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The Battalion • Page %
Tuesday • June 13, 199*2:
Personal aspect of choice should not be forgotten
A bortion is a fiery and danger
ous topic that every Ameri
can seems to have an opinion
on. What most people are missing,
however, is a personal experience
with abortion.
These are three people who live
with their choices on this subject on
a daily basis.
Elizabeth
Preston
Columnist
unknown baby than my sister.’
“I sleep with many different women,
sometimes two or three in one week. It
isn’t that I don’t care about each of
them, it is just that I crave affection
and love, and sex is a safe way to get
both without getting dangerously at-
“My sister is a person who can’t deal with herself,
much less cope responsibly with any of her personal
relationships. When she found out she was pregnant
a few years ago, she wasn’t even sure who the father
was.
She was drinking regularly and using drugs. She
couldn’t have coped with a pregnancy — much less a
child.
Sometimes I can’t stop myself from looking
around at young children and wondering what
my niece would have been like, what she would
have giggled at and what would have made her
cry. But in spite of the sadness in my heart, I
recognize that my sister could not have emotion
ally survived without an abortion.
She is so crippled already — both spiritually and
physically. A full-term pregnancy might have sent
her over the edge permanently.
Despite my sadness, I would rather have lost the
tached. If any of the women I’ve slept with got preg
nant, I know that I would not be able to handle it.
I always wear a condom. In addition, I insist that
the women are fully aware of my feelings toward ac
cidental pregnancies: They should be terminated. If
they don’t agree to this, then I don’t sleep with them.
If someone I was sleeping with did get pregnant
and chose not to get an abortion, I would take care of
the child. However, I know that I would eventually
hate the child, the mother and myself.”
“I thought I loved him. We were both in high
school and had been dating exclusively — I thought —
for over a year when we began sleeping together.
I got pregnant, and I had no idea what I was go
ing to do.
My parents are very religious, and they told me
they would kick me out of the house if I ever got
pregnant. My boyfriend was a year younger than I
and was certainly not mature enough for the respon
sibility of a child. He wasn’t even mature enough for
our relationship — I found out later that he had been
cheating on me all along.
I wasn’t ready either. I had dreams of my own,
dreams that I could not have accomplished if I had
become a mother. Even a pregnancy would have ru
ined my life. Having the child and giving it up for
adoption was just not a choice with my parents feel
ing the way they did.
Now I am graduating from college, engaged to be
married to a kind man and emotionally equipped to
All too often, abortion is only
about surviving in the best way
that people know how.
handle any children that come into my life. Of
course I still wonder about that first baby; but at
that time in my life, it was the only choice I had.”
Somewhere in all of the drama surrounding
abortion — the Supreme Court decisions limiting
or extending abortion, the fights among family
members, the people screaming for and wailing
against abortion — the people involved in the cri
sis are forgotten.
In reality, abortion is rarely about what is right
and wrong, or the larger picture of humanity or even
the absolute certainties that bumper stickers declare 1
— “Women must have a choice,” “Get your laws off of
my body,” “Abortion is murder,” “Hundreds of babies
are murdered every minute.”
All too often, abortion is only about surviving in
the best way that people know how.
It is about recognizing personal shortcomings and
understanding how best to deal with them.
It is about harsh reality and sad truths.
Until the world is a perfect place, abortions serve
in the only way they can.
They protect the unwelcoming and unready par
ents from a life of hatred and bitterness, and they pro
tect the unborn child from a life of tragedy and anger.
However strongly we may feel about abortion, un
til we have been faced with an unexpected pregnan
cy, it is impossible to say how we would act or what
we would feel.
Arguments, statistics, debate and protest all
serve a vital purpose.
However, none of them can adequately express
how the people actually involved with abortion feel,
and none of them help solve those people’s problems.
We should all think before judging. Someday it
could be you or me walking in their shoes.
Elizabeth Preston is a senior
English major
The B/vi tw i \ ow
Established in 1893
Editorials appearing in The Battalion reflect the views
of the editorials 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.
Editorials Board
Jay Robbins
Editor in Chief
Rob Clark
Managing Editor
Sterling Hayman
Opinion Editor
Kyle Littlefield
Assistant Opinion Editor
Falling Figures
The University should place more
emphasis on academics, not athletics.
rate of athletes is down 6% from
last year, though this year’s
class was larger. This year the
University budgeted $1.8 mil
lion for athletic scholarships
and will budget $1.9 million
next year. Less than half of
these scholarship athletes grad
uate, so by this figure $900,000
sifts through the cracks each
year, paying for uncompleted
educations.
The University pays for a
large part of these students’ de
grees, but many do not work to
finish them.
Not all athletes fail to gradu
ate because they fail classes or
do not meet requirements; some
forgo their college education for
professional sports, and in reali
ty that temptation must be hard
to overcome. Those students
who go pro and return to finish
school deserve a pat on the back
for remembering the importance
of education.
