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Monday, February 28,1994
.i ■■ v
The Battalion Editorial Board i
i i
JULI PHILLIPS, Editor in chief | /
% I
MICHAEL PLUMER, Managing editor KYLE BURNETT, Aggielife editor \ |
BELINDA BLANCARTE, Night news editor DENA DIZDAR, Aggielife editor
HEATHER WINCH, Night News editor SEAN FRERKING, Sports editor
TONI GARRARD CLAY, Opinion editor WILLIAM HARRISON, Photo editor
JENNIFER SMITH, City editor \
EDITORIAL
Tip of the iceberg
Investigation should continue
With the recent indictments
of two Board of Regents secre
taries, authorities have begun
exposing alleged wrongdoing
involving falsified University
records. The Texas Rangers and
other authorities should investi
gate this situation until the par
ties involved in any misconduct
are held responsible for their
actions.
A Brazos County grand jury
indicted Board secretary Vickie
Running and administrative as
sistant Sasha Walters for eight
counts of falsifying documents.
They are accused of giving a lo
cal reporter falsified copies of
state vouchers which misrepre
sented alcohol purchases by
itemizing food and soft drinks
on the receipts.
- Since The use of ^tate funds
to buy afetfhol is illegal, the fal
sified documents may be only
part of the problem. Board of
Regents Chairman Ross Mar
graves came to the defense of
the two secretaries, saying that
they may not have known they
were breaking the law and
there was no conspiracy.
“They were only handling
things the way they had been
handled prior to them," he said.
This defense does not make
A&M look any better or change
the fact that the law may have
been been violated. We deserve
to know if anyone established a
policy that orders secretaries to
falsify state documents or hide
alcohol purchases. The investi
gation should not end until any
wrongdoing has been exposed
completely.
The fact that System em
ployees have been indicted
damages A&M's reputation se
verely. But a bigger injustice
would be to allow these women
to bear total responsibility for
any illegal actions in which oth
ers may have participated or al
lowed to go on.
We should expect our school
to openly acknowledge its mis
takes. The fact that these laws
may have been broken does not
cause nearly as much damage
to our reputation as does the
possible attempt to cover the
facts.
Although we should take
these initial legal actions seri
ously, we must not let the in
dictment of Running and Wal
ters limit further official in
quiries. This investigation must
not end until taxpayers know
exactly where their money has
gone and who spent it.
The Battalion
Page 7
Don't buy Generation X generalizations
Media image of young adults more hype than reality
A s college stu
dents in our
early 20s, most
A&M students are
part of what is known
as Generation X. We
are the generation that
can't find itself, the
one having an identity
crisis. Instead of being
part of the baby
boomer generation,
we are included in the
baby bust.
According to Stan
ley Bing, a contribut
ing editor at Esquire,
we are the generation
that “spends several years waking at noon,
having a piece of cold pizza for breakfast,
taking the dog for a walk, going over to see
[our boyfriends or girlfriends], maybe seeing
a late-afternoon movie, and, afterward,
walking home together staring in the win
dows of restaurants we can't afford, dream
ing of what we just might do when we grow
up, sell out, and start making money.
A cynical and wise-beyond-our-years gen
eration, we grew up quickly and missed both
our childhoods and our dreams. Many of us
were scarred when our parents divorced and
our mothers went back to work. We are
afraid of social security, our national debt
and the health care issue.
We are glued to MTV. We don't do drugs
— at least not as openly as the flower chil
dren. We don't protest, as we know it would
n't do us any good. For fear of AIDS, we limit
casual sex. We can't even yearn for a a condo
and a BMW. That would be far too '80s, and
yuppies are the root of all evil.
We are Generation X, or so the media, ad
vertisers and social commentators tell us. To
facilitate product advertising, each genera
tion is grouped, classified and analyzed. We
are the slackers: the lazy, disenchanted gener
ation that will pay for the excesses of our par
ents and grandparents.
This theory has been easy to sell. Most ca
ble companies offer at least 30 different chan
nels that allow us to watch an endless supply
of sitcom reruns. Electronic companies have
sold more Nintendo packages than they ever
could have dreamed. In order to show how
much we don't care about fashion, the fash
ion magazines feature vintage-type clothing
that — here's a big surprise — costs just as
much as clothes that actually look new. We're
being sold an image of the '90s, and we're
buying. We relate well to the hard luck story
we're sold.
As part of Generation X, we are above the
mindless (yet income-producing) jobs that
generations before us accepted with pride.
