Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 1993)
Opinion s runnir: ireauoar, arofessio-. il Cover- 1 be a ret some stt- or havii« 'getanei i A&Mtt- n, and vo, Thursday, October 21,1993 The Battalion Page 11 The Battalion Editorial Board CHRIS WHITLEY, editor in chief )ULI PHILLIPS, managing editor MARK EVANS, city editor _ 8 DAVE THOMAS, night news editor ANAS BEN-MUSA, Aggielife editor BELINDA BLANCARTE, night news editor MICHAEL PLUMER, sports editor MACK HARRISON, opinion editor WILLIAM HARRISON, sports editor KYLE BURNETT, photo editor ‘it'd SrecJ desfiaifli:! WHICH TECHNOLOGY IS RESPONSIBLE says I FOR SKYROCKETING HEALTHCARE COSTS? ature band wht Town Q| 'go, on fc ?, we weit ;gie fansi’ 1 leering foi breaks. A my mi® ited, tell; de assure; Foolishly,! out givin; hat he wsj EDITORIAL Hypocrisy lesson apologiiej bers of thl his behavf ig him M ie was di would lil;| School teaches discrimination mg at yo.l someofisp School boards now have the jurisdiction to decide come bat whether unwed mothers are .Iso. I wan!,,. . . . A , rr nightt;ph ora * or immoral. At least latedyoafthat's what the Hempstead te, but you I School Board has decided. ^ it-1 have I Earlier this month, four toyed plat! gi r i s on Hempstead High cl fanstkjjlchool cheerleading squad . r . were kicked off for being tack to Old ■ .. & ck and •. P re gnant. One was allowed ■ up oneo:|l ac k on, however, after hav- phg an abortion. | School Board President ficDurlm Betty Vines contends that the fousc Bii'-r girlg were banned for health Li<6WB easons accor di n g to Newsweek magazine, no medical authorities were con sulted and one expert. Dr. Brian Kirshon, cited "no medical reason" to prevent a ; healthy pregnant girl from ‘1 as P ect °:Bheerleading. maded K ^ medical reasons are such ieir implr an issue, then why was the n referring Ban extended to apply to stu- it rattle the [dent government and other /eekendinHxtracurriculars? Surely be- |ing student council president unjay any isj-pt medically dangerous for expectant moth^. trees" andi The school board recently hile heavy decided to consider possible calls : ect changes in the policy after being informed that a federal statute prohibits that type of discrimination. Title IX of the 1972 Educa tion Amendments forbids dis crimination against students who are expecting a child or are parents in all schools that receive federal funding. It is also interesting to note that the school board did not ban the expectant fathers from student organizations until recently. Perhaps more interesting is the fact that the three currently banned cheer leaders are black, and the one let back on the squad is white. Obviously, whatever the Hempstead School Board de cides, they need to keep these hypocrisies in mind. "We won't change our opinions," Vines said, "but we will look at the issues and the legal aspects of our policy." It's sad to think that the only reason students might not have to deal with admin istrative discrimination in the future is that the school board is bowing to threats of losing money. Rumors abound in food court debate After all the controversy, students get to have it their way T ast year as a Stu- the food court was simply the first step in sues of the Bryan-College Station Eagle to no- MELISSA MEG LI OLA Columnist L ast year as a Stu dent Senator rep resenting the off- campus constituency, I first heard about the possibility of fast food chains coming to A&M. After listening to a proposal from the office of finance and administration, sena tors debated the idea of putting a food court under Sbisa that would feature fast food. Who would run the food court? Would such a food court threaten the rest of Food Services? Would private vendors take away student jobs? The senate eventually passed a resolution supporting the project under the stipulation that they be consulted before a fi nal contract was signed. A year of confusion and speculation surrounded the possibility of privatizing Food Services. The administration is now planning an on-campus food court run by Food Services that will feature recognizable vendors. Stu dents might just get what they want. The food court, which the administration hopes to develop by this spring, is being de veloped despite persistent concerns by many students about the possibility of a private company eventually taking over Texas A&M Food Services. The recent reassignment of former Food Services Director Lloyd Smith added to the rumors. Some suggested that Fi nance and Administration had plans to an nex food services. Other students believed the food court was simply the first step in privatizing all of food services. However, Robert Smith, vice president of fi nance and administration, said the food court would not be managed by ARA, an outside company, finally clearing up the confusion. "Early in September, ARA was notified that they do not have the contract," said Smith, disputing rumors about the arrival of a private company. " ARA is completely out of the picture." The plan for the food court includes a con venience store, yogurt stand and four other vendors. A group of student leaders from Student Government/ the MSC, RHA and Off-Campus Aggies advised the administration on what franchises the students wanted. Right now. Food Services is looking at vendors for ham burgers, chicken, deli sandwiches and pizza. The administration should have been more open with the campus throughout ne gotiation. Earlier communication would have prevented the spread