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October 12, 1994
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Assogiation
Senate calls
: or student
input, ideas
Bill proposes change
Sin worker registration
BROOKE
LESLIE
Guest
Columnist
fter being
elected last
.April, one of
ay most important
goals was to make
Student Govern-
aent and the Stu
dent Senate more le-
itimate by making students aware of
he topics we discuss. I decided to use
a column in The Battalion as a prima-
avenue for bringing ideas and is-
ues of A&M to the forefront of stu
dents’ minds.
The intent of this message is to pro-
de a method of communication in
Iwhich students and faculty can become
informed about current issues facing the
Texas A&M Student Government Associ
ation and the student body as a whole,
whether it be the academic calendar or
our efforts to improve parking.
Tonight, the Texas A&M University
Student Senate will be debating the
Student Worker Preregistration bill.
This piece of legislation, authored by
Ryan Shopp, is designed to change the
current preregistration schedule for
student workers.
Student workers, by definition, are
those students who work at least 12
hours a week between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.,
on or off campus.
Presently, the system allows for
two full days of registration for honors
students followed by three days in
which all student workers and seniors
are allowed to register for courses.
After this period, an alphabetical pat
tern is followed by seniors, juniors,
sophomores and then freshmen.
| The new proposal requests that the
format be altered in such a way that se
nior workers would register on the last
day of Honors registration; junior work
ers would register on the last day of se
nior registration; and sophomore and
freshmen workers would register on the
last day for junior registration.
The worker preregistration bill is not
only designed to help graduating seniors,
The worker preregistration
bill is not only designed to
help graduating seniors, but
to aid upperclassmen who
are within three semesters
of graduation.
‘Our young black men are dying
Social group fails to achieve real
equality because of race, poverty
AJA
HENDERSON
b mimMiiilgiPrelgll
Columnist
M y little brother
James has lost his
12-year-old mind.
He is at that age where he
and his buddies have discov
ered girls, rap music and the
world at large.
My mom is very nervous
— sighing, wringing her
hands and carrying on about her “baby” is growing up.
My dad is in denial, and he tries to keep convincing her
that James is still the little boy he always was. So, here is
this “little boy,” who is taller than my five feet, six and a
half inches, still being hugged and fussed over by my Dad
like he always was.
I have to shake my head at this scene - but not too hard,
being a daddy’s girl myself. And, for all my brother’s little
tirades when my parents yell out his pet name,
“Jakemeister!” in front of his pals, he knows he loves it.
He literally lives in my father’s office, letting his head get all
puffy when my one of my father’s secretaries tells him how big
and strong he’s getting ... “Baby, can you move that box for
me?” Yes, James is riding through adolescence on cloud nine.
Unfortunately, this is not the story of most
young black boys and men in America.
One of the recent issues concerns
young black males and the plight this so
cially, economically and racially chal
lenged group is suffering. The reports are
not encouraging. Over 50 percent of black
children live in a single-parent home
headed by a woman, leaving young black
men without an immediate male role model.
Almost half of young black males live in households below
the poverty line, and two-thirds of the ones who live in fe
male-headed households have below-poverty incomes. These
figures reflect young men who are boxed into situations that
seem largely unsurpassable.
Many groups within our community, including politi
cians, the press and academic institutions, fail to focus
upon the reality behind the condition of these young men,
opting instead to spit out fast fix-it solutions like “Get a
job!” or “Go to school.” Or, sometimes they attach a filler
onto the front of the fix-it: “Keep hope alive. Get a job!” or,
“Keep the dream ... Go to school.”
This simplistic reality sounds tough, and it’s what society
wants to hear. After all, we live in a country that was found
ed and still thrives on the work ethic.
Nonetheless, this mentality ignores the fact that young
black males are dealing with a deck of cards dealt to them
early in life, if not at birth. Later in the boy’s life, these
“cards” manifest into the problems that most of America does
not want to handle - the problems to which many Americans
want to apply the fix-it glue.
Fix-it is not new. Young black men have been heard these
little catch phrases for the last 25 years. Their condition has
n’t improved - it has worsened.
Trapped in a vicious cycle, labeled as “failures” and “lazy,”
angry at conditions that they did not ask for and do not de
serve, young black males are rejecting fix-it.
They see “fix-it” as a lie. The drug dealer up the street is
the one with the money. That NBA basketball player is the
one with the fame.
Popular thought shakes it head at the young black male
and continues to label him as an inherently violent individual
who is destined to a life of failure. Thus, it becomes accept
able to treat him any kind of way. Prejudice and discrimina
tion against him is the name of the game.
