The Battalion • Page 7
Thursday • June 29, 1995
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Student fees should not be increased drastically
Toby
Boenig
Guest
Columnist
I know that everyone on this cam
pus knows how much more we are
probably going to be paying in
fees and tuition next year.
Proposed fee increases will cost
students as much as an additional
$400 each semester.
These fee increases will definitely
tug at a lot of pocketbooks.
There will be a substantial number of stu
dents who will need to look in other places for fi
nancial assistance. Other places such as federal
financial aid, right?
Wrong.
The U.S. Congress is proposing major cuts in
Pell grants as well as Stafford loans.
Many members of Congress have said these
cuts will only cost college students pennies. That
is absolutely wrong.
Under the current system, a student can re
ceive two separate types of subsidized loans
while students are in school. The government
pays the interest on subsidized loans while stu
dents are in school.
The student would not be responsible for pay
ing the monthly interest payments while they ,
are in school.
The U.S. Congress is considering eliminating
the interest exemption on all Stafford
loans.
What will happen if this proposal pass
es into law by our Congress?
If they eliminate interest ex
emption on all Stafford loans,
it will cost students and
families $13 billion over a
period of five years.
This seems like a little bit
more than pennies.
There is also a chance that
Congress could decrease the
funding for Pell grants.
What does all of this mean?
With the cost of our education
increasing at a steady rate and
the proposed cuts in our finan
cial aid, it could mean many lost
chances for young adults to attend
college.
I have gone on the record as being
against the increase in our general use fee, but I
still understand the administration’s position
and their need to find additional funding.
The sole reason that I am against the increase
is because of the adverse effect it will have on
our students.
Having said that I understand the adminis
tration’s situation, I, in no way, understand
what our Congress is thinking.
They have absolutely forgotten the impor
tance of higher education.
The U.S. Congress is failing to re
alize the opportunities that a col
lege education gives to many
lower to lower-middle income
students who either battle to
get out of the inner city or
rural America.
At Texas A&M, many of us
take for granted this opportu
nity and forget about the great
education we receive.
We also often forget about
the assistance we receive though
grants, loans and scholarships.
We are in danger of losing a
major source of financial aid for
many students.
It is time we speak out against this blatant
disregard of the importance of a college educa
tion.
It is time that you do something about it.
Write to our Congressman who represents
Bryan / College Station at:
Congressman Jack Fields
2228 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C.
20515
Also write to the member of Congress from
your hometown and encourage your family to do
the same.
Encourage you parents to write about how fi
nancial aid is important to them and about what
affects these cuts will have on families
The sole reason that I am against
the general use fee increase is be
cause of the adverse effect it will
have on our students.
If you, as a student, think your education is
important at all, please write to the member of
Congress from your district. They are making
major decisions that will affect millions and mil
lions of students. They are making decisions that
are affecting you.
A&M Student Body President Toby Boenig is a
senior agricultural developmettt major
Americans obscure
justice with thirst for
security, retribution
Mail
Children must be
taught abstinence
I am responding to the June
28 column by Margaret Gordon
titled, “Schools must teach chil
dren about sex.”
She presented the ever-pre
sent and ever-wrong view that
kids are going to have sex any
way, so they should be taught
about sex in school.
She makes the statement
that, “ ... today’s youth aren’t
given enough credit,” which I
know is true. However, she has
the audacity to ask, “ ... how re
alistic is abstinence?”
I think that teaching sex edu
cation in school can be appropri
ate. However, we must teach
kids what is right and true, not
what is a lie.
The simple fact is that Gor
don has been hurt by friends
“who have had abortions or gone
in for AIDS testing.”
So she blames the so-called
“religious right.”
I am truly sorry that Gordon
and others have been hurt, but
the simple fact is that “safe sex”
— using condoms and other con
traceptives — is a big lie. Gordon
states that, “teaching our chil
dren about sex, contraception
and STDs ... will only help re
duce the numbers (of teenage
pregnancy and diseases).”
That has been said for more
than 20 years. It is and will re
main wrong. This is so obvious,
too. Just look at history.
If you look at how our country
is now, compared to how it was
35 years ago before contracep
tives were available and some
what reliable, you can see a
huge difference.
Yes, we have to teach chil
dren about contraception and
STDs. We have to teach them
that condoms fail sometimes —
even when used properly.
We have to teach them that
STDs kill. But most importantly,
we must teach them the only an
swer is abstinence. Therefore,
the “safe sex” lie must not be
taught.
I have talked to many grade
school and high school students
about chastity and abstinence,
and I can truly say that kids do
agree with the values of absti
nence a lot more than adults do.
This is partially because of
the fact that young children are
not yet addicted to sex, as are
many adults in our country.
On the one hand, kids know
that abstinence is right.
But on the other hand, televi
sion bombards them with bla
tant promiscuous, sexual images
and messages.
So they are torn by what their
conscience tells them and by
what the other forces tell them.
It is no wonder they are con
fused. Kids do deserve much
more credit than they receive.
Please, all they need is some
encouragement about absti
nence.
Thomas Ashour
Graduate student
IRA should stop
playing politics
Having visited both Dublin,
Ireland and Belfast, Northern
Ireland, I find it necessary to
respond to Alex Walters’ June
28 column regarding strife in
Ireland.
While Walters does an excel
lent job of pointing out historical
reasons for the division of Ire
land, it also is important to rec
ognize the current reasons for
this separation — democracy and
economics.
Given the option of voting to
remain with the crown or join
ing the Republic of Ireland, the
six northern counties voted
overwhelmingly to remain loyal
to the crown and become
Northern Ireland.
