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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 3, 1993)
member 3,1993 e Ph. D. level earn $900 per line hours per two classes of ients are re- vrite five pa- mplete many its during an g alone is an akly my sani- aers I can cut. uality of my contribution ;ues, many of en I say that nstitution as- it U.C. Berke- d off the job shutting the / their poor rctors, along the country, o insure fair Miles Klaff Hate Student Association 53 signatures it grad d class i&M are not ' I, like Eliz- udent. I was .m presently "The Aggie who do not 1NING that jmpleted 95 ;enior ring. ;iven imme- do in class, lin hours by ns that until •s are being i means that y a masters uired to or- ss the issue are you in? i assigning ate students r of work, to spend at ?n teaching nclude the k. This pre- er employ- 5 are worth inyone who ny job and : of tuition, es graduate ■ pay more ure is also tudents tu- 'ears. I do ■nd raise as /e years to about this e a doubt, I it graduate ra J. Decuir ate student lie Thomas ate student lYC 345 )NG 351 :NR 205 )OM 105 )CI 317 yping 1.11 - 5 5 rtxjg 3 pm )p.m k More. 5 pm. ) p.m. student 0 0 Wednesday, November 3,1993 The Battalion Editorial Board CHRIS WHITLEY, editor in chief |ULI 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 EDITORIAL Helping hand A&M aids disabled students It can be difficult for incoming Ssabled students to learn what (rvices are available to them, liie student who uses a wheel- lair signed up for a class her sshman year in the Military Sci- ices Building, which has no ele- itor. After she explained her sit- Jtion to the Corps Commandant, thad two Corps men assist her iclass every day. | Texas A&M University is mak- > |an effort to help students with aming and reading disabilities, otjust those who demonstrate a kysical disability. Support Ser ies, located in the Koldus Build- coffers services ranging from a indbook describing access to i ldings on campus to textbooks l on tape for students with vi- 1 or reading disabilities. There tutors, advisers who teach idy skills, note-taking services »1 extended-time testing for stu- sitswith learning disabilities. New campus buildings are de fied to be very comfortable for lehandicapped. Lecture halls ive desks with spaces for wheel- airs in the back of the room. Some of the older buildings are it as convenient. In Harrington, indents in wheelchairs are ex- Wed to sit in the aisles, which ^ »ses a problem when other stu- intscome in late and need to go tod them. Regardless of the kind of accessibility available however. University staff is gen erally very helpful in addressing problems students encounter and making an effort to solve them. For students with visual im pairments, there are braillers and cassette recorders with braille control buttons in the LRD on the sixth floor of Evans Library, as well as a laser reader which en larges print and a reading ma chine that converts printed mater ial into spoken English. For all disabled students, the Reference Division will retrieve books from the stacks and turn pages, photo copy materials or assist in other areas in which the students may need help. The University should focus not just on access to classrooms, but on special events such as Bon fire and events held in G. Rollie White Coliseum. Some suggest temporary wheelchair ramps and platforms at Bonfire, and Net works, an organization of stu dents with disabilities, hopes to work with the Muster Committee in order to create a more conve nient way for students to attend Muster. With all of the buildings and events on campus, it is difficult to make everything easily accessible. It's good to see that Texas A&M is making a strong effort. Opinion The Battalion Page 9 Sometimes women abuse their power Student falsely accused of exposure forced to plead guilty MELISSA MEGLIOLA Columnist T his summer, ex actly eight days after the regional baseball game against Yale, the College Sta tion Police called Tony, an A&M student. An officer informed him that he had been ac cused of hi nisei f to a post worker/' Tony asked if he was joking. The officer stat ed that he was quite se rious and continued the conversation in an ac cusatory manner. After the game, Tony, his roommate, Jeff, and his girlfriend, Tracy, had decided to go home for a few days. Tony drove alone. Jeff and Tracy followed. Stopped at a traffic signal, Tony glanced at the postal truck in the next lane. The woman driving the truck nodded at Tony and waved. Politely, he waved back. He then realized that his friends were honking trying to capture his attention. They gestured at the gas station across the street. Tony confinned the command by raising his arms and pointing to the station. Within a few seconds they were at the gas station. They added water to the radiator of the second car and then drove home. Tony never met the woman whom he al legedly victimized. Nor did he reveal him self to her. She thought she saw something that never happened. Maybe his gesture to wards the gas station appeared to be directed towards his lap. Maybe the woman was crazy. Maybe she was hallucinating. These options didn't seem likely to the police. "The second that woman entered the po lice station, they decided I was guilty/' Tony said. "They had convicted me before I even knew 1 had