An example of this bias lies in a controversy that occurred
in September of 1991. The Virginia-based National Center
on Institutions and Alternatives released a study concerning
the conditions of black males in Baltimore, Maryland.
This study revealed that five out of nine young black
men were “in trouble with the law.”
Of course, the study
failed to clarify that it did
not separate hard-core
crimes from such minor of
fenses as jaywalking in
reaching that figure.
Studies like this might
have noble intentions, but if
crucial elements are left un
clear, ambiguity is certain, and misunderstanding is probable.
The end result is more negative labeling and politicians
leaning back their heads, opening their mouths even wider
than usual to offer their amazing fix-its.
Fix-it solutions do not solve such deep-rooted problems.
Young black males do not need America’s instant problem
solving, they need comprehensive policy action and programs
designed to make their hurdles just a little lower so that they
can jump them and have a better life.
I do not want my little brother’s happy adolescence to be
an exception to the turmoil of young black males in this coun
try — I want to see it be the rule.
Aja Henderson is a sophomore finance major
Young black men do not need Ameri
ca's instant problem-solving, they
need comprehensive action designed
to make their hurdles just a little lower.
COLi-EGtE* fcCF>U&LiCM4&
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SOCIAL.
but to aid upperclassmen who are within
three semesters of graduation.
While graduating seniors can be
forced into full classes, juniors and
non-graduating seniors are left facing
the dilemma of possibly graduating a
semester late because they cannot get
the necessary classes to fulfill their
degree requirements.
Supporters of the bill argue that
the change would decrease phone con
gestion in the Brazos Valley system,
relieve the threat of shutting down
the telephone lines and make the reg
istration process fairer to a greater
population of upperdlass students.
Darla Marburger, the Student Senate
Academic Affairs Chair, said, “It is im
portant that the students understand
that the format of the current system
must be changed in some form or fash
ion, because the inefficiency of the cur
rent phone registration system poses a
constant threat to the community.”
Those in opposition claim that un
derclass students who need specific
blocks of classes in order to work will
not be able to coordinate their sched
ules to meet their specific needs.
However, the needs of the student
population as a whole must be recog
nized. In order to aid the 4,000 stu
dent workers, we are sacrificing the
academic welfare of approximately
13,000 upperclass students.
No matter the case, this issue will
be discussed and debated further at
the Student Senate meeting tonight at
7:30 p.m. in the Governance Room of
the John J. Koldus building.
The Student Government Associa
tion challenges you to contact the SGA
office at 845-3051 with your opinion
on this issue.
The information will be passed on
to those senators who represent you.
In order to represent the views of the
student body, the students must use
their voice to send their messages loud
and clear to the Student Government
Association of Texas A&M University.
Student Body President
Brooke Leslie is a senior
agricultural development major
— f994~
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pAUUTf
Belinda Blancarte, Editor in chief
Mark Evans, Managing editor
|ay Robbins, Opinion editor
Jenny Magee, Asst, opinion editor
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.
Contact the opinion editor for information
on submitting guest columns.
•c
Fliers sail way
OUT OF LINE
College Republicans should take re
sponsibility for their racially offensive;
political fliers and guard against re-'
peating the mistake.
The group claims not to be responsi
ble for the statements on the fliers —
which have the organization’s name at
the bottom - because they were distrib
uted without authorization by a “com
mittee” and were not approved by the
organization’s officers.
A committee by definition speaks for
the group it represents if it has the
power to post material with the group’s
name. The College Republicans are ir
responsible for allowing these to fliers
to go up.
The fliers themselves are more offen
sive, however. Three stand out with
gross, ignorant stereotypes:
• “Ahh, poor Hispanics ... Your test
scores are too low. Your grades are too
low. But that’s all right. We’ll lower the
requirements for you. College Republi
cans believe Hispanics are just as
smart as any other race.”
Yet vice president for publicity Bo
Armstrong, who has been forced to re
sign over this incident, said, “We are all
equal. There is no race, we are all
Americans.” By law affirmative action
efforts cannot set up separate criteria
for admitting whites and minorities to
a university. To use such a condescend
ing tone to refer to “any other race,”
along with the stereotyped problems its
members face, violates the basic spirit
of equality.
• “You’re black, you’re female, you
have a 2.0, you have a job. You’re
white, you’re male, you have a 4.0, your
point. College Republicans support
equal employment opportunity.”
Anyone with a 4.0 from Texas
A&M who can’t find a job suffers
many more personal obstacles than
just being white or male. The College
Republicans’ statement implies that
black women and other minorities
get jobs solely because of their race
or gender. That allegation is both
unfounded and insulting.
