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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 2, 1995)
Monday October 2, 1995 ^The Battalion Opinion al. con\{. tradi yhou;,; f ait it 'cal <iti] I I have what it takes to be a Regent A simple solution to the Board of Regents' increasing unpopularity Chris Stidvent Columnist D ear Board of Regents, I may have found a solution to some of the problems that have . been plaguing you recently. Some of our students have been crying and moaning lately because, for the hundredth year in a row, you killed a motion that would have allowed a student liaison to your Board. I know, you’re wishing all of the students would just shut up and go away. But, hey, I figure you’ve had about all of the negative publicity you can handle over the past couple of years. That’s why I’m coming to you with this radical new solution. Simply enough, I think I should be the student liaison to the Board of Regents. Now, I know what you’re going to say. Our little club is about a lot of things, but students aren’t one of them. How are we go ing to raise tuition and fees so quickly and quietly with all of you students nosing around our business? And I must tell you that I agree wholeheartedly. You won’t get any lip out of me if you de cide you want to hike up the general use fee after the semester has already started. That’s what happened a month ago, when you leveled an additional $8 per semester hour charge on us. Hey, even though the stu dents had already paid what was supposed to be their entire fee amount for the school term, I say let’s just hit them again. Anytime you want to raise residence hall rents, parking fees, health center fees and the late registration fee again, I’m your man. When you raised these fees last spring, you could have counted on me to sit back and not say a word. To be fair, I know that the Texas Legisla ture doesn’t consider public education to be that big of a priority. They cut our budget by $6.7 million at their last legislative session, and we students eventually were stuck with the bill. Fortunately, you guys have the power to jack up our fees whenev er and wherever you choose, with a minimum amount of debate. We students are completely power less, we can just whip out our checkbooks and ask how much we owe this time. I like your way of doing business, and I want in. I’m also proud to say that I know a little something about sweet heart business deals. If Barnes and Noble, the company managing the A&M bookstore, wants to fly me or my girlfriend to New York for free, set me up in fancy hotels and give me tickets to Broadway shows before “persuad ing” me to sign by the “X,” I’m all for it. The Tenneco Power Generation Company be gan a power plant here in September 1993 under some similarly shady condi tions. According to a state management audit of the pro ject, former Regent Ross Margraves “effec tively circumvented established lines of au thority” when dealing with the project. Hey, I guarantee I’ll be looking the other way the entire time. I know, you guys are thinking that I sound almost too perfect to be true. “This is all good and well,” you might say, “but the really important thing is - can he drink?” I’m sure many people remember the stink made last year, when two Regent secretaries were indicted on felony record tampering charges. They were attempting to cover up the longstanding Regent practice of creative- ly describing alcohol purchases as “food, soft drinks, ice and cups.” At that time, purchas ing alcohol with state funds was illegal. My tolerance for alcohol may not be up to Board of Regent levels just yet, but I swear it’s only because I have to stay sober in order to go to my classes. I know how to “party down” just as well as the next guy, and I can always stay lim ber enough to itemize my purchase as “food and beverages (wink,wink)” when somebody asks me to head over to the grocery store and pick up another keg of beer. As you can tell, my philosophy ap pears to be strictly in line with your own. Why worry about the students, or consult with them before drastic changes are made in policy or what it is going to cost them to go to school? Hold some token “public” forums over the fee increases during the summer, when seven students are living here, and then consider the oth er 42,000 of us to be fairly warned and informed. Like you, I am under the sad and ridiculous impression that the ad ministration and its bloated bureaucracy is more important than the students of Texas A&M. Anybody who tries to tell me that acade mics are tbe sole reason for the existence of this University system is talking into a deaf ear as far as I’m concerned. So, I ask you not to be afraid of letting a student into your club. Look no further, I am your student liaison. You’ll say “screw the students”, I’ll say “how much?” Oh yeah, and can I have another beer? Chris Stidvent is a English and philosophy major Jesus Christ taught liberal ideologies Shannon Halbrook Guest Columnist C hristianity and conser vatism have become in extricably linked. Most Republican politicians are Christian, and most Chris tians are conservative. And for these conserva tives and Christians, “liber al” has become a shorthand term for everything that is bad about society — an increasingly profane word in political rhetoric. So now that conservatives are enjoying a stint of power, they have allied with Chris tians and begun a war against liberalism. But in the beginning, Christianity and lib eralism were much closer than they are today. After all, Jesus was a liberal. It’s hard to believe that, in a short 2,000 years, Jesus’ liberal teachings of compassion, kindness, and sacrifice for others have some how been laid as the foundation of contempo rary Republicans’ anti-liberal rhetoric. Today conservatives tell us that the trouble with Jesus’ ideas — compassion, kindness, and sacrifice for others — is that they’re just not economically feasible. The debt is too large, the taxpayers’ burdens too heavy. Government’s attempt to help the un derprivileged has backfired. And now, such good-intentioned social programs as wel fare and Medicare have been stigmatized as blights on government: abused and cor rupt, bloated and bureaucratic. These programs do, of course, have serious problems. But rather than try to correct those Problems, rather than try to revamp and re pair the existing process of federal aid to the Poor, conservative congressional leaders ques- tion the necessity of any aid to the poor. They observe that the poor don’t help the rich, so why should the rich help the poor? Why should wealthy and middle-class Americans let themselves be taken advantage of by the crafty, welfare-dependent underprivileged? Liberals just want to rape the people in society who have the intelligence and toughness and virtue it takes to be finan cially successful. How would Jesus have responded to this argument? Perhaps the same way he respond ed in Matthew 19:21 — “Go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor.” Strangely, nowhere