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Opinion
Wednesday, March 31,1993
The Battalion
Page 7
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The Battalion Editorial Board
Steve O'Brien, editor in chief
Jason Loughman, managing editor Kyle Burnett, news editor
Todd Stone, city editor Dave Thomas, news editor
Stacy Feducia, opinion page editor Don Norwood, sports editor
Susan Owen, lifestyles editor Darrin Hill, photo editor
100 years at
Texas A&M
Editorial
Vote for the future
Say 'yes' to library referendum
Those students who have not yet
participated in this year's Student
Government elections should consid
er of one ballot item which is ex
tremely important to the future of
this University.
The ballot includes a referendum
that would call for the creation of a
$15 student fee which
would be earmarked
specifically fpj the .Ster
ling C. Evans Library. If
the referendum passes.
Student Government
and the Texas A&M Uni
versity administration
will propose the fee to
the Board of Regents for
their approval.
Though no one likes
the idea of yet one more
fee, with this referen
dum students have an
opportunity to directly
address one of the more
glaring shortcomings of
this University.
The fee would pro
vide a much-needed fi
nancial boost to a library
that suffers greatly from
underfunding. The re
cent cancellation of
about 1,000 subscrip
tions in the current peri
odicals department is
only the latest symptom in a bad case
of budget malnutrition.
The many students who have met
with frustration in their attempts at
research at Sterling C. Evans are fa
miliar with the long-standing mani
festations of the library's financial
deficiencies.
It is somehow not surprising that
the Evans library ranks among the
most frequent borrowers of material
from other libraries.
Furthermore approval of the fee
by the student body would present
the administration with a clear and
statement of student's concerns
about budget priorities.
In effect, the student
body has the opportunity
to put its money where
its mouth is and proclaim
that the library needs to
be moved way up on this
University's list of priori
ties.
If $15 seems too much,
consider the $48 that a 12-
hour student pays for
computer access fees to
provide and maintain
computers that he or she
might never use. Consid
er the $96 that the same
student would pay for
"general use" fees for the
expansion, air condition
ing and rehabilitation of
facilities. Renovated
buildings look great but
contribute little to educa
tion.
Complaints about the
library have continued
for long enough with no
appreciable results.
This time students have the oppor
tunity to step forward and make a
strong statement to the A&M admin
istration and the Board of Regents.
All it takes is one vote from every
student. Take some time today to fill
out a ballot.
Resume padders for president!
Who needs a student body president? Not us!
T oday is election day! All over
campus, students have the oppor
tunity to vote for a multitude of
positions including yell leader, class of
ficer, senator, and best of all, the ubiq
uitous student body president.
As a former campaigner, I just have
one suggestion to make: Let's kill off
the position of student body president.
Why do we need one? t.u. doesn't
have one. Tech doesn't have one.
What they have instead is a position
they call president of the Student Asso
ciation.
The difference between the two is
purely semantic, but it seems to be an
important distinction to A&M students.
This trifling difference has led to an
amazing amount of acrimony and some pathetic electoral re
sults in past elections. Last year, an amendment to the Stu
dent Government Constitution was proposed that would have
required candidates for student body president to have partic
ipated in student government for the past two years. The idea
was to guarantee a certain degree of experience and expertise
in the position.
Predictably, the campus reacted with a full measure of
righteous indignation. The Battalion, in its infinite wisdom,
rose up and smote the (unidentified) authors of the proposal
with the full force of its' editorial might. Partisans from the
Corps, MSC, RHA, and other campus organizations set up a
keening howl of self-serving outrage.
The ensuing campaign proved fertile ground for non-stu
dent government candidates. In a flash, stump speeches de
signed to emphasize whatever tiny contribution a candidate
had made to student government underwent a 180 degree
turnaround. Suddenly, candidates were doing their best to tell
audiences about all their non-SGA leadership exploits.
Voters nodded their heads knowingly when candidates
spewed out gems like "my extensive leadership experience in
the Corps makes me an excellent candidate," and "the student
body president needs to be a representative of all the students,
not just student government."
What a bunch of hoo-yah! The truth is simple: Candidates
need a considerable amount of experience to do the job right.
Just like other positions around campus, there ain't no way
you can waltz into the student body president's office and do
anything other than pack your resume. Anyone can "be" stu
dent body president, and do a decent job if judged by outward
appearances. The danger in electing the wrong candidate is
not that the campus will suffer, but that the opportunity to ac
complish positive things will vanish. Anyone who looks nice
and can speak in public can appear competent, but it takes
specific skills and connections to do the job right.
Anyone running for this position has to be conversant with
a nearly infinite list of subjects: The budget — A&M's bud
get, state budget appropriations, the student government bud
get, the student services budget — parking, campus facilities,
shuttle buses, food services, student fees, the library, the
school calendar, student government committees like Muster
and Big Event, multicultural issues, residence halls, the cam
pus police and the curriculum, just to begin to name a few.
At minimum, it is imperative that a candidate already be
familiar to key figures across campus including Dr. Mobley,
Dr. Koldus, Dr. Gage, state Sen. Turner, state Rep. Ogden, Dr.
Southerland, Dr. Adair, Mr. Carreathers (head of multicultur
al services), members of the Board of Regents, and perhaps
most important of all, Mr. Smith.
