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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 1996)
he Battalion Wednesday ebruary 1, 1996 Opinion Page 9 /s an increased general use fee justified? [| !ontinued quality will cost us Continued fees will break us ■urn shrugs ruiting omei on his should! per lists ofblii layers where itted to A&l n the biggest false alarm since Chicken Little announced the sky was falling, A&M students ire expressing terror and outrage iver Texas A&M President Ray lowen’s request of an $8 per redit hour increase in the gener- use fee. It’s time for a reality check. Phis latest increase will neither Jason Brown Asst. Opinion Editor i as a warm lend Aggies to the poor house, nor is it going to pay or a Caribbean cruise for the Board of Regents. So, let’s examine the myths about the state of vo weeks dotlA&M finances and the effects of the proposed gen- M head footlsjeral use fee increase. Myth #1: A&M is so expensive already, another whispers tlii|fee increase will force me to sell a kidney. Fact: A&M is less expensive than most other quality public universities. In 1994-95, estimated resident tuition and fees for the University of Michigan were $4879; for the rop of recmii ■ to last yean the fourthly ire unfounded aim when tall University of Virginia they were $4350; and for -t mri! •ecruiting wan a hurricanes is are the mi Aggies, eased,” SIocie the people tk d to us are lot.” pular outlet! so well. Chronicle hil p 100 recruis t&M. Nations lat A&M will e country’s ttf Slocum says ugh. lot of kids os . won’t end a: UCLA, they were $3549. At A&M, they were only $1526 — much less than half the amount of the others. To find another good university for the money, it’s a long, hard search — which brings me to my second point. Myth #2: A&M wastes all my money now, so I shouldn’t have to cough up any more. Fact: U.S. News and World Report named A&M the fifth best buy in the country, comparing tuition, fees and room and board for all colleges and univer sities. If A&M seems wasteful, take a look at SMU. Myth #3: Based on all the recent fee increases for the Student Recreation Center and the Reed Arena, the general use fee increase won’t be going to needy areas. Fact: $6 million is slated to go for faculty and staff salary increases, $2 million to graduate teach ing assistant salary increases and $2 million for classroom maintenance and improvements. By the way, the Flee Center was approved through a stu dent referendum, not an administration mandate. Myth #4: Faculty, staff and graduate students don’t need salary increases. Fact: A&M faculty members earn less than the national average. If the University wants to keep quality teachers and researchers, it has to put up the money. As for A&M graduate students, a quick look at their plight shows they merit a 60 Minutes report on “The Malnour ished Intelligentsia in America.” Myth #5: The University is always raising my fees. It is out of control. . Fact: OK, so maybe this isn’t a myth — the University really is al ways raising your fees. But, it seems worse than it is because the fee in creases do not happen automatical ly. To raise fees, the administration must pro pose it, student leaders make a big stink, The Battalion writes a couple of articles about how everyone is furi- __________ ous and the Board of Re gents approves it. This happens even for the smallest fee increases. The latest fee increase, which is comparatively large, would make a stu dent taking 30 hours in one year pay an extra $240. Since the annual cost of going to school here is over $7000 for most students, this represents a measly 3 percent increase from last year. True, there are likely to be other fee increases next year, but none of this magnitude. Honestly, no one said college was cheap. Unfortunate ly, many students go into debt trying to get a degree. But the choice is clear; pay the bucks to go to a good school, or don’t go to a good school. A&M is a good school. Let’s keep it that way. Jason Brown is a senior economics major I t certainly didn’t come as much of a surprise. Texas A&M President Flay Bowen proposed yet another increase in the general use fee last week, this time with another $8 per semester credit hour tacked on. This comes on the heels of an $8 increase in the fall and a $4 in crease this semester, which collec tively have raised the fee from $12 to $24 per se mester credit hour. The increase is representative of the second- biggest problem on campus (the first being the lovely race relations we have here). Knowledge is far from the highest priority at this University. Nope, good oT fashioned learning takes a back seat to the massive gallons of money f v ing in and out of A&M’s cups of ice. Now, Bowen wants more of our money to give faculty and staff members a raise. No one is disputing the fact that these people are valuable, and they should be paid accordingly. To suggest otherwise would be ridiculous. What is ridiculous is the method in which this raise would be implemented. It’s interesting how, despite the fact that the University is a huge moneymaker, the students are the ones that always have to come up with the extra cash. Consid ering the Capturing The Spirit Cam paign reached its goal of $500 million, something tells me there has to be a few extra bucks to boost salaries. Meanwhile, students pay out the wazoo for the Student Recreational Center, whether they use it or not. And funds for the sure-to-be-lovely Reed Arena come primarily