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The Battalion • Page 12
The Battalion
Established in 1893
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.
Mark Smith
Editor in chief
jay Robbins
Senior Managing
editor
Heather Winch
Managing editor
for Business
Sterling Hayman
Opinion editor
Erin Hill
Asst, opinion editor
Aggie Blood Drive
The need for blood donation is greater than
ever in light of the Oklahoma City tragedy.
This week Texas A&M and the
University of Texas are facing off in
the 1995 Spring Blood Drive Chal
lenge. The race is on to see which
university will be able to donate the
most blood.
While a friendly rivalry with the
teasips in Austin is always welcome
and motivating, yesterday’s bombing
in Oklahoma City places emphasis on
the true purpose and importance of
blood drives.
Officials at BloodCare, the second-
largest blood center in Texas, have
said that they are on emergency
standby because of the hundreds of
people injured in Wednesday’s bomb
ing in Oklahoma City.
This means that if the Oklahoma
Blood Institute runs out of blood
products, BloodCare will be called
upon to export more blood to the in
stitute.
Because of this greater cause,
A&M students should not even have
to think about giving blood — they
should show to the world their blood
truly is maroon.
With 80 percent of BloodCare’s
staff running the blood drive at
A&M, the blood bank expects to ob
tain most of its blood from A&M stu
dents and faculty.
Rivalry is not the main issue now,
even though BloodCare’s Texas A&M
consultant projects 1,460 units of
blood will be donated, while U.T.’s
blood drive drew 3,000 units.
BloodCare officials say they are on
code-red emergency alert for Type 0-
Negative blood, and code-yellow
emergency alert for types 0-Positive
and A-Positive blood.
“Code-red” means the bank has
less than a half-day’s supply of blood.
Certainly Aggies should always
put forth extra effort to defeat the
Longhorns in any competition. But
there are things more important than
a rivalry.
The motivational force to give
blood has changed back to original
intent — to help others, and help im
mediately.
Aggies have always prided them
selves in being selfless and willing to
rise to a challenge.
The Spring 1995 Blood drive offers
Aggies a chance to prove it, and a
chance to help others tremendously.
The Houston Post
Newspaper should have been allowed
dignity of printing a final edition.
After 115 years of service to the
Houston area and the state of Texas,
The Houston Post has been forced to
stop their press. The Tuesday edition of
the paper marked the end of an era. But
the era was not ended properly. The
Houston Post was never allowed to
print a final issue and properly put the
paper to rest.
The Post and its rival
newspaper, the Houston
Chronicle, had been in
competition for nearly a
century. Finally, a 30 per
cent increase in newsprint
cost and a lower circula
tion rate forced Post own
ers to start searching for a
buyer last October.
After a long search, the
Hearst Corp., which owns
the Chronicle, purchased The Post and
all of its assets.
After The Post finished printing its
Tuesday issue, owners announced the
closing. Although many had realized
that the end was near, Tuesday’s news
came as quite a shock.
In a matter of minutes, the heart
and soul of a newspaper — and the liveli
hoods of more than 1,900 dedicated em
ployees were taken away. No real warn
ing. No consolation. No final issue.
It is not mandatory that a newspaper
be allowed to print a final issue; it’s not
even really customary anymore. Howev
er, allowing for a final is
sue is proper.
The symbolic act of
publishing just one more
edition, telling the final
story — when the paper it
self makes the news — is
appropriate.
It is a shame that the
Houston area now has
only one newspaper.
Competition begets
quality.
It is a shame that so much history
ended so abruptly. It is an even
greater shame that The Post was not
allowed to go out in style and end its
era with dignity.
Farewell, Houston Post. Houston and
Texas will miss you.
Buckley Amendment
Congress must reconsider amendment which
would make records available to journalists.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Depart
ment of Education declared that col
lege disciplinary records, including
those related to off-campus activities,
will be categorized under “education”
or academic records which are protect
ed under the Family Educational
Rights and Privacy Acts — otherwise
known as the Buckley Amendment.
Under this amendment, college ad
ministrations no longer have to re
lease information about students who
have committed rapes, assaulted other
students or have been involved in theft
because this would threaten a studen
t’s privacy.
However, not releasing such
records, could threaten the safety and
lives of other students.
Academic records should not be
subject to scrutiny by anyone, and
such records should not include crimi
nal doings. Students who commit a
crimes should not be protected by their
universities, and this means protected
from the student press.
