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September 18, 1995
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The Battalion
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
Rob Clark
Editor in Chief
Sterling Hayman
Managing Editor
Kyle Littlefield
Opinion Editor
Elizabeth Preston
Assistant Opinion Editor
Diversity Days
Hispanic Heritage Month is a great
way to learn about different cultures.
Paralleling the growing im
portance of the Hispanic cul
ture in Texas, Texas A&M’s
Hispanic Heritage Month is be
coming an integral part of the
A&M culture. However, the
month long celebration, which
lasts from Sept. 15 until Oct.
13, should not be viewed as a
celebration exclusively for Lati
nos, but rather for everyone at
Texas A&M.
For non-Lati-
nos, Hispanic
Heritage Month
offers a chance to
learn and better
understand a sig
nificant aspect of
the Texas and
American culture.
Scheduled
events, such as
the movie, La Familia, parties,
a catered dinner and a lecture
promise to be both entertaining
and informative.
One lesson of Hispanic Her
itage Month should be the per
vasiveness and impact of the
Hispanic culture. For example,
“Fiestas Patrias,” which cele
brates Mexico’s independence
from Spain, also marks Texas’
independence from Spain.
In essence, by learning
something about the Hispan
ic culture, Texans are learn
ing something about their
own heritage.
Fortunately, initial response
to the celebration has been a
positive one.
Friday night’s commemora
tion of “Fiestas Patrias,” spon
sored by MSC Committee for
the Awareness of Mexican
American Culture and the
Mexican Student Association
was sold out.
The dinner
which include
performances by
mariachi ban
and a ballet folk
lorico, was well
attended by His
panics and non
Hispanics alike
Apparently
many non-Hispan
ics are recognizing
the importance of appreciating
the Hispanic culture.
The groups organizing the
events deserve commendation
for providing residents of the
community and the University
this opportunity to enrich
themselves. Hopefully, every
one will take advantage of it.
This year’s theme, “Unidos
Con Una Sola Voz,” or “United
with One Voice,” is an appro
priate one.
All Aggies should realize
it is unity for which
should strive.
W.
Funding cuts hurt less fortunate
w
Chris
Stidvent
Columnist
MA(2^UK
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JimMargGiwUCHi
Flag disrespected
by fraternities
The Sept. 11 issue of The Bat
talion ran a picture of Fraternity
Bid day. The picture showed a
couple of jubilant pledges. What
the picture failed to show was the
complete scene, of un-American
ism that took place in that day.
As the cadets approached the
lawn in front of the Systems
Building to lower the American
flags, an unruly mob of Greeks
had assembled. They were shout
ing, chanting, waving their frater
nity flags, climbing up on the
base of the flag pole and carrying
on with reckless abandon.
Then, as the American flags
were lowered, not a single Greek
paid respects. They did not pause
or watch silently they did not re
move their hats and they didn’t
even have the common decency
and patriotism to place their
hands over their hearts.
As citizens of the United
States it is their right to do what
they please. But as Americans, as
Texans and as Aggies we all have
a higher standard to uphold.
I have often wondered why the
anti-Greek sentiment is so high,
Mail
Call
why people hate the fraternities
and wear NO FRAT t-shirts. Now
I believe I know why.
Not only do the Greeks make
themselves look unpatriotic, but
they tarnish this University’s rep
utation and bring shame on the
name “Texas Aggie.”
Matthew Merrill
Class of ’96
accompanied by 22 signatures
Hill, Taylor, misled
on foreign policy
The columns written by Adam
Hill and David Taylor on Sept. 7
share a critical flaw — the pre
sumption that the U.S. and Presi
dent Clinton should make mili
tary decisions without the input
of other countries.
Taylor condemns Clinton’s pol
icy shifts, but doesn’t acknowl
edge the great disagreement
within the U.N.
The U.N., thankfully, is also
the reason we are not in a position
to send in Hill’s Marine artillery
regiments to finish off the Serbs.
