Opinion
• •
rica
ie ANC and
ade conces-
e protracted
sfy demands
o-apartheid
ative black
i talks.
)ups, known
iance, wan!
in a post-
a.
this is a dis-
kruger, chief
onservative
sunie. "They
this deal
esman Dave
greement an
he boycotters
ition process
mcracy.
aided the hi-
was that of
ANC Secre-
Ramaphosa.
one v/ith the
t we reach a
t someone is
e, it's impoi-
to show that
Thursday, November 18,1993
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
is optimist;
slow in the
i. "But I've
11, I've seen
ed to diverse
;le, but we'rt
rstandingd
rising tided
standing will
a message to
niversity and
said.
)K
a,
^registration,
Aggie Rings
New requirements unfair
Doesn't it seem strange that
transfer students and some se
niors will have to wait an extra
semester to order their Aggie
ring?
Now transfer students must
have 60 credit hours at the Uni
versity to order their ring, in
stead of 30 hours. Seniors can no
longer order their rings until
they have completed 95 hours.
Porter Garner, associate di
rector for alumni programs, said
the new policy is intended to
make getting the ring more chal
lenging for transfer students.
"We're not trying to penalize
anybody, we wanted to make
sure that the ring represents
more than a two-semester expe
rience at A&M," Garner said.
Transfer students are not less
er Aggies just because some are
able to graduate with only 30
credit hours from A&M.
Perhaps soon-to-be seniors-
aren't too pleased about the pol
icy change that requires them to
have already completed 95
hours before ordering their ring.
Very few students start their
fourth year at A&M with 95
hours under their belts.
It's unfair to make students
wait until they have a diploma
from A&M to order their ring.
They are being penalized by not
having an Aggie ring to to wear
with pride their senior year, to
wear to Elephant Walk or Ring
Dance or even to dunk in a
pitcher of beer.
The former policy allowed se
niors to order a ring the semes
ter in which they were going to
complete those hours. Now
many seniors will have to spend
the entire fall semester — in
cluding football games. Bonfire
and Elephant Walk — without
their ring. These students, who
have already dedicated at least
three years to A&M, are being
punished for an absurd reason.
Carolyn Swanzy, director of
the Aggie Ring Program, said the
changes were made to reduce
confusion about when students
can place an order. She said the
Board felt the loan policy estab
lished by the financial aid office
— completion of 95 hours before
securing a loan — should be con
sistent with the ordering policy.
This reason for the change is
hardly an intelligent one. Were
students to receive their ring im
mediately after ordering it in
stead of some six weeks later, this
rule might be considered valid.
The Board of Directors of the
Association of Former Students
should change the policy back to
how it used to be. Seniors
should be able to wear their
rings their entire senior year.
The Battalion
Page 11
Rejection doesn't just happen to guys
In the dating game, what goes around comes around
B ecause of a recent
slew of letters to
The Battalion re
garding women string
ing men along with am
biguous rejections, 1 de
cided to look into the
matter a little further
and try to understand it.
First of all, I underes
timated the interest in
Aggie mating rituals.
As evidenced by the let
ters to "Mail Call," dat
ing problems must be of
much more importance
to students than the
news concerning the
Health Care Plan, Somalia, Haiti and even the
five day waiting period for hand guns. And
from the tone of some of the letters we re
ceived, it might be a good idea to extend the
waiting period to the length of a semester.
Clearly the most significant mating ritual
on campus is the yell practice/football game.
It can be quite a dating dilemma because so
much kissing is involved. Although yell prac
tice began when all Aggies were male, its
popularity undoubtedly took off when some
brilliant yell leader came up with the dirty
joke/Iights-off idea. Tradition is such a per
fect excuse to plant a long kiss on someone
you hardly know.
Football games are even better because if
your date from the yell practice slobber-fest
shows up again, you are almost assured of
continued lip-locking — especially in these
last few years of Aggie football butt-kicking.
Kicking butt and locking lips is as much of
a part of A&M as loathing liberals and wear
ing cowboy boots, but is definitely still
geared toward male students.
The dilemma part is mostly for females
however, because somewhere there's an un
written law that states: "Men ask; women de
cide. " And even though this law is less pow
erful than it used to be, it still puts women at
an unfair disadvantage.
1 could be wrong, but when some guy asks
a girl to Midnight Yell and the following
game, she has to immediately decide what
she's going to do if this animal tries to kiss
her. My advice to men is; if a positive answer
is slow in coming, or you feel "strung along,”
ask someone else. You're doing her and
yourself a favor.