been accused of anything. "My uncle, an attorney in Amarillo, told me that, in these cases, you must prove you are innocent, not the other way around," Tony said. "The jury will wonder why a woman around 50 years old would make this up. I wonder the same thing." A few days after the phone call, Tony found a lawyer, paid a $750 retainer and waited. The lawyer called the court house, and the judge reduced the charges from a Class B to a Class C misdemeanor. Two months later, Tony was officially charged with disorderly conduct. Nobody ever contacted Jeff or Tracy for a statement. Practicing looking down into his car from the height and angle of a postal truck in the next lane, Tony and his parents determined it would have been physically impossible for the woman to see his lap. She remembered Tony driving a red car. His car is a metallic champagne. She also remembered him bonk ing. His bom does not work. Each discrepancy was considered insignifi cant, and his lawyer suggested he should sur render himself if the police came to arrest him. "Then I had to make a choice," Tony ex plained. "I could pay the $150 fine and $20 court fee, thus cutting my losses at $920 or I could agree to go to court" To take the issue to court, Tony would have to pay the lawyer $1,000 for each court appearance, a fee that did not guarantee pos itive results. Of course Tony could choose to act as his own attorney, an action considered to be judicial suicide. Instead, he paid the fine and in February must go before the court to end his six month probationary period. And then it will finally be over. Or will it? "For weeks after it happened, 1 couldn't even look at anyone else at a stoplight. What can prevent this from happening to me again?" Tony asked in frustration. Sexual harassment has been a hot topic re cently. Women are no longer willing to accept any type of verbal or physical abuse in the workplace or or in social settings. In an effort to protect female students, Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio has even established a set of regulations governing sexual intimacy. Many large corporations require all employ ees to attend seminars on sexual harassment and the repercussions of such behavior. In today's age of lawsuits and exorbitant legal fees, women possess vast power from the simple potential to take legal action against harassment. It is important to use that power correctly. By claiming sexual harassment for inci dents that don't really involve victimization, women can dilute the argument for the gen uinely abused. The ability to claim sexual harassment is a defense mechanism against mistreatment, not a weapon to get even with the male population. Melissa Megliola is a senior industrial engineering 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 length, style, and accuracy. Contact the opinion editor for information on submitting guest columns. Address letters tp: The Battalion - Mall Call 013 Reed McDonald Mail stop 1111 Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843 Fax: #09) 845-2647 Roadside diner offers glimpse of pre-McDonald's America omewhere be- itween Houston and San Anto- I'Jsits a small un- sive building ipped in those )n lights that Kznot by design, it from wear, (ighbored only ifarmland and In state 10, this lilding is one of a iv remaining true Zerican tradi- fns: the roadside ELIOT WILLIAMS Columnist 1 A friend of mine id I had the opportunity to visit this par- Hilar diner over the summer and it was ^experience I shall never forget — not fcause of the food they served, but rather ft distinctive personality the diner took Aa personality that can not be duplicat- jby McDonald's or Burger King. Cattlemen's Cafe, as this particular es- filishment is known, is not large. The %men's is a one room restaurant lo cated about 200 yards off the interstate. The four booths along the west wall of fered the customers pay phones at their table. They were the old rotary kind that are probably worth more today as an tiques than they where worth when they were new. Their baby blue appearance was in sharp contrast to the restaurant red vinyl booths. The floor was an odd matrix of old linoleum and broken tiles — it was a well worn surface. Patrons could choose to have their meal served at the counter which, in pure diner fashion, filled most of the room. This was the option for which most of the patrons seemed to opt. Several dozen old greasy caps adorned the east wall of the diner. They were obviously donated by the Cattlemen's more frequent visitors — the truck drivers who pass through on their way in and out of Houston. The appearance of the Cattlemen's, however, is not its charm. It is the conver sations one overhears that make the visit worthwhile. During my repose, the locals somehow became engrossed in a conversa tion involving paranormal encounters. One of the waitresses remarked that she had seen the ghost of her dead grandmother in her house numerous times. Others talked of their encounters with spooks and spir its. To the casual observer, it would appear that Cattlemen's Cafe lied at the epicenter of paranormal activity in Texas. Other visitors carried on their own conversations. One couple argued over People began to rely on the familiarity of the golden arches rather than on the friendly personableness of a family owned diner. Henry