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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 24, 1993)
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Good through 1-29-94 at any Fox Photo location. 31002 FOX PHOTO 1-HR LABS Page 12 The Battalion Wednesday, November 24, i PAID ADVERTISEMENT "Community bicycle support overwhelming," says Hard Aggies, TBC and Freebirds help bike plan pass unanimous vote By Kevin Cochran With over 3000 Aggie signatures and support from the Texas Bicycle Coalition, Freebirds World Burrito, the Mayor of College Station, and city planners, the Bikeway Master Plan passed the City Council vote 7-0 on October 28. Ed Hard, the foremost bikeway planner for the City of College Station, said the "com munity bicycle support at the hearing was overwhelming." The standing room only City Council session was the most attended in recent memory. Texas Bicycle Coalition spokes person Danise Hauser and Freebirds spokesperson Mike Moses made statements and presented the book of signatures at City Hall Council Chambers. The City Council then pledged its support for cleaner air and safer roadways by approving the Bikeway Master Plan. The first step has been taken. On November 6, the City of College Station formally applied for $1.2 million in federal funding for bikeways. This transaction should occur over the next six to twelve months. However, funding is not guaranteed due to the compet itiveness of the application process. In response to the chance of non-funding. Hard said, "continued bicycle support is therefore important for bikeway enhancements according to the Bikeway Master Plan." The Texas Bicycle Coalition and Freebirds World Burrito will keep you informed on the status of the federal funding process and on other bikeway developments. If future petitions are necessary to insure action on bicycle issues, the Aggie grass roots movement will be used again to rally support. FREEBIRDS mtHlSHBUHRITO 319 UNIVERSITY DRIVE, NORTHGATE PAID ADVERTISEMENT CALL Reverse discrimination alive and well today I would like to rebut an article headlined "Reverse discrimination claims lack support from faculty" printed in the Nov. 22 Battal ion. The major interviewee was associate professor Mark Fossett. He claims that re verse discrimination does not have data which supports this claim; further, "If re verse discrimination was widespread, then white males would try to act like ethnic mi norities to benefit." First, let's explore the idea that no data is available. Look at any university or law school. Also, examine the mean exam scores and GPRs of the incoming students by group. Most of the time, white males will have higher means in both categories. As a result, administrators routinely admit stu dents who are not qualified to satisfy some kind of quota. For example, the article suggested that if 500 people are to be admitted into t.u.'s law school and ten percent of the applicants are black then close to 50 of the incoming law students will be black regardless of qualifica tions. What happens to those students who are below the mean of their perspective cate gory, yet place above the other means? They tend not to be admitted. Hence, reverse dis crimination is at work. Second, "...white males...act like ethnic minorities...." Groups have been organizing around the nation where white men com plain about reverse discrimination. These or ganizations usually are not taken seriously. Sometimes the members are called racists. Other times people just do not listen because they fear being tagged "a racist" when that is not the issue. I believe affirmative action is the main cul prit of discrimination. Not only does affir mative action hinder white males, it also hurts minorities. People may think that the only reason a minority received a promotion was to create a racial balance in the management level even though that person may well be quali fied and has earned the status. This stigma will hang over us until affirmative action and quotas are discontinued. David W. Britt Graduate student Body functions in MSC insulting to dead Ags The old Ag who complained about people sleeping in the MSC was right! It's an insult to dead Ags to sleep in the MSC! WAKE UP, AGS! And something else. Peeing in the MSC is worse! What if YOU were a dead Ag? How would you feel knowing someone peed in your MEMORIAL? HOLD YOUR WATER, AGS! Dave Pruett Graduate student Environmental policies are necessary, not PC On Nov. 15, The Battalion published a col umn by Eliot Williams in which he equated environmentalism with "political correct ness." The article attempted to show that en vironmental policies are destroying our indi vidual rights. In fact, this served only as a source of ignorance and misinformation. First, Mr. Williams tries to demonstrate a connection between multiculturalism and en vironmentalism. Thinking that being pro-en vironment is liberal is a common misconcep tion. The result is that the process of neces sary enforcement and reform of environmen tal policy has been slowed. Mr. Williams fails to show any connection between the "P. C." movement and environmental regula tion. Secondly, Mr. Williams presents extreme examples of enforcement. These types of ex amples exist with most regulations, but they are not the "average" example. Mr. Williams fails to remark on the advantages of the clean water act or the benefits of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Do mistakes in the Justice Department mean that we shouldn't have any regulation? In truth, what Mr. Williams is complain ing about is the problems of the judiciary ac tivism and the lack of restraint courts show when interpreting new policies. The prob lem is not one of over-regulation, and envi ronmental policies are not Republican/De mocrat or conservative/liberal disagree ments. Mr. Williams fails to show how environ mentalism is the next P.C. issue, and the situ ations he describes are inaccurate, extremist scare tactics. The analogy to the Sigma Al pha Epsilon or multicultural problems is, at best, limited. If U.S. environmental problems scare you, take a look at Eastern Europe or Russia. Lim ited policies and lack of concern in those countries led to large scale degradation of air, soil, water and other natural resources. They have very little to pass on to their chil dren in terms of economic sustainability. The U.S. must be progressive on environ mental issues, or we will follow in the foot steps of these other disadvantaged countries. Russell Singleton Class of'95 Accompanied by 18 signatures Students square off on the issue of gun control •I would like to refute the argument made by Mr. Webb regarding a citizen's right to carry a firearm. Mr. Webb would have us believe that the primary reason for this "right" is to protect the citizenry from a military coup or a foreign invasion. These arguments are archaic and invalid. The right to bear arms was written into the Constitution in the 18th century. The world of today is far deadlier. In the face of a Ml-A Abrams tank or an Apache helicopter, sawed off shotguns and .38 caliber handguns are of little use. Furthermore, paranoid end-of-the- world gun nuts can rest assured that the US. military has more than enough firepower to prevent any possible foreign invasion with out need for further assistance. Stricter gun control will make prosecuting criminals who use guns easier. Gun control will also reduce the number of "passion crimes" which are done on an impulsory urge. Guns do kill people. Visit a trauma ward in any major city and you, too, will un derstand this statement. Paul Castro , I Class of'91 f > •In Brian Stucker's Nov. 12 letter in The Battalion, he asks the question "if the five day waiting period saved just one life ., wouldn't it be worth it?" I say it would. On the other hand, what if the waiting period costs a life? I can cite several specific inci dents where, had there been a waiting peri od, the victim would have been seriously in jured or killed. In other words, the waiting period can work either way. Mr. Stucker also mentions banning guns entirely. To those of us who own and use firearms in a lawful manner, this idea sounds as ludicrous as banning tire irons or baseball bats. What about banning just the guns that don't have a "sporting purpose?'^ Well, it would depend on what you define asa sporting purpose. It seems ironic that the only people I've ever heard try to define a "sporting purpose" are those who don't own, use or even know the first thing about firearms. From watching the news for several years, I can understand why people would be in clined to think that guns are evil. Most peo ple do not see the other side. They do not see the hundreds of shooting matches and com petitions that take place each year. With the way the media reports the news (murder, robbery, murder, death, weather, sports, murder), the vast majority of people do not hear about the thousands of times lives have been saved by the mere presence of i firearm. I have literally hundreds of newspa per accounts of ordinary citizens defending their life or property from criminals with firearms. Crime is a problem. But until people real ize it is not the gun, but the criminal that causes the problem, this country's crime problems are far from being solved. 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