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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 21, 1996)
The Battalion rch 21,1996 gh rid known F /e sur- no one ■ak.... ire hotel. So I lan. trapped to his i in the Bosn- ,el where some but the cost o put me up at iccepted. rajevo while 1 iglish, he gave what life was aw’s home in a w-covered hill, re dead from house had nu- riends and rel- ■ighborhood. ee room house mily members. 11, and we all Tee for several was American nly one spoke i matter either, ersation. ook me to the Bosnian Em- change routes rovement. The lis time, but I ink about the r here you are, dieve in, there tmong the peo- ~d is a graduate losophy student ■dal to The Battauos n Sarajevo was 6 SIS THURSDAY March 21,1 996 Opinion Page 11 Blame for flier incident is misplaced As president of the Texas A&M College Republicans, I feel it necessary to respond to Rene Aguiluz and Elaine Ybarra’s let ter of March 19. Bo Armstrong, who Aguiluz and Ybarra claim was the “mastermind of the Col lege Republican campaign that insulted the minorities on this campus ...” actually had very lit tle to do with the flier incident. The fliers were not his idea, and he did not write them. Last semester, I issued Arm strong a formal apology on behalf of the College Republicans after learning the truth myself about the fliers, and I think it is time for Texas A&M to apologize to him for enduring endless heartache over something he wasn’t really responsible for. He accepted responsibility for the fliers because of his position as vice president of publicity, not because he wrote them. I admire a man with that type of honesty and integrity. So often we judge people by a few words or sound bites, and we completely close our minds to them. Armstrong is more than a sound bite; he is a hard-working, dedicated person who cares about the students at Texas A&M. I think it’s time that we opened our minds and our hearts to him. Dave Brown Class of ’97 accompanied by 182 signatures Corps Block voting undermines elections lhave heard the phrase In the past‘Corps Block” just meant that the Corps went our and voted for their own, but after last year it be came apparent that “Corps Block” means so much more. This year I decided to find out what it really entailed. So, I asked a friend in the Corps, whom I knew would be honest and up-front. Then I verified his information with other Corps members I know. I have been told “the purpose of the Corps Block is to have an all Corps leadership. It is done to keep non-regs out.” If one were to decide to run outside of Corps Block, they could count on being ostracized by their "buddies” (which includes negative cam paign material) and have all their campaign materials removed. 1 cannot state my sources, but they have requested that 1 not use their names. Isn’t it interest ing that they are not willing to put their names by something they so strongly support? Considering all the opposition, it is amazing that there are still individuals who would be willing to run outside of Corps Block. I feel those individuals should be commended for their valiant ef forts and their desire to see change in the system. One Corps member’s argument in support of Corps Block was, “We aren’t there with them at the polls. They can vote the way they want.” He is right. I encourage everyone not to be swayed, but to vote your conscience. Summer Belleperche Class of’96 Accompanied by 22 signatures Respect, not rights, was in question This letter is in response to Aja Henderson’s article “Rights Come Under Fire.” It is blatant ly obvious to me that she is once a gain digging hard for some thing to whine about judging by the lack of research she did pri or to writing her “opinions.” First of all, the player in ques tion was formerly Chris Jackson, not Chris Brown, and his refusal to not stand for the national an them had nothing to do with the Constitution. The situation dealt with two private organizations, the National Basketball Associa tion and the Denver Nuggets, of which we all know freedom of speech is not permitted. If you want to contest this, then watch the next time a player criticizes a referee after a game. Abdul-Raufs rights were not violated simply because he signed a contract that said he would be required to stand for the national anthem. The only one to blame for the problem is Abdul-Rauf for not reading his contract. The problem supposedly stemmed from his religious be liefs, yet we saw how strong those beliefs are when he found out that those beliefs were going to cost him $31,000 a game. How quickly we are to change our minds. Abdul-Rauf stated that the flag stood for oppres sion and tyranny. He really should see that the flag stands for getting paid $2 million to merely play a game. I think the real question Aja Henderson should ask is not whether or not Abdul-Rauf should have to stand for the na tional anthem, but whether or not he would stand for the black national anthem. Then again, he probably like the rest of us toothless racists and would sit or sleep. Blair Jeffery Class of ’96 accompanied by 5 signatures Buchanan has the right to continue Dave Taylor should add anoth er school to his university, “The David Taylor School of Being Led Like Sheep.” Where are these “election rules” of his located? This is America, and if Pat Buchanan wants to keep running for President, then he should. I can’t stand Buchanan, but I don’t think that he should have to sup port someone that he doesn’t want to support. OK, so we have a two-term president