in the New Testa ment does Jesus mention a sacred virtue of the wealthy. In fact, if we assume the Bible to be an accurate record of Jesus’ ideas, it seems that he was radically opposed to personal wealth. To Jesus, money didn’t show virtue until it was given away. In this sense, zealous fiscal conservatism is inherently unchristian. Which means there is something decidedly hypocritical about a member of Congress cutting welfare and fed eral aid programs, then claiming to worship the same Jesus who called for unprecedented charity, compassion and giving. A man who was more liberal than any De mocrat on Capitol Hill. A man who saw the importance of helping others. The leaders of this revolution call them selves Christian, but must not be familiar with Jesus’ teachings. Because contemporary conservatism — and especially the vigor with which these con gressmen practice it — lies in direct opposi tion to them. It seems that if my Republican congression al representatives were truly Christian, they would have at least tried to find other ways to help the poor, rather than happily slashing funds and ignoring the human suffering that lay in their wake. Even more contradictory is the way Chris tians in the public support these politicians. To them, a commitment to end abortion and television violence is what makes a Christian. They have ignored their Con gressional leaders’ — and their own — ero sion of compassion in the interests of more timely and political causes. But compassion is not an outdated thing. It is not a political thing. And it must never be sacrificed. The conservative revolution calls itself Christian, but must not be familiar with Jesus' teachings. Of course, it can be argued that Jesus was neither an economist nor a legislator. He lived long before capitalism and long be fore American democracy. Perhaps Jesus’ teachings were meant to be interpreted merely on a personal level, rather than on a governmental or social one. Besides, the compassion that Jesus called for is impractical for our modern capitalistic society. It would bankrupt the federal govern ment and might actually fulfill the doomsday warnings of the Republicans. But these arguments certainly do not justi fy totally abandoning the underprivileged. Do ing so is merciless and cruel. And, of course, very unchristian. Shannon Halbrook is a sophomon English majo\ The Battalion Editorials Board 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. Rob Clark Editor in Chief Sterling Hayman Managing Editor Kyle Littlefield Opinion Editor Elizabeth Preston Assistant Opinion Editor Caring Choice Texas A&M is in great need of a campus child-care center. If you build it, they will come. Last Friday, when several Texas A&M architecture stu dents boasted their proposals for a campus child-care cen ter, University administra tors took notice. Although the display was only part of a class project, the idea of a campus child care center has been around for years. The Faculty Senate passed a resolution last December that called for such a center, but its future still remains in limbo. For many graduate and undergraduate students at A&M, finding affordable day care for their young children can be a problem. According to Dr. Ray Bowen, A&M president, the University supports the idea, but finding the money to build and maintain the child-care center is a question that has yet to be answered. Still, it is nice to see that administrators are taking the idea of a child-care facili ty seriously, as evidenced by the positive response from the plans submitted by the architecture students. In addition, by using low- cost resources, such as archi tecture students, the Universi ty will better be able to finance the construction of the center. As an added benefit, the ar chitecture students are gettirv hands-on experience in their class by designing the plans. Now it is time for the ad ministration to build on the Faculty Senate’s resolution and the work of the architec ture students. The child-care center should become a serious focus for the administration, even if it means cutting other construc tion or improvement projects to finance it. Being a full-time student is hard enough for students with out children, but for parents, it is especially difficult. The child-care center would be of enormous benefit to these parents, and send a message to them that the University cares about their needs. The child-care center should no longer be a field of dreams, but a building of reality. Mail Cali Adams offers A&M lessons in peace It would be sad to think that the views Lydia Percival ex pressed Sept. 26 column are representative of the majority of the students at Texas A&M. If they are, then they will miss a unique opportunity. The Wiley Lecture Series is presenting a forum discussion on the problems in Northern Ire land, and will have two speakers presenting opposing views on the situation. To have the head of the political wing of the provi sional Irish Republican Army here to represent their side is a valuable opportunity to learn their view of the conflict. Gerry Adams is hardly the sadistic homicidal mastermind that Percival portrayed. He is not involved in the direction of terrorist activities, nor has it been proven that he personally conducted acts of terrorism. His involvement in a group such as the IRA may be repre hensible, but to hold him person ally accountable for all of the IRA’s actions is ludicrous. As for what he could teach us now, how about the value of turn ing to peace? I’ve never believed that violence is an acceptable method for achieving political goals, which is why I applaud the end of the IRA’s campaign of or ganized terrorism and their will ingness to join negotiations on the future of Northern Ireland. We have a lot to learn from a man who agreed to stop fight ing and turned to discussion in order to resolve the disputes of his region. Mark Klobas Graduate Student Dial-A-Ride leaves student stranded I rode my bike to West Cam pus thinking that it would still be light by the tirpe my meeting was over, but it ran long. I called Dial-A-Ride to take me to the Commons. They assured me that there would be a place for my bike on the bus. I had to meet her at the Fish Camp Route stop on Agronomy. This place is unlit, unpopulated and unsafe. We are told to use such programs as the Guard Room and Dial-A-Ride for safety. Nevertheless, with mace in one hand, I rode out to wait for her. When she arrived she told me that she could not allow me to ride because of my bike. I was told that even though the bus was empty I would take up too much room. She said they do occasionally allow bikes, but not this night because she had several people to pick up. I asked her what I should do. She flatly stated, “Well, I guess you should ride your bike.” I was locked out of my building, alone in the dark, faced with the long trek from west campus to the Commons. These programs are for the safety of the students. I am angered they forgot that. Misty Mitchell Class of ’99