uch 4, 1996
The Battalion
Monday
March 4, 1996
Opinion
07
it having a
ecause this
1 the playoff
irth seed as
/ich said of
1 the season
kers 3-1.
ints, five as-
aounds. He
i his second
rained right
four games,
ither of us
'ther in the
said of the
i a drag-out,
hey are the
champions
that he was
If out of the
he final two
ympic team,
) spend time
summer, and
it to create a
) was picked
ime off the
from 3-point
joints as the
three-game
Lakers,
nith came in
boost,” Tom-
;e to play
s best play-
coached the
said he is
m’s progress
of the way
n preparing
arnament,”
tournament
on the cake,
irk that gets
nd they did
d to do.”
di two home
ns batted in
1-3 decision,
ime run and
up the win
e year.
3 of the dou-
ies exploded
first two in-
p eight more
fifth innings
iy 14-4 deci-
of 2,452.
, Matt Blank
d win of the
d by a home
e the rest of
3 continuing
the Aggie
weekend at
ne is Friday
Unversity of
es.
"hursday
lar-07-96
MATH 141
Part I
6pm-7pin
iipisl
For ticket
nformation
call
346-TUTOR
rickets will
go on sale
at 3:30 pm
Sun. Mar. 3
le
rhursday
i/lar-21-91
BANA3UJ
IS®
1111
islll
wii
III
Ma'am, yes ma'am
Women continue to progress in Corps
Heather
Pace
Staff Writer
T he first 51
female
cadets
joined unit W-l of
the Corps in 1974
only to be welcomed
with stony faces.
The first fe
male commander
of W-l, Ruth Ann
Schumacher, described the
Corps as maintaining an envi
ronment “hostile” to women, a
blatant understatement.
Imagine being one of the
first women to join an organi
zation bound to upholding
A&M’s traditions, including a
tradition without women in
the Corps.
University archives state
that male cadets refused to
whip out to women, turned
their backs on W-l during Final
Review, and deposited pig ma
nure in their rooms.
A 1979 suit forced the Corps
to encourage women to join or
ganizations like the band and
the Ross Volunteers; 1979 was
also the same year women
were finally allowed to order
senior boots.
It was these slow, subtle
changes that showed the
Corps’ growing acceptance of
women, who were proving they
belonged.
It was not until 1985 that a
woman — Amanda Schubert —
became a Ross Volunteer.
Schu
bert,
though,
empha
sized that
she was
proud to be
a Ross Vol
unteer, not
a female
Ross Volunteer.
Chosen as deputy comman
der in 1986, Schubert became a
media darling after becoming
the first female deputy com
mander. She reacted by com
plaining to pesky Battalion re
porters that her buddies on the
Corps staff weren’t getting the
recognition they deserved.
Both Schubert and Cynthia
Bricson, who was chosen last
Thursday as deputy comman
der, were selected as deputy
commander not because they
were female, but because they
were capable of doing the job
and doing it well.
On the national scene, Shan
non Faulkner may have misrep
resented women’s potential for
success in the military, but at
A&M, women have staved off
the naysayers.
After fighting for two years
in court, Faulkner was able to
enroll at the Citadel. When she
got there, she wasn’t prepared
to do what everyone else had to
do. Female cadets at A&M must
deal with the same challenges
and difficulties their male coun
terparts do. They will never be
equal if they don’t.
When it comes right down to
it, it doesn’t matter whether the
deputy commander is male or
female, or if there is ever a fe
male commander. It only mat
ters that it is possible for
women to attain such positions.
Like many major changes,
such as the Civil Rights Move
ment, allowing women into the
Corps was the result of a policy
change; having them become an
integral part of the Corps, how
ever, was the result of a chang
ing attitude and the acceptance
by their peers.
Although women deserve
recognition for the hard work
they have devoted to proving
they can make it in the Corps,
their fellow male cadets
should also be praised for sup
porting their female buddies
and making women in the
Corps a reality.
The attitude the first 51 fe
male cadets encountered was
hardly friendly; today, although
there is still room for improve
ment, it is a different story.
The first women of W-l who
broke down the initial barrier
would be proud to see how far
the Corps has come in its accep
tance of women.
Heather Pace is a freshman
English and philosophy major
English-lrish conflict
has multiple sides
I’m writing to comment on
Kieran Watson’s “Northern Ire
land” column in Thursday’s Batt.