of rumors and unnec essary concern. Addressing students' concerns about price increases. Dr. Richard Floyd, assistant vice president of finance and administration and interim director of Food Services, said costs on campus would be the same as off-campus prices for the same vendor. "Food Services will also insure that the quality and quantity of food is consistent with that of the off-campus vendors," he said. Last fall, the administration sent out re quests for proposals for the food court. Smith said he sent requests to large national man agement companies, but also solicited propos als from local businesses. The University ran advertisements in August and September is sues of the Bryan-College Station Eagle to no tify local businesses of the plans. This did not prove to be adequate. Local business owners circulated a petition trying to persuade the ad ministration to consider smaller businesses. Two private food companies, ARA and Marriott, submitted viable plans. After fur ther consideration, the ARA proposal was ac cepted as the best option for a private compa ny. The administration then compared the ARA proposal to that of our own Food Ser vices and decided that in-house management would be the best option. However/it did not immediately inform students of this decision. Because Food Services will manage the food court, student workers will be em ployed by the University and not the individ ual vendor. Managers will go through some training with specific chains in order to be able to train workers on procedures specific to each vendor. Last year, RHA did a survey of 212 stu dents, a sample too small to be representative of the campus. Eighty-four percent of the re spondent were favorable to the idea of branded foods in the basement of Sbisa and 83 percent of the surveyed students said that they would be more likely to purchase Aggie Bucks if they could use them at name brand facilities on campus. After all the confusion, the administra tion will go back to the senate with a propos al for an on campus dining facility run by food services that will employ students and accept Aggie bucks. The administration seems to be giving us exactly what we want. Melissa Megliola is a senior industrial engineering major Hat etiquette for women traditionally different than for men he controver- 5UU11 now* ainting the jjec uck repeat- yard. Residence s that "use to wake uf ted. These rr~i i mi ted to, I S y over >ud stereo, whether women ought to ntions, the| remove their hats titudes to- as a sign of respect s. If this is has its roots in the uch tradi fashion world's re liction of women's lats for the last Biirty years. Be- 'had WPjluse hats have not "lass o/'Tbeen essential Barts of female outfits for longer man most Aggies OOPf ^ ave b een a h ve ' few people have learned the hat etiquette that was second- ous Direcic’ nature to their forebearers, maid Buil# : | Fiona Clark, author of "Hats" (1982), xm. MondOi»i s us "j-ke etiquette of hat wearing your cof f cr men hinges largely on the removal of Hie hat, for women on its retention." . nirorfopjd| A gentleman's hat constitutes part of ed for Fain# 3 outdoor gear. Society regards his hat copy fof as primarily protective. When he re- Editorials appearing in The Battalion reflect the views of the editorial board. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of other Battalion staff members, the Texas A&M student body, regents, administration, faculty or staff. Columns, guest columns, cartoons and letters express the opinions of the authors. The Battalion encourages letters to the editor and will print as many as space allows. Letters must be 300 words or less and include the author's name, class, and phone number. We reserve the right to edit letters and guest columns for length, style, arid accuracy. Contact the opinion editor for information on submitting guest columns. : Address letters to: The Battalion - Mail Calf 013 Reed McDonald Mail stop 1111 • -Texas A&M University •:.'. College Station, TX 77843 Tax* GUEST COLUMN K. E. KROHN moves it to pledge allegiance, to sit in company for a meal, or upon entering the MSC, he presents an unprotected head, signifying trust and humility. Tipping a hat echoes the older fashion of doffing it: another presentation of the unprotected head. Surely even ardent guardians of Aggie traditions will not in sist that women should tip their hats to older ladies, professors, and others de serving of deference. Yet if, in ignorance of proper women's comportment, we ask a lady to follow gentlemen's hat etiquette, then 1 we must also demand that she tip her hat to everyone of superior social or professional rank. The argument that if women wish to be equal to men they should blindly adopt all male customs rests on faulty logic. That women do not wear athletic does not mean that they are otions oi iffice les listings 0 A. inferior to men, only different from them. Women's traditions for covering their heads are far older than the Aggie men's tradition, and deserve respect. Ladies do not take their hats off at table or in church. whereas gentlemen do. Until Vatican II, Catholic women were required to cover their heads in church. Surely no one will expect Muslim women Aggies to uncover in the MSC. Will Orthodox Jewish Aggies be asked to take off their yarmulkes, or Sikh Aggies to remove their turbans? All of these head- Surely no one will expect Muslim women to uncover in the MSC. Will Orthodox Jews be asked to take off their yarmulkes, or Sikhs