from the general use fee, despite the fact that ^ the men’s basketball team hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament since the Crusades. And G. Rollie White sell outs occur about as often as the Houston Oilers make the Super Bowl. The administration’s solution to every financial wrinkle is simple — j ack up the fees on the students under the cleverly vague title, “general use fee.” A&M’s priorities are severely skewed. Although decent pay for faculty is a worthy investment, Reed Arena is not. Not to mention the whole Evans Library mess. If there is one element of A&M that desperately heeds help, it’s our piti ful library. It doesn’t matter if we have a gorgeous Rec Center or a state-of-the-art basketball arena if students still can’t get the books and journals they need to learn. Learning is, after all, why we are here. But while Bowen calls for more extravagant spending for things we don’t need, faculty members need a raise. No problem, says Bowen. See, there’s this Texas law that allows state universities to increase general use fees to equal the amount of tuition. It says “allows,” not “demands.” But the quick fix is on, and if Bowen has his way, students will have to pay $32 per semester credit hour, the same as tuition. Parents have enough trouble putting children through school. And students putting themselves through school certainly don’t need extra charges that could be avoided. If Bowen really wants money to help pay for teachers, how about a pay cut for all administrators who make more than $50,000 a year? They could probably handle it better than the students could. Somehow, I don’t think Bowen would be too hip to that idea. Instead, he wants to squeeze every last cent from students, knowing that as long as it is com petitive to get into A&M, someone will be willing to put up the money. There is no question that raises in pay are neces sary to ensure retaining strong faculty members. It’s not the raises that are objectionable, it’s the finan cial source. With students still reeling from the last increase, Bowen should realize that another increase will do irreparable damage to our wallets, and even worse damage to his reputation. Rob Clark is a senior journalism major ol?’ and i good pi i know, he! oing to ise A&M mf touted 't mean ig in a bund luick to point ildress wasnt I-district hoi ie to A&M. ater, he le the Aggie inemen evet by the Hons now a peren emen in t ntial Hall lot even thi »rk out. Run msive bad :ame to - -chipper thur Higl comparison! Thurman ter, Biggeni ke an impact >ositions se'’’ proven trad t comes it. Only ve won more &M in school wins without ’ the number •s and “cant ss can affod ashmen crop ;ess of last mt class pro i standouts i Hardeman . The Aggies n such as of n Brandon ’ensive back could flour loine Corps and fraternities offer similar benefits Chris Stidvent Columnist P resented for our ap proval, an eager young Aggie. We’ll call him Elmo. Elmo Aggie has made a momentous decision. He feels it’s time for him to get involved in student life at Texas A&M. He’s either going to pledge a fraternity or become a mem ber of the Corps of Cadets. As Elmo starts to make up his mind which organization would be better for him, he only has to deal with one real setback. Elmo’s friends are trying to dis suade him from getting involved in any thing. They tell him that the Corps is fascist and fraternities are elitist, and they mock him for even considering be longing to either one. Elmo can sort of see their point, but he doesn’t think it will do any harm to check the various organizations out. He figures he’ll start with what he knows. Elmo sees members of the Corps everywhere. The freshmen, known as “fish,” greet the upperclassmen in an ar cane and exciting ritual known as “whipping out.” TTie Cadets’ talk is full of such intriguing words as “push” and “quad.” Elmo likes this vocabulary; it makes him feel like a spy. He also likes their uniforms and the way they get to do so much neat stuff . around campus. Whether it’s marching in before football games, raising and low ering flags or playing in the band, mem bers of the Corps seem to live a life full of extravagant and mysterious tradition. They also get to drink a lot of beer, and their girlfriends are usually better looking than the average Aggie female. Elmo also sees members of fraterni ties all around campus. They generally greet each other with complicated handshakes, and they have a tendency to throw around such unusual words as “mixer” and “brother.” Their “pledges” seem similar to the Corps’ "fish,” yet they don’t have to “whip out” in precisely the same manner. Elmo also likes the uniforms, and he has spent long hours puzzling over the strange combinations of foreign letters situated so prominently on their jerseys. Whether they are giving a big concert to raise money for charity, hanging out with their fellow members at their fra ternity houses or going to parties full of beautiful girls, these guys seem to live a life full of thrills and rich variety. Oh yeah, and the same thing holds true for the fraternities about lots of beer and good-looking girls. They drink it and they date them, and Elmo really likes that. On the down side, Elmo has to admit that both of these groups have been known to get into trouble from time to time. He remembers that quirky group of fra ternity pledges that broke into the wrong apartment to kidnap somebody and ended up getting arrested. He also recalls that odd oc casion when