I don’t want to say anything
about Clinton’s actions, the val
ues displayed by inviting Gerry
Adams to the White House, or
the despicable acts of terrorists
anywhere in the world.
I would like to point out an
other side to Mr. Watson”s ar
gument that Northern Ireland
is really British territory these
days. He tells us that Northern
Ireland is economically depen
dent on Britain and is home to
many British subjects. He also
states that Ireland is in a real
mess as far as the economy
goes. “The only reason Ireland
is still economically viable is be
cause Britain props it up,” he
writes. Many Irish natives leave
when they can. It’s almost a
third world nation. All of these
things are pretty much true.
Hundreds of years ago, there
was another British colony
that decided to use military
tactics to leave the British em
pire. The American colonies
were in a little better shape
than Northern Ireland is today,
but was still not the cradle of
western civilization that Eu
rope was at that time. Our
forefathers fought long and
hard to gain their indepen
dence. I would have hoped that
they would have fought just as
hard regardless of the economic
viability of the new nation they
created. Their goal was free
dom from British rule, not
money. There were many
British subjects living in Amer
ican at the time of the conflict.
Their lives were certainly in
danger during the American
Revolution. American soldiers
used such tactics as destroying
armories and factories, spying,
guerrilla fighting, and dumping
tea into harbors to win this
war. It was an ugly conflict.
Many people died.
I’m not saying that Northern
Ireland deserves freedom, or
that Britain is in the right to
day. I’m just pointing out that
there are many sides to the con
flict. The moral morass in
volved is part of the reason why
the conflict has dragged on for
so long. Just as Clinton should
n’t expect to resolve this prob
lem in a few years (or less), Mr.
Watson shouldn’t expect to
know who’s right and who’s
wrong in Northern Ireland from
his safe, comfortable Battalion
desk here in America.
Jake Carr
Class of ’96
To say that Britain has any
“sovereign* right over Northern
Ireland is to excuse the 700
years of oppression and slavery
that Irishmen bore with their
blood, sweat and tears. This
sends the message that a coun
try has a right to enslave and
starve another country just be
cause it has a stronger econo
my. During the “Great Irish
Famine” of the late 1840’s, the
British profited from the mis
fortunes of the starving Irish
population. Under British law
the landlords were liable for
poor persons living on their
property who were unable to
provide for themselves, so the
famine gave them an additional
compelling reason to clear their
estates of these poor tenants. It
was more cost-effective to run
the poor out of the country than
to pay for their well-being. In
addition, the English Parlia
ment added the “Gregory
Clause” to the poor law in 1848,
which forbade any food or mon
ey to the poor who would not
give up their land ownership.
This forced 1.5 million to
emigrate to the US and anoth
er 340,000 to emigrate to Cana
da. Over 30 percent of these
emigrants would die aboard the
“coffin” ships en route to their
exile. Over 1.5 million people
died in Ireland of disease relat
ed to the famine, so many that
the British Government used
“trap-coffins” with a hinge bot
tom to dump the victims body
into a mass grave to save bur
ial costs.
I find it troubling that Mr.
Watson would endorse such a
policy; I’m assuming he just did
not do the necessary research
for the subject of his column — a
disturbing trend for both him
and The Battalion as of late.
Brent Jones
Class of ’95
Michael Eden
Chris Bughee
Class of ’98
The Battalion encourages letters to the
editor and will print as many as space al
lows. 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 person at 013 Reed McDon
ald. A valid student ID is required. 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
v! rtt *Vwt! $
Page 9
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
Racial Motive
Those who racially harass people
should face strong punishment.
Hate crime does exist at
A&M. Aggies have a history of
tolerating racism, but when it
comes to acting on that racism,
there can be no tolerance.
A recent incident in Aston
Hall has brought attention to
the racially motivated harass
ment on campus. The penalty
for harassment enhanced by
racial threat is up to a $4,000
fine and one year in jail.
It is difficult to classify a
crime as a hate crime because
it depends on perception.
Although it may be difficult
to prove, crimes prompted by
prejudice, including harass
ment, should not go unreport
ed. Shawn Williams, president
of the A&M chapter of the
NAACP, said the University
has a tendency to ignore racial
ly motivated crimes. Although
the University has made
progress in race relations,
there is still much more that
can be done.
The first step is understand
ing why a problem exists.
Most people carry around
some prejudice. Many of these
people let their prejudices
known. But only the most prej
udiced, the most insecure, ac
tually act on their prejudice.