who never won a ma jority. I don’t think that life as we know it is going to end or that Canada is going to invade us during the ensuing chaos. Yes, it is a shame that the American people can’t all back the same candidate, but last time I checked, different people had different beliefs ... maybe I’ve been in college too long. Tell me David, how much did the national wage drop? How much did the taxes in crease? It seems rather odd that you berate Buchanan for pointing out Dole’s flaws, then you turn around and start pointing out flaws in the last two Democratic presidents. So Carter wasn’t a great econo mist and his administration was flawed. Clinton has his problems and his administra tion is flawed too. Hmm, come to think of it. Bush, Reagan, and every other president back to George Washington had flawed administrations. I guess nobody is perfect, not even (gasp) the Republicans. Taylor, while playing by his rules, try to remember that the British had some rules about colonies not becoming sovereign. M. Justin Trice Graduate student However, tl ioy im*;/ result iii <3 weitkenmgr of the spine Regents should reject fee increase Texas A&M President Ray Bowen has held two public hear ings to voice the rationale be hind his proposal to increase the General Use Fee (GUF). The in crease would take the GUF from $24 to $32 per semester credit hour. This most recent proposed increase comes as result of a rider passed by the Texas State Legislature at the end of last spring while we students were preparing to take our final exams. This rider rejected an increase in taxes to benefit the students they are supposed to represent. Through this rider, the Universi ty was forced to make up for the lost state revenue by raising student fees. This left Dr. Bowen with only one op tion: to ask the Texas A&M Board of Re gents for an increase in the GUF. After much deliberation and discussion, the Board reluctantly approved an $8 per semester credit hour increase for Fall 1995 and another $4 per semes ter credit hour increase for Spring 1996. I have carefully reviewed the justification for Dr. Bowen’s proposal to increase the GUF a second time in only one year. If his proposal passes, it will bring the total increase in required fees and tuition in the past five years to 100 percent. Of that increase, 57 percent will have oc curred within the past two years. Texas leg islators have already decided that tuition will increase $2 per semester credit hour every year until 2001. Although Dr. Bowen is not to blame for Texas A&M’s financial disarray, I refuse to support his ’ n to compensate the Universi ty’s loss froi, tudents’ budgets. An increase of $8 so soon after last semester’s increase in fees is asking too much from the students. I cannot support any further inflation in our fees. The burden placed on the students by this increase in the General Use Fee is more detrimental to our University than no in crease would be. In the last Student Senate meeting, I pre sented these facts and announced that I could not support Dr. Bowen’s increase. Later that evening, the Senate unanimously passed a bill rejecting Dr. Bowen’s proposed increase. I ap plaud the Senate’s strong stance on this issue. I hope that the Board of Regents follows the lead of the Student Senate. Further, I encourage any concerned stu dent to attend the Board of Regents meeting at 4:00 p.m. Friday on the Prairie View A&M campus in the John B. Coleman Library. Student Body President Toby Boenig is a senior agricultural development major Students can’t live by Beutel’s ideal diet T he week before spring break, several of A&M’s top leaders were invited to A.P. Beutel Health Center to find out about the importance of a good breakfast. Beutel re cently began a program which allows students to utilize a computer program, Computri- tion, to determine how to eat better and improve their “con centration and endurance.” The participants in the semi nar, including Texas A&M Presi dent Ray Bowen and Student Body President Toby Boenig, took part in Computrition analyses. Their eating habits were found somewhat lacking, and at this seminar they learned how to im prove their nutrition by having hot cereal, a piece of fruit, a fat- free muffin and a glass of orange juice every day for breakfast. I gathered that a good break fast is pretty important. Normal ly, though, we college students have trouble finding the time to eat something big and healthy. Hot cereal, fruit, muffins and orange juice don’t take time to fix, but they do take time to eat. But this seminar got rae think ing. If a good breakfast is really that vital to our academic success (as well as our overall health), it’s worth thinking about. Since I was too embarrassed about my eating habits to have them intimately analyzed by some computer program, I con ducted my own research into my nutritional status. I detennined that my nutritional status was pretty poor. Lots of vitamin C, oil, grease, monosodium glutamate, hydrified polysorbate, junkified triate, monopolized potentate and orange #9. Slight traces of vita mins B-6 and B-12. Some funny brown sludge. A pinch of salt. The results were eye-opening — all the problems I had were be cause of an unsuspected nutri tional deficiency. I resolved to eat a great break fast every morning, starting dur ing spring break. I proudly wolfed down the official oatmeal-fruit- muffin-orange juice combination on Monday morning. But on Tues day I skipped the oatmeal, the juice, the muffin and half the or ange juice, and by the end of the week my