pictures were developed by a professional photo lab showing a bound and gagged Cadet being hazed. But hey, Elmo realizes that these actions do not reflect so much on the groups as they do on the individuals who were dumb enough to perpetrate them and then get caught. He refuses to blame the organization for the idio cy of the individual. His enlightened standpoint strikes him as the personi fication of wisdom. Elmo’s friends shake their heads sad ly when they are confronted with his shocking ignorance. They remind him of all of the bad things associated with fra ternities and the Corps, things such as institutionalized hazing and the dan gers of a mob mentality. They tell Elmo that these two groups don’t even like each other, much less anybody else. Elmo is puzzled. He recalls the time when all of the fraternities respectfully stopped their Bid House activities for a few minutes while Cadets were taking down the flags in front of the Systems building. He also figures it is a well- known fact that numerous members of the Corps belong to fraternities. Elmo tells his friends that these signs of respect between the two groups appear to signify a growing cooperation between representatives of both impor tant old traditions and exciting new trends on campus. Elmo’s friends don’t listen, and they urge him to join them instead. They tell him he doesn’t need some big group to help him have a good time. His friends call him “frat daddy wannabee” and “Corps turd.” Confronted with this brilliant logic, Elmo eventually gives in. He gets a short haircut, but he doesn’t join the Corps. And he buys a “NO FRATS” shirt even though he still doesn’t know that much about fraternities. It never occurs to Elmo to question the wisdom of his friends. He doesn’t wonder where they received their infor mation, since they wouldn’t last two days in the Corps and no fraternity on campus would think twice about mak ing them members. Oh well, he still gets to drink a lot of beer. And he figures he can always wait until after he graduates to start dating the good-looking girls. Chris Stidvent is a senior English and political science major Mail If smokers and drunks should get privileges ... Oh, sure. Laugh it up and wallow in your self pity. You nicotine and al cohol dependent freaks out there real ly think you all have it bad, huh? Well what about me and others like me? We are the coke/crack baby/hero in addicts that can’t seem to flow back into reality. Do you understand what it’s like to go through a three hour lab and not get to shoot up? You begin feeling you’re the experiment because your withdrawal gets so bad. Suddenly, uncontrollably, white, milky foam bubbles out of your mouth. Eventually, your friends have o drag you out of the room and melt down your smack for you to shoot again. Once, my math teacher denied my right to snort during class, so I went crazy, banged my head on the wall, and passed out. He didn’t want to get into trouble, so he hid me inside of a closet where 1 awoke three days later in a pool of my blood. This was the worst form of discrimination I have ever faced. I never said anything to him about his morning coffee every day of class. In another instance, my friend asked the teacher for a pencil and the request was granted. Seeing that all requests seemed given, I asked for a spoon and butane lighter. I was denied this simple request and stormed out the door yelling discrim inatory remarks. To me, my roommate, and the oth er cloud-jumping heroin and coke de pendent students out there, we would like seen: mirrors placed on the corner of each desktop; Bunsen burners placed under each seat; nee dle disposers in each room (and re stroom); along with the multicultural class, a drug awareness class be im plemented and taught in a positive manner; non-discriminatory teachers on drugs be hired; the Quack Shack begin to sell coke and heroin. Jan Tijmes Class of ’99 Pay cuts should come with faculty demotions We students are getting tired of pay ing higher fees every semester. It is even worse for graduate students, as our tu ition is double that of undergrads. While our fees keep increasing, there is one area that A&M constantly overlooks when talking of saving money. There are many faculty members that take a position of Assistant Dean, Associate Dean, Department Head, or what ever, and get a pay raise to go along with their new responsibilities. I don’t have a problem with this. However, many of these appoint ments are temporary, and you know what? When they give up the title, and go back to teaching, they keep the same salary. It is next to impossi ble for someone to get a decrease in pay at A&M. How much money would be saved if all faculty members that are draw ing pay for a position they no longer serve were paid according to their current title? If nothing else, this would free up some money to share among all faculty members, since faculty raises seem to be such a rare thing these days. Tim Kalafut Graduate Student The Battalion encourages letters to the editor and will print as many as space allows. Letters must be 300 words or less and include the author's name, class, and phone number. We reserve the right to edit letters for length, style, and accuracy. Letters may be submitted in per son at 013 Reed McDonald. A valid student ID is re quired. Letters may also be mailed to: The Battalion - Mail Call 013 Reed McDonald Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-1111 Fax: (409) 845-2647 E-mail: Batt@tamvm1 .tamu.edu
