Opinion
Tuesday, April 13,1993 The Battalion Page 11
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The Battalion Editorial Board
Steve O'Brien, editor in chief
Jason Loughman, managing editor
Todd Stone, city editor
Stacy Feducia, opinion page editor
Susan Owen, lifestyles editor
Kyle Burnett, news editor
Dave Thomas, news editor
Don Norwood, sports editor
Darrin Hill, photo editor
The Battalion
100 years at
Texas A&M
Editorial
Corps election appeal
Lifting fines a good decision
The Battalion supports the Student
Government Judicial Board decision
to overturn an Election Commission
ruling which imposed a fine of $25
on 24 cadets for a violation of elec
tion rules.
The violation dealt with a Corps
memorandum which listed the 24
Corps candidates running for office
and suggested that cadets bring the
list to help them fill out their ballots.
The memo did state that cadets are
not required to vote for the listed
candidates; however, the Election
Commission la
beled the memo as
campaign litera
ture and fined the
cadets because it
was distributed
during illegal
campaigning
hours, even
though the candi
dates had no in
volvement in the creation or distribu
tion of the memo.
Fortunately, the Judicial Board de
cided that the memo was not cam
paign material and overturned the
ruling after the cadets appealed as a
group.
The fact is, however, that Student
Government does not have any busi
ness poking into the affairs of other
organizations, regardless of whether
the memo was campaign material.
If the Corps, or any other group,
wants to encourage its members to
vote as a bloc, they should have that
right. And "encourage" is the key
word. Despite visions of underclass
men being forced to vote Corps, up
perclassmen do not supervise voting
and ballots are still secret. Any
Corps freshman who wants to vote
for a non-reg is free to do so.
Any cadet who is really concerned
about Student Government issues
will probably vote along those lines
and not on the basis of Corps mem
bership. But many Corps members
vote straight Corps simply because
they want to support their own, and
that is the right of any organization.
This can be compared to voting
straight Republican or straight De
mocrat in U.S. elections.
Assuming that the Corps should
have the right to vote as a bloc, the
Corps Staff
should have the
right to distribute
lists of which
cadets are run
ning for office.
Such a list should
not be treated
any differently
than a flier listing
which residence
hall members or Greeks are running.
However, it seems that with an or
ganized structure and 24 members
running for office, the Corps - as
cadet leaders claim - is being ha
rassed for being organized. If the
Election Commission is concerned
about a bloc vote by 1,500 cadets
then it should concentrate on moti
vating the other 38,500 students to
vote. Five percent of the non-regs,
voting as an anti-Corps bloc, could
effectively remove all cadets from
Student Government.
The Election Commission need not
look too far into the Corps' affairs.
With students calling for a re-vote af
ter incidents of ballot-tampering and
unattended ballots, it appears that
the Commission has problems of its
own to take care of.
Campus
Elections
Election an exercise
in incompetence
This past election was a poor exercise
in ethics and competency by the Student
Government Election Commission and
the Judicial Board.
Under what circumstances would the
Election Commission and/or Judicial
Board see fit to invalidate an election?
Ballot tampering by erasing and remark
ing ballots in an attempt to translate vot
er intent? Incompetent polling by insuffi-
dently supervised polling places - lack of
instruction for volunteers, and lack of su
pervisors at some polls? Ignoring estab
lished and official guidelines for election
procedures? All of these have occurred.
None of the involved parties have de
nied these inexcusable actions. Their ex
planation of "acting in good faith" is not
sound. If these breeches in ethics do not
constitute reasons for an invalidation,
then what does? The published election
results are a work of fiction by those who
took it upon themselves to translate al
leged voter mistakes. Unattended com
pleted ballots are an obvious sign of a
poorly run election and are reason
enough to throw the attempt.
The issue at hand is whether the elec
tion rules were violated, and they were.
If the election regulations were written
with any attempt of enforcement, then
those whose duty it is to enforce these
rules should invalidate the election.
These rules are not on a wish list; they
were ratified by Student Senate.
Surely our Student Government can
give us election results with some integri
ty. We see none in this one.
Steven Kutz
Class of 93
Accompanied by three signatures.
Coping with the aftermath of rape
Understanding family, friends help victims heal
T wo years ago, I met a woman ITl
call Melanie. Melanie is a funny,
bouncy 22-year-old woman. I
can't help but feel happy when I am
around her. Although she is a confident
and happy person today, she wasn't al
ways this way. Three years ago,
Melanie was raped.
The police found Melanie after the
rapist left her. She had blacked out and
woke up driving on the wrong side of
the road. She was disillusioned, con
fused, numb and understandably very
fearful. She showed all the signs of
what is known as Traumatic Stress Dis
order, but the policeman didn't recog
nize this. He gave her a ticket.
Melanie told me she felt like dying.
Many counselors who deal with rape victims have found sev
eral different emotional reactions to rape including denial,
confusion, fear, depression, anger, withdrawal, loss of self-es
teem, suicidal thoughts, distrust of people and intense fear of
men or anyone similar to the rapist. According to "Recover
ing from Rape," victims experience dysfunctional responses to
sex ranging from abstinence to homosexuality to promiscuity.
These reactions may last years if they aren't dealt with
through counseling.
