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Monday, October 25,1993
The Battalion Editorial Board
CHRIS WHITLEY, editor in chief
JULI PHILLIPS, managing editor MARK EVANS, city editor
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
The Battalion
Page 7
EDITORIAL
[A matter of ethics
Regent's actions tarnish A&M
ctiftHilm
ildle bbi
Saylor.
| A Texas Rangers probe into al
legations against Texas A&M
Board of Regents chairman Ross
Margraves could open yet another
major scandal, further damaging
the University's reputation fol
lowing recent NCAA investiga
tions of the school's football pro-
gram.
I While Margraves may be ab
solved of any impropriety, A&M
System administrators must work
to ensure that future business deal
ings leave no room for charges of
questionable conduct.
| The allegations against Mar
graves stem froln an anonymous
letter to members of the Board of
Harriso: Iteg ent:s claiming Margraves had
ocusingo: P ersona My benefitted from A&M
[ was ver business deals.
>ults." to addition. Margraves told the
is . near , Associated Press Sunday that af-
iive tackl(B r winning the contract to run the
Rice quar MSC Bookstore, Barnes and Noble
in the end ® 0 °kstores, Inc., provided plane
ble which havel, limousine service, Broad-
r a touch! Wa y show tickets and rooms at ex-
ies a 35-1 i; Ponsh 0 hotels to him and Robert
Smith, A&M vice president of fi
nance and administration,
spy on the■ Although Sarah Woelk of the
[ saw that 1 [state Ethics Commission said the
;t keptgc trips were not illegal when they
[ meant to took place in 1990, such actions
opped the Pm only be seen in the worst pos
sible light.
-ce should Board of Regents Vice Chair-
gies in his |
nee at
man Raul B. Fernandez said
Barnes and Nobles officials could
have traveled to A&M.
"Either they can come here or
we can go there," Fernandez said.
"We have two options, they can
pay or we can pay."
If this were the case, then this
scandal might have been avoided
by having Barnes and Noble rep
resentatives come here.
Despite the lack of legal restric
tions against accepting such offers,
the propriety of taking these trips is
highly questionable. Margraves
should have minimized his person
al involvement with Barnes and
Noble while conducting business
for A&M.
The MSC Bookstore contract is
worth millions of dollars — to
both the University and to Barnes
and Noble. The issue of proper
conduct as good business practice
should have been paramount to
everyone involved. Instead, ex
pensive hotel rooms and theater
tickets have maligned the integri
ty of the entire A&M University
System.
This investigation will eventu
ally determine whether Mar
graves gained personal profit
from System business. Until then.
Margraves and all other System
officials owe their continued full
cooperation in order to minimize
the damage to Texas A&M.
... With a little help from our friends
Companions let us express different sides of personality
TRACEY
JONES
Columnist
C ollege is about
many things. It's
about money,
time and effort and
good grades. But an
other thing that makes
college worthwhile is
friends. Just plain
good friends.
As the semester is
winding down and I'm
looking back over the
last four and a half
years, I think about
where the friends I've
ended up with fit into
my life. I reflect over
the person I have be
come and how those people benefit from me
and how 1 benefit from them.
I realized — now that it is time to go —
just how important friends are. And that the
qualities I am looking for don't necessarily
have to reside in the same person, but can be
spread over many different people.
This idea started me to thinking about the
differing personalities of the people I am
around most frequently — the ones who ac
tually see me when I am smiling and when I
am crying.
I am a psychology major, so I love analyz
ing the human mind and/or lack of it.
I can begin with Taffy . She is the intellec
tual personality. She is disciplined, re
served and serious. In a sense, she is my re
ality base. I look at Taffy and am reminded
of what needs to be done to be well pre
pared for life after college. I learn discipline
and tolerance from her.
Jean is the adventurous personality. She
leaps first and looks last. When I am with
her, my playful, carefree side comes out. 1
leave behind the articles and papers and
books to read. Far behind ....
I tried my first drink with Jean. It was this
summer at Marco's. I had one — one — mar-
garita and was giggling all over the place. 1
remember us leaving a note for our waiter
telling him how cute we thought he was. Of
course, I was the one to write it. She obvious
ly had better sense than I did.
