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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 17, 1996)
01/17 anuary 17,1996 ;fense Reggie Free- o be another ;gie defeat, jies still hang- in the second a stepped up 21 second half the Longhorn d been in a ely, and I was work out of it ers said. “His oved tonight, well and he is three-point- The Battalion Wednesday January 17, 1996 Opinion Page 11 :h s off every i&M Head one has a coat and ' the game s Desk is ng look at and worst unc Itesult -70 UT i-70 UT i-70 UT nan The Battaijon E u • • • throw Sun- ord of 1,615. d Pool d Classes 'lasses Paper’s childish media games hurt community W ay back in 1957, some bad bull went down in this megalopolis we call Bryan-College Station. The Texas A&M administra tion got their collective noses a wee bit out of joint over some criticism found in The Battal ion back in that fine annum. In response, the chiefs of yesteryear decided to clamp down on the Batt whippersnappers who had the gall to disagree with the A&M administration’s wisdom. So the academic big wigs implemented a fun game they referred to els, “The Student Publications Board,” just to make sure the Batt staffers never got any crazy ideas in the future. Reactions from the staff were swift. The edi tors resigned in the face of what they viewed as a blatant attempt at censorship. Censorship doesn’t go over well in the jour nalism crowd. Normally, even a perception of attempts at external editorial control brings a cacophony of protest...but not from our reliable brethren at line Eagle back in 1957. The editorial board at The Eagle wrote a pa tronizing piece that could have been titled, “Grow Up.” Apparently, the First Amendment was a concern only for juveniles. Incidentally, the Student Publications Board still exists here in the ’90s, and The Battalion still criticizes the administration on occasion. As for The Eagle, it may be time to heed some of its own advice. The gaffes and laughs emanating from our local paper can be heard all over the country. Labor Day was great fun in Eagleland. In an effort, no doubt, to console bored public safety officers, The Eagle faithfully reported, “Holiday Death Toll Falls Short of Goal.” Maybe we can do better next year. Jay Leno was good enough to make sure the whole country heard the sad news of our under utilized federal holiday on The Tonight Show. Even the laws of science fall at the whim of The Eagle. On Jan. 14, The Eagle readers were greeted with a picture of a woman whom the caption indicated to be 19 months pregnant. Last year, one local radio station decided to do something about it. For several months, the morning jocks over atWTAW 1150 AM provided their listeners with nearly endless entertainment at the local paper’s expense. Everyday, it seemed, The Ea gle was a source of evermore creative adapta tions of the English language. And WTAW made sure everyone knew. One would think that our local purveyor of the print medium would seek to improve itself, or at least minimize the errors, in order to avoid embarrassment. One would have been wrong. Rather than hire a copy editor who knew where the “spell check” could be found, The Ea gle decided to play dirty. Things started simply; The Eagle readers learned that Bryan High Football games may be heard on 1240 AM, but read nothing about the A&M Consolidated games on WTAW. The then-Eagle’s publisher began to tell local charities that if their events were sponsored by WTAW or related stations (KAGG or KTSR), The Eagle would make no mention of them. In other words, if WTAW was involved at all, the activity would not be found in the communi ty’s paper. This irresponsible policy could have resulted in innocent people paying the price for the paper’s inability to laugh at itself. The newspaper never contacted WTAW to inform the station of the policy, it was just done. I guess this is what is meant by The Eagle’s motto of “Serving the Communities of Bryan and College Station...” Fortunately, the management of WTAW saw the potential for harm in this ridiculous episode. Rather than risk any further action against in nocent people — many of whom probably could have shown The Eagle where to find that un derused spell check — WTAW bowed out. The manager of the station went on the air to declare The Eagle “the winner” to end the whole nasty chapter. Unfortunately, the community was the real loser. Recently, A.H. Belo Corporation purchased The Eagle. Belo already owns a number of tele vision stations (including WFAA channel 8 in Dallas and KTRK channel 13 in Houston), radio stations and newspapers (The Dallas h ling News) all over the country. Despite its propensity to bust Aggie boosters who pay athletes for not working, The Dallas Morning News is a quality newspaper. Maybe some of this quality can be exported to the Bryan-College Station area. One only hopes Belo doesn’t find the First Amendment quite as childish as it’s local pub lishing outlet did back in 1957, and abandons The Eagle’s childish ways of late. It’s high time for The Eagle to grow up and serve the community it claims to cover instead of covering itself in front of the community it claims to serve. Dave Taylor is a senior management major 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 Sterling Hayman Editor in Chief Stacy Stanton Managing Editor Michael Landauer Opinion Editor Jason Brown Assistant Opinion Editor Good Start The University should continue to help students with children GRUMPY OLD \MENL \ With the purchase of the Grenada Building on West Campus, Texas A&M Univer sity has demonstrated its commitment to providing convenient, affordable day care for students, faculty and staff. Still, the University should recognize that his work is not done. Since the fall se mester, the admin istration made it clear that child in the bucket.” The demand for quality, affordable day care, especial ly by students, will increase as the University expands. The administration should remember that in any plans it makes. The attempts to alleviate the child-care problem are encour aging. However, the proposed center falls short. care was an impor- ——— tant issue by holding forums and gathering input from