When Melanie's father found out she was raped he blamed
her for it. According to "Recovering from Rape," it is not un
usual for the family and friends of rape victims to blame the
victim especially if the woman was in a high-risk situation,
such as hitchhiking. Rape often occurs in everyday low-risk
situations. A study funded by the National Institute of Mental
Health found that more women are raped in their own homes
than any other place. The next most frequent place was the
car. According to this study if people stay off the streets, out
of cars and out of their own homes, they can reduce the
chance of being raped by "more than 90 percent." It is impos
sible for any person to live in this way.
Melanie's father also blamed himself for not helping her
ward off the man that was harassing her and for leaving her
alone at the night club. It is not uncommon for family and
friends of rape victims to blame themselves. Although
Melanie's father might have prevented the rape, it is unrea
sonable for him to blame himself. It was not Melanie's or her
father's fault that she was raped. The rapist was at fault. He
was the one who committed the crime.
Melanie said that although her family was not perfect in
dealing with her as a rape victim, they did help her in many
ways. They did believe that she was raped. Many rape vic
tims aren't as fortunate. This is particularly important if the
victim decides to charge the rapist. The defense attorney may
say that because there are no injuries to the victim, she could
not have been raped.
This is far from the case; according to "Recovering from
Rape," only 20 percent of all rape survivors are cut and
bruised as a result of rape. In another study only 23 percent of
the victims used physical means such as hitting, biting, kick
ing, or pushing to resist the assailant. Over half the victims
were too frightened to use any physical means of resistance.
The reasons why women in particular aren't aggressive
range from childhood sexual abuse to socialization. It is im
portant to note that no matter the reason the victims still did
not consent. It was still rape. The rape victim needs to reas
sured that she acted on her instincts at the time. She did all
she could do. This is not the time for the victim's family and
friends to ask her why she didn't do certain things. She needs
constant reassurance that it was not her fault.
One other thing that Melanie's family did was listen to her.
She had been through the biggest ordeal of her life; she need
ed to talk about it. Victims need to know they can talk about
it without being judged or criticized.
The rape victims need to know that their stories are safe
and won't be spread around. They may need to tell there sto- ‘
ry many times and share their related emotions. Those
around the victim should make them feel free to talk about the
rape. Melanie said she knew that her family couldn't relate to
what had happened, but that they could help her sort though
the emotions by listening.
Another important step Melanie's family did was encour
age her to get counseling. Now three years later, Melanie is
open to having a relationship. Although she still struggles
with some problems, she is able to deal with them day by day.
She has overcome her adversity with the help from others.
Now Melanie helps other victims. She is not a victim any
more; she is an overcomer.
The chances that a person knows a rape victim is great. Ac
cording to "Talking Back to Sexual Pressure," one in four
women could be raped in their lifetimes. Twenty-five percent
of all college women have been the target of rape or attempted
rape according to a survey of over 6,000 college students. We,
as students, must help rape victims by listening and by sup
porting them whether they report the crime or not. Go with
them to the Rape Crisis Center. Go with them to the Student
Judicial Affairs office at A&M. The office can potentially help ~
by dealing with the person who is accused of rape. They can
help the victim feel safer about walking across campus. The
point is learn how to respond in a caring way to rape victims.
Chances are you probably already know one.
Holder is a senior journalism major.
JANET
HOLDER
Columnist
The Anti Smokinpf Patch:
V2 MODEL
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’93 MODEL
Sin Tax
— in-iii -
Sports page hits a
winner with Winder
My letter is in response to sports
writer David Winder's article on shoes.
Hey David, nice little story there.
Peter Tighe
Class of'96
I know that some Republicans hate
gays. They hate a lot of people. I don't
care. That was no surprise. \\Tien a good
military officer is confronted with a prob
lem, he doesn't gripe about it; he deals
with it. Our country has a lot of prob
lems to deal with right now. So stop the
childish in-fighting and give us some
leadership. We need everyone's help to
deal with deficits, health care, jobs, mili
tary cuts, a host of international issues,
and yes, gays in the military- The list
goes on. Please, grow up and help us.
on our campus tutoring our children, act
ing as Big Brothers and Big Sisters, work
ing our Parent-Teacher Organization
fundraisers and being there to help in
whatever way was needed.
The things that make Texas A&M spe
cial are seen on our campus on a daily
basis and on the faces of the children that
the Aggies help.
Thank you Aggies, for all you do for
us and we hope that this wonderful spirit
of helping and caring follows you for the
rest of your lives.
Stop silly taunting,
start leading country
No, I'm not the PC thought police. My
subject is rather different. From what
I've read about the College Republican
meeting, there were speakers personally
"lambasting" others at the meeting with
"ruthless attacks." A popular vulgar
hand gesture was used and a vulgarly
hostile poem was circulated with other
papers of interest to the audience. What
kind of people are you? I'm rather
shocked. There seems to be a maturity
problem here. Republicans always sell
themselves as the most responsible types
to be elected. Looks like that was miss
ing here.
, . „ , , Ranga Parasuraman
Andrei Blozinski Cindy Skinner
Class of 94 Parent Volunteers
Aggie volunteers
help school excel
In February, South Knoll Elementary
in College Station was named Outstand
ing Campus Volunteer Program for a
Small District (less than 10,000 students).
The recognition that South Knoll has
received and the success of our program
is due in large part to the hundreds of
Aggies who have volunteered at South
Knoll in the past several years. The
teachers and parents have seen the won
derful work that these Aggies have done
Becky Eden
Campus Coordinator
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