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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 5, 1994)
Opinion hiursday, May 5, 1994 The Battalion Editorial Board JULI PHILLIPS, Editor in chief MICHAEL PLUMER, Managing editor KYLE BURNETT, Aggielife editor KlINDA BLANCARTE, Night news editor DENA DIZDAR, Aggielife editor HEATHER WINCH, Night News editor SEAN FRERKINC, Sports editor TONI GARRARD CLAY, Opinion editor WILLIAM HARRISON, Photo editor JENNIFER SMITH, City editor The Battalion Page 7 ^^vWTi, si- Korea- ^ TO SUcV'l COR tWU AUTUcRlTV/ Lift your voices from sea of silence Students must stir from apathetic reverie and voice concern O TUR^i TUE other. CtaK'" mrmm \ EZim^'X X AVAzV Finals furor Hang in there and good luck ver the course of the past 1 2 months, the University has weathered a num ber of scandals. The image of Texas A&M, whether we like it or not, has been tarnished in the eyes of the state and possibly the nation. Granted, the press is in a feeding frenzy while the administration falters, at tacking like sharks at the smell of blood. But with all the bad publicity and bad moves by University officials, the true mis fortune is the student body’s general apathy and silence in response to these events. About eight years ago, members of the Gay Student Services planned to hold a sit- out to protest the University’s policy that kept the group from becoming an official student organization. The spot where they chose to sit was the Memorial Student Center grass. In response, hundreds of people sur rounded the grounds of the MSG in order to prevent the protesters from defiling the memorial lawns. Last semester, it was reported that Univer sity officials awarded chemistry professor John Bockris grant money somewhere in the range of $200,000 to research the feasibility of making gold out of mercury and mine dirt. The school’s part in this scandal is be ing investigated by state and federal authori ties. The Exchange Commission is investigat ing Bockris. This semester, two administrative assis tants for the Board of Regents have been in dicted on charges of falsifying official docu ments in order to conceal the possible pur chase of alcohol by the board with state funds. Authorities have hinted that these two ROY L. CLAY Columnist It is that time of year again. Time to pack up our stuff and leave this semester behind us. For the lucky few, this will be the last time for the drill. Others will face this time of year three, four, maybe even six more times. Whatever the case may : be, this week we are preparing !to move on. |j But wait - we still have finals j'totake. It’s not over yet. A wall pof tests stands between this se- | mester and the future, but it is a wall each of us will watch pass tf after just a few more days. For some, the wall may seem impassable. W|e sometimes wish we could just walk around. But unless we want a report card full of incompletes, we better just suck it up and get it over with. And each of us can know that we are not alone. Our fellow Ag gies, and many other college students around the world, are psyching themselves up for fi nals this week. Whether we are graduating, going home to find work or leech off our parents, or waiting for everyone else to leave Col lege Station so we can have it all to ourselves, we are all in the same boat now. We should be sure to be sup portive of each other this week as we prepare for finals. We should turn the stereo down the first time our neigh bors ask, and we should not try so hard to talk our friends into taking “study breaks.” Instead we should realize the stress of this time of year can drive us all into a panic. If we don’t feel the stress, then maybe we should be sure to be there for a friend that does. Reading Day would be festive if it wasn’t for the impending gloom that waits just around the corner. Classes are over, bags are being packed, leases have been finalized, friends are exchanging addresses and finals are all that’s left. Good luck and congratula tions to the graduating seniors. indictments are only the tip of the iceberg and higher ranking officials at the University and the A&M system level may be indicted on various other charges. The actions of our administration and those in positions of authority at Texas A&M have gone unchallenged by the student body. We raise our voices, and oftentimes our fists, in defense of our traditions — yet we fail to raise even a finger in defense of our school’s honor. Where’s the spirit — so apparent when A&M students gathered to “defend” a plot of sacred grass — when a few people responsible for the ethical conduct of school affairs are tarnishing the image of the school we all hold dear? It is very possible that we will live to regret our silence on these matters. The scandals rocking our small corner of the world have been reported on the state and national levels. Every time I talk to friends or relatives outside Texas’ borders, they mention the problems here on campus. Do you think it will be any different when you go looking for a job, even in another state? Probably not. Just as our fine traditions define the