These revised rules under the
Buckley Amendment, student jour
nalists cannot get access to informa
tion that should be printed in stu
dent publications. The goal of college
newspapers is to report the news to
the students, including news about
student criminals. The student body
has the right to know about danger
ous activities on campus, and if infor
mation is not available for student
reporters — and other media profes
sionals for that matter — then the en
tire purpose is defeated.
Congress should take another look
at the Buckley amendment, and note
the increase in the national crime
rates on school campuses since the
passage of the original law in 1974.
Schools are no longer havens of
safety. The government should take
this under consideration when dealing
withcollege records.
Perhaps Congress will realize that
a solution to curbing on-campus crime
would not be the protection of discipli
nary records, but rather the disclosure
of them.
Until a reconsideration of this rule
to the Buckley Amendment is made,
journalists will have to continue
their fight for access to information
and campuses will continue to sup
press records of activity that could
threaten the community.
Congress should reevaluate this
revision of the Buckley Amendment -
by doing so, they would be investing
in the future.
Vietnam Vets still deserve respect
R emember that Wash
ington book craze? Well
the latest entry comes
from Robert McNamara. Mc
Namara, as you may recall
from History 106, was Secre
tary of Defense under
Kennedy and Johnson.
McNamara earned the du
bious distinction of being
called “the architect of the Vietnam War.” McNamara’s book in
cludes one startling revelation. He writes, “We were wrong. We
made errors in judgment.”
Put that one in the “duh” file.
The disturbing revelation came when McNamara related
that, as early as 1964, he knew that Vietnam was a mistake in
progress. Needless to say, McNamara’s statements brought
great joy in certain quarters. When asked if he felt vindicated
for his actions in the sixties. President Clinton replied, “Yes, I
do. I know that sounds self-serving, but of course I do.”
More great lessons in leadership around the bend. This story
only gets better.
On CNN this past Saturday, Dorma Shalala, Clinton’s Sec
retary of Health and Human Services, figure it all out for us.
She said , “We sent not our best and the brightest sons to Viet
nam.” Then she explained, “We sent young men from small
towns and rural areas ...”
Maybe Donna Shalala holds the wrong job. She needs to re
sign and become Secretary of deciding who are the best and the
brightest. Then again, maybe not.
It’s very clear what Shalala thinks of those who chose to heed
their county’s call. Obviously, she holds the opinion that the real
“best and brightest” spent the Vietnam years in Canada.
Let’s look at some of these “not best and brightest.”
We can start with Colin Powell. Clearly, according to Sha-
lala’s reasoning, anyone who worked his way through a biased
system to earn a college degree and went on to become the
highest ranking officer in the military must be far from
“bright.”
Next, we should look at General O.R. Simpson ‘36. General
Simpson commanded the 1st Marine Division in Vietnam. His
list of citations takes half a page to write. Simpson returned to
the University to became assistant vice-president for Student
Services and head of the School of Military Sciences. To Donna
Shalala, however, none of this marks him as “the best.”
Simpson was not the only Aggie to be “not the best and
brightest” in Vietnam. On a plaque in front of the Quad are the
names of 121 young men who gave quite a bit more than Donna
Shalala in the Vietnam era. I’m sure the families of these
young men take great consolation from Clinton’s vindication.
Let’s look at the numerous Congressmen, both Democrat
and Republican, who not only served, but suffered in Vietnam.
Senator Bob Kerry from Nebraska and Representative Sam
Johnson of Texas are only two examples. Both of these men
spent years in P.O.W. camps in North Vietnam. The P.0.W.S
kept sane with difficult mental exercises. Yet Shalala labels
these men as “not the best and the brightest.”
One more random example comes to mind.
In 1968, a young man graduated from t.u. — okay, not the
brightest thing. He received a commission as a second lieu
tenant in the U.S. Air Force. This man’s father was a professor
of economics. The man’s mother was fluent in seven languages
— yes, seven. The man’s test scores were at the high end, toun
derstate. In short, this man was just the type who Shalala
claims would never have served in the military.
He is also my father.
It occurs to me that I have related numerous family stories
over this semester to demonstrate the errors in Clinton’s poli
cies. A simple conclusion can be drawn: the present administn
tion just doesn’t reflect the ideals and values that make this
country what it is.