Secondly, one must wonder why there
seems to be a surge in male concern over dat
ing problems. Guys writing letters about
their feelings — especially to a newspaper —
has never been terribly common.
So are Aggie men becoming more sensi
tive? Are Aggie women especially vicious
nowadays? Although it may sound ridicu
lous at first, there may be some validity to
these questions.
Regarding male sensitivity and female
thoughtlessness, I can't help but think, "What
goes around comes around." ITs easier for
me to empathize with men just because I've
been given ambiguous rejections myself, but I
think most everyone will agree that women
in general are predisposed — for whatever
reason — to expect consideration from men
who continually jerk them around.
As for male sensitivity, women have been
demanding it for years and may slowly be
getting it as a result. Sensitivity, however,
leaves men wide open to be walked on and
many guys just aren't as familiar with it as
women are. It's time to get used it, I guess.
Finally, it would be nice to know if this
anger towards women’s treatment of men is
isolated to A&M, only college students or is
just a '90s thing.
1 find it difficult to believe some new trend
of ambiguous rejections, or "stringing along"
as it is commonly known, is specific to any
particular group of people. However, if
young adults follow social trends more than
other age groups — as they appear to — I
would imagine that if guys feel "run around"
by women at Texas A&M, they probably feel
"run around" by women at Florida State and
Winnipeg Community College as well.
If there really is any difference between
the way women reject men now and the way
they did 10 years ago, I would have to blame
it on the socio-sexual revolutionary tactics
brought upon us by the '90s.
MTV, Oprah Winfrey and Hillary Clinton
have all played major parts in helping
women feel that they can look, act, say and
become whatever they want without inhibi
tion or concern for male approval. Along
with this movement may be the right to reject
men however the hell they want. This is kind
of scary for most men.
Needless to say, some Aggie females may
not even blink at the thought of piercing some
poor sap's aorta with a spiked heel. But if it
happens, and the pain is deep enough, that
same guy might think twice about being a jerk
the next time he gets a chance.
Yes, gentlemen: The idea of spiteful,
thoughtless, pissed-off women rising to dish
out what they've been taking is scary indeed.
Frank Stanford is a graduate philosophy student
FRANK
STANFORD
Columnist
X ChN ToRti rtBRcony INTO I
Golp? I'm rich roR.\Aee£
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 to:
The Battalion - Mail Call
013 Reed McDonald
Mall stop 1111
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77B43
Fax: (409) 045-2647
15.
1994
LAND
dgy
er
k$
in
emu
II
1
Bay
Which side is right about multiculturalism? Neither one
I ’ve been pretty
disappointed in
the entire con
troversy over
"multiculturalism"
here at Texas
A&M. We seem to
be stuck on an ig
norant level of
public debate.
You are either
for multiculturalism
and support such
requirements, pro
grams, etc., or you
oppose the whole
thing. We hear,
"Faculty Senate
votes for multiculturalism," or "College
Republicans oppose multiculturalism."
These statements are not accurate, and
in fact, they contribute to misunderstand
ing and confusion. Everybody supports
"multiculturalism." No reasonable person
opposes the ideals of tolerance, respect and
racial harmony, but many do oppose such
ideas and programs as a multicultural cur
riculum (whatever that means) and schol
arships based solely on race or gender.
Proponents of the multicultural agen
da seem to think that you must support
their ideas if you want to support their
ideals. These "multiculturalists" can easi
ly put their ideas into action because they
only need to say that their opponents op
pose their ideals.
They don't seem to be able to admit the
fact that such their cherished ideas may not
be the best way to achieve these ideals;
they may in fat be counterproductive.
On the other hand, "opponents of multi
culturalism", as they are called, are equally
simplistic in their arguments. They seem
prepared to reject anything that might
question the superiority of white, Christ
ian, heterosexual males in western culture.
Western civilization may be superior,
but how are we supposed to make that
judgement if we don't study others? A
declaration of the superiority of western
If you support the require
ment, you are trying to in
doctrinate everyone with
liberal, politically correct
ideas. If you oppose it, you
are an intolerant bigot.
culture must rest upon a critical evalua
tion of it. Such an evaluation requires
that it is compared to others. Otherwise,
asserting the moral superiority of the
west is simply prejudice.
The recent passage of the multicultur
alism curriculum requirement has been
hailed as "the first step toward the future
for Texas A&M" and criticized as "indoc
trination to liberal ideas" and "political
correctness."