Ford's assembly line process was applied to food service. the best route to a nearby lake while sev eral truckers shared rivaling road stories over their hamburgers. It was a surreal experience to say the least. The Cattlemen's, and diners of its genre, began sprouting up all over Amer ica when the Interstate and Highway Act created a clientele of thousands of hungry truck drivers and young adults relishing the freedom that the new highways gave. The diners were mostly family owned affairs. They were such a significant part of our culture that there was a very suc cessful TV series based on them that ran in the early 80s. All of us remember how cordial and friendly Alice, Flo and the rest of the waitresses at Mel's Diner were to all their customers — more important ly how personable they were. Small roadside cafes had the luxury of taking interest in their patrons' well-be ing. Diners became the source of travel ers' home cooked meals on the road. Sadly, the era didn't last long. Soon, the concept of fast food franchises became popular, and diners slowly lost their pop ularity. People began to rely on the famil iarity of the golden arches rather than on the friendly personableness of a family owned diner. Henry Ford's successful as sembly line process for producing goods was applied to food service. Lost in the process, however, was the personality of a roadside diner. It is hard to imagine a McDonald's employee taking a serious interest in how your day has been. The person-to-person interaction was re placed by the ever poignant metaphysical question, "Would you like fries with that?" Our imaginations are hardly challenged by the invariability of the Burger King inte rior. Rather than being stimulated by the differing appearance of the local diner, our society has instead chosen the banal design of a Jack in the Box restaurant whose plans are faxed to every startup franchise. In our strive for efficient design, we have driven the originality out of our col lective unconsciousness. Diners like Cat tlemen's are a fading breed. It is sad that we find soybean burgers served in 30 sec onds more important than communica tion with others in our society. Everyone who fears losing their individuality would be well served to visit a place like the Cattlemen's. Oases of the highway, diners are shrines to an essential time in our cultural history that everyone should enjoy visiting. Eliot Williams is a senior electrical engineering major 4&M shouldn't put up with corruption After reading the quotes from our University officials over the past couple nf weeks regarding the book store and jfood Service scandals, I am shocked be- pnd words about how these officials We the gall to make such bald faced feand expect us to swallow them. Board of Regents Chairman Ross Mar graves, a political appointee, and his crony, Robert Smith, go with their wives on several expensive junkets paid for by a company they are supposed to be bar gaining against and tell us this is "stan dard procedure." Bull! This is nothing other than be traying the trust and interests of people they are supposed to be here to serve. Next, Margraves is put under investi gation after serious charges of impropri ety are made against him to state offi cials. He expects us to believe that if he hadn't given a copy of the charges to the state officials that there would not be an investigation in the first place. Bull! Any idiot could perceive that he had only been furnished a copy of the charges after they had already been for warded to the investigating officials. Then he has the gall to trivialize the charges by calling them "hateful" while he wraps himself in the A&M flag. Finally, Smith has the audacity to tell us he was not intending to sell off Food Services to a contractor, while he sacks management known to oppose this idea. He expects us to believe the administra tors have been reassigned because they were needed elsewhere. 1 guess a new load of paper clips needed sorting. Only after the investigation into his dealings does he accept a proposal from his own lackey to keep Food Services in charge of the Underground. Why didn't he accept Food Services' proposal before? These two are behaving in a grossly unethical manner. We should be con cerned that these liars and crooks have such power at our school and insist they be immediately removed. At least we should ask ourselves some serious questions about how our school is real ly being run and resolve not to tolerate corruption. Paul Deignan Class of‘94 Zachry always late in changing clocks back For the last four years, something has bothered me about this world-class insti tution. I have seen a certain event occur seven times since I've come here, and each time it brings the same result. This has led me to put forth this question to those who run our great university: "Why does it always take two weeks to adjust the clocks in Zachry (Engine'ering HQ) after daylight savings time?" Also, I've always wondered why the clocks on different floors in Zachary are set to different times. You could be on time for a test while in the basement, yet late as soon as you walk upstairs. How can things like this go on at one of the nation's top engineering schools? My elementary school never had prob lems like these. Someone is sleeping on the job. Jeoff Krontz Class of ‘94