Are sports more important
than the degree? If not, why is
the entrance requirement for
scholarship athletes lower than
for other students? The tradi
tions surrounding A&M athlet
ics are grand and proud, and
they should be.
But there must be modera
tion in these spirit events and
more focus on education.
When the U.S. government
approved the Morrill Act that
created Texas A&M University
and other land-grant colleges
and universities, the idea was to
provide inexpensive, quality ed
ucation as well as industrializ
ing and reconstructing the
South. NCAA-sanctioned sports
and college football had no part
in the equation. Yet, today it
seems like the prospect of a win
ning football team may out
weigh the ready availability of
an education.
At Texas A&M, students who
qualify can get scholarships to
help with their educational
costs, and that qualification can
come in different arenas.
A student who scores well on
the SAT or maintains a good
grades can get financial assis
tance easily.
A student who weighs 275
pounds and can run 40 yards in
five seconds is also a candidate
for a price break.
The problem begins when
most of the students who are re
ceiving athletic scholarships do
not graduate.
The current graduation rate
for scholarship athletes is 47%,
compared to 67% of non-ath
letes. At the University of
Texas, the rate is 49% and 62%
respectively. A&M’s graduation
TVIail
Diving program
was beneficial
My blood runs true Aggie ma
roon, and I believe in and support
all traditions and programs that
make up the Texas A&M Univer
sity System.
I recently attended the last
Texas A&M scuba diving class. I
acquired and experienced all nec
essary skills to be a good and
qualified diver. If I had not
learned the proper skills and
techniques, then I would not have
received my divers certification.
I am disgusted at the dive
shop, whose name will go unsaid
to protect the guilty, who single-
handedly brought down the
largest NAUI certification pro
gram in the United States. I am
also disappointed in the decision
of the kinesiology department to
discontinue this program.
I attended class and lab, with
out any absences, and not once
did I hear Tom Meineke support
one dive shop or another.
Never did he tell us to buy our
equipment at one shop or the oth
er, in fact, not once did I hear him
mention even one of the dive
shops’ names.
I don’t understand how the
University can cancel a program
without talking to some of the
students who attended the class,
or rely solely on the information
and allegations of the previously
unsaid party.
I think that the kinesiology
department should re-evaluate
their decision that discontin
ued a truly learning and re
warding program.
The diving courses were
prominent, steadfast, informative
and represented the attitude and
reputation that Texas A&M is
known for world-wide.
Vicki Bownds
Class of’97
Should flag burning be legal?
T he conservatives are wast
ing time and tax dollars
again. In late March, a
group of senators and members of
Congress attended a news confer
ence in Washington, D.C. to rein
troduce a proposal to amend the
Constitution to protect the American
flag from desecration.
That’s right folks. The same all-
important flag burning debate that
ended five years ago has returned.
Thanks to a Democratic senator
from Alabama, Howell Heflin, and
a Republican senator from Utah,
Orrin G. Hatch, the Senate will
once again engage in debate about
whether or not American citizens
should have the right to desecrate
the “stars and stripes.”
A similar amendment was intro
duced in the House of Representa
tives by New York Congressman
Gerald B.H. Solomon and Missis
sippi Congressman G.V. (Sonny)
Montgomery.
It’s bad enough that our legisla
ture wasted time debating this fool
ish issue in 1990, but does it have
to make a mockery of itself again?
Congress has a need to address
important issues such as balancing
the budget, reducing crime, in
creasing equality and lowering un
employment. Bringing up an anti
flag burning amendment only
shows how little emphasis our con
servative representatives put on
“real” issues.
With the current wave of Ameri
cans hopping on the conservative
bandwagon and the 1996 elections
just around the corner, it should
not be surprising that this
amendment was reintroduced
now. This proposal will proba
bly not be debated until the ear
ly part of next year when lawmak
ers might feel more pressure from
voting blocs, like veterans’ groups,
to support it.
Luckily, President Clinton is
against to the proposed amend
ment, and he stated last week that
he would not support a proposal
that opposed the First Amendment.
We must ask ourselves whether
our legislators really care about
this amendment, or if it is just a
political ploy to gain votes.
If this proposal eventually be
comes an amendment to the Con
stitution, it will be an infringement
on our First Amendment rights.
The U.S. Supreme Court deter
mined in 1990 that burning a flag
was a form of free speech that is
protected by the Constitution.
Have our rights of expression
changed in the last five years?
People have the right to do
whatever they want with their
property. If I purchase a flag, I
have the right to burn it, blow my
nose or wipe my butt with it.
In a recent New York Times ar-
Mark
Zane
Columnists
Justin
Barnett
MO
tide. Bob Kerrey, a Ne
braska senator who
won the Medal of
Honor in Vietnam
stated, “The fabric of
America is not threat
ened by flag burners.” To
think, such blasphemy from a
war veteran.