Both of these attitudes are sympto
matic of the shallowness of the current
debate. If you support the requirement,
you are trying to indoctrinate everyone
with liberal, politically correct ideas. If
you oppose it, you are an intolerant bigot.
Given the nature of the actual require
ment, both claims are implausible, t.u.
defeated PC., but they rejected a required
single class that probably would have
been dominated by liberal thought.
Our requirement may be satisfied by
two out of over 100 courses offered, many
of which most of us would probably take
anyway. This structure can truly serve as
model for other universities.
It meets the demand that people receive
a broad education in which their thought
must transcend their own lifestyle and cul
ture, yet avoids blatant liberal bias by al
lowing such a wide range of choices.
The common perception of our cam
pus is that Aggies are against "multicul
turalism." This is not true, many simply
oppose multicultural programs and re
quirements which may not achieve the
ends for which they were designed.
I think, rather, that Aggies are above
multiculturalism. Other universities
might feel the need to teach their students
how to treat each other. We, however, al
ready respect each other no matter what
gender, race, or religion; we don't need
special programs to teach us how.
Jim Paivlikowski is a sophomore chemical
engineering major
GUEST
COLUMN
JIM
PAWLIKOWSKI
United Way works ...
United Way is a national organization
that believes in strengthening communi
ties by asking the residents to lend a help
ing hand to fund service projects in their
community, such as the Boys and Girls
Club, Red Cross, Cancer Society and
many more. The United Way office has
asked Aggies to support it, too.
As every year approximately 40,000
Aggies adopt Bryan-College Station as
their home, supporting the United Way
would be our way of thanking our com
munity. The target given A&M students
by the United Way office is $10,000 for the
1993-94 academic year. This is only 25
cents per Aggie!
You should support the United Way by
coming up with programs through your
organizations to raise money, or you can
participate in other United Way programs.
In fact, today is "United Way Night" at
the Texas hall of Fame, presented by the
Aggie Wranglers. Come on, Ags! Lend a
helping hand to the United Way. This is a
fine opportunity to show others we care
and what Aggie Spirit is all about.
Ran Jan Natarajan
Graduate student
Rice fan apologizes
for students' actions
As a staff member at Rice University
and an avid fan of Rice Owls football, I
wish to offer my deepest and most hum
ble apologies to the afore-mentioned
groups for the actions of the Rice stu
dents during the half-time of the recent
Rice-A&M football game in Houston.
As the Aggie Band was putting on yet
another fabulous performance, many of
the Rice students decided to 'poke fun' at
the band by doing the Nazi 'Heil' salute
in unison. I hope that the Aggie Band
members and the cadets will see fit to ac
cept my apology.
I was disgusted because I am aware of
and deeply respect and admire the long,
distinguished service record of the Texas
A&M Corps of Cadets.
I know Aggies have served this coun
try with the utmost honor in every war
since the Spanish-American War in 1898.
I know thousands of Aggies went to war
during World War II against the regime
and the dictator for which that salute
glorifies. I also know that a good number
of them did not come back. I know that
because I have visited the Memorial Stu
dent Center at Texas A&M.
It is my sincere hope that you under
stand that not all Rice fans condoned the
students' behavior. I plan to do all I can to
see they are made aware of what they did
and try to see to it that nothing like this
happens again. I would not have blamed
Aggies for wanting to 'bust some heads/
but I admire the restraint shown instead.
Finally, I want the band to know that I
am a big fan of the Texas Aggie Band
and look forward to the next chance to
seeing them perform. To me, they are
the best. Thank you for hearing me out.
Mitchell R. Istre
Office of Computing Services
Rice University
Ring requirement
I disagree with the new 60 credit hour
at A&M requirement for Aggie Rings.
This will affect almost all transfer stu-
dents.I transferred 60 credit hours to A&M
and my major only requires 128 to gradu
ate. That leaves me with 68 hours left.By
the time I reach my senior year with 95
credit hours I will have had only 35 hours
at Texas A&M. Basically, I will have to
graduate and then get my ring. Since con
tingency orders are no longer accepted
that will affect many more students.
If I meet University requirements for
being a senior, why can't I order a senior
ring? It is my understanding that it is a se
nior ring and not a graduation ring. I real
ize the ring requirement needs to be more
stringent, but let's compromise and make
the new rule 45 hours at A&M and not 60
hours. Transfer students are Aggies too!
Willard Johnson
Class of '95