And then it is hate.
People who hate have no
excuse. Their actions are the
result of insecurity and igno
rance that cannot be excused
by society. Rather, these peo
ple should be caught and
punished. And their punish
ments should be severe to il
lustrate to others that hate
will not be tolerated.
Law enforcement agencies
should do all they can to
bring to justice anyone who
acts on their hate in efforts
to drive fear into others.
Combatting hate crimes
should be a high priority, not
just for the message it sends,
but also because hate will
not go away without it.
But law enforcement cannot
be expected to act alone. The
hardest battleground for the
fight against hate is within
friendships. People generally
agree that those who commit
hate crimes should be stopped.
However, they fail to realize
who these people are. Often
they are friends who are openly
racist. They might be someone
who comes from a background
where racism is acceptable.
But that shouldn’t make their
racism acceptable.
Friendship is no excuse to
let illegal actions go without
punishment. If someone knows
a friend who acts on his or her
hate, that person should get in
volved. Respect for others is far
more important than letting
friendship obstruct justice.
Prejudices will never fully
be wiped away from society,
but as long as hate crime is vig
orously attacked, those filled
with hate may keep their igno
rance to themselves. Maybe
then they’ll forget their hate
even exists.
Dittoheads close their
minds to harsh realities
D itto, Rush.
This was the
bumper stick
er that smacked me
in my face as I wait
ed at a red light a
few days ago. Not
surprising — Texas
A&M is a conserva-
tive university, and I
have seen this sticker on lots of
vehicles. So why does it make
me cringe every time I see it?
Could it be that I do not like
Rush? Sometimes I tune in to
his delightful show just to shake
my head. It seems to me that
nothing is too uncompassionate
or too cruel for Rush Limbaugh.
People are entitled to their
opinions; that’s fine. Rush is free
to be Rush, just like Aja is free
to be Aja. I just think it is sad
that Rush and people in his
frame of mind (Pat Buchanan)
seem to have such a strong effect
on people, especially in Ag-
gieland. This stifles people’s
willingness to think for them
selves and internalize an issue
to come up with an informed
opinion. Wby is that necessary
when you can just slap a ditto
sign on whatever Rush says?
There is far too much regurgita
tion of what Rush thinks, and
far too little realism.
In all the classes I have at
tended in my three years here,
certain issues like welfare, affir
mative action and equal oppor
tunity have always sparked
heated debate. People start sput
tering terms like liberal, republi
can, democrat, conservative
(whoop!) and relating stories
about how their grandparents
were immigrants who came over
with nothing more than a turnip
and made it in America. Then,
what usually followed was a
spiel on the folks who are mess
ing up the country.
Damn those illegal aliens!
Damn those big fat welfare
queens sitting on their lazy butts
just waiting to spawn more kids!
Other times the mess-ups
were, well, ... insert anyone
non-conservative, non-WASP. I
know the soliloquy well because
I have heard
it so much.
I am not
knocking vot
ing or being
involved and
concerned
about political
matters. This
is good, for it
is we who will have to stress
about taxes and the deficit and
all these other matters in the
coming years. However, I think
it is silly for a person to form
such hard-nosed notions of the
demise of America when he or
she has not even seen anything
first-hand.
If you really want to know,
turn off the television or radio,
venture off Texas Avenue, for
once, and head to the local Twin
City Mission’s cafeteria for the
homeless. Walk up to the dad,
mom and four children eating
hungrily and ask them what
this system has done for them.
Or, sit next to the veteran gulp
ing his bread. You might just
hear the dad and mom say,
“Hey, we both work everyday,
but we make minimum wage,
and our kids would go to bed
pretty hungry if we did not get
a meal here.” Or, the veteran
might explain that he is an Ag
gie who did more than just pol
ish Sul Ross; he went to war
and knows he has hit hard
times. All of a sudden, things
don’t seem so cut and dry, do
they? Rush’s convenient image
of who the societal mess-ups are
gets fuzzy.
It is often said that the empti
est wagons make the most noise.
Be vocal about what you think,
but don’t be so quick to condemn
certain people or groups in this
society on the basis of what
some other person says. Get out
there and see for yourself. Per
haps then it will not be so
tempting to just slap a bumper
sticker on your car and close
your eyes to the reality that sur
rounds it.
Aja Henderson is a junior
political science major