We don't want our minds to waste away
while we work on assembly lines, drive de
livery trucks or wait tables. In the informa
tion age, it is no longer prestigious to pro
duce something; it's better to recognize one's
intellect, even while sitting dormant on the
couch.
The movie "Reality Bites" romanticizes
our generation. The main character, Lelaina
Pierce, a recent college graduate, is trying to
begin a career in film journalism. When she
gets fired from her internship with an overly
cheerful and artistically void morning televi
sion show, Lelaina can't seem to find a job of
any kind. No matter that she graduated vale
dictorian of her university class.
Instead of working beneath her obvious
talent, Lelaina resorts to spending her days
on the telephone with a call-in psychic and
runs up a $400 phone bill. To pay off the bill,
she ingeniously convinces customers at the
neighborhood gas station to pay her cash for
their gasoline, and then charges each bill to
her father's gas credit card. Not exactly the fi
nancial solution you would expect from an
intelligent person. Lelaina's boyfriend, Troy,
has been fired from 12 jobs, although he has
an IQ of 180.
As students, we at A&M don't believe we
are above hard work, at least not academic
work. We do homework, study for tests and
write papers. We aren't able to sleep in until
noon. We can't keep dogs in the dorms, and
we probably don't see many afternoon
movies. While stil. in the safe and secure uni
versity environment, we feel unconnected to
our generational personality. We have accept
ed only the superficial elements of Generation
X. We read more magazines than newspapers
and now frequent local coffee houses.
Still, we are discouraged by the controver
sy that surrounds our campus, by the recent
decline in job opportunities, and by the fear
of not being as successful as our parents.
We must be careful not to believe what we
are told about our victim-hood, our poor
work ethic and our lack of family values. If
we let it, the media image of Generation X
will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Melissa Megliola is a senior industrial
engineering major
MELISSA
MEGLIOLA
Columnist
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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
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We reserve the right to edit
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Contact the opinion editor for
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Address letters to:
The Battalion - Mail Call
013 Reed McDonald
Mail stop 1111
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College Station, TX 77843
Fax: (409) 845-2647
Make-believe training session turns up real-life problem
y little
brother
used to
trust me. Poor sap.
Then my parents
took us on that fate
ful trip to Dairy
Queen. My brother
was sitting quietly,
watching me (he
adored me) when I
started to sprinkle
pepper onto the
table. His smile
disappeared as he
Booked on, con-
Kused. I crouched
Blown until my eyes
I Were visible just above the table.
I "Wow," I said. "This pepper looks real-
| ly neat when you look at it like this, Royce.
It looks really cool when you put your
isyes close to it, like this. Those little pep-
aers look HUGE on the table."
Intrigued, my brother consented. He
touched down, put his eyes level with the
table and tried to imagine why his big
brother would be so amazed with this par
ticular perspective of Dairy Queen pepper.
Before he got a chance to ask, I blew a big
gust of onion breath at the pepper, most of
which landed in his eyes. I erupted into
laughter.
"Ouch!" the little booger yelled.
"Mom!"
Needless to say, I didn't get a DQ cone
for dessert that day.
Boys grow up, but that doesn't mean
they stop doing stupid things. A couple of
weeks ago, a group of students was cho
sen to act as professionals in a mock execu
tive training program. Top company offi
cials from around the world are chosen to
attend this thousand dollar conference
each year. You might call them golden
boys, though they're old enough to be
men.
The students did their stint, acting like
professional interviewers with these exec
utives. Everything proceeded at a quasi
professional level. The nature of the inter
views was somewhat light, and the mock
setting allowed considerable leeway for
joking and lapses in judgment that would,
never be tolerated in real-life situations.
But as the interviews ended and the
students began to file out of the room, one
of the men in the room chuckled and said
to a rather attractive female student
In the middle of the
"training program," the at
tention of the entire room
had suddenly been thrown
into Lisa's lap — because
she was wearing a skirt.
named Lisa, "You with the blond hair, in
the green skirt. What are you doing this
weekend?" The room erupted into laugh
ter.
The golden boys laughed. The students
laughed. Even Lisa laughed. But later, as
we walked to the meeting room where we
would discuss the interviews, I thought
about what had just happened. The room
had been filled with forty- and fifty-year-
old men. Except for one other female stu
dent in the room, Lisa was the only
woman there. And in the middle of this
"training program," the attention of the
entire room had suddenly been thrown
into Lisa's lap. Not because she was inter
viewing, but because she was wearing a
skirt. I noticed that she had laughed it off,
but I couldn't help wondering if she was
the slightest bit uncomfortable.