reputation and validity of our school and our degrees, so will the ac tions of those in charge of this institution, good or bad. So why haven’t we done something about it? Why hasn’t the student body expressed its displeasure at the way in which certain ad ministrators and school officials control our school? Has there been a real moment of stu dent anger over the unethical behavior in the athletic program that has cast a shadow over the upcoming year of Texas A&M football? There’s an old saying: “Don’t soil the place where you eat.” Whether school officials like it or not, this school revolves around the stu dents. Our voices can make a difference if we put forth the effort to raise them. That does n’t mean Texas A&M has to become a hotbed of political activism (one University of Texas in the state is enough). This isn’t about poli tics anyway. The powers that be need to know the students are aware of their indis cretions and that we won’t allow them to stain our educations. We will be associated with A&M for the rest of our lives. For many of us, that associa tion will take on an active role, while others will remain passive in their relationship to the University. Why wait until we are alumni to make a difference in the quality of educa tion we receive here? The reputation of Texas A&M as an institu tion of higher learning has been tarnished. In some circles, it is a laughing stock. Speak out! The image of this school is just as important as a swath of grass in front of the MSC. Roy L. Clay is a senior history major 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 ot 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 Mail stop Till Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843 Fax: (409) 845-2647 When dazed and confused becomes a state of being W hat is going on!? What am I go ing to do? Why should I do it, if I decide to? What we’re dealing with here is mass confusion. I don’t specifically mean gradu ation confusion or ‘end of semester con fusion,” but a general state of constant confusion experienced by most of us sim ply because we are in our 20s. OK, maybe some of us are around the fringes of the 20s, but nonetheless, those of us pushing 20 or even 30 are still some powerfully perplexed puppies. wbout what?” you ask. (If no confu sion is in your life, you are anal retentive, too overplanned and most likely an ac countant.) Well, there are several categories of men tal chaos. The first and most prominent form for those of us in college is “What am I doing widi school?!” This type of confu sion is widespread and multifaceted. The second most common brand of cerebral anarchy has to do with social problems - you know: boyfriend/girl friend stuff, loneliness, parents who re ject/coddle you, etc. The after-college confusion usually kicks in about this time (graduation) and is laden with job choic- FRANK STANFORD Columnist es and location choices. Lastly are the incredibly mind-numbing questions of life in general. I think this last category is particularly difficult for young adults because they usually don’t have fami ly responsibilities to help make their deci sions for them. Since I don’t have a family to consider, I must rely on conjecture, but I still insist having kids and a- mortgage lessens the confusion over decisions such as whether or not to quit your current life and become a bongo drummer in Malta. “What am I doing with school?” This question is so common, it’s pathet ic. Many students have no idea what they’re doing in college or why they’re doing it. “Why am I even here?’ is most commonly heard after making a 15 on an engineering exam (which I understand is often a “B”), or a 59.5 on a political science test (which I understand is a big fat “F”). This important question is usually asked in confused des peration and shouldn’t be worried about until you have failed everything, in which case the answer to, “Why am I even here?” will be: “You aren’t anymore. Blinn is your home now.” Social confusion is a personal favorite because it is so utterly amazing how one lit tle humanoid even remotely involved in an other person’s fife can create so much pan demonium. A grown man or woman (well, we’re legally grown anyway) can write a 20-page research paper, pass three tests in one week, talk their parents out of more money and their professor into giving a higher grade — all on two hours of sleep while hungover — and STILL be a spineless weakling about calling someone who hard ly knows or cares they exist. And then, of course, there’s the seem ingly idiotic and ever common state ments, “Go out with HIM?! Are you KID DING? He’s too . . . nice.” or, “She’s really cool and smart and funny and a babe, and 1 really like her a lot, but go OUT with her? Nah.” We’ve all heard these words and some times even try to understand them, but don’t they sound confusing? Or at least ridiculously illogical? If you are continually con fused over what you de sire as a career, shoot a pellet gun at an open set of encyclopedias from 100 yards away like I did, and go from there. Social confusion continues throughout life, and Tm told it really escalates