday abroad, to drive a car, to have a cold drink, and for some, to smoke cig arettes. And I am glad that some of my best friends smoke cigarettes. Dr. Anton P.M. van Bakel Visiting Professor The Netherlands • I am writing in response to Rich Henderson's column on smoker's rights in the March 12 Battalion. I'm glad Hen derson is a smoker too! The sooner peo ple like him, who have no regard for other people's health become too ill to smoke, the better. If he stopped to read his own column, he will see that he even contradicted his own twisted logic. The very next para graph after stating hisagreement that second hand smoke is related to cancer. he pointed out that it is "ridiculous" to think that being exposed to it on a daily basis causes any harm! Brilliant! Given the fact that some 40,000 peo ple may have read that article, I am a lit tle embarressed for him. Furthermore, someone should remind him that he is a sophomore political science major, NOT an M.D.; he is therefore poorly qualified to make that kind of decision for those of us who prefer not to have smoke in our lungs. If he is comfortable with being addict ed to nicotine, that is his business. When he handles that addiction in such a way as to endanger other people's health, his business becomes other people's prob lem. Douglas Collins Graduate Student • I enjoyed Rich Henderson's March 12 column on smoking. Thank you for giving the intellectually impaired a voice on the editorial page. To Henderson: I have a cousin who's a mortician. Could I send his business card to his next of kin? Dave Pruett Graduate Student Thatcher a dinosaur in European politics As a citizen of the European commu nity, a resident in Britain and a witness of last year's British general elections, I have to tell the Aggies the truth about Margaret Thatcher. Thatcher is the most unpopular personality in Europe. As prime minister, she hindered many steps in the process of European integration. Elsewhere, her awful economic policy led Britain to the worst recession ever. Due to this, she had to resign before hav ing completed her term. British universi ty students spit after pronouncing her name. Nobody would spare a minute to lis ten to her in Europe. None of the Euro pean universities would invite her to ad dress a lecture. During last year's general elections in Britain, she tried to canvass for the Con servative Party despite the fact that she is no longer in the party. A speaker for the Conservative Party said that if Thatcher really wanted to help, she should go to America to address confer ences and leave them all alone. Last summer she provoked the entire Conservative Party again when she said John Mayor, Britain's Prime Minister, was not his own man. In response, a Conservative member of parliament said to BBC News that Thatcher is going to keep provoking them until she dies and that she is like an old dinosaur; it will take a long time for her to die. Thatcher is nobody in Europe. To at tend a lecture about the European Com munity given by Thatcher is like attend ing a lecture about the USA given by Fi del Castro. H.A. Jorge Graduate Student Transracial adoption can be a great option I would like to thank the Battalion for its editorial encouraging transracial adoption. Interracial families are more in number than most people realize. There are over 8,000 children in foster care in the state of Texas. How many of these children will find permanent homes is unknown. There are no perfect homes for these children, and the ability to parent should not depend on the color of one's skin. Research has shown that transracial adoption is very successful and through educating parents of tran sracial adoptees, you can instill cultural pride and self-esteem in these children. There is legislation that is being intro duced this year that will hopefully end the "color-matching" policies of state and private agencies. It would NOT mean that racial considerations must be ignored altogether in the process, as the emphasis would be refocussed on the adoptive parent's ability to meet the child's racial/ethnic needs in terms of ATTITUDE, SENSITIVITY, and KNOWLEDGE, rather than on RACE it self! Sharon Rychetsky Bryan, Texas Editorials <$>pearrtg in The Battalion reflect the views of the editorial board only. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of other BattaSon staff members, the Texas A&M student body, regents, admmtratton, faculty or staff. Columns, guest columns, and Ma< Cal dems express the opinions of the authors only. The Battalion encourages fetters to the editor and will prim as many as space dbws in the McA Call section. Letters must be 300 words or less and include the author's name, doss, and phone number. Due to space restrictions, guest columns will not be accepted unless the author contacts the opinion page for prior approval : before submitting columns. We reserve the right to edit letters for length, style, and accuracy. Letters should be addressed to: The Battalion - Mail Call 01 3 Reed McDonald /MaJ stop 1111 Texas A&M University Colege Station, TX 77843 Study Abroad IK ^ DENMARK ’ Is your future career in one of these fields? • INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS / RELATIONS • MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES ARCHITECTURE / DESIGN • LIBERAL ARTS Then check out DiS! Denmark’s International Studies Program Thursday, March 25, at 4:00 251 Bizzell West Study Abroad Programs; 161 Bizzell West; 845-0544 The Answer to the LSAT. Want to maximize your performance on the LSAT? Learn exactly what the test covers and effective test-taking strategies from the company that knows the test makers best. Classes are starting right now. Call 696-3196. KAPLAN The answer to the test question. saving our world GREENPEACE '93 March 29, 1993 8:30 p.m. 601 Rudder ADVANCED ATS GROUP TUTORING WED 3/24 THU 3/25 SUN 3/28 MON 3/29 1 6 - a MEEN 328 HOMEWORK ELEN 306 CH 5 - 6 5pm - 8pm ACCT 327 CH 12 - 13 ACCT 327 TEST REV 6pm - 9pm 8-10 ACCT 2402 CH 22 ACCT 328 CH 18 ACCT 328 CH 19 - 23 ACCT328 TEST REV 9pm - 12am 10-12 MATH 1 324 TEST REV MATH 1325 CH 14 MATH 1325 TEST REV 5 - 7 MATH 1 42 CH 6.3 - 6.5 ACCT 327 CH 7-8 7-10 MEEN 213 TEST REV PART 2 PHYS 208 CH 31 PHYS 202 CH 35 - 36 PHYS 222 ' (SEC. 502) CH 5 10-1 PHYS 208 CH 30 PHYS 202 CH 32 - 33 MEEN 212 HOMEWORK #9 PHYS 208 (HUSON) CH 29 - 30 i-c 11—i ON NORTHGATE, BEHIND 7/11-2 PESOS PHYS 201, 202, 208, 219, 222 ACCT 229, 230, 327, 328 ELEM 306 MEEN 212, 213, 327, 328 MATH 150, 141, 142 CALL 846-2879 * 846-2146 (TICKET OFFICE) The Texas A<StM University Student Publications Board is accepting applications for Editor, The Battalion Summer 1993 The summer '93 editor will serve from May 24,1993, through August 6, 1993. Qualifications for editor of The Battalion are: Be a Texas A&M student with a minimum 2.0 overall and major GPR at the time of appointment and during the term of office; Have at least one year experience in a responsible editorial position on The Battalion or comparable student newspaper, OR Have at least one year editorial experience on a commercial newspaper, OR Have completed at least 12 hours journalism, including JOUR 203 and 303 (Media Writing I and II), JOUR 301 (Mass Comm Law) and JOUR 304 (Editing for the Mass Media), or equivalent. Application forms should be picked up and returned to the Student Publications Manager's office, room 230 Reed McDonald Building. Deadline for submitting application: 5 p.m. Wednesday, March 31, 1993. Applicants will be inter viewed during the Student Publications Board Meeting be ginning at 3 p.m. Friday, April 2, 1993, in room 327 Reed McDonald.