• A third flier lists the terms
“African-American, Mexican-American,
Asian-Ameriean, Caucasian” in a print
ed column. At the bottom, “American”
is written in with a check mark next to
it. The line: “College Republicans are
proud of their heritage.”
Why can’t people be proud of their
entire heritage - like black, white,
Asian or ethnic cultures, as well as the
whole “American” experience?
These fliers may not have intended
to offend or insult anyone, but they did.
The College Republicans, along with
every other American, must work to
eliminate “race” as a political, educa
tional or employment group, or “race”
will always be a problem for America.
On the road again in Iraq with Saddam
The U.S. needs to remember a few things we learned in Kuwait last time
MICHAEL
LANDAUER
Columnist
H istory repeats
itself, there is
no doubt. But it
usually takes centuries
or decades, not just a
few years.
Yet here we are
again debating what to
do about Iraq. This
time here are a few things we should do differently.
I think most people agree that if we go back into bat
tle we should take Saddam out of power.
As I was driving out of Houston Monday morning, I
heard a poll on the radio. At the time, 94 percent of the
respondents were in favor of military action in Iraq.
Of course, George Bush could have been playing with
the redial button on his phone.
Here are some things we should keep in mind as the
story unfolds before our eyes on CNN.
yfc Let’s not blame George Bush. The same people
who are whining about having to go back in now, are the
same people who were griping about fighting for oil the
first time.
Had Bush decided to finish Saddam off, these critics
would have complained that he had been dishonest
about his intentions.
Going beyond the U.N.’s goal would not have been
popular at the time. We fought to free Kuwait, we won,
and we got out. We didn’t want another Vietnam, but
critics weren’t happy with sticking to our goals, either.
In hindsight, we should have finished Saddam off,
colonized Iraq with Texas oilmen (moved the Oilers to
Baghdad) and made it a state. Gosh, I hope we do it
right this time.
3^ Let’s get one thing straight — soldiers fight
wars; that’s their job. When we send soldiers off to
fight it is because they already have agreed to go. We
are not taking able-bodied men and women off the
streets. We are using our volunteers for their purpose.
If America uses its military to protect its interests,
people start to complain about sending our soldiers off to
die. And they can never die “for America.” Critics say
they are dying for oil, greed, power or politics.
Dying for your country seems to be something that
hasn’t happened since World War II. Now that we have
the Bomb, why should our men and women die? Of
course, the same people whining about the death of our
soldiers are critical of our use of bombs because they
hurt innocent citizens. War is ugly, we can only hope for
low numbers of casualties. But we can’t keep every sin
gle soldier safe from injury or death.
Or maybe the critics are right. Maybe we also
should stop sending cops out on the streets. They
might get shot.
dfk Let’s get another
thing straight — we ARE
fighting for oil. The critics
are all over this argument
again. And I concede; we do
fight for oil. Oil is money
and money is power. There
has never been a war fought
for anything other than
power. And politicians only point this out when they are
opposed to the military action because they may not get
credit for thinking of it first. If we understand these two
points, watching CNN will be a lot more fun.
5^ Let’s remember some things we learned
last time. Saddam convinced the U.S. he was not
mmMMMMM i—mmmmmMMM
Let's just get rid of Saddam, keep the
number of casualties low, keep gas
prices low and get on with another
hopeless attempt at nation-building.
going to invade Kuwait.
I’m not talking about yesterday’s news, I’m talk
ing about the day before he invaded Kuwait in 1990.
We can’t trust him. If we don’t pay attention to him,
Saddam will stab us in the back (probably with a
knife we gave him).
We also learned how to cover a war. The media is al
ready gearing up for this one. All the networks have
their logos ready and Time-Life is probably already
working on a series of books, “Desert Storm Part Deux
— The Wrath of Saddam” (or maybe “The Search for a ' .7
Foreign Policy”).
We also learned to not give credit to the president.
Bush received more credit for his actions from Kuwait
than he did from America. Clinton should be licking
his lips at this opportunity. If we have to pay attention
to the political maneuvers of anyone, we should start
listening to the probable contenders for the election of
’96. After all, they will be dealing with post-war Iraq.
Once Saddam is gone we .7
will have even more prob
lems on our hands. 1.7
So let’s not worry about
who to blame, who will
fight or why.
Let’s just get rid of Sad
dam, keep the number of ca
sualties low, keep gas prices
low and get on with another:
hopeless attempt at nation-building. At least that will be
an interesting debate with some new issues to argue.
For example, should we fund a dome for the Baghdad
Oilers? mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmKMmA
Michael Landauer is a sophomore journalism major