after marriage. Usually husbands are the most confused. My married friends have no idea what’s going on; they just nod a lot. The after-college confusion is primari ly: “Well (all good questions start with ‘well’), Tm out in the big world now. Just what do I want?” Isolating what you want is probably the most important and most confusing en deavor ever. Knowing what you want is 7 5 percent of getting it. If you are contin ually confused over what you desire as a career, shoot a pellet gun at an open set of encyclopedias from 100 yards away like I did, and go from there. (It landed on “philodendron,” but since I can’t go through life as a bush, I chose the nearest word: “philosophy”) As I mentioned earlier, I think many of the biggie confusions are sort of aimed at college and 20-aged people due to their ba sic lack of serious responsibility. Many, many, many things (OK, everything) I have done in the last few years would never have '<■ been attempted if I had had a wife and kids, i I would never force my wife to explain to a child, “Daddy is stuck in Haiti because he , wanted to see what squalid poverty was like ‘ during a civil war.” Or the ever popular, “I know you miss Daddy, but the parole board ' is a bunch of bastards.” Family types have plenty of their own problems, Tm certain, but freedom is much! more confusing when you’re free to fuse confused confusions to the freed fusions of otherwise fused confusions. Frank Stanford is a graduate philosophy student Thoughtless name calling silly, immature I am writing in response to Christopher Binovi’s letter concerning feminists, in which he refers to women as “babes” and “chicks” and goes on to conclude feminists are not smart or attractive. In response to this, fd fike to suggest that he reflect on his standards of intelligence and attractiveness. Personally, I do not find the image of a freshman entertaining himself with fantasy calls to 900 numbers very attractive. And as far as his assumption that all women are at tracted to him, I think that is one fantasy he is going to have to surrender. While Tm sure that The Battalion staff got a chuckle off such a blatandy ignorant letter, I don’t believe such derogatory re marks about any ethnic minority would be printed. I would encourage the staff to keep the opinion page a completely open forum for all different viewpoints, but to use a lit- de more discretion with thoughtless name- calling and stereotypes. Jenny Hamner Class of ‘96 Kiest residents get worst end of deal Got a little question for ya Ags! What do you do when the Corps of Cadets grows and must replace someone on the quad? It seems that Dr. Southerland and the bureau crats here at A&M believe the sensible thing to do is to kick the Kiest Hall residents out and replace them with the residents of Gainer. Yes, Ags, there are currently 110 non-reg males living on the top three floors of Kiest Hall. Along with kicking us off the quad, the University decided to spend thousands of dollars to renovate our hall to “accommodate the girls’ needs.” Yet, all we hear about through the “SAVE GAINER” campaign is how the girls of Gainer are be ing oppressed and harshly thrown into some other hall. Evidently, the relentless work that Kiest Hall has put into keeping our hall alive and earning respect around campus since August of 1992 is insignifi cant in the eyes of all who made the unjus tified decision. We are not complaining about the growth of the Corps at all. In fact, we were told that the Corps (not Gainer) would be replacing us in Kiest, and al though we were disappointed that we would be apart from each other next year, we understood that the Quad was and al ways will be the Corps’ home. However, every Kiest Hall resident pays the same amount of money towards tuition, books, rent and all the other university fees as each Gainer resident. We would like for someone to please explain how the girls of Gainer suddenly take precedence over the current residents of Kiest. We would also like to ask the Gainer res idents, who obviously do not wish to five in Kiest Hall, to find somewhere else to live and give Kiest back to the current residents who do. The Kiest Knights will never die! Jeffrey M. Crews Kiest Hall President, Class of ‘96 Accompanied by 68 signatures Ross’ flaws no cause to compromise honor Lawrence Sullivan Ross’ reputation has come under fire. Certain groups have been informing the public about his pro-slavery stance. Fortunately, the information is out for everyone to see; however, Sully’s honor should not be compromised. Like everyone, Ross had character flaws he had to five with. Washington, Lincoln, JFK, Malcolm X, and every other influential leader had their flaws. In fact, U. S. Grant, the general who carried the Union to victory, possessed one of the most corrupt administrations, yet we admire his accomplishments enabling the US. to abolish slavery once and for all. By informing the public, everyone wins. Through this we can honor Ross for every thing he did for the University. Through his faults, we can see how far Texas A&M has progressed over the years. Curtis G. Neason Class of ‘96