students on the issue. This culminated in De cember with the acquisition of the Grenada building, part of which will be converted to a child-care facility and opened for use in September. Obviously, the University is not kidding around with the is sue of child care, but as Assis tant to the Vice President for Student Affairs Sandi Osters admitted, “We have just scratched the surface.” The current plan allows for only 50 students’ children to use the facility, but 100 children of faculty and staff may utilize it. Given the financial situa tion of many students with children, the formula should be readjusted to allow more students the opportunity to take advantage of the low- cost day care center. Presi dent of the Graduate Student Council President Stepheni Moore was correct in saying, “Fifty students is just a drop Also, being a student is not an 8-to-5 job. Most stu dents will not need their chil dren supervised for eight or nine hours a day. Many will need child care at night, since many undergraduate and graduate classes meet in the evening. The plans should account for students’ irregular schedules in order to maximize the use and ben efit of the facility. The speed with which the administration has handled this issue has been notable, and it deserves praise for as sessing and dealing with the need for child care so quickly. The attempts to alleviate the child-care problem are encouraging. However, the proposed day-care center falls short of of students’ needs. If the recent actions by the administration are any indication, then this will only be a small step in en suring that all students have access to day-care facilities they can afford. The Pavilions Long and Winding Road The Departmental Deposit window seems to have no real purpose Chris Stipvent Columnist D epartmental Deposit win dow, bane of my existence. Why do you per secute me so? As I strolled confidently into the Pavilion last week in search of a missing loan check, I had a clean criminal record and a deep faith in the bureaucracy that oversees the daily life at our University. Regrettably, both of these admirable character traits were about to be changed for the worse. I noticed that there were five open cashier windows in the Pavilion, and only three of them seemed to be doing business. I figured maybe the other 50 students waiting in line hadn’t noticed the two vacant spots, where two young women sat fil ing their nails and reading copies of Glamour that I now suspect had been stolen from the MSC Browsing Library. Unable to believe my stroke of good fortune, I sidled up to one of the windows and foolish ly began to speak. “Hello, I just wanted to know what happened to the check that I thought I was supposed to receive by now. They told me that I should come here to track it down.” The woman working the window glared at me'as she stuffed her swindled magazine out of sight. “Do you have a departmental deposit to make?” “A departmental deposit? I have no idea what you’re talk ing about. What I’m looking for is —” “These lines are for depart mental deposits only; go to the back of that line over there.” “But there is n’t anybody in this line. Aren’t you supposed to be helping stu dents? Our fees pay your salary, after all.” “Listen, troublemaker, I’ll ask you one more time. Do you have a departmental deposit to make or not?” “No, and apparently nobody else does, either. Nobody has even approached these two win dows in the last 10 minutes. You’re reserving 40 percent of your available spaces for trans actions that nobody makes.” “Uh oh, looks like we got a math major, here. I’ll tell you one more time, college boy, we’re keeping these lines open for departmental deposits. Now get into the line over there with the rest of the rabble.” Thirty minutes later, I reached the front of the “rab ble” line and began to plead my case once again. My arrival was preceded by a warning from the woman in the dreaded depart mental deposit line. “Careful with that one — he’s got a mouth on him.” I assumed my most humble expression. I figured I had got ten off on the wrong foot with these people, but I was willing to try again. “I’m trying to locate a loan check I think might have been misplaced.” “Careful, he tried that loan check crap on me!” Vainly trying to ignore the catcalls and hoots of the De partmental Deposit staff, who by now had assembled bravely around their comrade-in-arms, I asked the woman again. She looked for my check. She didn’t find anything. “We don’t have any check for you here, and we don’t have any record of any check.” As she said this, a cheer went up in the Departmental Deposit section. Hands and butts were slapped in profu sion. A holiday was declared and raises were given all around. I swore revenge. “Do you know, back in the old days, worthless members of society were taken out and stoned so that the village could survive the winter,” I mumbled. “You’re lucky these are modern, more enlightened times.” This gave the departmental de posit lady, who had yet to receive a single customer, her chance. “I knew it! Did you hear that? He’s stoned. Quick, some body call the cops.” The lady at my window, who had finally found a problem that she could solve, quickly grabbed a pamphlet entitled “Irrational Customers Who Have Abused Controlled Sub stances: Friend or Foe?” and be gan to thumb through it. “Listen, lady. I just want to find out what happened to my check.” “Yep. I think you’re right. He’s showing all the signs. Irri table, raises his voice, keeps talking about some fictitious check. Somebody here has been smoking marijuana, and it ain’t one of us. I’m calling the cops.” “Where is my money?” “Now he’s trying to rob us! Please, mister, I’ve got three kids. Just leave us alone.” Poverty-stricken and a fugi tive from justice, I made my es cape before I was arrested. I did take pleasure in noticing that, as I slipped out of the door, the police were running up to the Departmental Deposit line to ask them where I had gone. I figured that ought to tie them up for at least 10 min utes, while everybody made cer tain that the police did not, in fact, have a departmental de posit to make. Chris Stidvent is a senior English and philosophy major