"Yes," she said, staring into the dis
tance. "I didn't even know him, and he's
asking me in front of all these men some
stupid question to make them laugh. He
was old enough to be my grandfather. He
didn't see me as a professional. He saw
me as some woman in a skirt. Is that how
men are going to see me when I get a real
job? As some bimbo?"
I thought I understood what the prob
lem was. Somewhat self-righteously, I con
cluded that the man simply was from the
old school. The politically correct, homog
enized members of Generation X would
would never commit such a travesty.
In our discussion, the leader of the ses
sion told the group of executives what
everyone already knew: Such behavior
would entice charges of sexual harassment
and should be contained, if not purged.
The consensus among the executives
was one of agreement. And they ap
plauded when the students were intro
duced. But it was when they came to
Lisa's name that I did a really stupid
thing. As Lisa stood up to face the crowd
of men who had thrust their attention
upon her, I whistled. Not to make the
golden boys laugh. But to make Lisa
laugh. She and I are good friends. But
she didn't find it funny.
"Why did you do that?" she asked.
I couldn't answer. Bad judgment.
Warped sense of humor. Plain stupidity.
The same reason many men — and some
women — do such things. I felt stupid
and searched for the words to explain my
self. All I could think of was, "I'm sorry."
"Boys will be boys," the proverbial de
fense goes. It's a sorry excuse, but "Men
will be boys" is pathetic.
Robert Vasquez is a senior journalism major
ROBERT
VASQUEZ
Columnist
X^1994
Making headlines:
• I am writing in response to the article
“Four Kappa Alpha Members Accused of
Assault Begin Trial" printed on Feb. 22. I
am in no way condoning the actions of the
four students. I am, however, appalled at
the use of their fraternity affiliation as a
headline. The men were not at a fraternity
function; therefore, this seems to be high
lighting a completely irrelevant issue. The
fact that four students assaulted another
student two years ago is the issue, as old
as the news may be. Would the headline
include the students as members of the
chess club if the students had not been af
filiated with the Greek system? The Greek
organizations are trying to rise above their
negative stereotype by contributing posi
tive things to the Brazos Valley communi
ty. Assault belongs in police beat. If you
want to write about Greeks, try printing
something that is positive.
Elizabeth Elrod
Class of'95
• I have seen many things written in
the Batt aimed at casting A&M's fraterni
ties in a less than desirable light. However,
the article about the assault trial of four
A&M students is the lowest blow yet.
Despite the fact that the incident is al
most two years past and did not occur at a
Kappa Alpha fraternity-sponsored event.
The Battalion thought this would be an ex
cellent opportunity to make a correlation
between wild, violent behavior and frater
nity life. On the front page no doubt! It
was strange that the headline of the story
stands out greater than any other.
The real story is the trial itself, not the
fact that the individuals involved hap
pened to be fraternity members. I seriously
doubt this incident would have drawn
your attention had the individuals in
volved been Fish Camp counselors or ori
entation leaders. Because this, of course,
would make good oT A&M look bad.
Congratulations on another fantastic arti
cle aimed at fraternity bashing. I'm sure
there will be more to come.
Mac Brink
Class of'94
• We are writing this letter in re
sponse to the criticism of the coverage of
the Walker trial. Ever since the initial ar
ticle was published, there has been a lot
of speculation about the defendants be
ing identified as belonging to Kappa Al
pha fraternity.
Many people have been caught up in
the fact that KA was used in the head
line. Granted, the association of the fra
ternity was not necessarily relevant to
the article; however, we feel that the
speculation on the headline has detract
ed from the most important part, the
facts of the trial. No one included the
KAs in the headline to intentionally bash
the fraternity. The fact is that the defen
dants do belong to KA.
Readers seem to be missing the point
that the four defendants, regardless of
what organization they belong to, beat
up John Walker for absolutely no reason.
They are on trial for assaulting a com
pletely innocent person, and people seem
to automatically be sympathizing with
the defendants because of the press cov
erage.
Meanwhile, John Walker is trying to
gather up his pride and walk away with
at least a little dignity. The incident has
made Walker become "weary of people"
and more cautious about being alone. No
one should have to live in fear of people,
especially when they don't deserve it.
We regret that some students are not
able to overcome their superficial no
tions of what life is about. Hopefully,
people can look at this in hindsight and
remember that peoples' lives are much
more important than any organization's
name.
We were hesitant to testify, but we feel
we owe it to John to help him in any way
we can. We'd like to take this time to tell
John how sorry we are for this unjustified
event. You are one of the nicest guys
we've ever met, and we hope that maybe
someday you can forget about all this.
Names withheld upon request