Robert Smith is the Vice President for Finance and Admin
istration, and tc put it bluntly, he holds the University's purse
strings. Without a strong relationship with Smith, any student .
initiative involving fees, prices or money in general is doomed
to fail. ,
The story students are being told that generic "leadership" ,
experience qualifies one for student body president is just that
— fiction. I seriously doubt anyone would make it as Corps
Commander without some impressive credentials and experi
ence within the Corps. The same holds true for editor of the
Battalion, president of the MSC, or any other significant cam
pus office.
Each year, we have enough lousy candidates running for
office who have experience in the system, and we can truly do
without those who just want to pack their resumes. If the situ
ation has progressed to the point where it is impossible to tell
the difference, then let's call our person the president of the
student association and start electing people that will do the
job for the right reasons.
Candidates for student body president should run for office
because they want to get something done, not because they
think it would be marketable. In the past, student body presi
dents have made a difference. On their own initiative, they
started programs like the night walking patrols around cam
pus and the drive to improve the Health Center. One presi
dent pushed the Aggie License Plate bill through the state leg
islature and made the administration abolish the practice of
confiscating people's leftover Aggie Bucks at the end of each
semester - an $80,000 bonus for students.
If we employ some common sense and ignore the divisive,
self-serving rhetoric, we can start electing candidates once
again who will begin attacking the problems that exist on this
campus, instead of just polishing their resumes.
Brooks is a senior economics major.
DAVID
BROOKS
Columnist
Which students does
"uncover" apply to?
I have a question that perhaps one of
the Battalion writers or A&M students
can clear up. The question is simply, to
whom does the term "Uncover" refer? I
understand that the MSC requests that
people remove their hats in memory of
those who died in the war, and the sign
outside the MSC states that "all MEN re
move their hats."
I am a bit confused. I was always un
der the impression that this certain rule
of etiquette referred to men.
I was once asked to "Uncover" at the
Fish Pond after a football victory. I was
not wearing a baseball cap or a cowboy
hat; I was wearing a nice summer straw
hat that accented my dress. 1 was a bit
confused and asked if the CT was talking
to me, which he was.
I seem to remember the days when
women were not fully clothed without a
hat. Many times a hat was seen as being
formal, particularly in the ultimate
memorial, church!
I own many hats and usually wear
them to dress up, but I have never been
asked to remove them because it was im
polite; not even in church.
This brings me to baseball hats. When
many women wear baseball hats they
pull their hair through the back making it
inconvenient to constantly remove. In
this situation, "uncovering" is not as easy
for women as it is for men.
I understand there are certain women
who prefer not to be singled out and like
to be treated equally to men. Yet, there
are still those women who enjoy being
different and being treated as a lady.
This brings me back to my question:
To whom does "Uncover" apply?
Does it apply to all students no matter
what type of hat they are wearing? Does
it only apply to men? Or does it apply to
all students male and female but only
those wearing baseball caps or cowboy
hats? Please, someone help me so that I
may have a clear understanding.
Sandy Hernandez
Class of'94
America should heed
Washington's words
When America was young , Ameri
cans were free and respected, George
Washington left us with his Farewell Ad
dress to remind us how we might keep
our freedoms. Americans of today
should return to his wisdom in the light
of expensive and failed policies by Lead
ers who forgot the lessons of yesterday.
"Europe has a set of primary interests
which to us have none, or a very remote,
relation. Hence she must be engaged in
frequent controversies, the cause of
which are essentially foreign to our con
cerns. Hence, therefore, it must be un
wise in us to implicate ourselves by artifi
cial ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of her
politics, or the ordinary combinations
and collisions of her friendships or enmi
ties."
"...Why quit our own to stand on for
eign ground? Why, by interweaving our
destiny with that of any part of Europe,
entangle our peace and prosperity in the
toils of European ambition, rivalship, in
terest, humor, or caprice..." In other
words, George Washington warned us to
mind our own business if we intend to be
free.
"Interweaving our destiny" with other
nations has proven very expensive by
quartering over 200,000 American troops
in Europe for 50 years, over 45,000 in Ko
rea for over 40 years and now the Persian
Gulf, Somalia, and other commitments to
numerous to name. Costs are estimated
at $957.2 billion. Other countries should
defend themselves without us.
In 1992, leaders of the United States,
Canada and 27 European countries
signed a new agreement to limit ground
troops in Europe. American troops are to
be cut to 150,000, with 345,000 for Ger
many, and 325,000 for France.
Russia would have 1,450,000 and
Ukraine would have 450,000. Adding in
the several million more "soviet troops"
scattered around in the "republics" and
Asian Russia with atomic and chemical-
bacteriological capabilities, it is not diffi
cult to determine the dominant military
forces after the cuts are completed.
Are American troops to be potential
hostages? Are they to be embroiled in
the Balkans with a Serbian Communist
government when it is a European prob
lem?
Paul Harvey reported that illegal
aliens are coming into the U.S. at the rate
of 3 million per year with many going on
welfare. This enormous invasion cannot
be stopped by a restricted border patrol.
Those troops in remote parts of the world
may be desperately needed back home to
protect us.
Is it wise to be interwoven with other
countries when our interests are best
served by minding our own affairs and
getting our imperial congress under con
trol?
MacDonald Hays
Amarillo, Texas
Editoriols appearing in The Battalion reflect the views of the
editorial board. They do not necessarily reflect the
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