Why did the vast majority of
Irish citizens in these northern
counties reject the idea of sever
ing ties with the United King
dom? The answer is simple:
money.
You see, those Irish who re
side in the Republic of Ireland
generally have a lower standard
of living and are saddled in debt,
unlike their northern brethren.
In fact, with taxes in the Re
public of Ireland in excess of 50
percent and no socialized higher
education or health care, it is no
wonder Northern Ireland refus
es to give up its standard of liv
ing merely to appease a radical
group such as Sinn Fein and the
Irish Republican Army.
Finally, due to the economic
conditions of the Republic of Ire
land, there has been a mass exo
dus of youth who can make a
better living elsewhere.
This migration, I might add,
is larger than that spurred by
the potato famine of the 1840s.
Unfortunately, until Sinn
Fein and the IRA stop playing
politics and recognize the
right of Northern Ireland citi
zens to choose their own des
tiny, as opposed to being
bombed into submission, there
will be no lasting peace on the
emerald isle.
Brian Bullard
Graduate Student
S usan Smith, a
woman from
South Caroli
na, was arrested
for allegedly push
ing her car into a
lake, sending her
two children to a
watery grave.
A bomb explod
ed in Oklahoma City on April
19, leveling the A. P. Murrah
Federal Building. The bomb
killed 167 people, including 17
children at a nearby day care
center. Timothy McVeigh was
arrested for the bombing.
O.J. Simpson, pro football
Hall of Famer, was put on trial
for the murder of his ex-wife and
an acquaintance. The trial has
lasted over a year.
Horror stories like these have
flooded the media for the last
year. Thanks to television, news
papers and magazines, we have
a front-row seat to witness the
cruel circus of human depravity
the American public has become.
Every day, we can turn on the
tube or check out the front page
and see something that scares
the tar out of us.
But why doesn’t it cease to
scare us?
When we are bombarded day
after day with reports of haunt
ing acts of barbarism and men
tal sickness, it only makes sense
that we would build up a toler
ance, like college students drink
ing a kind of depraved brew.
Our jaws drop when we hear
that Mrs. X has done something
horrible. It’s like we never learn
that we shouldn’t be surprised
by what our neighbors do.
Maybe that’s because the
American public seems to have
such a knee-jerk reaction to sen-
sationalistic stories.
Frequently, we see a story
like Susan Smith’s or O.J. Simp
son’s, and we shudder and whis
per, “Oh my God!” Then we hit
the remote control button to find
something that better suits our
tastes.
Denial seems to be the great
American way of solving soci
ety’s ills. We feel too flustered to
correct something, so we sweep
it under the rug and go on with
our daily routine.
After a while, we even seem
to forget what horrible things
we’ve seen, so the cycle can start
anew.
When a bomb was detonated
in Oklahoma City two months
ago, Americans were aghast at
the carnage buried among the
rubble.
We all wanted someone’s
head on a platter so we could
hang the guilty and get on with
our lives. We let the FBI lead us
around by the nose, and it led us
straight to Timo
thy McVeigh.
One week lat
er, Time Maga
zine plastered
McVeigh’s pic
ture on the cover
with the title
“The Face of
Fear.”
America found a scapegoat, a
fall guy who made us feel better
because he wasn’t like the kid
next door. McVeigh became
some paramilitary zealot, and
America, convinced that
McVeigh was a rare bird, found
its security blanket again.
Now McVeigh has told
Newsweek in an interview that
he didn’t do it. I hope he’s lying,
because he probably won’t get a
fair trial anywhere, regardless of
whether he’s guilty.
During the Simpson trial, the
media bombarded us with infor
mation about every plot twist,
scene, verse and two-bit player
in the tragic drama. It was rivet
ing for the first month or so,
while the shock of everything
still held watchers and listeners.
But what happened when the
shock value ended? People be
gan complaining that they had
O.J. overkill.
They blamed the media ad
nauseum, complaining that cov
erage of the O.J. trial was taking
away from their “Days of Our
Lives” time. Comments such as,
“Just fry him, and get it over
with,” and “Everyone knows he’s
guilty, why have a trial?” were
overheard frequently.
Perhaps Simpson’s story
touched a raw nerve in the
American public, the fallen hero
with the Achilles’ heel. Maybe
we didn’t want to confront one of
our greatest fears — that those
we put on a pedestal can easily
fall off — and found an easy ex
cuse to get back to normalcy.
It’s revolting that we pass
judgment on someone for the
sole purpose of reassuring our
selves that our country is A-OK.
In our quest to make our back
yards feel safer, we’re willing to
sacrifice others.
It’s time America got its head
out of the sand and developed a
backbone. We need to stop believ
ing life is a rose garden and every
thing is hunky-dory.
There are some sick bastards
out there, the kind who would
bomb a building in Oklahoma
City or take the lives of two,
young children.
But what’s more disturbing,
the sick people who commit
these acts or the sick people who
fail to deal with them?
Wes Swift is a junior
journalism major
iigh near •
lay M
a high near* 8
apteroftheA^
Meteorologies
The. eion
Editorial Staff
Jay Robbins, Editor in Chief
Rob CLARK, Managing Editor
STERLING Hayman, Opinion Editor
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STEW Milne, Photo Editor
Staff Members
City Desk - Assistant Editor: Eleanor Colvin; Re
porters: Katherine Arnold, Javier Hinojosa,
Jill Saunders, Michael Simmons, Wes Swift
& Tara Wilkinson
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ture Writers: Elizabeth Garrett, Amy Collier
& Libe Goad; Columnist: Amy Uptmor
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