This wasn't the end of my drinking es
capades with Jean. That Friday night we
went to her favorite little bar. I went in timid
and shaky, but I came out brazen and bold.
At first, Jean ordered my drinks because I
didn't know the names for them. And the bar
tender, in honor of my first drinking experi
ence and because we had the same birthdays,
gave me my first drink on the house.
By the time the night was over, I had
learned enough to order about six drinks:
four rum and cokes and two madder sours.
Needless to say, I could have easily stared a
raging bull in the eyes at that point. The only
problem was that I couldn't focus on any
thing. But just being with her made it all
worth it.
Now Debra really wouldn't have liked
this. She is the paranoid personality. And un
fortunately, we have things in common also.
She is scared to death of boys and will not
approach them.
One night at a party we saw the guy that
she is infatuated with. In the process of being
introduced to him, I believe she honestly
stopped breathing. She was just standing there
looking at him. And when he said something
to her, she mumbled something back really
fast. We were all looking at her like, what?
Debra is also paranoid about bodily harm
and property issues, which I can relate with.
She won't drive her car into certain sections
of Bryan for fear that some hoodlums might
steal parts from it. She won't bring her violin
up to school because she said she's afraid
some crack addict might break in and steal it.
Again, we looked at her like, WHAT?
But I won't be too hard on her. I have
some pretty bizarre phobias that pop up now
and then myself. The bottom line is just that
with her, I can express my fears, no matter
how real or unreal they may be.
Last, but certainly not least, I have a bal
ance of all three of the personalities. This is
Andy. He and I have been friends for four
years now, and we have been through a lot. I
should say I have put him through a lot. He
has witnessed and survived my temper
tantrums and irrational mood swings. People
that have been in contact with these have
come and gone, but not him. I guess he pro
vides me most with security.
1 try my hardest to give back to my friends
ter, because they all seem to think my life is
like a situation comedy. But they enjoy me,
and I enjoy them.
Isn't that one of those important little
things in life?
Trace}/ Jones is a senior psychology major
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
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Contact the opinion editor
for information on submitting
guest columns.
Addiess letters to:
The Battalion - Mail Call
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Mail stop 1111
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Fax: (409) 845-2047
Bandits on the data highway pose threat to personal privacy
most sec-
id unusual
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the recent
merger of
Telecommu
nications Indus
tries (TCI) and At
lantic Bell marks
the beginning of a
new industrial rev
olution. The new
revolution will be
marked by in
creased reliance on
computers and the
"digital super
highway" that will
pipe gigabytes of
information into
our homes, cars,
S offices and personal digital assistants
every minute.
1 We will have no choice. Information
will be the new currency, and we will be
subjected to so much of it each day we
couldn't possibly examine it all. Computers
will be our data filters, deciding what we
see, how we see it and how it gets to us.
1 More importantly, all of this informa
tion will be flowing almost effortlessly
through computers to which everyone
ELIOT
WILLIAMS
Columnist
will have access.
No big deal, right? Wrong. If we do
not take steps now to establish the laws
and protocols which will govern the
transmission of data in the 21st century,
we risk jeopardizing much of our privacy.
In 1971, a time before the PC, before
faxes and before digital telephone sys
tems, Arthur R. Miller outlined a poten
tial problem facing our society in nis book
The Assault on Privacy.
He warned that the "computer with its
insatiable appetite for information ... and
its inability to forget anything that has
been stored in it, may become the heart of
a surveillance system that will turn our
society into a transparent world in which
our homes, our finances and our associa
tions will be bared to a wide range of ca
sual observers, including the morbidly
curious and the maliciously or commer
cially intrusive."
His warning seems much more applic
able today, as companies begin the
process of constructing the data highway
which will connect all of us to a massive
global network. Whether we like it our
not, by the end of our generation's collec
tive tenure in the work force, almost
everyone will be connected to this system
in one way or another. Interactive TV,
movies on demand, home shopping, ac
cess to electronic mail and video phones
will pervade our lifestyle — bringing
with them the associated risks.
As we all become more familiar with
the new "digital" world, we will begin to
rely on our interconnectedness more and
more. Therein lies the danger. People will
Your buying habits may al
ready be falling into crimi
nals hands. And we are
rushing to connect these
computers, as well as sever
al thousand others, to a
common data network?
have a tendency to view this network as a
benign highway of information. If used
maliciously, however, the possibility of
data hijacking may become a reality.