to remove their turbans? covering traditions predate the MSC by thousands of years. Western society understands a lady's hat to be ornamental and part of her cos tume. Often made of fragile straw, silk or ribbon and decorated with feathers or ar tificial flowers, ladies' hats are vulnerable to damage. As they were not designed for protection, removing them carries no con notations of respect, no symbolic weight. A pragmatic argument against asking ladies to uncover concerns how women wear hats. Designed to draw attention to a pair of shining eyes or to bewitching curls, women's hats are often built on small bases, and must be carefully held in place. Women secure hats with sewn-in combs, hat pins (which go through hat and hair), and elastic bands pinned into the hair. Such arrangements make it easi er to comprehend some of the lack of feminine enthusiasm for uncovering. Modern women sometimes wear sporty headgear. Just as a lady in pants remains a lady, a woman's Panama hat becomes part of her ensemble. She is no more obliged to remove it for ceremonial occasions than to unpin her "Sunday best" hat with the sequins and veil. Different rules apply to women in uni form. Uniform headgear increases its wearer's rank. A police officer, firefighter, or Corps member removes her hat in the same circumstances as her male counter part, to show deference. When she works undercover, or is off duty, she follows women's social rules. Professional or oth erwise, no lady allows her headdress to obstruct the view of others, whether at a temple, church, classroom, theatre, cine ma, or sporting event. The impulse to show respect deserves encouragement. Anthropologist Sylvia Grider notes that when all Aggies were male Corps members, the sight of every student and teacher in the Memorial Stu dent Center with his hat in his hand must have been deeply moving. In 1993, however, we are no longer a homogeneous group with only one set of customs. We need to adopt a new way of showing respect that could include all Aggies, even the bare-headed. Imagine us greeting each other in the MSC with hands over our respective hearts, the ges ture we use when saluting our flag. K. E. Krohn is a graduate student fellow with the Interdisciplinary Group for Historical Lit- k erary Study IF ial Justin t Worshif ft 73.633 1 MAIL CALL •Avix.x.xx-A’ V ' :> Ax, orts Progtf 11 * rage Of Co^ id The Naft* 1 If you want to go into space, better act now A new rocket design will enable us to get into space often and cheaply — the DC-X Delta Clipper project, based on the concept of a single-stage-to-orbit rocket which lifts off and lands vertically. The major point of this, is that by constraining weight during the whole management program and with the help of new technologies, it is possibili ty to build a rocket with the same ad vantages as planes. The project is differ ent from the Space Shuttle because it is not designed to lift a huge payload at once, it has no wings (less weight asso ciated with the structure) and many other fine points. The reason of this letter is to warn everybody that this project (which is NOT a NASA project) will be killed in Congress if you don't do anything for it. In order to provide more informa tion, Friday at the Eta Kappa Nu TV center in Zachry I will show a video tape of the VIP briefing and launch that was held at White Sands three weeks ago. Petitions will be available. I will fax those petitions on Friday night. For those of you already convinced, call your representatives in Congress and tell them you want the SX-2 project to continue. (DC-X is the 1/3 scale ver sion, it w'as ahead of schedule and cost $60 million, SX-2 is the 2/3 scale ver sion.) The tape will show you the DC-X lifting off, then stopping in the air, mowing sideways and landing smooth ly. If you want to have your kids or yourself going suborbital one day, this is the time to act. Igor Carron Graduate student. Physical Plant people care about University I was recently hired as a student work er by the Physical Plant, and would like to respond to Shea Snyder's letter which ap peared in Mail Call on Oct. 18. I have only been here five weeks and I would like to let everyone know that the people here at Physical Plant definitely care about Texas A&M. Many employees here can tell you more about the traditions and history of A&M than most students. I am not sure of your definition of an Aggie, but my favorite is that an Aggie is anyone who cares about Texas A&M, not just the students. This includes faculty, staff, parents and relatives of students (even the people who have to walk on the grass at the MSC to take care of the plants are Aggies as long as they care about A&M). The men and women of the Physical Plant work their butts off for this universi ty. They are the ones who clean up after us, keep this university looking nice, and keep our classrooms and buildings func tional. Guess who cleans up the campus before and after football games. Elephant Walk, Fightin' Texas Aggie Bonfire , and other wonderful traditions. These dedicated and hardworking men and women deserve our thanks. If you think about this letter and you see a cam pus employee (custodial, workmen or ad ministrative) and you would like to thank them for the job they are doing, PLEASE do so. THANK YOU! By the way Shea, light bulbs are changed by housing maintenance and not Physical Plant; or ask your RA or RD for light bulbs (they are supposed to be able to get them for you). Mark A. Stewart Class of'94