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The Battalion
Page 3
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By Jennifer Gressett
The Battalion
Yahoo! Student government elections are
almost over. A year of campaigning will end.
No more promises; no more lies. Soon we’ll be
able to walk across campus without tripping
over billboards.
But once the last vote is counted and the
winners take office, do we really know what
those guys at the student government office are
doing? Who’s to say they’re not just sitting
around, twiddling their thumbs and thinking of
how great their resumes are beginning to look?
Michael Crain, vice president of the Class of
1994, said.this attitude is the primary reason
for low voter turnout rates year after year. In
fact, at last year’s elections, Crain said only
5,000 students voted in the first election.
“We advertise elections on campus and in
the Battalion,” Crain said. “But if students
don’t think their votes matter, they’re not going
to get involved.”
Maybe if students understood how student
government operated, they would be more
encouraged to vote, Crain said. He said the
system is similar to our country’s government,
which is made up of three branches.
First comes the executive branch, which is
led by the student body president. Although
his role is very broad, current President Brian
Walker said a large part of his work is in the
state legislature.
“1 work with different groups and civic clubs
across the state,” Walker said; adding that with
43,000 students at Texas A&M alone, it’s
difficult to reach everyone.
It’s a good thing he gets to appoint up to five
vice presidents to assist him.
Vice President Ben Keating says that the job
of the vice president is two-fold. Not only does
it involve advising committees, but also serving
on the executive council of student
government.
For example, Keating is responsible for
public relations and marketing, while other vice
See Guide/Page 4
I
Vice presidents
I
Committee chaifrs
I
Committee members
I
Speaker pro tempore
I
Committee chairs
I
Committee members
Board members
Executive notes
•The number of vice presidents depends on the
student body president's administration. VPs are
nominated by the student body president and are
confirmed by the Student Senate.
•The committees that fall under the executive
branch are event-oriented committees such as
Muster, Traditions Council, Public Information
Office and Election Commission.
•The number of committees and the VP they fall
under depend on the student body president's
administration, although this is fairly consistent.
•The committee chairs are chosen by the student
body president, the vice president over that
committee and the former chair.
•The committee members are chosen by the
chair of that particular committee.
Legislative notes
•The speaker of the senate and the speaker pro
tempore are chosen by the senate.
•There are five committees under the legislative
branch - Rules and Regulation, Academic
Affairs, External Affairs, Finance and Student
Service.
• The Finance and the Rules and Regulation i
chairs are chosen by the student body president
and approved by the senate. The Academic
Affairs, External Affairs and Student Service
chairs are chosen by the senate at large.
• The Internal Affairs chair and the speaker pro
tempore is the same person.
•Committee members are chosen by the chairs
of those particular committees.
Judicial notes
• The judicial board chair is chosen by the
student body president and approved by the
Student Senate.
•The board members are chosen by the
student body president, judicial chak and
speaker of the senate an^l^tapproVed bv the
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senate. mllL
•There are eight board members - two
graduate students, two freshmen, two
sophomores, two juniors and two seniors.
Also, there is an alternate chosen for each
class.
ol.
Dealing with a child’s homosexuality
Bill and Sandie
Martin say they
did what any
parent should do:
they accepted it
By Jenny Magee
The Battalion
Bill and Sandie Martin love their son
Mark.
That was the one thing the Martins
said they were sure about when their
son, a Texas A&M senior, told them he
was gay.
“This is very honest,” Sandie said.
“I’d like to say that I threw my arms
around him and said, T’m so happy
that you’re gay.’ But, I really did not
have a lot to say at fitst. The only thing
I could say and not have any confusion
about was, T love you.’”
Mark, clean-cut and calmly
confident, said that he was really scared
about coming out to his parents three
years ago.
“My biggest fear was that I would
be failing them by telling them that I
was gay,’ he said. “But from the
moment I told them, they became the
biggest influences in my life.”
Bill said there a lot of things about
homosexuality that he doesn t
understand, but that doesn’t affect his
relationship with his son.
“I love my son with all my heart,”
he said. “I will never turn him away
because of his sexual preference.”
Bill said he was just grateful he still
had his son. His voice quivered with
emotion as he told of a close friend
who had lost two children, one was
killed by a drunk driver and the other
drowned.
“When I think about what could
happen,” he said, “I still got my son.”
From their experiences with Mark,
his friends and the students they have
met on panels, the Martins said they
realize how difficult it is for young
people to come out to their parents.
Sandie said one of her favorite
quotes about homosexuality is “when
children come out of the closet to their
parents, oftentimes the parents go in
the closet.”
Through his position as co-president
of the Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Aggies
(GLBA) and friendships, Mark has
heard many stories of parents doing
everything from disowning a child to
completely refusing to deal with the
truth upon learning that their child was
a homosexual.
“I’m one of those redneck, macho
Texans, and this thing really clobbered
me,” Bill said. “But I think the key
issue is how the parents feel about the
children and if they really love them. If
you love them, you don’t cut your kid
out.”
Mark said that he has friends whose
parents accept their homosexuality, but
nis parents are really the only ones he
knows of that have oecome involved
publicly in homosexual causes and
issues.
“Most parents think locally,” he said.
“They work with their own child, and
they don’t worry about the world at
large.”
The Martins first became involved in
activism when they appeared on a
question/answer panel at A&M for the
Division of Student Services. The panel
allowed 250 members of the A&M
faculty and staff the opportunity to ask
questions about homosexuality.
In November, when Sandie attended
a conference for the National Gay and
Lesbian Task Force in North Carolina
she was one of the few straight people
and the only mother there.
“She got a standing ovation when
she stood u^> and introduced herself,”
Mark said. ‘She got up to talk about
how she wants to see the day when I
can have kids, and when she can be a
grandmother to my kids. She
impressed a lot of people there.”
Sandie said during the car trip to
and from the conference she had the
opportunity to get to know other
homosexual students, the majority of
whom she said had not come out to
their parents because they feared
rejection.
Both Mark and his parents said that
young people dealing with
homosexuality need a place to turn.
Mark plans to graduate in May with
a degree in psychology and become a
counselor specializing in gay issues.
His mom has similar plans of her own.
“I don’t think we’re ready for this
right now,” Sandie said. “But
eventually I would like to open our
home to kids who come out to their
parents and meet with an unfavorable
reaction and give them a place to stay.”
Mark Martin, a senior psychology
major, holds a photo of his parents
Sandie and Bill Martin. Mark came
out to his parents three years ago and
said from that moment they became
the biggest influences in his life.
Kyle Burnett/77ie Battalion