Today's technology is dangerous
enough. Private data corporations, mostly
credit card companies, already have files
on almost every American. They know
what you buy, when you buy it and
where you shop. The data they own con
tains such information as where you va
cation, how often you buy condoms and
the average amount of toilet paper you
buy a month. These files make Big Broth
er look harmless.
Their computers can instantly spit
every little bit of information about you to
anyone with enough know-how. There
have already been several cases where
data criminals have stolen files on who
knows how many people. Your buying
habits may already be falling into crimi
nals hands. And we are rushing to connect
these computers, as well as several thou
sand others, to a common data network?
It is important for all of us to realize
the potential for abuse in a system of
global interconnectedness. Our current
judicial system has spent a very small
amount of time setting precedents in this
field. As Janlori Goldman, the Director of
the American Civil Liberties Union Pro
ject on Privacy and Technology warns:
"Privacy lives in a series of loosely struc
tured voluntary guidelines adopted by
various industries, such as insurance and
credit reporting companies."
Basically, our laws are not ready to
cope with the new network. Defining
data piracy is not easy. Unlike the materi
al world where theft is obvious — "I
know I parked my car around here some
where" — in computer systems a criminal
could steal all of the data on your com
puter leaving it in the same pristine con
dition is was in before he began.
It is therefore clear, that laws must be
defined today. Our legislators are reluctant
to act in an area they consider too technical
to understand, yet tire policy decisions are
clearly defined. We must protect ourselves
from the data pirates of the next century.
Certainly everyone will appreciate the
conveniences of the new digital world.
Still, the dangers are apparent. Our gener
ation will be instrumental in implementing
this global network. We must make the im
portant decisions regarding privacy and se
curity lest our daily lives become the un
derground soap operas of the 21st century.
Eliot Williams is a sophomore electrical
engineering major
tute
;ness
the
i-8770.
Aggie Spirit falls to
the almighty dollar
It is disappointing to read in a nation
al newspaper that the Aggies are being
investigated by th& NCAA again. It
would seem that in a university where
"Aggies do not lie, cheat, steal or tolerate
those who do," that allegations of seven
student-athletes being paid for work not
performed should not exist.
Although college sports has become
big business, the Aggie Spirit should not
succumb to the almighty dollar. The Ag
gie Spirit is what distinguishes Texas
A&M. To lose this would be a loss felt by
all Aggies, including Former Students
and future Aggies.
If we were hit by the NCAA death
penalty, then it would be a harsh lesson.
If that is what it takes to reinforce the
Aggie Spirit, then so be it.
It was nice to see Texas A&M policing
itself prior to last year's Cotton Bowl.
THAT is what the Aggie Spirit is about.
Frank Jones
Class of '86
Keven McKenzie
Class of '84
Atlanta, Ga.
NCAA needs to stop
picking on A&M
For the past five years, A&M has
been under the NCAA microscope
whether it be basketball, football or
badminton. Jackie Sherrill and Kermit
Davis broke the rules and received their
punishment. All was said and done,
right? Wrong. Coach Slocum and his
staff obviously have done everything
in their power to prevent A&M from
having a tarnished reputation.
But for some strange reason, whenev
er the orange bloods are dominated by
someone for so long, the NCAA feels the
need to intervene (Ask SMU, Houston,
TCU and Texas Tech). Sure, those other
schools deserved to be punished (espe
cially SMU), but A&M doesn't deserve
any more than we have already received.
Seven Aggie football players broke
the rules and were punished. They
missed the Cotton Bowl and more. They
were ridiculed in the public and the me
dia even after they paid the money back
and admitted they were wrong. The
players and coaches couldn't enjoy the
success of their 12-0 regular season be
cause of something that happened that
has absolutely nothing to do with A&M
or the Aggie's success on the football
field. One player may have even lost his
chance at the Heisman next season.
After all of this, A&M faced damage
in recruiting not only last year, but now
it looks like this year is in trouble as well.
And it's not over yet.
Enough is enough. These players
were recruited legally, and they play for
A&M because they want to. The NCAA
needs to go bother somebody else for a
change. Just because we are winners,
doesn't mean we are cheaters.
John C. Beck
Class of '92