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Opinion
jjay, May 2, 1994
The Battalion
Page 7
The Battalion Editorial Board
JULI PHILLIPS, Editor in chief |
.iHAELPLUMER, Managing editor KYLE BURNETT, Aggielife editor ■
iJNDA BLANCARTE, Night news editor DENA DIZDAR, Aggielife editor
•tTHER WINCH, Night News editor SEAN FRERKINC, Sports editor
jONIGARRARD CLAY, Opinion editor WILLIAM HARRISON, Photo editor
JENNIFER SMITH, City editor
MELISSA
MEGLIOLA
Columnist
EDITORIAL
It’s about time
South African black vote overdue
The times, they are a-changin’.
listory is being made in the
icially-divided country of South
Ifrica, where for the first time
Had South Africans have been al-
owed to vote in national elec-
:ons. This is the first time blacks
:ave been able to vote since
times first took control of the
utintry 342 years ago.
last Tuesday, voting began for
it aged, the military, and for
e in hospitals. Despite four-
waits in the sun, sick and
tlderly patients fainting, and
ke-arriving ballots, the mood
mong black voters was tri-
iphant.
Wednesday marked the official
taning of general voting,
iNftlson Mandela and F.W. de
|IM testing baltnTK.'Remarkably,
jnrfiv| millioa*, whites and 3 5
lillion blacks, browns and
dims are all voting in the same
dections.
African National Congress
leader Nelson Mandela is expect
ed to win around 60 percent of
die vote with de Klerks National
Party receiving the second-high
est percentage. If the final results
correspond with these predic
tions, Mandela will be sworn in
as president of a truly democratic
South African government on
May 10. The hope is that Man
dela can bring together a deeply
divided country, with illiteracy
and unemployment rates of over
50 percent among blacks.
No other power can solve
South Africa’s problems or ad
dress its needs - the South
African people must willingly
help themselves. There won’t be
an overnight change of the way
of life for most of the people
who vote, but they are taking a
much-needed step toward a fu
ture of which they are finally ex
erting control.
The free world should be hap
py that another country will be
able to enjoy the basic privileges
too often taken for granted.
Americans should learn a lesson
from the people of South Africa.
In reference to the wide
spread jubilation, one radio
caller commented, “I never
thought I would see the day
when I wish I was a black per
son.”
The times are a-changin’, and
it’s definitely about time.
The people who make it an education
Faculty should be lauded for teaching as well as research
week — and in my state of stress whined to any
one who would listen — two of my professors
offered to call the dealership and make sure I
wasn’t being taken advantage of for being a me-
chanically-clueless female. Another professor
volunteered to take my badly fraying backpack
home and sew it up on his wife’s industrial
sewing machine. I have been invited to the
homes of three of my professors for different
picnics and parties.
The night before a test over some particularly
confusing material, one of my professors held a
question and answer review session that lasted
rom 7 until 11:30. One Monday night,when
faculty members could have been at home
spending time with their families, six or seven of
my professors met with students to discuss op
portunities for graduate school. They offered
valuable advice on finding funding, taking the
GRE and choosing schools.
Perhaps my favorite story is when, after read
ing my complaints about being a college student
and longing for preschool, my professor and his
graduate student brought Popsicles for the entire
class - the good kind, with rainbow flavors.
Some of my professors are leading re
searchers, writers and publishers in manufactur
ing, operations research, and human factors. All
of them are vital to the industrial engineering
department. They are why we value our A&M
education. In 20 years, when we send our chil
dren to college, we will think of Texas A&M not
for its outstanding researchers but for its faculty
members who reassured us when we had
doubts, tutored us when we had trouble under
standing, and celebrated with us when we
achieved.
e engineering departments at most uni
versities are notorious for stressing re
search over undergraduate teaching. A&M
is no different. Professors are granted tenure and
given promotions depending on the amount of
research they do, the number of papers they
write and the amount of money they bring in to
their departments. You can tell exactly who is
bringing in the big bucks by wandering around
the halls of Zachry, Bright and Richardson. Small
interior offices mark inhabitants who write only
a paper here and there. Offices with a window
denote faculty members who write books, pa
pers and documents rivaling the Constitution in
importance.