Ben Shaw
College Station
’ealthy alleged mur
derers, religious fun
damentalists and
post-apocalyptic warfare fans
take heart.
Recently, the Fates have
been aligning themselves in
your favor.
While the Mark Fuhrman
tapes went on trial in the
O.J. Simpson murder case, the pro-choice
Arlen Specter couldn’t get himself invited
to the Christian Coalition’s wingding and
the Senate voted more funds for the B-2
Stealth Bomber.
But what does all of this business mean
for the average man?
Well, if destitute individuals have been
accused of murder and are expecting a de
fense along the lines of O.J.’s, perhaps they
ought to rub the Hollywood glitter from their
eyes and rejoin the rest of the country.
It’s estimated O.J. will spend around $6
million by the time his trial is finished.
While he’s shelling out $100,000 for a jury
consultant and lining up the DNA special
ists, the state of Alabama has set a $1,000
dollar limit on out-of-court fees for lawyers
defending death row cases.
And as the Simpson trial drags itself
tiredly to its conclusion, it becomes in
creasingly difficult to remember who is be
ing accused of what. While Fuhrman was
revealed each week as more and more of a
racist pig, the hubbub surrounding his
tape-recorded lectures on the benefits of
police brutality also served to highlight a
glaring fact of life: Money may not buy
happiness, but it can get somebody one hell
of a good criminal defense team.
Obscure the important facts for a long
enough time, and people will forget what
was so important in the first place.
While Simpson’s lawyers show what sort
of defense can be purchased for a few mil
lion dollars, the Republicans in Congress
voted this year to cut the Le
gal Services Corporation
fund by 24 percent.
The LSC devotes its time
to the defense of indigent
clients, those who have press
ing legal troubles but lack the
funds to pay for truly compe
tent representation.
Republican members of
Congress view the LSC as a leftist threat,
claiming that its lawyers have used their
clients’ cases to lobby for reforms in the state
and Federal welfare systems. So, while they
protect us all from the minions of socialism,
poor people will get ripped off and go to the
slammer in droves because they don’t have
the funds for decent legal counsel.
Maybe our nation’s poor ought to enroll in
flight school, or join the Air Force. The mili
tary appears to be the one institution in
America that has survived the zeal of the
budget cutter’s hatchet relatively unscathed.
While Congress cuts spending for environ
mental protection, welfare, Medicare and
just about all other forms of social services,
our armed forces chug right along.
Two weeks ago, the House of Representa
tives approved a $265.3 billion spending
plan for the military. This bill includes pro
visions for more Stealth bombers and some
anti-missile defense systems based on the
Star Wars programs of the 1980s.
Oddly enough, even the Pentagon has
admitted that it neither wants, nor needs,
more bombers.
Ask the common man which problem is
more pressing — getting blown up by North
Korea, or living in a society where the gov
ernment robs its own citizens to pay for use
less military projects.
In other words, we spend all of this mon
ey to defend ourselves from largely imagi
nary threats. Does anybody feel any safer
at night?
To show the rest of the nation how in
touch they are with the problems of the av
erage citizen, Republican presidential
hopefuls flocked to the Christian Coali
tion’s New York convention a couple of
weekends ago. They were there to prove
that each one of them was a tad more “god
ly” than the others.
They took turns swearing to the religious
faithful that they were vehemently pro-life,
in favor of school prayer and strongly in sup
port of the American family.
Only poor old Arlen Specter was left out.
He wasn’t invited because of his pro-choice
stance, which is somewhat unpopular within
the Republican party and absolutely de
spised amongst the “God squad” that makes
up the Christian Coalition.
While Congress cuts spending
for environmental protection,
welfare and Medicare, our
armed forces chug right along.
It appears that the eventual Republican
presidential candidate is going to have to
pass through this religious test of fire if he is
going to have any hopes of being elected by
his own party.