My father didn’t serve because he had to, but because he
was taught that freedom comes with a price.
Shalala is dead wrong: those young men from “small towns
and rural America” represent what is best and brightest in thi'
country. These people did not flee to Canada, they accepted
their country’s call. Instead of writing how they “loathed the
military” to get out of the draft, they went, served and came
back to an indifferent country.
It’s about time the Party presently running the Executive
Branch recognizes that they are the “different” ones. These pre
tenders claim to be “the best and brightest,” while the real
qualifiers fought to preserve their right to return from Canada
They claim to represent “mainstream” America, yet repeat
edly demonstrate an amazing ignorance of what America is all
about.
The true “best and brightest” of America should not be re
quired to continually defend the values that they hold dear in
the face of certain alternative ideas.
Next November cannot come quickly enough for me.
David Taylor is a senior management major
Call
Skateboard provides
recreation, not trouble
Although I have never been called a
juvenile delinquent before, skateboard
ing has given me the opportunity to be
harassed many times in the past.
Furthermore I am no dirtwashed,
snothead, high school punk. I pay the
same tuition and fees that everyone
else does.
As for the high school and junior
high students, they are not dirtwashed,
snotheads either. They, like me, skate
board for the sense of accomplishment
and to just have a good time.
Assuming these kids’ parents are ne
glectful, I am sure that their parents
would much rather their children be
riding a skateboard rather than doing
something that is illegal.
This kind of intolerance is what
scares people away from A&M, but
then again A&M never claimed to be
tolerant to any one who happened to
choose to be a little different than the
rest of the clones on campus.
It seems to me that you don’t need
the police handing out fines to scare the
skateboarders away — people like you
are doing a fine job of that, scaring kids
half your age with your dirty looks and
snide comments.
I guess my main concern is that you
don’t run into me on campus and swing
your 80 kg. bag full of engineering
books at me. I bet you would show me.
Reagan Reed
Class of ’97
Deceptive distribution
disappoints film-goers
I would like to make a comment to
the organization that brought “While
You Were Sleeping” to Rudder Tuesday
night. I would first like to say thank
you for making it possible for students
to see new movies for free.
My comment is about how the tickets
were distributed. I went to pick up tick
ets at 10:00 a.m. but I was told they were
out and more tickets would be given out
at 7:00 p.m. So at about 6:45, I find my
way to the end of a very long line.
When I was 10 people away, it is an
nounced that they are out of tickets.
There are no more.
It is only about 7:10 now and the line
is still very long. So people started to
leave because they are under the im
pression there are no more tickets.
A little after 7:30, though they sud
denly find hundreds of tickets behind
their booth and they start handing
them out. What’s up with this?
People went out of their way to get
there early to get tickets to see a movie.
What is the purpose of lying about how
many tickets left and stashing them?
There are people who were disap
pointed about not being able to see this
movie because you deceived them.
Victoria Nunez
Class of ’96
Mercy Heinan
Lisa Qualley
Class of ’97
Laurie Newman
Class of ’95
Minorities do not take
opportunities away
Scapegoating seems to be a pervad
ing craze among many white males on
our campus, and in our country. The
wmammm
claim is that affirmative action is either
taking potential jobs away, hindering
promotions or excluding them from the
college of their choice.
I don’t doubt that this may happen,
but I do feel that the extent of these oc
currences are being ignorantly inflated
In 1993, there were 35,779 under
graduate students enrolled, of which
three percent were African American.
9.3 percent Hispanic and 81.9 percent
Anglo.
If white males are worried about
competition, they should take note of
where it is coming from.
The statistics are even more dis
parate for graduate, medical and vet
erinary schools — which in 1993 had 0.6
percent African American, 4.1 percent
Hispanics, and 94.2 percent Anglo.
In Zach Hall’s April 18 column, he
stated that he wouldn’t be surprised if
the Board of Regents wanted an "equal
amount of minorities as non-minorities.’
Even if this were possible, it would
take decades, from 1980 to 1993 there
was an average 1.9 increase of African
Americans each year and average 2
percent increase in Hispanics.
The numbers are so insignificant
they don’t support the claim that mi
norities, specifically African Americans
and Hispanics, are taking Anglo males
opportunities away.
People need to pay more attention to
facts then to campaign rhetoric.
Angela Hinojosa
Class of %
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