While such prioritization can no doubt be
justified with dollar signs, I have to wonder
where we, the students, fit in. Are we really the
reason A&M seeks out top names for its faculty,
or are we just the front for a larger, more lucra
tive business?
Research is good. Cures for deadly diseases
are found by thousands of hours of experimen
tation. Modem technology advances only at the
rate of research and invention. And certainly stu
dents benefit from being surrounded by cutting-
edge technology. But someone has to teach us
the basics before we can assist with or even un
derstand much of the research being done here
on campus.
At die freshman orientation conferences each
summer, department heads, deans and advisors
meet with inquisitive, nervous and naive parents.
They inform these parents - eager to grasp onto
any indication that their life savings are about to
be well spent - about A&M’s commitment to un
dergraduate teaching. Courses are not taught by
graduate students but by dedicated professors
whose primary goals are to provide intellectual
guidance to the thousands of young, bright stu
dents that make up our engineering department
each year. They show overheads with pie charts,
quote statistics on teaching budgets and brag
about teachers who are popular with students.
Yet, those faculty members who spend more
time teaching than working to raise money for
the department get stuck in nontenure track po
sitions. It’s true that such professors know the
rules of the academic game when they choose
not to do research, but it is sad to think teachers
have no place in the University environment. Job
security for lecturers is definitely not guaranteed.
The future of one of my best-ever professors is
currently up in the air as the civil engineering
department wants to replace him with a tenure
track professor, a decision that on the surface
makes sense but in actuality would be a great
loss for the department.
Not everything the administrators tell our
parents is a lie. They simply take credit for the
unacknowledged and unsupported goodwill of
A&M professors. Many professors, at least in my
department, are genuinely concerned with un
dergraduate teaching and with their students. I
am constantly amazed by how much my profes
sors are willing to do for their students.
When I cracked the oil pan in my car last
Melissa Megliola is a senior industrial engineering major
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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
m life MWimu it mm ism
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 col
columns for
opinion editor for
information on submitting guest
columns
Mail Call
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Mail stop 1111
Texas A&M Universi
College Station, TX
Fax: C409) 845-2647
843
—; ; 1 ——^
Still crazy after all these years ... one more for the road
e.
Sat. 5/7
9 a.m. - Mid.
MATH 142
Final & New
Material
iecfu/e
r
Mon. 5/9
TIATH 152
0 - 8:30 p.m.
Inal & New
Material
FINC 341
8:30 p.m.
ial Review C
S o. This is goodbye.
It seems like forever Robert
Vasquez has been “a senior jour-
Jalism major.” Today is the last time I’ll
liver see that description in print.
Nearly three years ago, I walked into
file Battalion office, writing samples in
tad, and applied for a job as colum-
list. I’d never written for a paper be
fore, not even in high school. But I fig
ured it was worth a try.
“We’re not going to be able to hire
iou,” the editor told me. “Your writing is
5K, but we have much better writers with
aore experience this semester. Thank you
I lor applying. Maybe next time.”
Driving home, I listed the reasons
tay I really didn’t want to write for
he Battalion anyway. Two weeks after
^ the hiring had been done, and all
tacocky new columnists were firmly
to place, I took another story I had
Written down to the Batt. The editor
tanked me and said, “We’ll call you if
■efe interested.”
I smiled and thanked him. Walking
pvay, I rolled my eyes, thinking,
ROBERT
VASQUEZ
Columnist
“They’ll never call.”
Two days later, they called.
Since then, working at the Batt has
introduced me to a large number — and
a wide variety — of people. I’ve made a
lot of friends. And a few enemies.
When I wrote about my mother’s
trip to the hospital, I received cards,
letters, phone calls and countless per
sonal inquiries as to how she was do
ing. The concern, the encouraging
words expressed by people I’d never
met convinced me of the spirit of peo
ple on this campus more than any song
or yell or tall tale ever could. (I’ve re
layed the messages to my mother, who
has recovered completely and will be
here next Friday when I walk across the
stage to receive my diploma. For your
prayers, she thanks you. I thank you.)
Walking through the French Quarter
in New Orleans recently, I noticed a
print of a painting by Dali. It looked
like a woman’s face at first. But as I
looked closer, I saw that the woman’s
right eye was really a toppled vase. Her
other eye was a small child sleeping on
a bare floor. Further study of the work
revealed other hidden features that were
not apparent from a casual glance. Dali,
among others, had a talent for seeing
the deeper meanings that are always
there, but rarely seen.