breakfasts consisted of Turns and Tic-Tacs. In other words, I failed miser ably. Diets are so hard to stick to. When I returned to A&M last weekend, I heard no stories of Dr. Bowen winning “The Price Is Right” or Toby Boenig doing jumping jacks for three days with out breaking a sweat. Apparently, they abandoned their Beutel breakfasts, too. We live in a fast-paced world — there’s usually not time for a hearty breakfast. Sometimes the folks at Beutel, in their big ivory tower, seem to think that the only thing we have to do is sit around and be healthy. So I came up with my own super-powered, ideal breakfast for the college student. I went to the supermarket to determine what would be a better breakfast than hot cereal, fruit, fat-free muffins and a glass of or ange juice. After wading through tiny nu tritional statistics for hours, I found an overlooked food product that gives exactly 100 percent of every vitamin and mineral ever discovered or devised. The Centrum vitamin pill. It’s healthy, and it contains no 3 fat or cholesterol. It doesn’t taste too bad, as long as you don’t chew it. It’s even portable. Sure, it’s not very filling, but you don’t have to peel it or put it in the mi crowave. Just pop it in and go. So this week I’ve been taking Centrum vitamins for three meals a day and I’ve never felt better. It makes sense that we’d be healthier if we took time out of every day to eat three square meals and run a marathon or two. We’ve been hearing it since second grade, when the school nurse drew that diagram of the food groups on the blackboard and told us about protein and carbohydrates. The trouble is striking some kind of balance between our health and the time constraints placed upon us by our busy college existences. I hope that everybody on this campus tries my breakfast, since Beutel’s suggestion proved unrea sonable. I’ve eaten nothing else all week, and I feel fine — high concentration, high endurance, strong, smart, vibrant, invigorat ed, ready to tackle every cla Shannon Halbrook is a sophomore English major who was too tired to finish this column Dole has problems with or without Buchanan T he departure of “Dr. Dinero” (also known as Steve Forbes) from the campaign trail came much to the disappointment of the nation’s fence-riders. Those lost souls who were duped into believing that a “successful businessman” could best run the business of the government will now cast their votes for Bob Dole this November. It is safe to say that most Forbes support ers will not support Pat Buchanan. Dole is closer to Forbes on the ideological continuum than is Buchanan. So Buchanan has no choice but to rely on isolationists, neo-Nazis and the like to maintain his doomed campaign. Who said fascists can’t be martyrs? Of course, we here on the left can’t hear the otherwise deafening Dole-Buchanan rift amongst the Republicans; we’re too busy laughing our heads off. Looks like Clinton and Gore won’t be “gone in four.” The rift is quite visible, however. Dole and his camp work relentlessly to dissociate the Re publican Party from Buchanan’s philosophy, even though it is conservative. Buchanan’s con servatism isn’t really conservatism, the main stream Republicans claim. They assert Buchanan’s ideology is populism. So the mainstream con servatives (who are them selves populist, no matter what rhetoric they throw in to water down their pop ulism) are scampering from Buchanan and his minions. With every syllable Buchanan utters, he stains the red, white and blue banner of the Republican Party. Dole himself, however, isn’t acknowledging this rift because 1) he wants to make the Re publican Party appear unified in these trou bling times and 2) he is setting his sights on beating President Clinton in November. The latter, however, will not happen unless Dole chooses the right running mate, and Col in Powell just ain’t interested. The reason why Dole will not beat Clinton is because Dole suffers from the “Phil Gramm Syndrome.” No, Dole’s head doesn’t resemble that of a tortoise, but he is uncharismatic, un focused and (above all) dull, dull, dull. He is dull in the sense that his speeches can substitute easily for bedtime stories. They just seem to go on and on and yet not say much of anything. They lack substance as well as direction. Dole never tells the American people exactly why he wants to be president. My guess is he’s just playing on the notion that he will be able to handle problems better than Clinton, which he will not. Such a pledge would not warrant my vote, and it will not warrant the votes of most Americans come November (except, of course, those votes from Republicans). Dole, a lifelong politician, should know that persuasion is the key in wooing voters. He’s not wooing anyone; he’s just putting them to sleep. Dole’s age does not help his chances ei ther. At 72, he espouses the ideas and ideals of the “good ol’ days,” the same days that punished some and made pariahs of others. His campaign reflects the idea that America would be great again if we got everyone to live according to the morals and customs of a bygone era. Quite simply, it is not going to work. Dole’s antiquated ideas and lack of vision make him an unsuitable candidate to lead us into the next century. Unless Dole gives Americans some semblance of a reason as to why he wants to be president and comes up with new ideas as to what he wants to do as president, his campaign will face the same doom as that of his colleague, Pat Buchanan. So much the better for us. H.L. Baxter is a junior geography major