And, the more radical the Republicans are
forced to become, the less likely it is that
they will be in support of social spending for
true pro-family programs, such as the LSC.
Buying us all some new airplanes and
telling us not to have abortions are nice sen
timents, but they won’t fill the gap left by
the cuts in funding for programs such as
welfare and the LSC.
The poor get poorer, the rich go free and
the Republicans don’t seem to care.
I guess some days it just doesn’t pay to be
down and out.
Chris Stidvent is a senior English
and philosophy major
Teaching them while they’re young
Texas could benefit by teaching school children Spanish and English
N:
James
Bernsen
Staff
Writer
"o hablo Ameri
can. Ich
spreche Texan.
The age-old de
bate about making
English our national
language has re
turned once more.
Not that any Eng
lishman would ever
consider what I speak to be the
Queen’s English.
This idea sounds pretty stu
pid to me — we have risen to be
the world’s number one econom
ic power without ever having an
official national language, so
why implement one now?
This attempt is not new.
There is a myth that German
once missed being the national
language by one Senate vote.
It’s untrue. Too bad.
I speak German fluently, so I
wouldn’t mind, and nor would
half of Pennsylvania.
Joe Bob Briggs, syndicated
columnist, even suggested that
we pick a language at random,
to avoid any one having an un
fair advantage over the others.
Icelandic was his suggestion.
The reason this issue has
surfaced again is a result of the
huge influx of Hispanic immi
grants, both legal and illegal.
Tliis debate came to a head re
cently when a judge decided that a
Hispanic
woman was
guilty of child
abuse because
she spoke only
Spanish to her
young daughter.
The child’s
father argued
that she wasn’t
being prepared for school.
First of all, I don’t think we
need to be throwing around the
term “child abuse” lightly. But
whether the mother likes it or
not, English is vital in this day
and age. The problem is, Span
ish is vital also.
Texans do not really speak
like the rest of America, so I’ll
just speak on the local aspect.
This is because Texas is the
meeting ground between two
distinct cultures.
What we need to do is not
recognize one language, but
teach both Spanish and English
to all school children.
High school language classes
don’t cut it. I learned more in
one semester at college than I
ever did in two years of high
school Spanish.
First of all, there were sever
al native speakers in our class
who got easy A’s while the rest
of us struggled.
Secondly, we never spoke it
in class, we just learned it for
the test and forgot it.
What we need to do in Texas
is take the mentality of Canada
and most European countries
and focus more on language ed
ucation in school, especially for
young children.
It has been proved scientifi
cally that they are more able to
learn a language the younger
they are.
If we begin teaching Spanish
to first graders, these school
children can learn it much
faster and easier than adults.
Learning a second language
fluently changes someone’s atti
tude on life.
After learning German, I re
alized how much of society is
wrapped up in simple words
and phrases.
The language enhanced my
understanding of German soci
ety, government and ... Weltan-
shaung — some words can just
never be translated.
The benefits of teaching Span
ish to everybody outweigh the ■
perks of a uni-lingual society.
Trade, with or without NAF
TA, would be greatly improved.
Texas businessmen and
women would have a huge ad
vantage in getting into a vast,
expanding market in Central
and South America.
•un;
Teaching Spanish on an
equal or near-equal basis with
English would also help inte
grate society here in Texas.
Many Hispanics may feel left
out and alienated. And some of
them have been longer than my
ancestors have.
And when my ancestors
moved here, by the way, every
one knew Spanish because it
was still part of Mexico.
Teaching Spanish and
English would help inte
grate society in Texas.
The Hispanics in Texas
should not be seen as the liabili
ty some see them as. They rep
resent a vast untapped resource
for Texas.
Of course, all this would re
quire more funds for education.
Maybe we could cut down on
the free condoms (they’re only
25 cents in a 7-11 bathroom) to
pay for it.
That way we can be more
prepared for the next century.
And what does it matter
what the “national language” is.
The de facto one will always
be English.
James Bernsen is a senior
journalism major