Unfortunately, the Senate
already has 43 co-sponsors
for the proposal, with only
23 more needed for the
amendment to be rat
ified. The House
needs only 43
more sponsors
to ratify it.
If such
symbolic,
frivolous issues
are so important,
why don’t we just for-
ne of the most ludi
crous decisions
handed down by the
hallowed Supreme Court in
the last 10 years is the
one which held
that burning
f- the Ameri
can flag is a
form of protected
free speech.
This sort of judi
cial abuse is becoming
more evident as the mood
of the nation shifts toward
conservatism, and liberals
now can find sympathy only
with a few old die-hard radical ju
rists. These “last action liberals,” as
Errol Smith, columnist for Na
tional Minority Politics, has
labeled them, have no re
spect for the ideals
get about poverty, the bud
get deficit and all other so
cial ills the country is cur
rently facing.
Instead, we can en
gage in heated de
bates over prayer in
public schools, if
men should re
move their hats
indoors, whether
chewing gum should be
allowed in public buildings
or if President Clinton spends
too* much money for hair cuts.
Idle nonsense is what
made this country great.
Our legislature is keep
ing this tradition
alive.
Mark Zane is a
sociology graduate
student
that are at the heart of
American society.
The fact that the flag
is one of the most visible
symbols of our country has
become irrelevant to many in
the often noisy “civil rights at
any cost” clique.
This whole sorry business
came about because some
neo-beatnik from Dal
las got his feelings
hurt when au
thorities in
formed him that
a public burning of
the flag was an inap
propriate method of
self-expression. How this
ever became an issue of
speech is bewildering.
The clown was performing
an action, not delivering an
oration.
Not surprisingly, the aggrieved
party found a willing civil rights
attorney to plead his case, which
eventually found its way to the
Supreme Court. The rest is anoth
er shameful chapter in American
jurisprudence.
Thankfully, some members of Con
gress have seen fit to challenge this
affront to American sensibilities. It is
noteworthy that these members are
both Democrats and Republicans.
They could not have found a better is
sue to agree upon.
In these times when unity seems to
be the goal of so many, why allow a
symbol of unity like the flag to be
publicly destroyed? What does it ac
complish? If one angry soul believes it
is his constitutional right to burn a
flag then another angry soul may feel
infringed upon if he is not allowed to
urinate on the White House lawn.
The line must be drawn. It might as
well begin with protecting the flag.
Unfortunately, the courts are top-
heavy with bleeding hearts. Anyone
with an ax to grind with America can
easily find an “unbiased” judge to
hear their pleas of persecution.
Sadly, our court system has be
come flooded with trivial “civil rights”
lawsuits designed only to advance
personal or political agendas.
Flag burning is such an agenda. It
is not worth the time and money to
have such a bogus issue decided in a
court of law. Our courts should be re
served for important matters of law.
Allowing judges judicial review has
become the equivalent to giving con
victs the keys to the slammer.
If we allow the flag to become
nothing more than the object of some
homegrown fanatic’s anger, then we
completely denude it of all meaning.
The notion that the flag is not wor
thy of constitutional protection seems
to be the prevailing sentiment among
a great many of the self-ordained
elites. The very idea of putting certain
restraints on individual action leads
to accusations of censorship and per
secution. Liberals suffer under the il
lusion that there is life without limits.
The philosophers tell us the flag is
only a piece of cloth. The sociologists
worry that we are not focusing on is
sues of “real” importance. When are
these people going to get “real” jobs
and stop worrying that civilization is
crumbling?
The debate has been framed as one
in which freedom of speech is at issue.
The issue should be the protection
and preservation of the symbols of our
history and heritage. These are the
things which endure and provide us
with an identity.
We owe them a small measure of
respect and honor.
Protect the flag and desecrate all
the lawyers.
Justin Barnett is a senior
English major
TT HE
Editorial Staff
Jay Robbins, Editor in Chief
Rob Clark, Managing Editor
Sterling Hayman, Opinion Editor
Gretchen Perrenot, City Editor
Jody Holley, Night News Editor
Stacy Stanton, Night News Editor
Michael Landauer, Aggieuee Editor
Nick Georgandis, Sports Editor
Stew Milne, Photo Editor
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City Desk - Assistant Editor: Eleanor Colvin; Reporters:
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Wilkinson
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lier & Libe Goad; Columnist: Amy Uptmor
Sportswriters — David Winder and Lee Wright
Opinion Desk — Assistant Editor: Kyle Littlefield; Colum
nists: Elizabeth Preston, Frank Stanford & David Tay
lor; Contributing Columnists: Justin Barnett, Mar
garet Cordon, Alex Miller, Chris Stidvent & Mark
Zane; Editorial Writers: Jason Brown & Alex Wal
ters; Editorial Cartoonists: Brad Graeber & George
Nasr
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