For what it’s worth, I offer you these
words. They’ve helped me in times
when there seemed no logic or purpose
in this world.
Written long ago, the following
poem, entitled “Desiderata,” may seem
a little outdated. Try to look beyond the
shades of syntax and the diction that
have shifted as the years have passed.
There’s a message, a meaning buried in
there. I hope you find it in this poem. I
hope you find it somewhere. Goodbye.
Keep peace with your
soul. With all its shams,
drudgery and broken
dreams, it is still a beauti
ful world. Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.
-from “Desiderata”
Go placidly amid the noise and the haste and
remember what peace there may be in silence. As
far as possible without surrender be on good terms
with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and
clearly, and listen to others, even the dull and ig
norant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and
aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself to others you may become
vain and bitter, for always there will be greater
and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your career however humble; it
is a real possession in the changing fortunes of
time. Exercise caution in your business affairs, for
the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind
you to what virtue there is; many persons strive
for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of hero
ism. Be yourself, especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all
aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as
the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture the strength of spirit to shield you in
sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with
imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and
loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle
with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no
less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to *
be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no
doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you
conceive Him to be; and whatever your labors and 1
aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep
peace with your soul. With all its shams,
drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful
world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
Robert Vasquez is a senior journalism major
Save Gainer Hall
The Wells Hall Council and residents
'vould like to express their support of Gain-
» Hall and its residents. Gainer has only
tan open two years, but has proven itself
to be one of the most outstanding residence
tails on campus.
Wednesday, April 27, Gainer won a total
of seven awards from the Residence Hall
Association including Most Outstanding
Programming, the Community Service
Award, and most importantly Hall of the
Tear for 1993-1994. Gainer has an incredi
ble sense of community spirit as seen by
the above awards. This is something that is
very difficult to achieve and would be lost if
these women were forced to move into dif
ferent halls or off campus. We would like to
make it clear that we are not anti-Corps; we
are simply pro-Gainer. Kiest Hall, of which
the top three floors are being given to the
residents of Gainer, would adequately fulfill
the needs of the Corps for next year. Fur
thermore, there would not be the awkward
situation of having the Corps (mostly male)
occupy the first floor of a female hall. Wells
encourages everyone to express their sup
port of the residents of Gainer by calling Dr.
Malon Southerland, Vice President of Stu
dent Affairs, at 845-4728. SAVE GAINER!
Craig A. Gordon
Class of ‘93, President Wells Hall
Accompanied by 22 signatures
Quit your whining
In response to the editorial on April
28 (about over-priced apartments):
Grow up and quit whining. This is just
another example of liberals expecting
the government (or in this case the Uni
versity administration) to take care of
everybody’s problems.
In case you haven’t noticed, America is
based on a free market economy. Apart
ment owners are not here to make stu
dents’ lives easier; they are here to make
profit. I think if you do some price check
ing in other college towns you will find
that prices here are about the same or low
er than in cities such as Austin or Dallas.
If you think that prices are high and
people in a position of power are con
spiring to make your life miserable, then
vote with your feet and take a hike. Or
better yet, why don’t you ask Clinton if
he can provide free housing.
Jeffrey Kohn
Class of ‘95
Will the real line-
drawer step forward
In his guest column, James Harrington
erred in his portrayal of the line in the sand
myth. William B. Travis, not Jim Bowie,
drew the line in the sand. Travis and Bowie
were co-commanders until Bowie was in
jured in an accident and turned over full
command to Travis. The line in the sand in
cident occurred after this. Jim Bowie was
bedridden and asked to have his cot carried
across the line. Leaxn the myths correctly
before you put them down.
David R. Webb
Class of ‘93
Calculating an Aggie
I would like to say thanks to a great se
nior who personifies the real Aggie spirit. I
met Chris in the Beutel waiting room the
day of my Chem lab final. We both had
been waiting for over two hours, when I
realized I had forgotten my calculator. I
thought I was going to have to forfeit my
turn to see the doctor so I could have time
to get my calculator. However, Chris, a
complete stranger, offered me the use of his
calculator and I was able to see the doctor
and be on time for my final. Chris, you are
a hfesaver and one great Ag!
Leslie Calderon
Class of ‘97